It’s the ultimate battle of
good versus good.
The were best friends at an elite academy for superheroes in training, but now Callie Bradford, code name Iridium, and Joannie Greene, code name Jet, are mortal enemies. Jet is a by-the-book hero, using her Shadow power to protect the citizens of New Chicago. Iridium, with her mastery of light, runs the city’s underworld. For the past five years the two have played an elaborate, and frustrating, game of cat and mouse.
But now playtime’s over. Separately Jet and Iridium uncover clues that point to a looming evil, one that is entwined within the Academy. As Jet works with Bruce Hunter–a normal man with an extraordinary ability to make her weak in the knees–she becomes convinced that Iridium is involved in a scheme that will level the power structure of America itself. And Iridium, teaming with the mysterious vigilante called Taser, uncovers an insidious plot that’s been a decade in the making… a plot in which Jet is key.
They are both right. And they are both wrong. Because nothing is as simple as…
Black and White.
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Sometimes, I think it’s unfair that only the author’s name goes on the cover of a book. That’s because there’s a team of people who, along with the author, get the book from the writer’s head out onto the bookshelves. (And usually without resorting to cracking open the author’s skull with a mallet. Usually. Depends how far behind deadline she is. But I digress.)
There’s the editor, of course. And the agent who had sold the manuscript to the editor. There’s the copy editor and proofreader. There’s the cover artist, and sometimes the entire art department. There’s the publicist. There are all the beta readers who had seen the ugly versions of the manuscript and hadn’t run away screaming in terror.
But the ones who tend to get overlooked, in my opinion? The booksellers. These are the folks who do so much more than unpackage the cartons and load the carts and stock the shelves and ring up sales. It’s their job to be omniscient deities and tell readers where to find what they’re looking for, when the books they want will be available, and which books they should give a try.
Booksellers rock. They should have their own holiday.
I’m a big believer in thanking booksellers. Heck, if not for them — and their intrepid cousins, the librarians — we authors wouldn’t have a job. When a new book comes out, like BLACK AND WHITE (from Bantam Spectra, available now), I tend to go into as many bookstores as I can near me to sign stock if it’s available and thank the sellers for carrying my book. And when I go, I don’t go empty handed. Usually I bring swag.
But lately? I bring food. Specifically, cookies.
For BLACK AND WHITE — the new superhero novel about two former best friends now on opposite sides of the law (one’s a superhero, the other is a supervillain) who join forces to stop the Big Bad Evil—I borrowed a page from the Bantam publicist and had black and white cookies to give out when I signed stock. At one store, when I gave the lovely folks at the customer service counter the box of cookies by way of thank you for everything they did, they had me sign the box so that the staff would know who it was who’d given them cookies.
The next time you’re in a bookstore, I encourage you to take a moment to thank the booksellers there for doing such a terrific job. A little bit of thanks can make a person smile the entire day.
Especially when the thanks includes cookies. 🙂
GIVEAWAY: It’s not a box of cookies, but it is a signed copy of BLACK AND WHITE. Comment below to tell me why booksellers rock. I’ll pick one commenter at random on Sunday, June 14, to win a copy of the book.
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You can find more about Black and White by visiting Ms Kessler’s website. Do not forget to leave a comment to be entered in the drawing.
What a great thing to do. Thanks goes a long way in other areas as well. I’ve been seeing that even when I’m in an ummm especially bad mood if I take a moment and thank someone who’s teed me off, they stop look at you weird and then the whole situation changes tone.LOL Plus I’ve found that by repeating their name to them, like say I’m a bookstore and it’s John who’s helping me, I’ll say John thanks for taking the time to do this. They always look at me strange then smile and say “It’s my pleasure”.
LOL
Great post and advice.
Sounds like a great book too.
hugs,
WendyK
I love my bookseller, she rocks!! (and others think so too, she got bookseller of the year at the RT conv. this year). She has a great inventory and will order anything you want, she will give you her honest opinion about books, and will learn your style and suggest stuff for you if you ask. But she is not pushy and is fun to talk to.
My bookseller, Jerry, owns an independent bookstore.
And while he’s male, and he DOES cater to the gamers, he also caters to us romance lovers, with a huge variety of new romances each month, from Ellora’s Cave, Spice, to HQ monthlies. He has romance signings that ROCK, and he’s gotten so he actually knows my preferenced and will call me when he gets something he knows I’m waiting for to give me a heads up. He’ll order me anything I want, and have it within a day.
