Given the positive reaction to my last bookseller interview, I'll be working to post a few more. And I promise I'll branch out beyond the Toronto stores! But Bakka-Phoenix (bakkaphoenix) is a great SF/F store, and Michelle Sagara (msagara) has the unusual advantage of being both author and bookseller. In other words, she knows a lot of stuff, and you should listen to her.

1. So who are you, where do you work, and who is your favorite muppet?

First things first: OSCAR THE GROUCH! Although it's true I wouldn't want to eat the food of his people. (I have just had a twenty-minute argument with a friend because I told him about this question with gleeful enthusiasm, and he said "well, technically, he's not a muppet", which, I want you to know, is profoundly wrong. I was forced to correct this, but will spare you the violent details). I have a large Oscar the Grouch sweatshirt and it is my favourite shirt -ever-.

Okay, so, a bit about me. Obviously, the subject of muppets makes me violent.

I'm Michelle Sagara, and I write under both that name and Michelle West. And Michelle Sagara West.

I work part-time at Bakka-Phoenix books in Toronto; it's an SF/F specialty store which has been around (under a slightly different name) since 1972. I worked there full-time, and managed the store until the birth of my oldest son. Before that, I worked at the Classics chain in Toronto, in a bunch of different stores as a floating part-timer; it was bought eventually by W.H. Smith, a chain that was eventually absorbed by Coles. Which became Chapters. Which was bought by Indigo.

( Read on, dear readers... )

First off, a quick happy moment. Go check out the Mysterious Galaxy bestseller list (paperbacks) for March. It's only been a month since Goblin War came out, but it's been an awfully good month. Clearly I should have put Jig on wolfback two books ago :-)

Anyway, on with the interview. I've interviewed a number of authors, and it's always fun to hear about different people's processes, how their books came about, and so on. But I wanted to try something a little different, and for a lot of my readers, I thought it might be helpful to get a peek into the mind of someone who actually sells our books. Let me know if this is a feature you'd like to see more of!

I met Jessica at Ad Astra last year. We chatted a bit then, and hung out again this year. She was kind enough to agree to an interview about her work at the World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto. So without further ado, here's Jessica.

1. Introduce yourself, if you would? Who are you, where do you work, and what do you do?

My name is Jessica 'Strider', and I work in the fiction section of the World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto. For the past two years I've been in charge of the science fiction/fantasy section. I do themed endcaps and an online, well it used to be a newsletter but now it's a blog with book reviews, author interviews and reading lists.

2. So let's get down to business. What can I as a struggling author do to make sure you stock my books, sell them to all of your customers, and make me stinking, filthy rich so I can quit my day job and live on a yacht with my genetically engineered peacock-dragon?

( Click for the rest of the interview )