Episode 13: Shop Talk

In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, booksellers Asia Jannah and Nicole Ban chronicle their respective bookselling experience and share insight on the daily operations of working at Watchung Booksellers.

Asia Jannah was born and raised in Montclair, and has worked at Watchung Booksellers for a total of 9 years. She is currently the gift buyer for the flagship location. Her favorite genres include dark fiction, short stories, essays and memoirs. When she’s not at the bookstore arranging displays or inquiring about customer’s current reads, she enjoys knitting, crafting, and of course, reading.

Nicole Ban is a lifelong New Jersey resident who began her bookstore career fresh out of high school at B. Dalton. After a long standing tenure at Montclair Book Center, Nicole made the leap to Watchung Booksellers in 2006. She quickly established herself as the store’s resident problem-solver and tech trouble shooter, titles she holds to this day. Her favorite fiction genre is mysteries. Nicole lives in Montclair with her wife, two school-aged daughters, dog, and cat.

Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here. 

Resources:

Montclair Book Center

ABA Winter Institute 

Skyline Chili 

Bookmanager 

Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.

Register for Upcoming Events.

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Silver Stream Studio in Montclair, NJ.

The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell and Bree Testa. Special thanks to Timmy Kellenyi and Derek Mattheiss.

Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica.

Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.

Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!

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Transcript

Marni: Hello everybody and welcome back to the Watchung Bookseller's Podcast. I'm Marni and I'm here with Kathryn. Hi Marni. How you doing? Great. What are you, uh, reading? I am reading a bunch of books, starting and stopping, but one that I just started that I hope to keep on reading because it's already that good is Sally Rooney's, um, uh, The latest book that's not out until late September and it's called Intermezzo.

Marni: And it's very good. And I'm going to pass it on to you when I'm done. All right. How about you? 

Kathryn: Cool. Cool. Cool. I am in the middle of reorganizing and painting my office. So I'm moving all my books around and I found this gift from my mom from 1998. And it's the bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. We had both read The Blue Flower because at the time, When I was working at HarperCollins, Maurice Sendak's editor told us that The Blue Flower was his favorite book.

Kathryn: So my mom and I both read it and loved it and then she bought me the bookshop and somehow it ended up on my shelf and I've never read it. So that's what I'm doing right now and I thought it was kind of the perfect book to read for today's 

Marni: episode. Super cool. So we've been getting some inquiries about all of our amazing booksellers who actually make Watchung booksellers so special.

Marni: So we thought today we would bring you Some shop talk with Asia Jannah and Nicole Ban. 

Kathryn: Yeah, Asia Jannah was born and raised in Montclair and has worked at Watchung Booksellers for a total of nine years. She is currently the gift buyer for the flagship location at 54 Fairfield. Her favorite genres include dark fiction, short stories, essays, and memoirs.

Kathryn: When she's not at the bookstore arranging displays or inquiring about customers current reads, she enjoys knitting, crafting, and of course, reading. 

Marni: And she'll be in conversation with Nicole Ban. Nicole's a lifelong New Jersey resident who began her bookstore career fresh out of high school at B. Dalton.

Marni: After a long standing tenure at Montclair Book Center, Nicole made the leap to Watchung booksellers in 2006. She quickly established herself as the store's resident problem solver and tech troubleshooter, titles she holds to this day. Her favorite fiction genre is mysteries. Nicole lives in Montclair with her wife, two school aged daughters, dog, and cat.

Kathryn: Enjoy the conversation, and we'll be back afterward to fill you in on what's coming up in the store.

Asia: I am Asia. I'm 26 years old, and I've been at Watchung Booksellers for about 9 years now. 

Nicole: Hey there, this is Nicole. I'm like Asia, I'm not going to tell you my age. But I will say I've been a bookseller for 35 years. Long time. 35 years. Long time. Long time. I was, um, I was sold that, um, um, One of the questions, like, how did you become a bookseller?

Nicole: And I think for me, it's just, you know, I always loved to read. I started as a huge reader growing up. I would ride my bike to the library and just hang out there all day. I love it. Yeah, it's great. My parents thought I was the strangest person on earth because I grew up in a family of non readers. So did I.

Nicole: Did you? Really? Yeah. I had no idea. My mother would usually say, What are you doing? 

Asia: Yeah. Why are you reading? My mom's side of the family was net, like, no one in my family was a reader, but my grandmother, my dad's mom, used to get me books every year as a gift for my birthday, since I was like three or four years old.

Asia: So I never got any toys or anything from her, I always got a book. So my mom would read to me all the time, and I started reading independently pretty early, but I also was like, Always at the library. I always wanted to go to the bookstore. Whenever I would go out with my mom and kids would be like, I wanna go to the toy store.

Asia: I'd be like, can we go to the bookstore? Can we go to the library? Yeah. I love getting new books. 

Nicole: I think Karma a little Taylor Swift throw in there. No, I love her. Maybe she's listening. Move over Travis. Hi. Tell her move over Travis. My, my, I have two girls and uh, they hate reading and I really, it's. Like, nothing hurts me more.

Nicole: Like, I feel like that's like a solid burn. Solid burn? It's like the worst thing that could have ever happened. 

