Front of Book

The first step with any customer is asking them what they’ve enjoyed recently. “Good” is an impossibly relative term. But my general tactic is, if customers are looking for one good book, give them at least three. Give them a book quite similar to what they said they enjoyed reading. Sometimes this will be something more obscure by the same author, or just something newer. Second, give them something just slightly different, but still in that general strike zone. And lastly, give them the real curveball, something that’ll whip across the plate at an angle so sharp they can’t clock it correctly. Give them something Albanian. Give them someone long dead. Give them something strange staple-bound and hard to get and perfect for them in ways you could never have known without poring over their browser history.

Interview with a (Former) Bookseller