RedPubPod #052: David Fiorentino, Libreria Bookstore

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Welcome to RedPubPod. I'm Richard Eller. One of the things I noticed about the recent literary festival is that though we are a community of writers,

[00:00:30] we're more a community of readers. And that is an important element for today's podcast because there is a new bookstore in town. And we're hoping that it is a gathering place, a mecca really, for readers. It's called Libraria. It's in Newton. And our guest is David Fiorentino. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[00:00:53] And with us today is Patty Thompson, our editor in chief and our administrative editing guru who knows how to make a book sing. Welcome, Jane St. Clair. Thank you, Richard. Thank you very much. So let's talk about this bookstore. How did that come to be? The bookstore was originally a, it was kind of like a retirement pipe dream. So, but you're not retirement age. No, nor will I ever be.

[00:01:24] It started as this idea of like, Oh, you know, every time we go out to different towns and we go on vacation and things like that, my wife and I, we, we always look for metaphysical shop, music shop, really good restaurant, bar, coffee, that kind of thing. And we have to hit a bookstore, have to, and the small towns in North Carolina do not disappoint. Everyone has one. And it's the coolest experience. And we were in Boone.

[00:01:49] And, and we left the bookstore in Boone and we were just like, how cool would it be if we did that when we retired? And for the rest of our lives, we just had our nice little bookstore in a nice small little town. And we just talked about books and sold books to people.

[00:02:04] And we're like, okay, yeah, this is something we're going to do. And of course, we put it out there in the, in the, in the universe, all that energy out there. And we started seeing things kind of start to turn and new and businesses were closing businesses were opening. And we came across a fellow by the name of Ricky. He is a part of the family that owns Xander's cafe there in, in town. And he was in there cleaning it up and we just happened to make eye contact with him.

[00:02:32] And he just big, bright smile waved at us, came walking out, started talking to us, gave us a tour of the place. And we're like, oh, this would be a really cool bookstore, but it's huge. So we would need like, you know, like a market piece and all these kinds of things. And it got really big, really fast. So we, we told him to talk to the family about it and see, you know, if there was anything there. They weren't really ready at the time. So we were like, okay, you know, it was a nice shot.

[00:02:55] And then about a week later, I saw that Emporium 23 was closing in that spot. And we were like, oh my God, Laurel's leaving. And we reached out to her that morning. Like we were still groggy when we were sending her messages, we were laying in bed and we're like, hey friend, what are you going to do with that space? Like, is it taken? What's happening? And she's like, no, I don't think so. I think they've, David and Leslie interviewed a couple of people, but nobody's, nobody's gotten it yet. And we're like, let's check it out.

[00:03:23] Like, let's go take a look. And mind you, we weren't ready, not even close to ready. And when does that ever stop? Never, never. I don't think it's ever stopped me once. I'm just like, oh, I want to do it. Cool. I'll get into it and then I'll figure it out as I go. So we went in, we met with David and Leslie. We maybe took five steps in the place, looked around and we're like, this is a dream come true. This place is beautiful. It's begging to be a bookstore.

[00:03:49] And once we told David and Leslie that we wanted to keep the shelves intact and use them as displays for books and things like that, they fell in love with the idea. And then we were signing the lease a week later. Once we signed the lease and we had, we had, I think maybe three weeks or so to, before our first deposit was due, we had a, we had a school bus at the house. We had, before my daughter was born, we were going to work on it,

[00:04:18] turn it into a schoolie. And then we were just going to live on the road. We had a little porch on the back. We had all these plans. And after living in an RV for about nine months with a seven-year-old, well, at the time he was four, five, we were like, this is, this is impossible. This is, add another kid to this? Like, no, we need to, we need a little more space. They need a yard, that kind of thing. So we moved into the house and then the bus just sat for a couple of years.

[00:04:43] So I always knew the bus was going to sell when the next chapter was going to start. A friend of ours out in Pittsburgh, she reached out and she's like, Hey, I saw your buses for sale. How is it still for sale? Like, yeah, it's been on marketplace for about two years. And you know, we've gotten some of the funniest messages about it. Nobody actually interested in buying it, but just weird, weird messages. And I drove it out there to her. She checked it out, fell in love with it,

[00:05:10] handed us like $5,500 cash. And that was, that was the seed money to get the bookstore started. So we were able to pay our, pay our deposit by our first, you know, few rounds of used books. And we fully planned on just going in with used books, but we were able to fund it with some more savings and a little bit of money that we had. And from that point to now, it's been, you know, we just, when we, we, we get a little bit of money, we have some personal money. We, we just dump

[00:05:38] that back into the store. What we've seen with what is done to the community, it's worth every penny. So very, not super thought out, but it's very, it's just, it's the most authentic thing we've ever done. I would describe it as fortuitous because we love a good bookstore, do we not? Absolutely. Not enough independent books. I mean, there was a time when Morganton had two independent bookstores in Morganton, again, that's in Western North Carolina. But Catawba County,