I thank him all the time!! I’m not sure what I’d do without him….there’s a personal touch you just don’t get at the bigger chain stores, and I love it!!
Booksellers rock because they refer people to good reads, are very helpful in finding what you want, and are fun to talk to!
Well I do most of my buying online but when I do get into town the ladies at the bookstore are so helpful and always with a welcoming smile.I just give them my list and away they go to find my books. they also refer me to so many other books. i tend to leave with more than I intended. I enjoy hearing what they are reading too.
Hi Jackie,
I love chatting with book sellers. I keep in touch with my old book seller for recommendations too.
Cookies are awesome swag! I’ve been on a chocolate chip baking frenzy since the recession. Warm cookies,yum. 🙂
Hugs, Danette
Can’t go wrong with cookies! 😀 (um…unless there are some deadly nuts in them…)
I recently had an employee at a big chain bookstore help me find a discount book(the system said they had 7 copies). He searched the entire floor for the longest time and then offered to search in the back with a warning that it’d take a long time, went into the back and dug around in boxes for the longest time and then came back out and checked in one more place before triumphantly presenting me with the book. 😀 I’m glad I noticed his name tag because when I went home and filled out an online feedback survey, I was able to mention him by name when I mentioned how helpful he was.
Booksellers rock because the are always willing to order a book for me that they don’t carry in stock.
Ah, as a bookseller for many years, this thread warms my heart. 🙂 Unfortunately, my store closed, and it broke my heart, but I still fill in at our used bookstore from time-to-time.
No need to enter me in the contest since I was already lucky enough to win a copy of BLACK & WHITE.
My bookseller rocks because she is such a great source of information. She reads a book a day from a variety of genres and always has a new author to recommend. She’s also helpful when it comes to tracking down an author’s backlist or knowing what other names an author writes under. She’s a lot of fun to just talk to about books.
Oh yeah, gotta give the book sellers mega-props. There’s so much more to the vocation than most people imagine. (Despite managing to last only a few weeks with a now-defunct chain, people still come up whenever I’m out shopping to ask for help. I couldn’t hack the job, but must seem quite at home among the printed word). My favorite interactions often come with owners/associates in the secondhand stores.
Only big bookstores here in my home country sell foreign books and I think it’s quite hard to develop any relationships with sellers because those salespersons tend to chance. But I did use this big online bookseller that had one very tiny store in downtown where I could always go pick up my orders without any delivery fees. There were only a couple of men behind the desk and I did develop a certain friendly relationship with one of them. Whenever I showed up he knew what I was going to pick up, he always checked what was the status of my other orders etc. We also chatted about other stuff. He sometimes even gave me free books (books that he as a salesperson had gotten free of charge). Unfortunately they closed that little store some months ago, but are still selling books online. When I heard that I wouldn’t be seeing him behind that desk anymore, I sent him a gift card saying that it had been a pleasure knowing him and having him as my bookseller.
[…] Second, I guest blogged at RR@H’s Novel Thoughts about why booksellers rock — and yes, there’s another Black and White giveaway! So come on over! […]
The best booksellers get to know you. They set aside new releases that they know you’ll come in for and have ready recommendations for when you come in “just looking”. They point you in the right direction when you are shopping for a gift for someone who liked “Fill in the Title”.
Oh, and they don’t mind you kids sitting in the kids’ section pulling every book off the shelf to look at it before picking one to buy.
I’m a loyal shopper, and customer service is key for me. Some booksellers get it. Others don’t, but then they don’t get my business either.
I always wanted to work as a bookseller, I think that would be an awesome job!
Okay…I actually am a bookseller! So firstly, thank you Jackie!
Now onto business! I may be a bookseller, but that just means I know a fair few booksellers quite well! And I tell ya, they actually do rock. Over the past two and a half years, which is almost as long as the shop has been open, I’ve come to be friends with just about everyone in the shop, and I’ve met a few friendly people from our support office too. I’ve never met a bookseller in the company, or anyone else who works in it, that I can say anything entirely negative about. And then there’s the effort that everyone makes to get customers the books that aren’t in stock, particularly small American ones that have to be ordered specifically because they’d never come in otherwise.
