Meet a Bookseller
Not a Bookseller
by Pam, The Bookloft's owner
I am not a bookseller. Or, at least, not exactly. I do own a bookstore, and I do sometimes work downstairs selling books, talking to customers about what they’re looking for, what they’ve read, whether they are interested in trying something new that I could recommend. All of these things are the actions and behaviors of a bookseller, but still, I am not really a bookseller. My staff at The Bookloft: they are all booksellers. A bookseller at an independent bookstore is not a sales clerk. They all have at least bachelor’s degrees; they are all extremely well read in various genres; they all can talk about books glibly and with enthusiasm and ease. My staff receives books, shelves books, pulls books, dusts books, rearranges books, and talks about books day in and day out, with each other, with customers, with other booksellers at other stores, on Goodreads, on Edelweiss, with vendors, with publisher reps. For the up to forty hours each week that they are at work, their world is books. That is what a bookseller is. I am but a dilettante who ...