[00:06:08] where we live, we had zero. So the fact that Hickory now does have one, and now Newton has one also, we can say we're a two independent bookstore town. That's true. County access, yeah. It's a nice thing. Yeah. And if you, as you said that Newton, I mean, it builds that culture, that community that is Newton, right? Absolutely. I mean, it's serendipitous too, because the new state cinema has just come

[00:06:34] onto, you know, into Newton. And then we have NoHo Arts Collective and you all, it's kind of this beautiful triangle of culture. It's right there on Main Street, North College Avenue. Yeah. 111 North College Avenue, right? Yes. But it's such a great, who can, who can boast that of a small town where you can walk into Courthouse Square and have all of those things in one place? So this is kind of the thing that was

[00:07:01] the missing piece, really feels like. Yeah. Kicking and screaming, Newton is coming into its own. Well, it's a very picturesque downtown area. You don't get that very often. You know, a town that has maintained that identity in that way of what that core downtown is. And you're right there. Right. Yeah. In the heart of it, I feel like we are so extremely fortunate that we have this beautiful space that's

[00:07:27] very original to what it was when it was built. You see it in the old pictures. You can recognize our building right away, which is like my favorite thing as a history nerd. But you couldn't ask for a better spot. When you walk by it or you drive by it, it just pulls your attention. And that we made use of that front window to the best of our ability to show people, hey, like, I'm not going to put displays up here. The display is what's going on in our store. It's you want to see the people,

[00:07:54] the books, the ambiance and the little chillatorium in the middle that you can see all those old sofas. Yeah. Well, the other thing I think is genius. And you just sort of flew by it a minute ago was that the shelves are perfect for book display areas. What used to be a clothing store, right? It was, yeah. Yeah, Coley Gurley. When it was built, it was like an automobile sales place,

[00:08:23] car sales place. There was another car sales place after that. And then it moved into more into clothing retail, which is what we're more familiar with. Those shelves are handmade in Charlotte, delivered to the building in 1950. And they've been installed there ever since. And the shelves are original. They bow, they warp a little bit. You need, you definitely need bookends and the occasional shim to keep things level. But it's such a beautiful problem to have because there's

[00:08:51] so much character to it. And the way it complements what we do, you just couldn't ask for a better setup. Last week, I was at Malaprops in Asheville on Thursday. And then Thursday evening, I went to City Lights and Silva. And it's interesting. Some of my favorite independent bookstores have that little comfortable vibe. You know, they're not spitting sparkly, you know, Barnes and Noble slash Starbuck looking. Right. They're not. Buy the book and get out of here. Right, right, right. But they're

[00:09:20] welcoming environments where, again, I know you've used the term third space. Right. But all of them are like that. And when we were at City Lights, they actually have a back room that it's their Appalachian Regional Reading Room. But at the same time, when it comes to an event, they pulled out 30 seats and they made it work. Okay. So I mean, that's the thing that I like about these independent bookstores. They're quick, they're nimble. And they're able to kind of meet what the needs are.

[00:09:46] So again, I'm very grateful that you're in our little. Thank you. We're so happy to be here. And you're right. Piggybacking off of that, I've met and spoken to a lot of other independent bookstore owners. And they're just the coolest people. They're so creative. They're so unique. And the way they approach a problem or approach a situation is so different from what you'd expect. It's truly

[00:10:11] inspiring. I've spoken to, I think it was in Morganton, there was a bookshop owner. When we first kind of knew we were going to have the space and we were kind of doing some research, I reached out to her and she'd be with, with open arms answered my questions. She helped me just kind of feel comfortable settling into like, okay, I can do this. And, you know, she let me know, like, you know, when you get things open, let me know, you know, I'll come down and check it out. She has not

[00:10:38] come down yet. But knowing how busy we get as small business owners, I don't hold it against her. I'm working around the clock. And even when I'm laying there in bed, trying to sleep, I'm like, oh, I need to place that order. And oh, this thing's going to happen this week and so on and so forth. So it eats you up before you know it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And we have our own event coming, do we not? We do, as a matter of fact. And I'm grateful that you were open to this. And it seems like it's going

[00:11:05] to be an amazing collaboration between three attorneys. We've published four attorneys total with all the books we've gotten out. But three in particular are relatively close by. Two live in the county. One lives in Nashville. So this is going to be the first time that we're going to have three lawyers in a row. This will be interesting. We'll see how it works. But they're actually, they're all fun. They're all engaging speakers are also very creative writers. But we've got John Ray,

[00:11:31] who wrote the novel Lifer. We've got Austin Allran, he's from Catawba County, and he wrote The Legend of The Isle of Cats, a novel. And we also have retired prosecutor Jason Parker with his memoir, Prosecutor Boy. And all three of them are going to be at Libraria on Saturday, June 13th, one o'clock. It's free. So we hope that folks will come out there and enjoy listening to three attorneys talking about how their legal and public service work has kind of transformed them into

[00:12:00] the creative writers that they are. So this will be kind of fun. It's fascinating. Now, you would think the legalese of it would just bore you to tears. But those are three of the liveliest books that we've got. I mean, when you read John Ray's book, you can see it being a film right off the bat. I mean, it is episodic like that, and just shows how, and there's a lawyer as a protagonist in this thing, how, you know, less than lawyerly they can be. Right. Less than lawyerly. I like that.