Asia: As a parent. When you get older though, they might like it more. Because I read a ton when I was a kid, and then when I got to high school I like stopped reading. But I started reading again once I started working at the bookstore.

Asia: So I was like, wow, I'm around books all the time. So now I can read 

Nicole: again. Yeah, but that's because in high school you're like told what to read. Yeah. It's really, it's your choice, it's, it's, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, so I would read a lot, and then my first job ever was at a food town supermarket. I think it was 14.

Nicole: It was like, I can walk there, it was like down the street. And it was bananas, because back in the day, when you were at the cashier, and there was no price, I literally had to run to like the dairy section and look for the price. Oh my god, to look. There was no, everyone else was like, What's the price on?

Nicole: And like, the people manager like did nothing. Like, so people would just stand around. I was like, I have got to get out of here. Oh my 

god. 

Asia: I 

Nicole: didn't know that. Yeah. So then I got my driver's license because I'm a December baby. So I was held back a year for school. So I had my driver's license before anyone else.

Nicole: That was probably the coolest thing about me in high school. Like, I was driving before everyone else. Yeah, that was really the only cool thing. I'm sure there were more cool things. There was not. And so, I drove over to Willowbrook Mall. And at the time, Willowbrook Mall had not one, but two bookstores. Wow.

Nicole: B. Dalton, which was transformed into Barnes Noble. That was their, I guess their mall store. Yeah. And then, Walden Books. Do you remember them? No. No. No. Two bookstores. And so I, uh, applied and I got a job at B. Dalton. It was right outside of Macy's. And that was, yeah, it was actually a lot of fun because it was all, like, older people, so I thought they were kind of cool.

Nicole: Like, it was, it was in high school. Yeah. Like, I had no life. Besides driving. Besides driving. I think I was the Uber of my time. I just didn't charge anyone. Which was interesting working for Now, like, looking back, seeing how it was run, it was very different than it is now. You would get, like, they call them dumps.

Nicole: Which is, like, huge displays. Of like, Harlequin romances, and Oh, like at the airport? Yeah, or whatever the new Star Trek book was. Like, unlike where we are now, you had no student order books. Like, someone ordered them. And so I probably ever struggled with the same crap. I remember thinking like, What is this?

Nicole: Who reads this? So from there, so I was there for like four years. And then, yeah, and then I went to work at Moncler Book Center. That was my childhood bookstore. Yeah, cue 

Asia: the music. That's where I went all the time when I was a kid. We used to walk from my old house off of Forest Street. We used to walk to Glamour Avenue.

Nicole: You probably saw me. Probably. Yeah. You probably did. I think those were like my college years. Cause I didn't go to college. So I think like working there was like all the cool people. Like I was like, they're so cool. Yeah. Like creative types. Yeah. It is a, yeah. At the time. Now it's like. I don't know what it is now, but that's what, for me, it was very much like a, like a learning experience.

Nicole: Yeah. As far as like, there, it's like, I walked in and it's like, books everywhere. It was kind of a dump, quite honestly. It was like a mess. I feel like that's part of the charm of the show. You know how I feel about a mess. Yeah, Nicole doesn't like a mess. Doesn't like a mess, but everything there's no reason for a mess.

Nicole: Yeah, never never never and so I went there and I was like, why are these books piled on the floor? And they're like, well, we just got we just bought them. So they're just here. I'm like we'll price them Like why don't they just sit do something like they've been here for I've started and there's been here for weeks But I actually remember when I went I was like, are you hiring?

Nicole: They're like Maybe. I was like, well, are you hiring or not? I'm like, I kind of need to know, because I need a job. And so they let me start part time, so I worked actually two jobs. I worked two jobs a lot. I was never a one job kind of person. What was your second job? A bookstore. I worked at B. Dolan. Oh, you worked at the same time.

Nicole: Oh, okay. Oh yeah, like I would work, whenever the shift was, like I would work half and half. Yeah. And so, I was there for Yeah, 15 years. And then I made my way to Watchung. Watchung Booksellers. Where I've been for 17 years. I don't know, does that add up? 4 plus 15 plus 17. Does that make 35? I don't know. If you say it does, it does.

Nicole: We're not here to do math. Mental math is not really my thing. We're readers. We're not readers. We're here for that. 

Asia: Wendy, you started in high school, no? I started working when I was 17. It was the summer right before I graduated. So I graduated in 2016. At the bookstore you 

Nicole: started. 

Asia: Yeah. So you were one of our quote, like, high school students.

Asia: I was one of the high schoolers. You know want to know 

Nicole: something? I don't remember you either. 

Asia: Yeah, well we never worked the same days. Cause I've worked, my days were Sunday and Thursday. And every time someone would bring your name up, I would be like, who is that? I never worked with you. You only worked Sunday and Thursday?

Asia: What kind of shift is that? There was three of us and we all had two days a week. And then we rotated Saturdays. And I don't think you were working weekends, so I never worked shifts with you. No wonder why you still like me. I always love you, Nicole. Yeah, I had never had a job before I worked at the bookstore.

Asia: And so, my best friend at the time in high school, his mom was trying to get him to get a job. And he was like, well, I really don't want to work this job, but you should apply to work at Watchung Booksellers. And I was like, sure. And because I had only gone to Montclair Book Center when I was a kid, I had like only been at Watchung probably like once before I started working there.

