I do not expect to become rich with this career path, but I do expect to wake up every morning looking forward to the day. I will consider that a success. I think independent booksellers are a vital link in connecting authors to readers. A good bookseller is both the teacher and student of her community. Although we as booksellers must respond to a community s tastes, we must also stay faithful to our commitment to good books.
Consumer demand is driven by marketing efforts and is sometimes misguided as a result.
As a good bookseller, I must work hard with sales representatives to learn about the books that have cultural and literary worth without the bestseller budget. I must also understand the implications of my marketing actions. During a thesis project in graduate school, I learned that discounting has led to consumers purchasing more often for price than for book reviews and recommendations combined. This sort of marketing has serious implications for midlist books with value beyond the best seller formula. In short, my philosophy is one of knowledge and responsibility.