[00:12:30] And come to think of it, Austin's protagonist is also an attorney slash public servant. And Jason's is a memoir, so I mean, it's his trek to becoming district attorney. So they're all coming from a bit of a different angle, but together, it's going to be a lively, lively event. Now, do you have events like that regularly, or are you looking for more? How does that work? We have events like that constantly going in the background of our brains. We do everything from

[00:12:59] author speaking events, author signings, which we do on a very regular basis. We have a wealth of independent authors on our shelves, much like the authors from Red Hawk, although y'all are technically not independent in that sense. Y'all are still a local and... We think of ourselves that way. Yeah. It's a very independent type publishing. And we have authors like that coming through all the time from, you know, Catawba County, North Carolina, South Carolina. I have authors coming

[00:13:26] in from Texas, Oklahoma, things like that to come and just check out our store and meet our community, sign books, and just have a great conversation. So we have events like that. This particular event, when I first met with Patty, when this was all starting this business relationship, it was like the first event idea that just popped out just right on the table. Like, we should do that. Like, that sounds great. So we've been kind of biding our time and just kind of waiting like, okay,

[00:13:55] when are we going to do this event? Because we love Jason Parker. He's amazing. He's the funniest, coolest dude to just sit and talk to. When we first met, he was very... We sat down, we got coffee. And breakfast. And he was very, I don't want to say closed, but he was very professional and just, you know, kind of trying to figure us out. Like, who are these two weirdos sitting across from me? And why is their daughter running around everywhere? And once he got comfortable and opened up,

[00:14:24] we were giggling, laughing, talking about all of his different stories. He followed us back to the store. We gave him a tour, told him our ideas and things like that. And we mentioned the Literary Lawyers event. And he thought that would be a great idea. And he mentioned John right away. So these types of events, these types of events happen pretty regularly. We have calendars mainly on Facebook. It's the best place to catch us. If you go to Facebook and look up Libraria Newton,

[00:14:50] you'll find us. We've picked up a ton of steam on social media. That's where like 95% of our marketing is. We found our audience all over the country, especially in Catawba County. Our reputation usually precedes us everywhere we go. And if you don't mind me asking a little bit more about social media and marketing, are you also on TikTok and Instagram? Oh, yeah. Okay, good. Yeah. Instagram, Libraria Books. And if you go on TikTok, if you want to see my face really

[00:15:17] close up, you'll look at Libraria NC. Or if you just look up Libraria, we tend to come up more now because we're super, super active. Um, I run the TikTok side of it. Crystal, my wife, she runs Facebook, Instagram. She's phenomenal with keeping people up to date and just doing fun posts and keeping people really engaged and wanting to ask us more questions. And I am, you know, flying by the seat of my pants on TikTok, having a

[00:15:43] blast just being myself and just trying to let people know what's going on at the store, but also getting very distracted because my brain is very ADHD and I think people enjoy it. Are you able to somehow, um, capture the typical person who comes into your bookstore? Are they from Newton's Pacific, Catawba County, Western North Carolina, out of state? Are you able to kind of gauge and not in a scientific way, but even if it's just anecdotal?

[00:16:12] Scientifically, no. Um, but the, the kinds of people we get, it's, it's very interesting because almost everybody who comes in, even if it's their first time, they've seen us on Facebook. I saw you on TikTok. Uh, nobody's saying, Hey, I saw you on Instagram, but we're all trying to figure out Instagram. We're, we're at that age. Um, but the, where they come from is we get people from Newton, of course, uh, have a pretty healthy selection of, uh, repeat customers, uh, that I

[00:16:41] know most of them by their first name, um, which I'll forget because I remember their face and look, oh yeah, you're Abby, right? Yes. I remember. And then I'll tell her something about like, yeah, last time you were here, you did that thing and you made that left turn. Then you did this because my brain hangs on to weird stuff like that. Um, and then we have people coming from Morganton, uh, Charlotte, uh, Statesville. Um, I had, uh, a big group of people come in from Nashville. Um, they had seen us on TikTok and they were in town for a wedding and they knew like, I had to,

[00:17:09] uh, we had to come check this out. Uh, and my favorite story, and it's not really a story. Um, but we, I had, uh, someone come in and they were, they were from, I want to say Lenore. Uh, but, but she had said to me, she was like, you know, I, I saw you on TikTok. I've been following you since the beginning. And this place was just on my bucket list to, to come check out. And, uh, that still sticks with me because we're still a month and a half old or so, but to, to make that kind of impact is,

[00:17:37] is, is really impressive and really, really touching. It's humbling for sure. I want to compliment you too, because I've seen you on social media and you're natural and you're just so at home in front of a camera. And I think that has a lot to do with it because you're clearly having a good time. You're doing what you're passionate about and it really showcases the place. And, um, so I was like, this guy's great. You're so at home, you know, for sure.

