Introducing Emily Berg of Books and Books, Key West

LUCY BURDETTE: When John and I first came to Key West, we were thrilled to find 3 bookstores in town, Key West Island Books, Voltaire’s, and Borders Express. Within a few years, the town went from 3 to one, as two of those closed. Tragedy! Luckily for Key West and visiting readers, Judy Blume and her husband, George Cooper, banded together with a few other book lovers to establish a new bookstore in the space where Voltaire’s had been.

Today I’m delighted to introduce Emily Berg, the general manager of Books and Books Key West. I know Emily both from time spent at the bookstore and for her invaluable service on the Friends of the Key West Library board. The bookstore describes itself like this: We’re Key West’s locally owned, nonprofit, independently-minded neighborhood bookstore. Affiliated with Books & Books, one of the nation’s great independent bookstores, our home is part of The Studios of Key West, a non-profit arts center and cultural organization.

Welcome Emily! Were you there from the very beginning of Books and Books KW? If not, where did you come from and how did you decide to make the leap? Were you living in Key West, or had you visited?

EMILY: I was there from almost the beginning. The store founders and staff of the The Studios of Key West had done most of the heavy lifting, getting things in place for the stores existence. I began working with the store in November of 2015 about 10 weeks before the opening. I came on to do the buying and set up for the art supply section and be a part-time bookseller. It became apparent pretty quickly that the store needed more than the one full-time staff member originally hired so my position continued to grow. I took over as the store manager in 2018 when the first manager moved from Key West.

Before the store opened, I was living in Key West working as a server and bartender. I moved here from Chicago in 2013.

LUCY: Tell us a little about what a day in the life of a bookstore manager is like? What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the job?

EMILY: One of the things I like most about my job is every day is different. There are so many parts to the job and things to work on so it’s never boring. For this reason, a typical day is hard to describe but usually they start with me checking in with the staff that will be working that day to make sure they’re up to date on all the many things that could have changed since they were last in the store. Then I dive into my to-do. Today for example I need to check in with a couple publicists about events we’re hoping to schedule in the winter, design a poster for an upcoming loyalty member promotion, go over the invoices from the previous month, update our closing procedures, place orders for a few sideline items (non-book products), and look over an order for books that will be published next spring.

And of that’s just what I have planned. Many things will come up during the day such as calls and emails from customers looking for orders placed previously and questions from staff and volunteers.

When staring a computer has gotten to be too much, I’ll talk a little break by cleaning and reorganizing a small section of the store. I like to go to the True Crime section for this because it’s small enough that it only takes about 10 minutes to organize and I like to see what’s new in that genre.

LUCY: As I said in this blog post, Judy Blume is having a moment. And it’s only gotten bigger and bigger with the release of ARE YOU THERE GOD, IT’S ME MARGARET? And a documentary about her career (in which you have a bit part!) and her role in protesting the recent proliferation of book banning. You are living right through this time with her. I’d love to hear about how this has affected life at the bookstore from your perspective…

EMILY: From our end the only thing that has really changed is the volume of people contacting and visiting the store. Judy certainly hasn’t changed. She’s the same Judy. Since opening we’ve always had guests coming to the store to see if they can meet her and get a book signed. With all of the extra promotion of Judy’s other projects in the last few months it’s just exploded to more people looking for her. We’ve had to make some changes to store policies to accommodate. She isn’t able to personalize the signed books anymore and the estimate we give for orders of her books went from 5-7 days to 10-12 weeks. She’s a fast signer but the staff needs a chance to process the order for shipping and with hundreds rolling in a week we just can’t move fast enough.

However, the biggest change is that Judy has had to be away from the store more which has been hard because she does a lot in the general operations. She works very hard in the store so sometimes it’s like we’re down one staff member. I think we all agree that the benefits of the promotion to the store have been worth it but mostly we like having Judy work at the store and miss having her around more.

LUCY: Key West is a lot of people’s dream vacation or retirement spots. With a full time job in the bookstore and volunteer work, do you find time to enjoy it? Tell us about the best and worst parts of the town.

EMILY: I have to say lately I haven’t been able to enjoy it as much. When I first moved here, I’d go paddle boarding a couple times a week. I had a friend visit a few months ago and we went out and I remember how much I loved that but it’s been years since I’ve had a chance to go out during a normal week.

I think the best parts about town is how connected everything is. If I have any idea for something I want to do, a partnership with another organization for example, I probably know someone who knows someone that can make that intro and get a foot in the door.

The worst part, for me, is the misperception that everyone is relaxed and in vacation-mode here. The idea that there’s no stress because it’s this beautiful island with palm trees blowing in the breeze is just false. As we all know it’s very expensive to live here and for many people working on the island this leads to multiple jobs, unpaid bills and lots of stress. That’s just a reality that many have accepted but when someone drinking out of a coconut then tells you to “relax” it can really put one over the edge.

LUCY: Any advice for authors who hope to have their books carried in an independent bookstore, or arrange a signing or speaking engagement?

EMILY: I can of course only speak for myself but… Walk before you run. When working with your indie establish a relationship before asking for an event or any other extra work of them. Most bookstore are run by overworked, often underpaid, staff and volunteers. Even the smallest event is a huge amount of work for them and a financial risk in a business with very thin margins. Most Indies have an online store. See if your book is available through their online store first. If it is, you can link to their store for the promotions you’re doing. I’m more open to discussing events and other special projects for a book I can see we’ve already sold or have had pre-ordered by customers.

(Sidenote, most independent bookstore use an online store system that pulls from a distributor called Ingram. If your book is sold through Ingram, it will likely be available in these online stores. If the book is set with a wholesale discount of less that 20% or if the book is not returnable many stores won’t order it so keep that in mind as well).

Do not ask your local bookstore to sell and promote your book if you’re only linking to Amazon in your own promotions. Amazon is making life for small business such as Indies very difficult. If you sell better through Amazon than stick with that but don’t ask a small business to use their limited resources to help your work if you’re not willing to help theirs.

And finally, don’t drop off or ship books to a store as way of introduction. We receive multiple books a day from people who just want us to see it. Like everyone else our TBR pile is out of control and if we can’t sell them (which we almost never can without a contract) they almost always end up in the recycling. Contact the store and ask about their buying policies and procedures and then follow them.

Lucy: Thanks for your time today Emily! Now I realize I forgot to ask you what you're reading! Red readers, Emily will try to stop by in her spare moments to answer questions and comments, so bring them on! And also tell us about your favorite indie bookstore...