Time flies when you're selling books

Wow, it's been five weeks since I posted about the grand opening of Organic Books, our family bookstore in Albuquerque. The time has sailed past. The store has been busy with holiday shoppers and folks from the surrounding neighborhoods. Old friends and local authors stop by to visit. Next thing you know, it's nearly Christmas.

The photo shows our sons Seth (in hat) and Max working at the counter at Organic Books. They mostly staff the store day-to-day, though I'm usually there on weekday mornings and Kelly (who still has a full-time job!) fills in on weekends. We've been so busy, we often need two people manning the store.

Since the grand opening, the bookshop has been featured in super write-ups by the Weekly Alibi and the University of New Mexico news service, and we're all over social media, thanks to our supportive friends. You can join the fun by following Organic Books on Facebook and Twitter.

The Facebook page is a good way to keep up with coming events at Organic Books. Starting right after Christmas, we have lots of author signings and poetry readings scheduled at the store. I'm in charge of that calendar, so local authors who want to do events should write me at abqbrewer@gmail.com. I'm booking February now!

Hey, that's one of the points I'll make in my Jan. 5 speech at SouthWest Writers. The talk is called "I've Looked at Books From Both Sides Now." Though we're still new to retail, I've got some ideas about how authors can help themselves when dealing with bookstores. And the story of how things fell into place for Organic Books is a story worth telling. As with any successful startup, there have been lots of little miracles.

Happy holidays to you and yours. And happy reading!