Rare Book Monthly
Articles - September - 2008 Issue
Bookselling: Making it Personal
The 12th-century Theological Hall of the Strahov Abbey Library, Prague.
About a week later, the man called again. I recognized his name immediately. He told me that he had been taking care of his dying mother for 9 months, and that she had wanted him to read the book to her. The book arrived in time; she died the following morning. He was calling to thank us.
I became emotional and it was difficult to speak. He was calm. He had spent 9 months accepting her death and felt a calmness about it, he said. We hung out on the phone for a few minutes before saying goodbye.
The next day, a new email comes in from an entirely different customer, exuberant. "Who is this woman?" the email rhetorically says. She loves the packaging, the recycled paper, the postcard of my grandmother. And moreover, she is full of information and links to a wonderful website with pictures of fabulous libraries worldwide. And she is interested in textiles and mathematics. And she is an author.
I have to print this one out. I answer it quickly with more information. Just a quick business-type email won't do. I'm still working on a letter. It is one of those flash-connections that occasionally happen on the Web.
Other emails follow: a brief note from a gentleman out West who is studying the history of his family and has purchased a New England genealogical book. A query, followed by a sale, of a set of the writings of an early US president, combined with a request for help in developing a library of works that are related to his research. A now-daily telephone call from a friend, who bought some works by another American president, and now is working with me on an annotated bibliography to be published by Clock & Rose Press.
Why do these transactions turn into relationships and connections that enrich us beyond monetary profit? It is hard to say exactly. I think that certainly taking care that the information and the order are handled as well as possible creates a meaningful communication. Posting our contact information says we encourage dialogue. Adding a note or a question to a confirmation is another way in which we reach out.
Or maybe, something else is happening in the ether between us and our customers and the books.
In any event, when I feel bogged down, or overworked, I remember that we have chosen not to just sell widgets. It is a bit more work to go beyond just good transactions, and to make bookselling personal, but that is the only way we want to do it.
Renée Magriel Roberts can be reached at renee@roses-books.com.