Asia: I went once with my grandma during Christmas time, that was when the office was still in the back of the bookstore. Oh my gosh. So, I'd only, like, gone in once before that. Really? It 

Nicole: was that? When it was that? 

Asia: Yeah. 

Nicole: So who hired you then? 

Asia: Carolyn. Yeah. Carolyn, that's right. She did it. She did. But she, yeah, Carolyn hired me.

Asia: I applied, and I went in, and I don't think I knew what I was expecting, but I know after I was done the interview, I was like, oh my god, I really hope I get that job. I was like, I love it, I really hope I get it. And I remember Carolyn called me during school so I had to leave class to listen to my voicemail.

Asia: When she called me back and told me that I got the job and I was very excited. So I started, my first event was, that was the first time I worked, I worked an event. It was a cookbook event that we did with three cookbook authors. It was pretty cool. Cookbook? Yeah and it was, There was a lot going on, and I didn't know what to expect, and it was all over the place.

Nicole: Was it all you thought it would be? I was like, wow, love it. The Carolyn, the Did she paint the What would she say? She's like, it's not just, uh, you know, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna set the, set it straight here. We do not read all day. We do not sit and read all day. We don't do that. 

Asia: If that would be the dream job.

Asia: Yeah, but it's a lot of work. We don't just sit and read books all day at the bookstore. 

Nicole: We're actually working, guys. Oh, jeez. Yeah. So who did you work with, then? Who was the other high school students? Because we always hire, what, like, between three? There were three. 

Asia: This was the first year that we did four, but it was always three of us.

Asia: So it was me, Will Axelrod, and That's cool. I remember Will. Yeah. And Margo. Margo Drucker. Little Margo. 

Nicole: Little Margo. Yeah, I remember them very clearly. You, not so much. 

Asia: Yeah. I think they worked days with you. We always were two ships passing in the night. I never worked shifts with 

Nicole: you. I think that's one of the, like, the nice Actually, over the years, I've seen, like, these groups of teens heading out into the world, like, right before they leave for somewhere, not always college, but yeah, go off somewhere.

Nicole: And I couldn't stay away. I came back. 

Asia: That's right. You did come back, didn't you? I did. I went to school for two years. I went to school in Connecticut and I was back, like all my breaks, I was back. Winter break, over the summer I came back and worked. And then in 2018 when I left school, I came back to the bookstore full time.

Asia: So I've been full time since 2018. So it's about, that's what, six years now? Wow. Living the dream. Well, it's, for a long time it was the only job I ever had, and I was like, it's the best. What would you say is the best part of the job? Seeing Nicole. No, uh, you know what? It's kind of hard because there's actually I know what my answer is.

Asia: There's, there's a lot of parts of the job that I like, but I like, and Nicole knows this, I love looking at what's coming out. I love looking at new books. I love seeing front lists, like, seeing what we got, what's going out, that's, it's exciting for me. I love that. 

Nicole: I think it's true of probably almost everyone at the store, it's like, it's not a love of reading, I mean it is, but it's like a love of books.

Nicole: Yeah. We love books, we love acquiring books. If it's free, like, how can you say no? 

Yeah. 

Nicole: Like, when something comes damaged, we can't return it to the publisher. So, it's like, here's some free stuff, and maybe I'll read it. Yeah. I'll, I have to, it's free, I have to take it. Well, 

Asia: that's, 

Nicole: you know, I'm the galley 

Asia: hoarder, so that's You are the galley, yeah.

Asia: I am, 

Nicole: I'm the galley hoarder. 

Asia: Do you want to explain what a galley is? So, a galley is There's also another word for it like I feel like more well like an ARC I feel like a lot of people call it the ARC the advanced reading copy that's more of what people I feel like a lot more people say that than 

Nicole: do they say ARC maybe galley is like an old timey phrase yeah it's a 

Asia: I don't know maybe I think saying galley is more fun but it's a copy of a publication that we get before the book actually comes out so we can read it a lot of times booksellers read galleys so that we know what to say when the book comes out we can sell it there are opportunities for us to To nominate Books for India Awards to get them in the little pamphlets that we put in, the bags that everybody gets, which we never do.

Asia: I'm not gonna say we, I, I, I never don't think I've ever done it 

Nicole: either because it's, it's. It's too 

Asia: time restrictive. Yeah. You don't get a lot of time. You have to read the book, like, do the review, you have to get it sent in, get it edited and everything, so it's a lot to do in a short amount of time. It is a lot to do.

Asia: But the publishers send us, not of every book, as amazing as that would be, but it's most books that we get advanced copies of that we can read them before the book comes out. 

Nicole: But it's nice, like, we, I think, we have good relationships with most of the sales reps, and so that, I think, I know there was something I wanted recently, I'll give it a shot.

Nicole: Shout out to Kim Gambar, HarperCollins rep. I wanted the Kathleen Hanna autobiography, Rebel Girl, and she sent me a copy. So that was really sweet. That was really nice. It's important to have those kind of relationships with your sales reps. Definitely. Well, yes, for those perks. But 

Asia: for other reasons, too.

Asia: For other reasons, too. I'll also give a shout out to Tim Heff. Yay! Woohoo! 

