Selling Books by Day, Writing Them by Night

Like all good independent bookstores, BookCourt in Brooklyn has a robust section of staff recommendations. There, nestled in with titles by Jennifer Egan, Haruki Murakami and David Foster Wallace, is “Other People We Married,” a collection of short stories by Emma Straub. A handwritten note taped to the wall below reads: “I wrote this book. Please buy it. I love you.”

In 2009, Straub published a novella and celebrated with a party at BookCourt. She started working there the next day. Last month, when Riverhead bought her first novel with a significant advance, a co-worker asked if she was planning to quit.

“I told him absolutely not,” Straub said. “I’m a writer, but I also love selling books.”

Through her job, Straub has befriended other booksellers across the country, at conferences and, increasingly, on Twitter. Which, in turn, helps her as an author. “When I was setting up a tour, I called on them,” she said. “Working at the store has helped me make relationships with people I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.”

READ MORE of this story at The New York Times