A Bookseller's Advice to Authors: A Visit with the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Jenn McKinlay

One of my very favorite places inmy neighborhood is the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ When I moved to Arizona in 1992, it was one of the first places I visited and came to be the place I frequently brought out of town guests to visit, well, after a pop in at the iconic Sugar Bowl, which is right down the street.

As an aspiring writer, I dreamed of one day signing at the Poisoned Pen. While I suffered years of rejection, the Pen was a place I would visit to be inspired. It's shelves are full to bursting with books, the staff always knows exactly what book you need to read when you need to read it, and hanging from the ceilings are dozens and dozens of portraits of visiting authors, smiling down at you in a most engaging way. 

The driving force behind the famous bookstore is Barbara Peters. Full disclosure, when I first met Barbara I was terrified of her. To begin with she holds a BA from Stanford, an MA from Northwestern and an MSLS from the University of Tennessee. She founded the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in 1989 and it is now, and has been for a long while, one of the world's largest mystery-centric bookstores. Together with her husband Rob Rosenwald, they have been recipients of the Raven Award from the Mystery Writer's of America and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bouchercon, the annual mystery writers conference. She is charming and engaging, no question, but she is formidably brilliant (librarian!), reads voraciously, seriously, I think she reads over a hundred books per month or is that per week, and has traveled the world extensively, next stop Peru!

Jenn reading her dedication to Barbara

Luckily, since my first mystery published in 2009, I have signed at the Pen at least twenty-five times (I'm going for the record of person who has signed there the most) and Barbara has become a very dear friend. In fact, I dedicated my book At the Drop of a Hat to Barbara and the staff of the Pen, which, for all that they do, should really have been entitled --A Tip of the Brim.

When I was invited to blog with Jungle Red (thank you, ladies) I knew that one of the very first posts I would do would be an interview with Barbara. Some might think it is revenge for all of the times she's had me in the hot seat. You would be right! Without further ado, I give you my QandA with Barbara Peters, Bookseller Extraordinaire.
         

1. What was the impetus for opening a mystery bookstore? 

On the fatal day when my new husband Robert Rosenwald (little did he know where it would lead) said to me, "Now that you can do whatever you want, what is it you are going to do?" I replied, I'd like to go back to books. To Rob that meant I'd return to the Library of Congress where I'd been a librarian in its fast track to the top Intern Program (now defunct) and he said, I am not moving to DC. So I said, "Ok, a little bookstore." Drawing from my law background I knew a specialty was the key in the face of the rise of BN and Borders, both huge in Phoenix, so I thought, a mystery bookstore would be fun. In truth I'm a romance history and biography reader as much as a mystery fan, but mystery was just too cool to resist. Besides in 1989 there was a whole community of mystery bookstores which, sadly, is now gone. The Pen has become a bookstore for fiction, and whatever else we like. 

2. What advice would you offer a new author on their first book tour?

Rhys and Barbara in hats!

Assuming it's been arranged by the publisher, email ahead to offer information, a short statement about your book and why you wrote it. Ask what time you should arrive. Be on time. Dress appropriately (seriously, you'd be amazed how many do not). Prepare a short pitch for your book. Reply to questions cheerfully, not contentiously. It can get personal sometimes, you never know, but don't let it get to you. Bring a pen. Fans might like little promo items but most bookstores haven't got room to display them and don't want to keep track of them, so don't go crazy with bookmarks, etc. Leave your email address with the store and/or cell phone in case follow up is needed. If you have any serious complaints, tell your publicist but don't air them on social media.   

3. You've seen a lot of authors break out. What similarities have you seen amongst them?

Sadly it's often a function of whether your publisher is sold on your book (ie did your editor pitch it well to sales?) and thus devoted promo bucks to you. You can never discount the effect of serious publisher push. You can't discount the role of luck either: your topic got hot; someone influential liked your book. Series can gain momentum; a first book can make a small dent but then it builds. Perseverance and patience in building is a key. Another today is social media; how well can you use it? And how often is the author out and visible? Personality, the ability to perform, can propel careers. BUT for me, it's all about your voice, how well you tell your story, your enthusiasm for your work. If an author writes well and believes in the work, the odds rise. It's all very mysterious and a writer is both in charge of his destiny and at the mercy of factors beyond control and unforeseen (like the books that got dumped after 9/11 made them irrelevant). 