Nicole: Um, he said Wow, 

Asia: what did you get? Well, we wanted the Amanda Montel book. I thought you had that. I do, but he sent it because I begged him. I was like, Tim, please send me this. 

Nicole: Didn't he send you like five of them? Three. I have one too, so he must have sent more.

Asia: Oh, yeah. Oh, I think I get I don't know what I do with mine, but I think I take 

Nicole: his I think I forward as many galleys 

Asia: Yeah, but you actually read them. I don't really read mine. That is not true. I don't read them right away, but I read them eventually. But odds are if someone's looking for a galley, I probably have it.

Asia: Or Nicole probably has it. 

Nicole: Maybe. Maybe. So if I do have a galley, what do I take? I take mostly mysteries. I love a good, dare I say, literary mystery. Only because Don't laugh at me, Asia. Well, there are, there's some mysteries that are just a little bit too light. A little too fluff. That's fair. . So I don't want to Cozy mystery.

Nicole: Actually. I like cozy. There are certain ones Cozy. Cozy is like the new. Like I think, I think within mysteries, like they have like, certain times or certain types of mysteries are popular. And I think this is the era of the cozy. Or funny, or like it's just, it's not so detective heavy. Or someone asked for spy and espionage mysteries, and I'm like, I don't know.

Nicole: Like, John LeCorey. I mean, I know that, yeah, exactly. I mean, I know who writes what, but there are no new authors writing that, that style. And fiction, I guess. And cookbooks. You know, I do recommend cookbooks. I don't use cookbooks at all. But I do, I like them for inspiration, so I'll like glance through the cookbooks and, yeah.

Nicole: And I think recipe looks good. Like the soup soup book. Yeah, like the soup book. But I'm, I'm actually always amazed how many people buy cookbooks they do. 

Asia: I feel like the really funny thing that we do is like the pass along where it, someone's asking about a section we don't know a lot about. It's like, well, I don't know anything about this, but Nicole knows so much about cookbooks, so when you're not there, I'm like.

Asia: Nicole loves this one by this one. Everyone's like, 

Nicole: okay. Yeah. 

Asia: Mysteries too. 

Nicole: What cookbook 

Asia: would you 

Nicole: say? I just want to make sure you're 

Asia: representing me. No, like, the soup cookbook that you did for Friday Favorites that one time. Everybody was coming and looking for soup. Or like if there's some that you, Sometimes you'll put out on display and you're like, Oh, I really like this one, or this one looks really good.

Asia: Then it's easy to recommend. It's easy to spot a bad one. 

Nicole: Is it easy to spot a bad one? Is it the cover? Well, the cover, the photographs, if they're all like grainy, ugh. Yeah. If it's not in US measurements. Oh. Oh, that makes a bad cookbook? Yeah, because who's going to be like, oh. You have to convert it.

Nicole: Convert it to centimeter. Or milliliter. Like, no one knows that. No one knows that. If you're using a cookbook because you want to make the recipe true to what it's supposed to be, then you're not going to look that stuff up. Interesting. 

Asia: I don't use cookbooks either, so this is all helpful information to me.

Nicole: You also don't cook, Asia. 

Asia: I don't. That's why I don't use them. 

Nicole: Well, you always say, what do you read? Fiction. Fiction is such a broad, I, yes. 

Asia: Well, it's such a cop out fiction. I feel like I read the fiction that no one else wants to read. Like I'm reading , I'm reading, I read a lot of darker fiction. I definitely wanna read that

Asia: So I read a lot of, no one else wants to, but I want to. Yeah. I love to read a story about an unhinged woman. That's my favorite narrative. Really? Unhinged. Yeah, like unlikable characters. In a sense, I really do like that because it keeps the story interesting. Especially if you have to follow that character thought the whole thing.

Asia: It's just like one central person. I think it makes it interesting. 

Nicole: But I thought you didn't like first person. 

Asia: I don't like first person point of view. And of course, 

Nicole: as of course, what did I say to Asia when she said that? What do you mean? What's that? 

Asia: Yeah, I was like, what? She was like, what do you mean first person?

Asia: I'm like, well, well, also I feel like a lot of mysteries though are in first person point of view. 

Nicole: They, uh, they are. Maybe that's why I had no idea what you were talking about, like, I'm just, that's what I read. So I wouldn't know any other person. Yeah. 

Asia: Than the first person. No, I'm a, I'm a very, like, third person omniscient.

Asia: That's my favorite. Love that. Third person limited. Then who's telling the story? Like, how does that story begin? Well, that's the omniscient part. It's like the, an unnamed narrator is telling the story. So it's like from an outside perspective. So someone's recounting it. 

Nicole: That's what I like. I've read something that was like that recently.

Nicole: And I can't remember what it is. 

Asia: Yeah. I like that because it's interesting to see, like, what everyone is thinking. Usually with first person you can't get that. Because 

Nicole: But what if, I mean, what if there's multiple first people? 

Asia: Oh, like multiple person point of view? I don't like that either. 

Nicole: Really? Like a chapter, each person?

Nicole: Ugh. Each giving their, like, their interp like, observation on the same thing? 

Asia: Yeah. No. 

