Cindie's Stand

Beagle Books is a small bookstore and we tend not to carry a lot of hardcover books. To be honest, it’s often a great relief when a customer buys the one copy of a hardcover we’re carrying. The other day, a cherished Beagle customer complained that she did not like a book she recently read. When I heard which book it was, my heart sank – not because she bought a book she didn’t like (the reality is, that just happens sometimes) but because it was Beagle bookseller Cindie’s favorite book of 2009: Valeria’s Last Stand by Marc Fitten. Valeria is the author’s first novel. The author is from New York and no one in northern Minnesota (or at least very few) had ever heard of him. After Cindie read it, she raved about it to countless customers. She was able to sell a hardcover book of an author that our customers had never heard of and after reading it, customers would make a point to come back to the bookstore to thank Cindie for it. At one point, tired of ordering 1-2 copies of the book from a wholesaler, I called the publisher and asked for a case of books. When they arrived, I panicked, thinking, what if everyone in this area who’s going to buy this book already bought it? The case was gone in less than a month. To date, Cindie has sold FIFTY copies of this book! To a bigger bookstore in a bigger community, this number is nothing special, but for a store who is thankful to sell ONE copy of a hardcover, fifty is phenomenal. Even though it’s silly, I couldn’t help but feel protective of Cindie, “What do you MEAN you don’t like this book?? The other 49 people who read it LOVED it!!” Cindie didn’t write the book, edit the book, or have anything to do with its production. The author isn’t a friend or family member of hers, but still, her heart is invested in it, and I care about that. Cindie is so passionate about good books and is able to share that with our customers and most of the time, our customers are richly rewarded for heeding Cindie’s book advice. Cindie’s been working at Beagle for a number of years – she knows that not everyone shares her taste in books, or someone was in the wrong mood for a book, or a number of other factors may have come into play to prevent a person’s enjoyment of a book, but still— Despite all this, I have to admit, it is not a failure to have hit the mark 49/50 times. If bookselling were a class, 98% is not only an A, it’s practically perfect, so to Cindie, I say, BRAVO!!