[00:18:04] Yeah. Well, speaking of that word, you, you create a very homey atmosphere in the store, right? And that's by design. Yeah. By design. That's the, what you'd mentioned earlier, us being a third space. If I hit that microphone one more time that I'm Italian. So my hands are like doing more talking than I am. Um, but we designed it with that third space in mind. And if, if you're listening and you're not familiar with that concept, all the third space is, it's a place outside of work, outside of your home, somewhere in the public area where you can just go

[00:18:32] and be, you don't have to, you don't have to patronize the business to, to feel welcome. I, I don't ever make anyone feel pressured to buy anything. I'd make few people feel pressured to stay and maybe have a conversation. Um, but that's just part of my quirkiness. I do that. And if I'm at a park, I'll do that. That's just part of who I am. So we wanted to make it comfortable and we wanted to make it a place where you walked in and you were just going, wow, I want to stay here

[00:18:58] a while. And I feel like we executed that really well. The, the chillatorium in the middle, which is, which is the coolest part. I stole that word from a customer, by the way, if you're listening, I totally stole it. I told you I would. Um, but we, we originally called it the conversation pit and I love that, but it also feels very like 300, like somebody's going to get kicked down in the middle of it and not be able to come back. Um, you can't converse. Exactly. It's almost like a cone of silence.

[00:19:25] Right. I like chillatorium a whole lot. Yeah. It was really, really cool. Uh, so that, that space and we're still getting people comfortable with the idea of coming and being able to sit, to sit down because you see people that they're, there's that slight feeling of discomfort, not so much with us as a space, but just as a consumer in general, we all kind of have that feeling that we were talking about earlier with Barnes and Noble and, and, uh, you know, Starbucks and just the corporate world out there. It's like, the only reason you're welcome here is because you have money in your

[00:19:54] pocket. So, and we want it. Yeah, exactly. And while this may be, uh, running in direct opposition of, of good business or whatever, I just don't run my business that way. I don't, I don't believe in that kind of thing. Money is not that important to me. What's important to me is community togetherness, connecting with people. And if, and if we're doing that on a regular basis, uh, you know, the, the sales will come, you, you, you want to be there. And when you spend enough time there,

[00:20:20] you're going to see something that catches your eye that, that you really connect with it. You want to bring home and whether you have, you know, a dollar 50 in your pocket, or you have enough money to pick up the new book that just came out, you know, you, or any of the other wealth of, uh, locally created vendor items that we have. Um, you can, you can, you can find something that, that makes your heart happy and you can take home, uh, a big, uh, proponent of that. I price everything in the store. Um, and there's no real science behind it other than I know,

[00:20:50] I know what it takes to make a profit, but I also know that there's a certain threshold that I'm not willing to exceed because I don't want to alienate my community. I don't want to alienate, uh, anybody. I want someone to be able to walk in and we even have a free library. So even if you don't have money, you still can find a book, uh, and, and, and bring one home, um, or sit down and read it. Uh, I've got, you know, we, we offer free coffee, free water, uh, free tea, hot water for tea. You got to make it yourself. I don't make your tea. Um, I don't have any honey though.

[00:21:20] I have to add that to the, add that to the list because I like honey in my tea, but we have things that we offer to just make the community comfortable. And I see people are getting used to the idea of it. I'm starting to move a little more coffee, a little more water and tea, and people are getting the idea because it takes a couple of months for people to kind of understand, you know, okay, what's happening here? What can I do? What can't I do? What do they have? What don't they

[00:21:44] have? Um, so it's, it's about being patient and, and just providing that same consistency for them. Um, that, that consistent welcome, you know, stay a while. Let's have a conversation kind of, kind of feeling. Yeah. But you've got to be heartened by this because you've been open, like you say, a month and a half, right? Yep. And to have this acceptance at this quick turnaround, I would never have predicted for, uh, any, any new business, but that's got to feel good.

[00:22:14] Oh, it's, it's, uh, it's done for me what nothing else I've done in probably the last 10 or 15 years has. Uh, it's, I've, I've had a wealth of different types of careers and, and, uh, you know, opportunities creatively, uh, you know, to write, to perform things like that. And, and what this bookstore has done for me is, has trumped all of that. I get to meet amazing people every day. Uh, sometimes it's just a couple of people. Sometimes it's, you know, maybe 15 or 30,

[00:22:42] depending on, on the day of the week. And we have great conversations. I like making people laugh when they come in. That's, that's my goal is just to make somebody crack up a little bit, especially the real serious ones. Those are my favorites. I'm like, I'm going to get you to laugh before you leave. Even if it's at my expense, I don't care. That doesn't bother me. Uh, so it's the, the, the response has been very humbling and overwhelming, uh, to, to even be sitting here right now talking to the three of you about our store. Uh, I never imagined that a month in or a

[00:23:09] month and a half in I'd be, I'd be at this level doing this, uh, unless I was running it myself. But David, you put, you put in all the work, man, and you know this too, because it's like you actually sought us out and we aren't the only ones because I know that you were, you actively sought out collaborative collaborators and community people that you knew were either important for your success or people that you wanted to play in the sandbox with. Yes. And it was kind of funny.

