Jared Raines and Jenna Todd: Kiwis’ Take on U.S. Bookselling

This article is by Alex Mutter, and reproduced from Shelf Awareness.

Jared Raines (left) and Jenna Todd (3rd in), two indie booksellers from New Zealand, attended Winter Institute 9 in Seattle, Washington, thanks to a sponsorship from Kobo and a contest run by Booksellers New Zealand (the N.Z. equivalent of the ABA). As part of the arrangement, the two booksellers also spent the week after Winter Institute working at two Seattle-area indies. Todd, manager of Time Out Bookstore in Auckland, worked at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park and Ravenna, Wash., while Raines, owner and manager of Paperplus Northlands in Christchurch, worked at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle.

Jared Raines    
Raines, whose own store is an approximately 2,560-sq.-ft. general-interest bookshop with a copying center, said that the most obvious differences between Paperplus Northlands and Elliott Bay were the sheer size and volume of stock of the latter.

“There is also less of a focus on sideline product in the U.S. than we have in N.Z.,” Raines added. “Most bookstores in our group have a very strong personal and commercial stationery offering.”

Raines’s store, which was opened by his family 33 years ago, has been franchised by several different brands and has traded under a number of names, the first of which was Target Books & Stationery. Raines began working in the family business in 1996, when he was 14. In 2010, he took over full management of the business. He currently employs 12 staff members; during the holidays, that increases to 15 or 16.

Another key difference between bookselling in N.Z. and the U.S., Raines said, was the lack of wholesalers in the former. N.Z. indies, he explained, really have only publishers as their main suppliers.

“This does at times cause issues, as publishers make printing decisions based on sell-in numbers,” Raines explained. Indies typically cannot afford to buy three or four months worth of stock at release, which often leads to the underprinting of N.Z. titles. And, aside from Random House and some local publishers, the majority of large publishers have consolidated their New Zealand operations with their offices in Australia. This has led to complications with shipments; a delivery within 3-5 days is considered fast. If the wholesale model were adopted in N.Z., Raines asserts, that could go a long way in solving these problems.

Jenna Todd
Todd was struck in a similar way by the size of Third Place Books. Her own store occupies approximately 700 square feet of a long, narrow heritage building, with an upper floor devoted to events and community gatherings. Time Out carries around 17,000 volumes across many genres; the store’s only focus, Todd said, was on “the best of the best.” She reported that literary fiction, children’s books and coffee table books do particularly well.

The frequency of author events at American indies and the relatively low price of books compared to N.Z. also struck Todd. Author visits are rare for most N.Z. indies, although Time Out is fortunate to have author Eleanor Catton as a regular customer (the launch party for The Luminaries, Catton’s Booker Prize-winning novel, was held at the store). She attributed both differences to New Zealand “being at the bottom of the world.”

“However,” Todd added, “one thing I learned when I was visiting all of these excellent stores in Seattle is that we just slot right alongside their high caliber–Time Out is just as excellent and special!”

Todd has worked at Time Out for four years, and has been manager for two. There are 12 staff members, most of whom work part time and are involved in a range of creative endeavors (Todd, for example, is a photographer, and the store also employs a director, an actress, a writer and a musician).

What they learned
Todd said overall of the Winter Institute that “there was just immeasurable value from just talking and spending time with all of the wonderful book people who attended WI9. It was such a fantastic experience.”

Similarly, Raines said he appreciated the people at WI9. “I really was made to feel like part of the U.S. bookselling community,” he said. “The most interesting thing I learned while there is that we all have the ability to survive the changing retail climate that is hitting our industry; we must work hard to be involved in our community, and be more than just a store full of product.”

And as for what he brought to Elliott Bay, Raines reported that his American counterparts were frequently interested in his retail system and his store’s security camera system. He also provided, he added, the “terrible Kiwi accent and colloquialisms!” –Alex Mutter

This piece was originally published in Shelf Awareness for Tuesday 11 March, the American Bookselling Association’s newsletter.

Jenna’s experience at Third Place Books, Seattle

Guest Post from Jenna Todd, one of our Kobo scholars to Seattle.

One of the best things about Third Place Books is its name. It was named after sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s idea that everyone needs three places. Your first being your home, second – your work or school, and finally a Third Place- where all walks of life interact. Third Place Books is the deliberate and intentional creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them.

Third Place Books has been operating since 1998 about 30 minutes North of Seattle city. It is HUGE and is located on the top floor of the Lake Forest Park Town Centre (pictured). Housing 200,000 books, I would say it’s about 200 times bigger than Time Out. Second hand books sit very comfortably among the new titles and it has the wooden shelves, leather chairs and friendly staff that make it super cozy and welcoming.

I was very lucky to be staying with some new friends who lived near the store. I had actually met them as customers at Time Out while they were holidaying in New Zealand. (It always pays to chat to people!) So I had a very comfortable home base, with the Gibauts and their cat, also named Jenna.

On my first day, I had an in depth tour of the large premises and then I was off to Third Place’s second store in Ravenna (left). The Ravenna store opened in 2002, is a lot smaller and it also has a greek restaurant attached as well as a pub downstairs. We had arrived on this Monday to prepare and observe an author luncheon for Ishmael Beah, the Sierra Leonean author of A Long Way Gone. For $40US, patrons received a copy of his new book, Radiance of Tomorrow and a set menu lunch. 30 or so guests paid, came and listened to him speak and read. They had many exciting authors booked for future months and they had just recently had Ann Patchett as a guest.

On the Wednesday night, we had an author talk from Ruth Ozeki. RUTH OZEKI! (Jemma with Ruth above) This was a small talk that had 120 customers in store. She is such an engaging and wonderful speaker – it was such a treat. Third Place has had the most amazing authors come though. John Green drew a crowd of 1000 (these large events are held in the community commons area.) Paul McCartney and Julie Andrews are fondly remembered guests. Oh to be on the major tour circuit!

Over the week, I browsed the shelves, stood at the info counter, observed a rep meeting and tried to get my head around their computer systems. Most of all and what I found most valuable, was speaking to the staff – which were completely open and engaging, and were extremely generous with their time. One hilarious thing I learned was that bookshop customer questions are universal, “I woke up to the radio last night, and I heard about this interesting book but I don’t know the title or author…”

A store the size of Third Place runs quite differently than our wee store. They have over 30 staff, who have every hour of their shift scheduled. Each staff member has their own genre section, putting out stock and retrieving returns. Third Place own an espresso book machine (shown below), they can print an out of print or self-published title in about 5 minutes! They have events about 4 or 5 nights of the week. And their books are very cheap, their margins are great and customers pay the small amount of tax at the counter.

I don’t think I could ever sum up the results from my scholarship fully. I learned so much that I think I have learned things that I don’t realise I’ve learned. I am extremely grateful to Kobo and Booksellers NZ for giving me this opportunity, it’s so exciting that young booksellers in New Zealand are being celebrated and nurtured. Thank you, thank you!

Article by Jenna Todd.

For her report on Wi9, please link through here.