Nicole: Really? Don't like 

Asia: that. But that's life. I feel like that slows the story down, though. Like, every chapter is some part, like, you've already gone through the situation, and then someone else is telling it, and I'm like, Well, I already know about that part.

Asia: Like, tell me something else. I am a picky reader. I am. I have a short attention span. I have to be choosy, but I do like, I like a lot of fiction. I also read a lot of essays. I love essay collections, especially I like literary criticism, cultural criticism. I think stuff like that is really entertaining to read.

Asia: And I do read some memoirs. Some memoir. But it has to be somebody interesting. 

Nicole: Everyone is interesting. Well, I was just going to say, everyone thinks they're interesting. Yeah. Sometimes I'm like Everyone thinks they're interesting. Yeah. I'm working on my memoir right now, actually. Well, can't wait for that.

Nicole: I just started it. Started it at the bookstore. You're like, I just started it on this legal pad right now. That's right. On all these jotted notes. It's on my phone, actually. It's the best place to write, actually, is on your phone. It is. That's where Taylor Swift writes her songs. See? And 

Asia: look at where she is.

Nicole: I know, right? So, what else do we want to talk about? Do you want to talk about work now? 

Asia: Aren't we talking about work? What we actually do at the bookstore instead of reading all day. What 

Nicole: do we actually do at the bookstore? But it's like, okay, today's Monday. What do we do on Monday? Well, I'm not there on Monday.

Nicole: I know, exactly. I was Um, sorry, I don't work on Monday. Sorry to the rest of the working world, I have Monday off. Well, Monday is, uh, ordering day. So any order, special customer orders that were taken over the weekend, everything that was sold, gets reviewed and ordered. That's about it. Like, Monday's like a quiet day.

Asia: Yeah. 

Nicole: For sure. 

Asia: One day is, I feel like, the reset day of what happens over the weekend. 

Nicole: For sure, you check all emails, anything that was kind of left over from Friday. Yeah. Calling publishers, yadda yadda yadda. Then Tuesday? Tuesday. It's a new title. Tuesday. Woo! Woo! And you're not there for that. I know. So then Asia has taken over display, so like when we get new stuff in, I'm like, well, let me just move this.

Nicole: Yeah. Nicole puts them out. 

Asia: I put them out. And I come in the next day and go, looks great! Looks great. 

Nicole: That is fun though, you know, just make new, change things around. Tuesday, Wednesday, I mean, and then every day we get shipments. We receive orders, I mean, 

Asia: yeah. It's a lot of, I don't know what the right word to use for this is.

Asia: Not necessarily tedious, but it's like, it's just not work that I feel like people come in and they're like, we like sit at the computer all day too, like that's what we do sometimes too. It is very computer heavy, yes. Yeah. It's a lot of computer work. So you have to do all the ordering online, we do all the receiving in the computers.

Asia: So when the books come in, we scan them in, make sure they go in the system. We put labels on them, we put them out. I think, well, I love receiving, I think it's fun. 

Nicole: You know what my favorite thing is? When someone walks in and they're usually a little, um, embarrassed, and they're like, I don't remember the title, and I don't remember the author.

Nicole: Best challenger. I love, that is like, makes my day. It actually is the best challenger. That is, best day ever. 

Asia: Like, I love that. Because the satisfaction you get when you actually get it right, or when someone, sometimes they'll give you part of the title, or like they mix up a few words, and you're like, well, did you mean this?

Asia: They're like, yes, exactly. That's 

Nicole: like when you have no information. That's like the best thing. At least it makes, you know. Or it's like, it was in the book review, Detective work. Blue cover. Book detectives. So if you come into the bookstore next time, putting it out there, pretend like you don't know any information about what you're looking for, and you will make our day a little bit more exciting.

Nicole: It is very exciting. 

Asia: Also because a lot of times it's like four of us doing it at the same time. Oh yeah, everyone, everyone jumps 

Nicole: in. Yeah. To like, beat the clock. Yeah. galleys, or also known as galleys. Everyone descends. Runs to the galaxy. It is 

Asia: like watching a pack of vultures go down on something. Oh yeah, when 

Nicole: UPS comes and I'm dividing the boxes.

Nicole: Like, you know, making sure each shipment is together. If there's a galley box, that's what I open first. 

Asia: Yeah. 

Nicole: I'm like, 

Asia: what's that? 

Nicole: Anything good? What's in there? I'll look through it. Yeah. Sometimes I kind of do it on the sly so I can pick out what's good first. 

Asia: That's why sometimes when I'm like, I'm looking for this book, you're like, oh, I have it.

Nicole: Well, Miss, I take off Monday, Tuesday. Those are two prime days. What do you expect? I take off Thursday. Nothing happens on Thursday. But you get, I mean, what else? You do fun. You get to order gifts. That's fun. I do. I just recently 

Asia: started doing that. That is a very fun part of the job. 

Nicole: Super fun, I love them so.

Nicole: Which is when that stuff comes 

Asia: in. Yeah, when gifts come in, it's very exciting to see. They're called, technically I guess they're called sidelines, but I don't really like to call them that because they're not off to the side, nobody considers them sidelines. They're just as important. So it's everything, it's I guess a gift implies you're 

Nicole: giving it as a gift to someone.

Nicole: Yeah. 