Hank at the Pen with CJ Box and  Linwood Barclay

A great example of an author with faith in his work is Craig Johnson. His first book got attention, but hey, it featured a Wyoming Sheriff in a small county. Viking sent Craig to The Poisoned Pen on a small tour. His second book, no tour so Craig asked if he could still come and he rode his motorcycle to Scottsdale. It took the two of us, him determined to showcase his work, me happy to cooperate. Book three might have been Viking, might have been The Pen paying. And then, here's the luck factor, TV came along and now he's a bestseller. 

4. What do you see for the future of brick and mortar bookstores?

Ingrid in the hot seat!

Bright. Digital sales are dropping, print sales rising. 2016, more print books sold than digital. Recent Book of the Month club reporting said a significant percentage of its 70% women members were readers in their 20s and 30s. Bookstores are a place to experience, to browse and make serendipitous finds, and for community. It's a safe night or afternoon out to attend a function or just browse. It's a parent/child bonding place as well as a date place. Every bookstore is different, and reflects its location, its staff, and its community. Many of those that crashed in the wake of the now imperiled BN model were not businesses but hobbies so one positive of more competition online and brick and mortar is that bookstores have to be better run as a business.

5. And lastly because you own the Poisoned Pen Press, as well, what makes you buy a book from a new author?

Voice. I can fix anything else but if you are boring, or offensive, I can't help you.


JENN: And the answer to that last question is one of the many reasons, I adore Barbara.  She cracks me up!

Every month, the Poisoned Pen sends out a postcard of upcoming events (see picture) and note two of our very own Reds are coming to town -- Deborah on Feb 18 and Rhys on Mar 1. To sign up for their mailer or to order autographed books from your favorite authors, visit: https://poisonedpen.com



And now, Reds, tell us what's your favorite bookstore? Do you go to author events? And if you have a question for Barbara, ask away! One lucky commenter will win this snazzy Poisoned Pen tote bag!

A visit with Barbara Peters

RHYS: Today our guest is a true icon in the mystery world. She's not a writer, publisher nor agent. Yet she has won the universal respect of our community and is considered a real power lady. She is Barbara Peters and she owns the Poisoned Pen Bookstores in Scottsdale, AZ. With husband Rob Rosenwald she also owns and runs Poisoned Pen Press. I've been proud to call her a friend for some time.

So welcome to Jungle Red Writers, Barbara. Usually you're known as the interviewer so today it's my turn:

RHYS: You're universally known as an icon in the world of mystery, but you didn't start out as writer, publisher or bookseller. Tell us how you came to be involved in the genre.


BARBARA: As a reader. I had "retired" from libraries and law and grew bored. One day Rob, my husband, said, "now that you can do whatever you want, what do you want to do?" I said, "go back to books" and he said "how?" and I said, with rare acumen, "I am not a Civil Service sort of person, ruling out libraries again" (my library career was at the Library of Congress), and he said, "so then what, a store? what kind?" and I said, having shopped in mystery stores for years, "mystery is what I know. How hard can it be?" Those last are the fatal words that propelled us first into founding The Poisoned Pen and then, ten years later, Poisoned Pen Press. It's a lot harder than it looks.


RHYS: When did you and husband Rob Rosenwald decide to start your own press. What made you decide to do this? Has it been as successful as you hoped?

BARBARA: We held a very successful mystery conference in Scottsdale in 1996, the first of nearly annual Poisoned Pen conferences where authors speak by invitation only and fans are limited to roughly 200. The first group of authors produced spectacular talks on classic crime writers (Connelly on Chandler, Gores on Hammett, King on Doyle, Keating on Sayers, Saylor on Palmer, etc) and when it was over, said "All that...what about our papers?" So I said to Rob, "how hard can it be to publish the papers in a kind of festschrift (thinking academically) and he, a computer junkie admiring new print technology, said, "why not?" So we organized a book and it was nominated for an Edgar (how hard can that be? hmmm, plenty hard). And we were hooked. Rob abandoned other computer projects to organized a publishing company. I agreed to do the editorial work.