[00:23:36] I was excited that you were coming on board. We all knew it's going to be a new bookstore, Newton. And I'm like, Oh, I can't wait. Maybe one day I'll talk to him. And then I'm hearing everyone saying, Oh, I spoke to David. Oh my God. Oh, new bookstore. And I'm thinking to myself, darn it. What am I going to hear from him? And you finally reached out and I knew that day it was going to come. Um, but I think I might even yelled. I knew one day you were going to call me. It wasn't a yell. It was very calm. It was, it was, it chilled my bones. You were just like,

[00:24:04] I knew you were going to call me David. I felt it through my whole body right down the spot. Cause everybody said the same thing about you. It's like, Oh, have you talked to Patty yet? You should talk to Patty. Here's Patty's number. You should talk to Patty. Patty's great. Patty does this. I'm like, I need to talk to Patty. And finally I had the courage one day. I'm like, I'm going to call, I'm going to call Patty. We'll see what happens. No. And it was like, okay, this is going to be our sandbox partner. And we've got lots of good partners, but not a dedicated bookstore like this in this way. So,

[00:24:33] um, and from your perspective, you've seen people, I mean, you've been there and you've enjoyed the experience. What do you think? Absolutely. I mean, I've been there probably a half dozen times already and just stopped in to browse and stopped in to admire your, your chairs. You had these beautiful vintage chairs and I'm like, you know, fun fact, my great uncle started the Cully Gurley business and it's currency was stories. He sold beautiful

[00:24:59] men's clothing, no doubt. But what drew people in were the chairs because he had a configuration of chairs and he had a screen where they watched the game, but it was the people would come in because he was a really good storyteller and he would attract storytellers. So that's, it was the same kind of thing. People would hang out there for hours. The aura is there. The aura is there. And it's like, you guys, it makes me, it does my heart good to see

[00:25:25] you all there and just be, I know. I'm like, yeah, this is great. Perfect. Perfect. Um, synestery or whatever. And I don't want to ignore the fact that we are fortunate enough to have an outlet for our books in Hickory, which would be tasteful beans. Yes. That's how I know y'all exist. Who is our sponsor. That's right. And we want to thank Scott and all the great work he does, especially in the poetry realm. But he has

[00:25:49] books, other books as well that we've published that you can go down there and enjoy. And so this is kind of a Newton counterpart of that, a little different wrinkle, but still the idea of a third space, a place to come hang out. And I love that idea. Right. Tasteful bean is amazing. Uh, it's my favorite coffee in the area. Uh, it has, I enjoyed black powder coffee, but the experience when you go into tasteful bean, it's, it's immediately welcoming. You honestly, as a, as a millennial and someone who grew up watching

[00:26:18] friends, you feel like you're walking into a central perk. That's like your central perk and it's just eclectic and wild. And it's just, it's always full of people. And that Peruvian coffee blend changed my life. I buy it two pounds at a time. So thank you, Scott, everyone there. Thank you for sponsoring the podcast. And they also do an amazing job with social media. You know, I mean, they're, they've really kicked it up a notch in terms of what they're doing on Tik TOK, doing little vignettes and having fun. Um, and like I say, you, you're successful,

[00:26:48] but it's directly attributed to the work you've put into it between coming up with the community partners before you even opened and then also your social media engagement. So you've done the work and you deserve it and it's only going to get bigger and better. So I'm excited for you. That's the way I feel. And, and, and, and getting a little more information on that. It was really important for me, uh, starting out to, I knew this wasn't something

[00:27:13] that we were going to do alone. Uh, when you do something at this level and when you're entering a community and you really want to bring that community together and not just the, the, the businesses on that street, but the people that live in the area that are, that are right there in the heart of the city and on the outskirts, I'm, I live on the outskirts. I'm like six minutes away from the store. Um, but to really connect and, and, and engage with all of those

[00:27:37] people, we also need a wealth of, of other creatives and other people in our general network that, that understand what we're doing, that, that share similar values. They don't all have to be the same, but we all share very similar values. We love creativity. We love community. We love being able to connect and share these stories and share these types of experiences with people. So I knew going into it that I wanted to connect with as many people

[00:28:02] as I could, not, not to, to make my business more successful, but to make my business more authentic to who I am and, and, and what, what I stand for and the values that are really important to me. Um, getting to, getting to sit down with, with, with you both, um, and talking about the RedHawk shelf, which by the way is now up and fully put together finally. It's all in one place. Yeah. We love that.

[00:28:28] Yeah. And you'll, you'll see all the, all the, all the books that I recognized, uh, which really got me well acquainted with Red Hawk publishing. Um, it all started with Jason Parker's book. I say it, I've said it to him. I've said it to his wife. I've said it to everybody that talks to me about Red Hawk. That prosecutor boy for me is the most standout recognizable Red Hawk book that, that is out there. Um, and that's for me and that's subjective, but we'll hang our head on that.