Asia: But it's like puzzles, games, yeah. Socks. Exactly. Socks, candles, mini microphones, we have it all. I've seen so 

Nicole: much fun. I think my favorite, which we haven't had in many, many years, was the yodeling pickle. I don't even know if I 

Asia: was there for that. 

Nicole: You were not. And then we had like the queen that would wave.

Nicole: Remember the waving queen? Oh, the solar. The solar queen. Yes. That I do remember. I don't 

Asia: remember. 

Nicole: I don't know about that, about the yodeling pickle. We had a yodeling pickle, I swear. If Margo was here, she would say yes, I remember that. 

Asia: I do remember we used to have around Halloween the canned laughter.

Asia: When you put, when you open the top it laughs. That I do remember though. Can't soup of 

Nicole: laughter. Maybe bring that back. Maybe, yeah. And do you go, get to go on trips? Didn't you go somewhere recently? For, for gifts or just in general? Oh, for books, yeah. So we It's a little perk there, isn't it? Yes. 

Asia: We recently went to Winter Institute, which happens every year.

Asia: In beautiful where? In beautiful Cincinnati, Ohio. Travis is from there. Just watch it. No, it's actually a really cute city. I've never been to Ohio before, so that was my first time going, but it was really, really fun. You get to learn a lot about the ins and outs of book selling, of buying, selling, some more administrative stuff like spreadsheets, finances, budgeting, all that.

Asia: They're jam packed days of information about books. And it's really cool. You get to sit in large rooms with A bunch of other booksellers. And don't you get free books too? People are just like, you Don't you get free 

Nicole: books too? Yes. There's a galley room. Oh, an entire man conference room. You didn't even, you should have FaceTimed me.

Nicole: Well, we brought everything back to the store. I didn't want any of that . 

Asia: That's all we had. That's all 

Nicole: what they had. No, you got good stuff. You keep the good stuff for yourself. I know you. What is Cincinnati known for? Do you know? Did they say? 

Asia: I don't know, but one of our customers who has been to Cincinnati many times said that it's famous for Skyline Chili.

Asia: But we did not get an opportunity to have Skyline Chili, so we missed that. If that's what Ohio is known for, we missed it. 

Nicole: Yeah. Yeah, I think that's another, like, the customers make it the conversations we have. Yes. It makes the job feel special. I think that's probably one of my top favorite things about working with them.

Nicole: Yeah, because they feel like, I mean, they know you to a certain extent. Yeah. Just the good things about you. Well, unless you choose to tell them something bad. Like, I always ask about my kids, like, how are they doing, and And so, yeah. Like, sometimes people call and wish us happy birthday, it's very sweet.

Nicole: And I even got a great quote today from a customer, I wrote it down, cause I told her I would. Okay. She said, What other people think of me is none of my business. That 

Asia: is a great quote. 

Nicole: Isn't that good? Patti Strom. Oh, love it, yes. That's perfect. A little shout out. I know, and I know Patty might listen, so.

Nicole: One of our favorite 

Asia: customers. 

Nicole: We have a lot. I think everyone has, like, the person that they kind of, like, talk to for quite. Talk to the most, yeah. Yeah, talk to the most. 

Asia: Yeah. It's usually someone who's, like, not all the time, but it's usually someone who you know from helping them with recommendations or suggestions or something, so you know you have a lot, like, that part in common.

Asia: So you can relate on that as well through 

Nicole: books, which is nice. It is nice. Yeah. So how has book selling changed? I haven't known, I mean I've been doing this a long time. 

Asia: I feel like you, like you are a better person to. How has it changed? Have a perspective on that. The only thing that I feel like has majorly changed since I've started working there is our point of sales system.

Asia: When we got book manager. Because we used to do everything manually, literally everything. Yeah, I 

Nicole: do feel like that book manager was, is. Life changing. Yeah. I feel like I've like gained time. Yeah. Like I said, everything took so much time to do and now I'm like, oh, well what do I do now? Yeah. And I actually get to like streamlines everything.

Nicole: Yeah. I get to like. Straighten my section and display things and do things that I wouldn't normally do. Yeah, like kind of makes it sound like I'm meandering around the store, but I am. I'm just walking around. Because I don't always get to see what comes in. Well, that's important, 

Asia: too. So that we, I mean, we have to know what's in the store also, so we have to have time to take to Look around because not all of us are there every single day.

Asia: So when things come in, you kind of have to, that's what I do on Wednesdays after my days off. I come in, I look around all the tables, see what new titles are out. And try to see like, what's coming up this month, what displays can we put out, make sure all the gifts are out. So you do have to take a look around.

Asia: Yeah. To make sure things are 

Nicole: I'm really surprised that romance made a comeback, I have to say. Yeah, that's also a major change. 

Asia: Huge change. 

Nicole: Horror as well. Horror is really Horror, our horror chef used to be Stephen King. Only Stephen King. Stephen King, maybe an H. P. Lovecraft. You know, in the classics. And 

Asia: World War Z.

Nicole: That was it. And World War Z. That was it. Anne Rice, maybe an Anne Rice. Yeah. But it was really, I mean, it was all Stephen King. I mean, he also has like a million books. Yeah. But there are so many, they're publishing so many new authors in that genre. It is really 

Asia: Yeah. It's very interesting to see that section grow, and also to have a romance section 

Nicole: now, which we Well, we did actually.

