Anne’s Tuesday Table

The very first Anne's Tuesday Table

Monday nights, the back office and hallway is stacked with boxes of new releases. Stacks and stacks of boxes all stamped, stickered, and labeled for the following Tuesday. For whatever reason, (let’s go with “magic”) Tuesday is the day most publishers release their new books. Which means that every Monday, Todd, Robert, and Heather unpack all of those boxes and load them onto carts, so the new books will be ready when we open our doors at 7am on Tuesday morning.

Which means when Anne opens the store, she finds herself surrounded by carts stacked high with the newest of the new. Yes, for Anne, it is like Christmas every single Tuesday, if Christmas involved putting all the presents away and not getting to keep any of them. (So for most parents, I guess, exactly like Christmas.)

Over the years, Anne has become something of a connoisseur of the new book cart, so we found a table for her, to display the new books she thinks deserve special attention. Sure, there will be the big books everybody has been expecting, and that book on Fresh Air last week, but there will also be interesting books that have, for whatever reason (probably not “magic” this time) flown under the radar, books Anne herself has been waiting for, as well as whatever catches her eye. We’ll leave table up for the day, so all who stop by can see what Anne has picked out for them. We’ll also find time during all the shelving to post a picture & a list of titles for all of our internet friends on Books From the Future. Pictured is the inaugural table. Here are the books on it:

The Arsonist by Sue Miller (who will be reading with us tomorrow!)

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (In Paperback)

Latitude Zero by Dianna Renn (whose launch party is July 3rd.)

The Family of Bookselling

Eleven years ago several of us realized if we wanted to continue working with our wonderful group of colleagues we would have to start our own bookstore. And that is what we did. Three of us went on the road throughout New England learning what made bookstores successful. Plus, we kept focused on looking for a space in the area we felt would make a good place for the kind of bookstore we envisioned. We found much of what we were looking for in Porter Square, especially the parking lot.

We all worked hard to transform a dress shop into a bookstore. I remember how excited we were when the first shipment of books arrived, but quickly realized we needed many many more books. The neighborhood was patient with us and in less than a year we were on our feet and running. During our first year we found a neighborhood family to start and manage a café, which was something we knew would be important to our continued success.

We were supported by other wonderful bookstore owners, our local trade association NEIBA headed by two bright, fun, and insightful people, and the national organization, ABA, always looking for ways to help and challenge us to become a better business. I have found book people to be a great network for help, but also friendship. The past ten years have flown by. I will miss the customers who became friends talking about books, but also politics and the day’s events. Daily, I miss the “family” we call our staff who make PSB what it is, because they are warm, fun, engaging, and just really good people. But, the drive coming and going on Route 2 I will not miss. Plus, I need time to read all those books stacked everywhere in my house. I feel confident the new owners will bring the same passion for the book business to secure the ongoing success of PSB for many years to come. It was a great ten years. Many thanks to all the lovely people who I met and worked side by side with every day.

Jane Dawson

Porter Square Books Index: Our Indie Decade by the Numbers

Inspired by the Harper's Index, we’ve compiled some of the numbers that tell the story of our first ten years. Some mark the inexorable march of time, others the changes the world has gone through over the decade, and still others our growth as a store.

Harry Potter Books: 2

Harry Potter Movies: 6

Special Orders Placed: 86,803 (The first order was for this.)

Generations of the iPhone: 7

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Books: 9

HBO Shows Adapted from Books: 6

Movies Adapted from Comic Books: 31

World Series Championships Won by the Red Sox: 3

Books sold in October 2004: 3,520

Books sold in 2004: 20,244

Books Sold All Time as of 5/22: 1,372,776

Customers Signed Up to Our Rewards Program: 56,969

Staff Picks as of 5/27/14: 688

Online Orders Placed as of 6/5: 11,503 (The first was for I’m Off, which is still available to order.)

Number of senators who have represented Massachusetts in the United States Congress including interim: 7

Number of home runs hit by David Ortiz as of 5/27: 317

Number of missions launched to Mars: 8

Broadway performances of Phantom of the Opera, as of 6/1: 4,028 

10% off on the 10th of the Month

As part of our 10th anniversary celebration we will be discounting sections of the store 10% on the 10th of each month, leading up to our big celebration in late September. (Much more on that later.) For June 10th, the discounted sections will be Cookbooks in the adult section and Hardcover Childrens Picture Books. Here are some great books that will all be 10% off on June 10th.

