NAIBA Scholarship Winner Lucky to Be a Bookseller Because ...

Jessica Stockton of Three Lives & Company in New York City was recently named the winner of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association's contest that asked booksellers to write an essay that began with "I am a bookseller because …"

The contest, which was open to all employees of NAIBA member bookstores, awarded the prize of an "almost-all" expenses paid trip to the NAIBA trade show to be held from October 24 - 25 at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City.

Judges for the essay contest were NAIBA President Sheilah Egan of A Likely Story Children's Bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia, and Board members Dean Avery of Ariel Booksellers in New Paltz, New York, and Joe Drabyak of Chester County Book Company in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Jessica Stockton and NAIBA for allowing BTW to reprint the winning essay here.

I am a bookseller because ... I am very, very lucky.

I am lucky that I grew up with books. Even when I was so small I still wanted to eat the pages, my mother sat me on her lap, or later sat beside the bed, and read picture books, chapter books, whole series to me and my two sisters, until we learned to crave words, and to associate books with shared enjoyment and private pleasure. I learned the excitement of a new book, and the comfort of an old one. I learned the powerful appeal of the book as an object, and as a set of ideas.

I am lucky that I found a community bookstore. When my favorite college writing teacher found out I needed a part-time job, she pointed me in the direction of the small bookstore Three Lives & Company, where she had worked until her graduate studies took up all of her time. Jill and Jenny, the founders and owners, hired me on the spot, and only gradually did I come to realize what an amazing place I had stumbled into. Not only was this tiny store a beautiful space full of beautiful objects, but it was a community meeting place, a haven for authors and would-be authors, a place for discussion and enthusiasm, and a paradise for anyone who loved to read.

I am lucky that I had bookselling mentors. Jill and Jenny were quirky and inspiring women, who knew their customers as well as their shelves, and forgave all of my early mistakes. And after my brief and unhappy stint in the corporate world, the new owner of Three Lives, Toby, gave me the chance of a lifetime when he offered me a full-time job in the store. He gradually gave me more responsibilities and encouraged my growing interest in the whole business of a bookstore, not just shelving and selling.

I am lucky that I didn't get into graduate school. Despite how happy I was to be at Three Lives rather than in an office, I felt that I should be doing something "bigger." But when my Literature Ph.D. applications came back rejected or with insufficient financial aid, my long-suffering boyfriend pointed out that I'd always been happier handling books and talking about books than writing papers about books. For the first time, I thought about bookselling not as "just retail," but as a career that would demand as much rigor as an academic life. Connecting a customer to a book they would love could be even more satisfying than connecting literary theories in the privacy of my own head.

I am lucky that I realized I am doing work worth doing. A discussion with a friend about new political ideals, about community building, fighting urban anonymity and corporate complacency, and how small businesses can change the world, led to another epiphany. Not only was bookselling a career that would make me happy, but it might actually be my way of doing something big and good in the world. Like my mother, I could share a love of good books; like my mentors, I could immerse myself in the daily life of a business, and connect with customers; like my friends in graduate school, I could innovate, aspire, think, create, and even educate. And by becoming part of the community of independent booksellers, I could work to strengthen and maintain the network of bookstores, readers, and businesspeople as a vital part of American life.

I am the luckiest person I know (except for maybe some other independent booksellers). Other people make more money, command more subordinates, have more prestige. But no one I know has a better chance to love what they do, and to make a difference in the world, than I do. That's why I'm a bookseller.