I am on vacation. A real vacation, where I have nothing, absolutely nothing to do. The store is in the middle of its two-week holiday, and is closed, so there are no distractions from there with phone calls about book orders or staffing issues. With this much free time I breathe easier. The "shoulds" are silenced for a little while, and that is a huge relief.

So, with nothing pressing on me, I find my thoughts turning to the store in a more relaxed, reflective way.  I have time to really think about some of things that really worked. They were sidelines, handselling and the next book in a series.

It’s always interesting to me how well sidelines do in a bookstore. Our stuffed animals along literary lines work well. It’s fun for folks to buy a gift book and then ribbon a small stuffed animal to the outside of the package. This is best done with a basket of stuffed animals by the register that are all under $8. Funky toys, silly trinkets and funny cards are good sellers. The New Yorker cards are by far our bestsellers, and at $3.50 apiece there’s money to be made, especially when most people buy them in bunches. I marvel at our sidelines as I have nothing to do with them. These very cool things come in and I’m seeing them for the first time. Sidelines are the domain of my partner, Elizabeth, who even on vacation, is combing through catalogs looking for things that are unique and fun.

The power of handselling continues to amaze me. I watched during the holidays as customers came in with their newsletters marked up, but would still want us to talk about the books with them. If someone on staff loved a book, as JP did with Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bearn, we can sell it hand over fist, sometimes just by saying, "JP loves this book." People come to indies for a variety of reasons, but it was driven home over the holidays that they mostly come for us, the folks behind the counter who read enthusiastically and recommend books with passion.

Lastly, the thing that struck me was the continued success of franchises, for lack of better word. Twilight continued to sell as the moms of the teenagers got ahold of it and slunk in begging for more. I must say, with the exception of Harry Potter, I’ve never seen more kids, especially younger kids, pre-ordering a book like they did with the fourth Diary of a Wimpy Kid. As soon as the publication date was announced these kids were making their orders, and release day was a blur. The latest Alex Rider, Percy Jackson, Mysterious Benedict Society and Hunger Games titles all had kids and parents streaming into the store. Kids today are very savvy about release dates. They are on their favorite author’s website, and they are sometimes more on top it than booksellers. Some have learned the very hard lesson of worldwide publishing rights, as I patiently explain why I just can’t get that book from England.

I have one more week of vacation bliss, and while I’ll continue to think about the store, right now, as you can see from the photo, we’ve got some snow here in Vermont, and I’m going to snow shoe.