We are now up to 36 original novels a year (it is hard to do this volume of editing as a second job), have had amazing critical support, developed wonderful talent, are hugely proud of our list, all of which is still in print either coventionally or in POD and is also mostly on audio books and Large Print and moving into ebooks. Last February we moved from doing our own distribution to Ingram Publisher Services which will make a big difference in time to sales volume. So we're not yet to a level of sales we'd like to see for the authors (that is, their revenues), but in all other ways it's turned out better than we imagined when we first thought of publishing.

RHYS: Which do you enjoy more, the store or the press?

BARBARA: That's an apples and oranges question. The bookstore has moved by necessity given the size of its staff, its expensive location, and probably the nature of its employees including me who all are comfortable with chaos, into theater. We do constant and often enormous events which are tremendous fun whether small for a new writer, middle sized for most authors, or big for celebrity or local interest writers, we organize conferences for our customers. And we remain over 75% mail order with a global reach that is connected to us mostly by our electronic publications (thousands subscribe to our Enews which takes a ton of time to write but seems to be enjoyed and is just just about books but about the publishing world, news, even stuff like travelogues and random medical information (I am aging and so are many of our customers so I tell them about stuff like cataracts surgery). So on the bookstore it's a cross beween show biz and literary issues and behind the scenes, how to run a business.

Editing for the press is, by contrast, since the press has its own, separate staff under Rob, just fun for me if often immensely hard work getting into the skin of a book, characters, landscapes, concepts...even the author. It's sort of a mom thing, or maybe a mid-wife thing, helping give birth. I'm sure our authors don't always agree with, or even like, how it goes sometimes but the results speak for themselves. We've had very little author turnover and much of it has been about personal issues rather than professional. Our original design was to discover and nurture new talent and see it move away to Big Publishing, but this marketplace quashed most of that so now we're figuring out how to run an on-going quality small publishing company. Our greatest fear, truly, is that we might produce a runaway bestseller which we are not equipped to handle financially (or emotionally) and which would end up being unfair to the other authors on our list. Here we've already figured out how hard it would be. Meanwhile we stick to our game plan of paying the same small advance to everyone, leaving it to the books to earn out, and treating everyone we publish as even handedly as we can.

I'd like to add that our submission guidelines etc are available at www.poisonedpenpress.com and that I do not respond to any email about the press or publishing, which should instead be directed to info@poisonedpenpress.com

Thanks for the opportunity to participate in the blog. -- Barbara Peters

RHYS: Thank you, Barbara. And you are not getting old. You are the female version of Peter Pan and still a hunk magnet, as displayed in the photograph with hunks Brent Ghelfi, John Lescroat, Steven Martini and Brett Battles.

NEWS FLASH: A NEW KIND OF CON.

I should add that this Saturday Barbara and Rob are trying another ground breaking feat--the first ever web-con--an online convention for mystery lovers, writers, fans. It will have great panels and author interviews like real mystery conventions but you can take part from the convenience of your own computer. What's more it only costs $25 to register and take part in discussions, and you will receive a $20 coupon to be spent at the bookstore. So it's virtually free. Go to the Poisoned Pen Press website to check it out and register.

RO: Hello, Barbara! Even though I'm not a Poisoned Pen author, I feel like one of the new writers lucky enough to have been nurtured by you. When my first book was about to be released I asked my publicist if he thought I might have an event at Poisoned Pen. I fully expected him to laugh and say "only if you can get Michael Connelly to go with you." But I did have an event, and in fact you chose Pushing Up Daisies for your new writer program. When I got to the store there were stacks and stacks of books to sign - I thought I had died and gone to heaven! It was my first event after my launch and nothing else has ever come close to that feeling - it's still heaven and I hope I get to go back next spring for book three.