July 2023 Dear Booksellers and SinC Members, For the July issue of We Love Bookstores News, award-winning author Ellen Byron recommends one of her favorite bookstores for mystery and suspense titles, Book Carnival in Orange, California. I am also pleased to announce the July 2023 We Love Bookstores award winner is the Wordsmith Bookshoppe in Galesburg, Illinois! |
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Anne Saller and Book Carnival by Ellen Byron |
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Ann Cleeves and Michael Connelly pictured with bookstore owner Anne Saller |
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If there’s a more supportive and enthusiastic champion of mystery authors than Book Carnival proprietor Anne Saller, you’d be hard-pressed to find them. I speak from experience. Book Carnival had been around for decades when it came up for sale in 2010. “I’ve always wanted to own a bookstore,” Anne says. “I had retired and was looking for space. During that time, the previous owner of Book Carnival passed away. I had shopped there for nearly twenty years, and I was invited to his memorial service. I called my daughter to tell her about it and how I would love to have the store; she encouraged me to make an offer. I was reluctant to call right away, but I did and found that I was fifth in line!!” Anne met with the owner’s son and daughter, who appreciated the fact that not only did Anne know their father and mother, she used to meet up with them at Orange County’s John Wayne airport on the way to book conventions. “They chose me!” Anne says, still brimming with excitement almost a decade and a half later. “The rest is history, and some of the happiest years of my life were with the authors and customers that I have gotten to know over the last fourteen years.” |
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From left to right, Naomi Hirahara, Wendall Thomas, Ellen Byron, and Jennifer Chow |
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Bestselling authors like Michael Connelly, Greg Hurwitz, and Ann Cleeves always schedule a stop at Book Carnival when they’re promoting a release. But Anne is equally welcoming to debut authors. “We have had all the top authors through here, and the new authors, which is equally important,” she says. Anne welcomed me with open arms when I made my own debut as a mystery author in 2015 with Plantation Shudders, my first Cajun Country Mystery. I’ve celebrated every release since then with an event at the store, whether in-person or virtual. A customer once told Anne, “It’s always fun at the Carnival.” That’s now the shop’s tagline, emblazoned on pens, bookmarks, et al. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of one of the mystery community’s most tireless supporters, it is always fun at Book Carnival. Connect with Book Carnival: |
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An Anthony Award nominee, Ellen is the recipient of multiple Agatha and Lefty awards for her Cajun Country Mysteries, Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, and Catering Hall Mysteries (as Maria DiRico). She is also an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning writer of TV hits like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents. Ellen was the 2023 Left Coast Crime Toastmaster but considers her most impressive achievement working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. A native New Yorker, Ellen is a graduate of Tulane University and lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband, daughter, and a rotating crew of rescue pups. |
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Write for We Love Bookstores News! Would you like to write an entry for We Love Bookstores News about your favorite shop or something else? Did you put together or see an amazing bookstore display? Submit your ideas to Susan Hammerman, Library and Bookstore Liaison at librarian@sistersincrime.org |
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We Love Bookstores Winner: Wordsmith Bookshoppe in Galesburg, IL |
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Owner Teri Parks is pictured above Below is the story Wordsmith Bookshoppe owner, Teri Parks, shared with Robin Agnew, We Love Bookstores Coordinator. “Our story is one of perseverance and not letting go of a dream. I am a former store manager in West Burlington, Iowa for Book World, Inc. that closed their chain in January 2018. I had only been working for them for about two years when they decided to close, and I was devastated by the news–after all, it had only taken me 30 years to find my dream job! Unbeknownst to me, my husband approached a bank and asked what we needed to do to open our own store. When he asked if I wanted to open a store, I said “No!” I had been a store manager and knew nothing about owning a store. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it and would lay awake at night thinking about all the different things I would do if I had my own store. Afterall, the jobs I had held for the past 30 years prepared me in all the things I needed to know about owning a store: accounting, customer service, hospitality, management, marketing, and I had worked in several libraries throughout the years. We tried so hard to reopen the store in West Burlington, buying out the store fixtures, security system, display tables, and cash wrap from Book World before they closed. But, no matter how hard we tried for almost ten months, we couldn’t find anyone to support us in reopening the store. I was heartbroken. In October of 2018, my dad had some health issues, and we gave up trying to open a store because we had missed the holiday season. At one of my dad’s doctor’s visits, the doctor asked my parents how the bookstore project was going. They told him we were letting the dream go. The doctor encouraged us to talk with the Chamber of Commerce in my hometown of Galesburg, IL. In January 2019, we set up a meeting, told them our vision and they went to the banks on our behalf. About six weeks later, we had a positive answer from a bank willing to support us. We opened in August of 2019, six months before COVID. Our store carries 18,000 titles of new books, 1500 titles of magazines, and literary-themed gifts. We cater to book lovers. And we absolutely LOVE our local authors—carrying about 75 authors with close to 200 titles. We are living our dream and believe that any author should have the same opportunity.” Connect with Wordsmith Bookshoppe Website: https://www.wordsmithbookshoppe.com/ |
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Apply for the We Love Bookstores Award |
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To find out more about all SinC offers, including live webinars, please visit our website. Thank you for all you do for your community. Sisters in Crime loves bookstores. Happy reading! Susan Hammerman Library and Bookstore Liaison Library and Bookstore Liaison: Susan Hammerman, a former rare book librarian, is the Library and Bookstore Liaison and coordinator of the We Love Libraries program. Susan writes crime and neo-noir short stories. Her stories have appeared in Suspense Magazine, Mystery Magazine, Dark City Mystery Magazine, Blood and Bourbon, Retreats From Oblivion, and the Stories (Within) anthology. Website: www.susanhammerman.com We Love Bookstores Coordinator: Robin Agnew owned the Raven Award-winning bookstore Aunt Agatha’s Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for 26 years with her husband Jamie. Robin writes a review blog at auntagathas.com and the cozy column for Mystery Scene Magazine. WLL and WLB News Editor: Gail Lukasik’s latest book, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing, was named one of the most inspiring stories of the year by The Washington Post. She is also the author of the Leigh Girard Mystery series and the stand-alone mystery, The Lost Artist. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, such as The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and The Georgia Review. Gail appeared in the documentary, History of Memory, which is available on Amazon Prime. Her fifth mystery, The Darkness Surrounds Us, a Gothic, historical mystery, will be released September 5, 2023. Website: www.gaillukasik.com |
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We've put our member books in a spreadsheet that we'll update every month, and send as part of this newsletter. This month's releases are on a separate worksheet. Feel free to sort by author name, book title, or author location. |
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Sisters in Crime hosts LIVE webinars each month. Webinars last 60-90 minutes depending on the topic and the audience questions! These webinars are open to all. |
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Sisters in Crime is the premier crime writing association focused on equity and inclusion in our community and in publishing. Our 4,500+ members enjoy access to tools to help them learn, grow, improve, thrive, and reinvent if necessary. They also gain a community of supportive fellow writers and readers, both peers to share the peaks and valleys of writing, and mentors to model the way forward. |
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