COOKBOOKS

Rene Redzepi: A Work in Progress 

Pickles, Pigs, & Whiskey 

A Family Meal 

Eating with the Chefs 

VB6 Cookbook 

Pok Pok 

HARDCOVER PICTURE BOOKS

The Day the Crayons Quit 

A Lion in Paris 

The Almost Fearless Hamilton Squidlegger 

The Sweetest Fig 

 Three Bears in a Boat 

Where to Purchase New Fall Books from Hachette

For those of you who might still be going to Amazon to buy books, we wanted to let you know that you could possibly be thwarted in an attempt to pre order forthcoming Hachette titles. (See below) Please know that you can go to our website,and pre order these titles. Among the new fall titles are Neverhome, Burning Room, Her, Heroes of Olympus Book 5, Last American Vampire, Silkworm. Thanks for your support.

Amazon's New Attack Against Hachette; Amazon 'Openness' Amazon has added another tactic in its battle for better terms against Hachette Group: it is now making it impossible for customers to pre-order many forthcoming Hachette titles, in some cases just the e-book version and in other cases both print and e-editions. Until this week, in its ongoing dispute with Hachette, Amazon had only slowed down delivery of many Hachette titles. Among titles that Amazon customers can't order, courtesy of Publishers Lunch: Silkworm by J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith; James Patterson's forthcoming titles (too many to list!); The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons; The Fever by Megan Abbott; and The Martini Shot by George Pelecanos. E-book versions of The Universal Tone by Carlos Santana and Honeydew by Edith Pearlman are also unavailable for ordering. As noted by the Bookseller, the latest Amazon move is similar to Amazon U.K.'s removal of buy buttons against Hachette U.K. in 2008 in another dispute over terms. The tactic is also similar to Amazon's battles against Macmillan in 2010 and IPG in 2012. ---

Happy 10th Porter Square Books!

Porter Square Books celebrates its 10th anniversary this Fall and as part of the celebration I asked the booksellers who have been with the store for the entire decade to share their thoughts. Below, from Anne Miley, is the first installment in the series.

Josh

It seems that there must be things called "bookstore years", similar to dog years, which would make Porter Square Books older than it actually is. It doesn't seem possible to me that the bustling, bright and welcoming spot the bookstore is today has only been a part of our lives since 2004.

I am one of the original settlers of Porter Square Books, coming as that small group did, east on Route 2 from The Concord Bookshop where we had worked together for a number of years. After a summer of a lot of planning and hard work, the bookstore opened in October with not all that many books and no Cafe Zing! What we lacked in inventory we made up for with an abundance of camaraderie, a wide range of talents and a strong desire to create a store that would, to put it simply, be a place that people wanted to be.

When I tell people what I do for work their universal reply is to say how lucky I am and what a great job that must be. They are right-it is a great job and I am lucky. Getting paid to do what you love to do is one of life's great blessings. I am always reminded of a press conference years ago when basketball legend Larry Bird had just signed a contract with the Boston Celtics and their manager Red Auerbach. When Bird was asked how it felt to be earning what, at that time was a lot of money, he said "I didn't tell Mr. Auerbach but I would have played for free." I can relate.

As Porter Square Books was opening in October of 2004, my two sons were in various stages of finishing high school, applying to and going off to college. As with the bookstore, there was a lot of happiness and hope in our family that all this newness would work out well and that our feelings of uncertainty and trepidation would not rule the day. Here we are in 2014 and my boys and the bookstore are fully launched in their lives and happily making their way in the world. Long may they run.

Anne Miley

Joe McKendry and Matt Tavares on Storytime

On Saturday May 17th, we will be hosting Indies First Storytime with Jef Czekaj, Matt Tavares, Joe McKendry, and Scott Magoon. Indies First Storytime is lead by national ambassador for young people’s literature and multi-award winning author Kate DiCamillo, to celebrate the power of reading to children and the unique role independent bookstores play in getting good books into the hands of readers. Read Kate’s letter here. In honor of the event, we asked the authors to share their thoughts on the importance of storytime. Here’s what Joe and Matt had to say.

Joe McKendry: Even before I had kids I had started a pretty good collection of children's books that served as inspiration for the books I was aspiring to create. Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House was the main inspiration for my book One Times Square. Burton's book chronicles the story of a house that remains unchanged even as the landscape changes around it. I began to see the subject of my book One Times Square (where the famed New Year's ball drops atop its roof each year) as The Little House. When it was built in 1904 it was the tallest building around, but over time it became overrun and dwarfed by the surrounding buildings. So even though what I ended up producing was a much different book, both in illustration style and subject matter, my guide was a simple but powerful children's book.

Matt Tavares: When I was a kid, story time was always a highlight of my day, and now that I'm a parent (and a children's book author), it still is. Whether it's reading with my daughters at the end of a long day, or reading to a room full of kids, there is something so special about taking the time to get lost in a story together.