[00:28:56] Right. Yeah. And, uh, and then, you know, getting behind that and then seeing all these other great authors with these awesome stories, like the legend of the Isle of Cats, like the way there's, there's horror and faith and, and these, these bigger, uh, these bigger questions and themes all wrapped up in this book. It's, it's, it's amazing. It's something that you're not going to get from a traditionally published book. In most cases they're out there, but it's a lot harder to find. But when you, when you have independent creators and, and a publishing

[00:29:25] house like yours that really leans into authentic storytelling and, and isn't trying to be what's successful or trying to mirror something that's making money, what you're doing is, is you're taking genuine, real storytellers and giving them a space and a voice. And that's amazing. So thank y'all for doing that and being able to do that. And then being on our side of it, being like, okay, we're going to support businesses like yours. We're going to support those authors.

[00:29:53] And even if they're not assigned with any publisher, if they have a great story and they, they, they poured themselves into their book, I want to read it and I want to carry it and I want to share it. Are you working with self-published people, which I always encourage, to be honest with you, everybody has a right to get out there. So. Oh yeah. We are working with independently published authors all over the United States. I'm working out a deal with an author from Australia to be our very first internationally,

[00:30:21] or our first international independent published author. That's really hard to say. And she's super excited. So are we, we just have a few more messages to exchange and just kind of figure out the logistics of all of it. And of course I gotta, I always like to offer help with shipping for them. They don't, most of the time they don't take it, but I always like to offer like, Hey, like we'll at least cover something for you as a sign of good faith. Cause we run, we run a lot of deals on, uh, for independent authors on consignment. Um,

[00:30:47] so that way it keeps, keeps our pockets from getting too empty, but it also provides just an amazing selection of, of stories across all different genres. And, um, so independent authors, if there are any of y'all that are listening, thank you so much. Uh, you have no idea what you've done for my family, what you've done for my business, what you've done for me personally. Um, and, and thank you for those of you who have, uh, signed your books that are in my,

[00:31:14] my collection. Now I have a, I have a whole shelf at home, uh, that I'm building that's just, you know, independent authors that I've met that have come through the store or have sent me, sent me books. I mean, y'all are, uh, another huge piece, arguably probably the biggest piece of, of what we do. Cause we, we knew from the start that that we wanted to support y'all and, and, and really give you a space and a place where you can stand on a platform and be like, Hey, you know, these books, while they're not published by Macmillan or source or hatchet,

[00:31:43] uh, or penguin, they're still great books. And I love the idea as a business of being able to challenge the reader to, to know what a good story really is. Cause the, the more science with that is, you know, when you see books that are like, Oh, this is the new book coming out, you know, from, you know, Stephen King or, you know, your, uh, Alice Feeney's things like that. You, you know what to expect. And, and, and you get a lot of that from your, from your publishers where it's like, they're telling you what's coming out. So, you know, okay, this is probably

[00:32:12] going to be a good story. I should check it out. But when you get presented by us, us weirdos, you get presented with these books, like, Hey, if you, if you dig this kind of author, this kind of genre, like you need to check out Cy Harold, you need to check out Eric Sweat. If you really like, you know, sci-fi fantasy, check these guys out. They're amazing writers. Um, and, and it, and it really builds a strong connection because we build trust with, with our community. We, we recommend books that we really feel strongly about and we carry books

[00:32:41] that, that we love and that our community loves. And it's the turnover rate from traditionally published to independent and local has been, has been growing every single week we've been open. You know, just like bookstores, you know, remember Borders, Books a Million? Oh, I miss Borders. All those big, big box bookstores are gone and consolidated. Now what? There's one. It's Barnes and Noble. It's the same thing that's happened with publishing, right? Yep.

[00:33:07] It used to be tons of imprints and now it's what? The top five. And so what we're seeing is, but there's more authors, you know, as a press, we're giving an opportunity for those voices that aren't going to make it to the New York City big five, but we make ourselves available to them. And it's kind of the same parallel path with bookstores. Okay. You know what? I will open my doors. Um, give me your tired, your hungless and your books and I'm going to sell them even if they're self-published. It's like, in other words, bookstores that are independent

[00:33:35] and smaller presses, we are giving those middlings and those aspiring writers opportunities. And that's why we like independent bookstores. Right. And I think there's an, uh, an argument that could be made about local being more authentic in that all the great books written are not necessarily on the New York times bestseller list. It's only because they have the, the oomph to be able to promote them, but there's so many more things that are important to read. And if you read something from a local author,

[00:34:05] you're getting something from the kind of same pool as you are yourself. So there's, you know, you understand it. It seems more authentic. It's in a lot of ways, just a pleasurable read that you might not get otherwise. And that's kind of why we do what we do. And it sounds like that's what you, why you do what you do. Exactly. To, to be able to connect the reader to something that they can really identify with, uh, whether it's just simply like, Hey, like this story takes place in a town that's five minutes from me, or it takes place in my hometown. Uh, you can, you can see yourself more in that story.

[00:34:35] And what I've found as, as a reader of independent and self-published and locally published authors is it's a really cool experience because you go into it with this idea that, okay, like I know this isn't traditionally published. So there's that small part of your brain that thinks like, okay, somehow you're looking for a reason for this to not be as good as, you know, demon copperhead or whatever else that's out there. But that feeling you get over and over again when you're pleasantly

[00:35:01] surprised and, and, and, and really just overwhelmed with the idea that, wow, this is a really great book. And this is just floating under the radar. This is this book that easily has topped anything I've read in the last, you know, three, four months. And this is from, you know, Trisha Myers, who lives 15, 20 minutes from me, who comes by my shop. And, and, you know, we just have, I can talk to this person. Like I can text her and be like, Hey, your book was awesome. What's up with this part?