And notice I didn’t just go ahead and say I’m the best thing since Christmas XD
I love booksellers because: 1. when I ask for a book they always know where it is. 2. They don’t mind looking it up for you if they don’t have it. Going to a bookstore is like being in heaven for me. Everywhere I look there’s some new treasure for me to discover. Thank you, Booksellers!
Thanks so much for offering us such a great prize, so looking forward to this book! And I love bookstores because they’re so calming to me. It’s so quiet inside and you can literally lose yourself in the stacks. And I love the smell and feel of a new book, it’s better than coffee to me.
And I love that booksellers are so helpful and knowledgable about books. Whenever I enter a bookstore I know I’ll come out happy because of them.
Every time I don’t know what gift to get someone I go get a recommendation (usually end up getting a few titles for myself as well) and they’re always spot on. For this and many other reasons, book sellers do indeed rock!
Booksellers perform the most important function to readers (aside from writers and publishers) – they provide the books to the readers! Seriously, they have the inside scoop on what’s hot, they always answer your questions or search for the answers if they don’t have them – what more could you ask for? The booksellers in my local Borders are the best – fun to talk to, informative, and helpful. I love my booksellers!
Margay
I have heard so much about this book. I’ve definitely added it to my TBB list.
As far as Booksellers – Hastings is the best for the books that I want – I know the manager and thank her everytime I purchase books. 🙂
cause the feed my need. lol. love them This book sounds great.
I dont know where I would be without booksellers. I had the best one when I lived in Chicago, they gave me some of the best recommendations or ordered books they didnt have in stock with no problems. I have had some incredibly helpful booksellers in the chain stores as well, especially recently. They are willing to look though the store and in the back no matter how long it takes to try and locate a book their system says is in stock. I have really been impressed by their service, its not what I would normally expect in a chain. But maybe, its because they are booksellers who are just nicer people in general when it comes to retailers.
Booksellars rock! Because they are easy to talk to and are very friendly! They will spend time with you and not brush you off!
[…] Leave a comment about why booksellers rock and you could win a signed copy of Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge. Contest closes by June 14. (Ok, this is a superhero book, but I don’t consider that paranormal.) […]
The children’s room folks at my local bookstore were really helpful last week. They prevented me from buying the second book of a trilogy (which I’d mistaken for the first book) and figured out the book I was thinking of based on my somewhat vague description.
Why do booksellers rock? Well obviously they have a highly coveted job. I certainly envy them around all those books. And reading is fun, so when its your job to read books and know how to direct people to certain genre’s and suggest authors..well thats awesome.
The ladies and gentleman at this one Border’s books I go to are certainly favorite booksellers of mine. In fact one of them was the first to suggest I pick up Kim Harrison’s first book. The lady who suggested it, she is my sister-seperated-at-birth to me after that. I know it! Page one of Kim Harrison’s book confirmed it.
But being serious, I am very curtious to everyone I encounter everywhere and in book stores. I make jokes, try to get people to smile and occasionally smuggle in donuts to those who go that extra mile for me.
book sellers rock”!!! They go the nth mile to find what you are looking for; they check on their computer, they look on the shelves, they check their inventory/order sheets. Yay for booksellers!!!
My bookseller (not actually mine but the one I go to) is such a big help. She lets me know what new books are out and also puts new books in the front so u won’t get them mixed up. If there’s a book out that I see she doesn’t have she will order it for me. She absolutely rocks. I go there at least once a week.
Sorry for the delay, everyone! The winner, picked at random via Random Number Generator is…
Melissa: My bookseller, Jerry, owns an independent bookstore. And while he’s male, and he DOES cater to the gamers, he also caters to us romance lovers, with a huge variety of new romances each month, from Ellora’s Cave, Spice, to HQ monthlies. He has romance signings that ROCK, and he’s gotten so he actually knows my preferenced and will call me when he gets something he knows I’m waiting for to give me a heads up. He’ll order me anything I want, and have it within a day. I thank him all the time!! I’m not sure what I’d do without him….there’s a personal touch you just don’t get at the bigger chain stores, and I love it!!
Congratulations, Melissa! Please email me via my website contact form with your postal address, and I’ll send you a copy of BLACK AND WHITE.
[…] posted by Ms Kessler in the original thread, the winner of a signed copy […]