A Talk With ABA Board Candidate Gayle Shanks

American Booksellers Association Board of Directors ballots must be postmarked by April 17 and returned in a special postage-paid envelope to accountant KPMG by April 24.

Director candidates on the ballot are Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona; Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City; and Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville and Downers Grove, Illinois. Shanks is also on the ballot for a one-year term as vice-president/secretary. Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, is on the ballot for a first term as ABA president.

BTW recently had a chance to talk to Shanks about her bookstore and about her focus if elected for a second term.

Gayle Shanks founded Changing Hands in 1974 with her husband, Bob Sommer, and a friend, Tom Brodersen, who eventually left the store. Shanks' and Sommer's current partners are Pinna Joseph and Susie Brazil. "I thought I'd play in the book business for a year or two!" Shanks told BTW. "I never dreamed it would become my life."

Gayle Shanks

Today, Changing Hands is not only a popular gathering place for the community, the Arizona Republic referred to it as a "Mecca" for authors -- a store renowned for appearances by prominent local and nationally bestselling authors.

When Shanks talks about her years in the business (Changing Hands celebrated its 32nd birthday on April 1), her enthusiasm is apparent. "Books have always been extremely important to me all my life," she said. "To be in an environment where I get to talk about books to colleagues and customers -- it's a kind of dream job. It's been wonderful."

Since its opening, Changing Hands has grown from 500 square feet to 16,000 square feet, moving from downtown Phoenix to Tempe five years ago. It has also won several awards, including the Arizona State University/W.P. Carey School of Business 2005 Spirit of Enterprise Award and recognition by the Phoenix New Times as Best Bookstore for three years running.

Changing Hands has always had a mission of community involvement. It is a founding member of Arizona Chain Reaction, a local independent business alliance that now has over 500 members. The bookstore participates in One Book Arizona and the Arizona Book Festival, co-sponsors author events with the local NPR station, and works closely with schools and literacy projects in the Tempe community.

In addition to her service on the ABA Board, Shanks has been a member of the association's Education Task Force, and she has led seminars on adding nonbook products to the inventory mix and other topics at both BookExpo America and at regional meetings. She previously served on the board of the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association and was its president for two years. She was the first president of Downtown Tempe Community Inc., a business alliance that has worked on parking, marketing and promotion, and design issues in the downtown Tempe shopping area.

About her first term on the ABA Board, Shanks told BTW, "I have spent the past three years on the Board learning about bookselling on the macro level -- learning what other retailers are doing in their industries, learning about our relationships to publishers and wholesalers and how these can be improved, understanding the legislative process that involves our First Amendment rights, and becoming immersed in Local First and Independent Business Alliances. I think booksellers are often the initiators of such alliances and spearhead their formation."

If re-elected to the Board, Shanks plans to continue highlighting bookseller education. "Making us all better booksellers is one of the Board's primary goals and one that I am most interested in promoting," she said. "I was privileged to be part of the Educational Task Force that brainstormed the needs of booksellers in this realm, and when I experienced the energy and enthusiasm at the Winter Institute this year, I knew that we had struck a common chord.

"I think that our stores cannot stagnate but must change as the culture changes. We must educate ourselves about new technology, new innovations, and be prepared to move our stores in new directions. Customers are looking for good experiences as much as good books, and we must figure out how to provide them with those." --Karen Schechner