[00:35:27] Um, and it's, and it's a, it's an experience that, that you just can't get, uh, you know, anywhere else. Yeah. Try that with Stephen King. I can't, I can imagine if he ever walked in the store, just, I feel like time would just freeze and he would just stand there staring at me and I'm like, okay, I got to make this dude laugh. Quick question. So you've got a home base for well-told stories, right? And you have clearly

[00:35:57] this incentive to reach out. So what would be your wishlist for programs to come or partnerships that, so we could help everybody in the community can kind of jump in and, you know, make sure that you do exactly what it is you want to do in terms of building a legacy of community here. Right. That's a great question. That's definitely one that I would, I mean, this is what I wouldn't shoot from the hip.

[00:36:23] I remember the reason why I ask is I remember Crystal, the first time I met her, she said, we want to build a community of young writers. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's brilliant. Like who says that in a bookstore, you know? And I love that. And then I came in the next time and there were all those chairs. So that's why, you know, next question. Yeah. It's, I mean, when it comes to visionary things and building a lot of those programs,

[00:36:51] Crystal is, she's the visionary. She's brilliant. You know, she told me not to talk about her today, but I can't help it. She's, she's, she's such an integral part of, of the business and of the community outreach and the things that we do. And I get a lot of the love because my face is out there just staring at everybody through their phones. But, and you know, we, the way we've had to split

[00:37:17] things with our kids, we, we have to do a lot of things separate and I'm at the store more than, than she is. And, and, and it's definitely, it's, it's difficult because this is our dream together. And I've, I've had the fortune of being able to really step into it and be a part of it on a day-to-day basis. Whereas, you know, we have to find time for her to come in and do these things. And, and, and I'll be honest, I don't do, I don't do a great job of, of, of really managing that and,

[00:37:45] and, and opening those doors as well as I should have. It's something I'm working on on a daily basis. But that young writers program, that, that is her brainchild and she's a program builder. She's done it around Catawba County for, for years. She's a mental health therapist. And she's built multimillion dollar programs here that are still running today. Oh my gosh. There are, there are businesses that run based off of what she built and it's super cool.

[00:38:13] And I get to just stand next to me and be like, Oh, I got a bookstore. Which is no small feat of his art. No, no, but that's the way I really approach it. Thank you, Crystal, for giving us David. Yeah. Giving David time to do what David's doing. Well, the birth of this partnership is, is incredible. Right, right. And, and to, to answer your question, the young writers program is a really, really big thing we want to do because we want to encourage kids to read, to write. Yes. So much.

[00:38:43] And, and we have our like free book Friday program, which is picking up steam. I think people are still getting used to the idea that like, I can come and get one for free. It's like, yes, you can. I've got a ton that I give away. Um, so we, we encourage that and we want to build a program, uh, to encourage, you know, young aspiring writers to have a place to hone their craft, to learn skills, to learn from people who are doing it and who have done it. Uh, and, and, and not just from the writers, but also from like an editing standpoint and,

[00:39:09] and, and things like that to, to really get immersed in, in what that looks like. So they understand that path forward. And, um, not only that we, we're talking about, we, we want to build another program for kids who, um, and we've, we've kicked this around is we want to be able to provide like a, um, kind of like a, like a local scholarship type program where kids who want to want to get into

[00:39:36] the arts, whether it's writing or music or performance. And, you know, they don't have the, the means or the money or anything to really do that. We want to, we want to start some type of a program that, that fosters that for them, that they can go and, and, and take music lessons and we take care of that. Or they want to, they want to take this creative writing course and, and we're able to, to, to provide that for them. It's a, it's a big thing and it's going to require more than just us, but that's on the horizon.

[00:40:05] That's another big piece, uh, because I'm myself, I'm a, I'm a writer. Uh, mainly poetry, but I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna work on a novel before I croak. Um, but, but I'm, I'm a songwriter and musician by trade. Uh, so that's, uh, I know how difficult it is growing up with, with not a whole lot and being able to, uh, being able to have a space, like have somebody opens that door and they're just like, Hey, come do your thing. Like I'm going to teach you or I'm going to, I'm going to make this possible for you.

[00:40:34] So we, we want to be that space for people. I think you find a lot of people would love to partner with you and help you realize some of these things. And I'm looking forward to a very nice long conversation when this pod is over because we have some ideas for you, David. Oh boy. But I know that we have to kind of wrap things up a little bit. Yeah, we do, but it's fascinating. And I guess if, if you can't get enough, like we are about this, the next best thing you can do, maybe even better than this, dare I say it, is to go down to a library.