Nicole: We did. We did. That was what we did. That was like huge. I'm trying to think, I think what we called romance at the time. 

Yeah. 

Nicole: Now would just be considered fiction. Just fiction. 

Asia: Yeah. 

Nicole: Like Ellen Hildebrand or like Daniel 

Asia: Steele 

Nicole: or Kristen Hannah. We, well, we have to get the Daniel still because there's, there's the one person, one customer that always buys it.

Nicole: So you have, you can almost, you have to, yeah. Just like you have to get James Patterson, but I'm trying to think, what was the book that made romance? Was it Colleen Hoover? Do I dare say her name? 

Asia: Yeah, actually. Colleen Hoover started getting really popular. Like, that was why we, it was almost like, that was like our new horror section.

Asia: It was like, our romance was only Colleen Hoover instead of it just being Stephen King. But we didn't 

Nicole: even call it romance. What did we call new adult? New adult. That was new adult. So it was supposed to be between young adult and adult contemporary. I call, I was, I always thought of it in my head as books that make old people feel old.

Nicole: New Atoll. Books that make old people 

Asia: feel 

Nicole: old. We 

Asia: should make a section that's called 

Nicole: that. That would 

Asia: be kind of amazing. 

Nicole: It would be. Yeah. So there's that. 

Asia: Romance. I've also seen a lot of, I don't know if you think this too, but like the celebrity memoir. So many celebrity memoirs now, I feel like.

Asia: Especially this year. There's been a lot. They have a lot to say. Yes. Apparently so. That's easy money. I guess so. They're 

Nicole: not writing it. Yeah, I was gonna say, 

Asia: because they're really not writing it. But yeah, that's one thing I've noticed too. 

Nicole: But they all don't sell. They don't sell though. Not everyone is as interesting as they think they are.

Nicole: See, what you said earlier, you said everyone thinks they're interesting. But they're not. I don't want to name drop, but I will, but Will? No, I was gonna say his wife, Jada. Yeah, no, Jada Pinkett Smith. Sorry. Nope. Kerry Washington, too. Didn't really. Didn't sound one. Yeah, no. And I love her, but I don't think I want to read about her.

Yeah. 

Nicole: Britney. Britney, though. I told I, I said, everyone's like, we've ordered a case of Britney. I was like, of course. Yeah, it's Britney bleep. I think COVID also changed a lot. Yeah, I think it changed how people choose to buy books because we were never an internet bookstore. That's 

Asia: true. But then over. Yeah, when COVID happened, we got.

Asia: You were, I mean, obviously primarily only web orders. Mostly, actually. It was kind of a huge change. Well, unless you wanted to talk to someone 

Nicole: on the phone and describe each book that you wanted to see. Yeah, 

Asia: but that was a huge change to, like, go from having, like, two web orders every, I don't know how many days.

Asia: Week. A 

Nicole: week. Like, one a week, maybe. They were always the same customer, too. Yeah, but then that was all we had, were all online orders. We had to 

Asia: process everything online. 

Nicole: Yeah, but I think after, you know, once people started coming in the store again, I think people continued to buy online. 

Asia: Yeah. 

Nicole: For the convenience.

Asia: I mean, there's still, obviously, like, I feel like everybody, Not maybe prefers, but I think a lot of people like to come in and talk to us and see us and see what's there and like come in to buy their books, not read them online. 

Nicole: I'm also noticing a lot of younger folk. Yeah. Where did they come from?

Nicole: Because Montclair State's been there quite a while, so I don't know where they're deciding. I don't know if like they're reading more. Yeah. Well, I think also the internet 

Asia: has a lot of influence on reading is cool again. Let's read it. Yeah, I still don't know what book talk is. Oh, that's like a whole other episode for But I think that has a really big influence too especially books that have been out for a long time like the Nightingale actually has Had a huge spike, the Kristen Hanna book.

Asia: Really? Yeah, because someone online was like, this is the best book I've ever read. But who is this someone and why do people care? 

Nicole: I don't know. No, it's just like tick tock Like it's just a person, someone. 

Asia: Yeah, it could be anyone. A lot of people have built like a huge following off of book reviews, what they think about, certain authors, Genres, like I feel like genre fiction has blown up a lot.

Asia: So like, I mean there's always been a huge sci fi fantasy following But there's a lot more fantasy. Romanticy, it's called now. There were like all the That's right. So yeah, what 

Nicole: is that again? Oh, romance fantasy. Yeah, 

Asia: so that's Sarah, Sarah J Maas, Fourth Wing, all those. Yeah, so that's like also a huge development too.

Asia: A lot more people are reading fantasy it feels like. I think in a way it's really cool, it's like a lot of influence where a lot of books that maybe haven't been so popular over the years are getting more attention. I notice how we're 

Nicole: not talking about non fiction. For me non fiction is like, either you want to learn about something or you don't.

Nicole: Nope, 

Asia: I said essays and memoirs, I put my bit in. Oh, please. So that's the only non fiction I read, sorry. Sorry to our non fiction audience. I agree, I feel like it's, you read it because you want to learn something. 

Nicole: Yeah, either you have an interest in World War II or you don't. 

