Spotlight on Bookstores: *Saturn Booksellers* in Gaylord, Michigan

I’m thrilled to introduce this week’s Spotlight on Bookstores post, written by author Katrina Kittle.  You may be familiar with Kittle’s previous novels, including Traveling Light and Two Truths and a Lie, or you may have picked up on the excitement surrounding the release of her most recent novel, The Blessings of the Animals.  Read on to learn why visiting Saturn Booksellers feels like “a reunion of old friends.”  The author will be reading there on August 12; check her website for other upcoming events.

Saturn Booksellers in Gaylord, Michigan is the kind of bookstore I dream about, as a book lover and as an author. What do I love? Passionate booksellers! Jill Miner and her crew are some of the most with-it, smart, spot-on handsellers I’ve ever encountered. The first time I had the privilege of visiting Saturn I asked for recommendations of what to read on the plane ride back home. Jill asked, “What did you read lately that you loved?” She listened, and—based on my answer—made her suggestions. She personally turned me on to two authors who are now among my favorites: Lesley Kagen and Marissa de los Santos. The whole staff is like that! They’re pros at the game, “If you liked X, you’ll love Y.”

Everyone is so knowledgable about what’s out there! Even if they haven’t read it themselves, the booksellers all have a vast knowledge about current titles.  And the store itself is the perfect combination of nutty and cozy. From the sidewalk sign demanding, “GET IN HERE!” to the chalkboard walls and the coffee shop in the log cabin built INSIDE the rest of the store, you know you’re in a unique place. And that coffee shop? Di-vine. They’ll customize your order there with the same skill they use to individualize book recommendations. Before my last event there, they concocted a mango-coconut-rum-smoothie thing that seriously jeopardized my ability to form words!

The coffee shop reminds me of the reasons I love Saturn Booksellers as a author. Jill Miner and her staff know how to throw a good author event. I say “throw” because they feel just like parties..and as if you’re in the hands of  a great hostess, every last detail is taken care of—such as stopping all coffee shop orders during a reading! Any author who’s ever had to compete with the grinding of beans and the pounding of barista scoops knows what a thoughtful, gracious gesture this is.

And who knew that I’d get my second biggest crowds (next to my own hometown) in a teeny tiny town in Michigan? Saturn events routinely end up as standing room only due to Jill and her crew’s great marketing. For my last signing there, I was thrilled to see that she’d even given out chocolate bars with my book cover on the wrapper! How cool is that? (Chocolate and books—one of my favorite combinations.) The attendees of these events tell you a lot about Saturn—many of the people are loyal, die hard fans of the store, willing to take a chance on whatever Jill and the Saturn booksellers recommend. The q & a after a reading is a rowdy, fun good time…and there are always yummy treats served (I mentioned my love of chocolate, right)?

I eagerly look forward to returning to Saturn Booksellers with the release of my new novel. I look forward to it the way I’d anticipate a reunion with old friends…which is exactly what it is—a group of  friends who are seriously passionate about books they love.