Happy holidays: Best-selling author gives Houston booksellers ‘bonuses’
James Patterson has just given three local booksellers a holiday bonus.
Every December, the bestselling author issues a “bonus” to a number of independent booksellers — $1,000 to $5,000 checks designed to reward the people who help keep indie bookstores alive. This year, the list includes three Houstonians, representing the city’s three big independents: Cathy Berner at Blue Willow Bookshop, Annalia Luna at Brazos Bookstore and John Kwiatkowski at Murder By The Book.
Nearly 150 booksellers nationwide will get checks from Patterson this year, rewards that will add up to $250,000. The bonus is a gift with no strings attached: Recipients can spend the money any way they like.
“It’s a delightful thing for him to do,” said Berner, Blue Willow’s children’s specialist and event coordinator. “And it’s generous for him to honor the work that booksellers and librarians are doing every day across the country.”
Berner, Luna and Kwiatkowski were each nominated for the bonus, though they don’t necessarily know who did it. It might have been an author, a publishing representative, a colleague or a customer.
At least one of Kwiatkowski’s nominations came from his boss, Murder By The Book owner McKenna Jordan. As the store’s event coordinator, he raised the store’s profile this year, Jordan said — most notably, he helped make Murder By The Book the bookseller for StoryCon in New Orleans. But every day, she said, Kwiatkowski is doing the work that makes independent bookstores special: “Every customer who comes in the door, he greets and knows and tries to recommend a book to.”
Patterson is one of the heavy hitters in publishing; his latest novel, “Cross the Line,” is near the top of the best-seller list this week. Berner said she admires the fact that a top-name author still supports reading and literacy at the ground level.
“Any place that sells print materials, you can find a James Patterson book,” Berner said. “And the fact that he recognizes the important role that independent bookstores and libraries play in the fabric of our society really means a lot.”
It’s not the first time Patterson has supported Houston booksellers. Brazos Bookstore has made the holiday bonus list in recent years, and Murder By The Book received a grant from Patterson in 2014. Furthermore, when Jordan’s store was damaged by floodwater last spring, Patterson sent an unsolicited check to help Murder By The Book bounce back. “The money was really helpful in that time, and it was a complete surprise,” Jordan said. “That was impressive and really appreciated.”