[00:41:02] Now, now talk about your operating hours and that sort of thing when people can come. Right. We are at 111 North college Ave right in the heart of downtown Newton. Uh, if you know where the state theater is or Geppetto's, um, we're right across the street or just a couple doors down. Um, and our hours right now, uh, we're running our summer hours, which are Wednesday to Sunday. We open at noon and Wednesday through Saturday, we close at seven. Um, but if you're in my store past seven, I'll just lock the door behind you and you can shop while I'm doing my thing.

[00:41:32] And on Sundays it's 12 to five. So you can come see us Wednesday through Sunday. Uh, we're opening at noon and then, you know, during the week and the, and the weekend we close at seven. And then on Sunday we, we run limited hours just cause it's a, it's a very quiet day for the town and it gives me a place to do my thing. Uh, so come on down, check us out. Uh, you don't have to come in and start buying things off my shelves. I'll welcome you with open arms. We'll have great conversation. I will make you laugh. That's my goal and it's going to happen. Um, and we'll just talk about books.

[00:42:01] That sounds incredible. We're happy to have you here. Thank y'all so much for having me. This is amazing. All right. We've got one last chore for you. Cool. And I know you can do it. Um, the, the name of the, the podcast. It's called red pub pod. Right. Not exactly easy to say, but can you do it? Red pub pod. Ah, first attempt. I've practiced. You didn't hear the attempts, you know, when this, when we first booked this, red,

[00:42:30] pod, pod, red, red, what? Pod, pod, pod, pod. Are we going to a pub? Is this happening? Pod, pod. But yeah. We want to create that atmosphere. Cause he's talking about third spaces. Pubs are a very good third space. And now so is library. That's true. Uh, we are in the social district, so you can stop and get a beverage, uh, at three little birds at B 52, uh, at Chilongo's anywhere on that area. And you know, they'll, they'll mark your cup. You can walk around, you can bring your drinks in our store.

[00:42:59] Um, and I may ask you to get me one. It just, it just depends. I will pay for it, but I can't always leave, you know? So it sounds like you got a very fraternal, uh, set up down in Newton. Cause you got all these other businesses that are joining together to create a really nice atmosphere.

[00:43:44] That's nice. And I told her like, Hey, I'm opening the bookstore here. It's just immediate friendship and a beautiful partnership ever since. Um, so thank you all for being amazing. You're the best people I know. Um, and you can, with NOCO Arts and us and, um, you know, you've got great Mexican food, Chilongo's, El Baton, which you have Peruvian food, which is so cool. Um, definitely try that. I've heard nothing but good things. Um, we really created this atmosphere where all the business owners, uh, like, like the

[00:44:13] girls at Rabbit Hole, uh, gifts, they're awesome. Um, Kelly down there at, uh, Carpe Crestum. We couldn't really build a partnership per se, but we have some ideas together just because it's more beneficial because she's like the block over. Um, but we're all in this together and we know that in order for us to be successful, Newton needs to be successful. And the only way Newton is going to be successful is if we do this all together. And we have a great relationship, all the business owners, we talk on a regular basis.

[00:44:40] We're always coming up with ideas to partner up and, um, and, and do these, these, uh, cool little things. We're currently putting together a little murder mystery event that's going to take place across like four or five different businesses, including ours. Um, so definitely stay tuned to our socials for that. That's coming, uh, at some point this summer. I love that out of the box thinking and that you're all in it together. Oh yeah. Yeah. We, we, we, we couldn't do it without them.

[00:45:06] And I feel like we all just, we all feel some type of a niche or a need for each other. Like the, we did our competitive puzzling, uh, this past Sunday, not this past Sunday before, and we couldn't have done it if we didn't have tables provided by NoCo Arts and the rabbit hole gifts. Uh, they provide us with tables and chairs so everybody could come and, uh, you know, do their best puzzling, which was our most popular event today.

[00:45:32] We're doing another one probably next month or maybe early the following. Um, we got to get our teams together. We already have four teams. So yeah, that's the thing, but it's just little things like that, whether it's borrowing a table or just being added to an event last minute, it, and, and we're hoping that as we move forward, we can, we can return that favor to everyone who's really welcomed us with open arms. Uh, there's anything I can do for them. I go out of my way to do it because it's, it's so important to me, uh, to know that you've

[00:46:02] got somebody there who's, who's going to take care of you and help you out. Not because they're going to get something out of it, but just because that's what we do as humans. That's, that's a huge, a huge value of mine. Who knew that Newton was going to be the place to be right through all this communal effort that's putting you putting together. Okay. Jane, your initiation want to be a member of the club. Can you say it? RedPubPod. She heard me first. Like you did.

[00:46:32] Practicing all the way in. Newton Tonian's got to hang together. Red light. Well, thank you for being here. We certainly have enjoyed this. And again, go down to the library because you don't necessarily have to buy something, but hopefully there's plenty of stuff to read down there that will pique your interest and tell you who we are as a county. That's right. A city, a county, a state, a nation, a world that we're all in this together.

[00:47:01] So thank you, David, for being a part of it. Thank you for having me. And we look forward to seeing you next time on RedPubPod. There we go. This is RedPubPod. RedPubPod. Podcast. Red Pub Pot from Red Hot Publications. RedPubPod. Red Pub Pot. There we go.

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