February 7, 2019
This is, first and foremost, the question that defines my job. As a bookseller, it is my duty to help you find a book (or more than one) that will satisfy you. Whether it’s a specific title or just a general idea of what you need, as long as I can help you in some fashion, my duty is fulfilled.…
November 4, 2017
Welcome to November! I hope that you enjoyed the last little bit of October and our Halloween-flavored shenanigans. November is in full swing here at Speculative Chic, and we intend to enjoy every second of it. Have you kept up with this week? Whether you have or not, I’m here to put all of last week’s links in one handy…
November 2, 2017
Customers that walk into a bookstore may think one of two things when they see someone working there. The first is that the bookseller knows everything. They’ll be able to recommend books to you, figure out the name of the book of which you can only remember part of the title and cover color, and more. The second is that…
October 5, 2017
Walking into a bookstore you’ll find a plethora of categories. Fantasy, science fiction, history, children’s picture books, cookbooks, and so much more. But not every store will have a section for every genre. This includes horror. While horror is still a strong subject, there are plenty of stores out there that tend to put those books into other areas. Some…
September 7, 2017
Booksellers may seem like they live the good life, working in a bookstore, surrounded by books and dragon plushies and hosting the occasional Harry Potter party. But bookselling isn’t always fun and games. Sometimes it can be difficult when you have a customer who just doesn’t have the title right and you’re unable to figure out what it is they…
July 6, 2017
More and more people are discovering books that aren’t with large or small publishers. Rather, they’re print on demand, or POD. These work much differently from the rest of the books you see in the bookstore and, thanks to technology, are becoming more commonplace than ever. There are so many different POD outlets that virtually anyone can publish a book.…
June 1, 2017
People can come into bookstores with some pretty odd notions. Most of the time they’re confusing the bookstore for a library. Other times they just think they know better than the booksellers. But the truth is that the customer is far from right (and whoever coined that phrase clearly never worked in a bookstore — or in any sort of…
April 6, 2017
No, we’re not getting on a giant boat with a lot of animals — that’s an ark. ARC stands for Advance Reading Copy. Or Advance Review Copy. Or Advanced Reader’s Copy. Or you might see ARE for Advance Reader’s Edition. The point is that a book that is labeled as such is an early copy that hasn’t yet hit the…
February 2, 2017
Customers can be…odd. That’s the polite way to put it. For every fantastic or wholly normal customer a bookseller meets, there’s always that one person who has to mess up the day for everyone. Some infractions are minor whereas others can get downright frustrating.
December 1, 2016
We live in the era of the unabashed geek, and it’s wonderful. But what if you’re not into Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, or comic books and you have friends or family that are? What do you buy them for the holidays? Don’t fret — there’s still hope.