Asia: Or any, like, narrative history, anything like that.

Asia: Social issues, politics, all those sections. But what 

Nicole: are you reading now, Nicole? What am I reading right now? No, I just finished Knife River. It was really, really well done. I can't remember the other one. I actually keep a list on my phone, Asia, for the feeble minded. So do I. What are you reading right 

Asia: now?

Asia: I can't remember. I am reading right now an essay collection by Morgan Parker, who is a poet, and I love all of her poetry, so I decided to read her essays. It's just recently out, just came out the end of March. It's called You Get What You Pay For, so I love the title. It's, it's a very interesting book.

Asia: I'm really enjoying reading it. It's a lot about, you know, Growing up as a black woman in America, so it's very relatable to me, but it's very good. Favorite book? Do you have a 

Nicole: favorite 

Asia: book? I hate that, that question. What's your favorite book? Do I have a favorite book? Every time I tell people my favorite book, I always get laughed at, so I don't know if I want 

Nicole: to share.

Nicole: You must have told me. We've had these questions. Maybe. I mean, we've joked about like what our memoir title of our book would be and stuff like that, so. 

Asia: Well, I have to say my favorite book that I've read is a kid's book because that was, well, yeah, The Lightning Thief is my favorite book. Really? Every time someone asks me that, that's the, always the book I say is The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

Asia: I was obsessed with that series when I was in middle school, and so I still have all my original copies. They're all beaten and battered, like, the third book is missing the cover. Like, I've reread them so many times. I do 

Nicole: like the original covers. Yeah, and what's your favorite book? I don't have a favorite book.

Nicole: Oh, come on. That's I don't. I really don't. I can't. Because then it's all cliche, like, oh, it's Well, 

Asia: what's a, what is a book that you really like that you're like, Oh, I think everyone should read this? 

Nicole: Actually, it's the one that you, uh, recommended was Pew. I think Pew. I think by Kathryn Lacy. is something, I think, yeah, fantastic.

Nicole: I think everyone should read that, so it really makes you think. It is very, it's very well written. And it's just like a, it's like a bite sized little book. It is. So it's not super long. It's not, but it's, it's impactful for sure. Definitely. So I, I tend to like those. I thought, I really loved Tom Lake, the Ann Patchett recently.

Nicole: Even though Ann Patchett fans were like, not happy with it, but I did hear that. 

Kathryn: Yeah. 

Nicole: I thought the idea of a mother reflecting on her life, you know, to her two adult daughters, that could be me someday. 

Good. 

Nicole: Except my life is 35 years of book selling. Something, still something to reflect 

Asia: on. Done, yes. I mean, but.

Asia: I think we all kind of circle through our, not like a top ten, but it's like everyone, it's almost like your mental staff picks. Like, these are like the eight or nine books I'm always recommending 

Nicole: to people. Well that's why we have the staff pick display. 

Asia: We do, yeah. It's important because then people really get a feel for what you 

Nicole: like.

Nicole: Yeah, you really champion for that. 

Asia: I've been fighting for staff pics for a long time. And it now exists. And now that we have the room for it, there it is. Pics. Here to stay. Here to stay. On to the next book. Always. Always on to the next book. Too many books, too little 

Nicole: time. Is that a saying? No, so many books.

Nicole: So many books, so little time? No, I always feel like I have to read what's in 

Asia: I 

Nicole: know. It is, it is a lot of pressure being a 

Asia: bookseller. A lot of people don't understand that. Well, everyone expects you to have read 

Nicole: everything. 

Asia: Yes. So, we can only read so fast, everyone. 

Nicole: Well, we, uh, hope you enjoyed us yammering on.

Nicole: Yapping. Yapping. Is yammering not a phrase? Yeah.

Marni: Thanks, Asia and Nicole. We don't know what we'd do without you. And listeners, you can find all of the books they mention in our show notes and at watchungbooksellers. com. Or just drop by and they'll recommend a great selection of books for you in person. 

Kathryn: On the grown up event side, we are taking August off to rest.

Kathryn: and gear up for our fall programming. But the kids room is as busy as ever with Sunday afternoon author story times, including this week's visit from best selling author Dan Iaccarino, reading from his newest book, The Luna Sisters and Their Amazing Lunafish. And be sure to join the fun in the search for Waldo all throughout Watchung Plaza.

Kathryn: The game continues through July and we'll be having a Waldo and one year birthday party in the kids room on July 31st at 430. 

Marni: Don't forget to register for the Montclair Public Library Foundation's send off. Karaoke party for Janet Torsney on July 25th at Tierney's Tavern here in Montclair. 

Kathryn: You can find out more about all of our upcoming events in our newsletter, show notes, and at watchungbooksellers.

Kathryn: com. Recording and editing at Silverstream Studio in Montclair, New Jersey. Special thanks to Timmy Kellany, Bri Testa, and Derek Mathias. Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Art and design by Evelyn Moulton and research and show notes by Carolyn Shurtleff. Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids Room for their hard work and love of books.

Marni: And thank you for listening. If you enjoy the podcast, please like, follow, and share it. You can follow us on social media, at Watchung Booksellers. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to wbpodcasts at watchungbooksellers. com. We'll 

Kathryn: see you next week. Until then, for the love of books, keep reading.