Being in front is often mistaken with leadership. But just because a person is ahead of others does not mean one is being a strong leader. So many motivations drive people to leadership positions, unfortunately, the least of which is the wisdom and benevolence needed to guide and direct others. True leaders knows how to achieve individual and group goals from any position. The more leaders are interconnected with their teams, the better they can assess and act in the appropriate way. To feel pressure to be in front is the greatest indication one is not deserving of the position.
We all need help and have benefited from teachers in all shapes and forms to get to where we are. They often appear without us even seeking them out, seeming to appear by the unconscious summoning of our needs. But the lesson we learn from many of these guides is not in what they offer but in how we respond. Although their intentions may be genuine, their advice is shaped from their experience and beliefs and may not apply. If we feel they are misguided or dissembling, we can just forget the unsolicited advice as easily as it was requested.
Drew Cohen from The Writer’s Block in downtown Las Vegas joins Cooper on the inaugural episode of “The Store Next Door”. Each show he’ll talk to owners, managers, and employees at some of the coolest book stores around. The podcast is brought to you by Rare Bird Books based in Los Angeles, a publisher of 50+ books per year, distributed world-wide by Publishers Group West. Special thanks also to John Andrew Fredrick from The Black Watch for the rights to use “Emily, Are You Sleeping” and “The All-Right Side of Just OK” on the broadcast.
Contrary to the popular misconception that people are buying books only from online retailers, independent booksellers are thriving and serving communities in ways their competitors never can. Each podcast, the booksellers will share about their local book scene, trends they are seeing in the marketplace, what got them excited about books and made them choose it as a career, the first book and last book they read, and so much more.
The Writer’s Block Book Shop is a retailer of books and other goods. Its stock includes new fiction and nonfiction books, writing supplies and stationery, games, apparel, badminton accessories and taxidermy forms. A print lab is located at the front of the shop, where handmade books and stationery are manufactured and sold. The property is also an artificial bird sanctuary, and contains an exhibition on the history of language, literacy, and publishing.
Whether you’re in the car, on the treadmill, or cleaning the house, you can take a walk with Doug and check out the retail gems down the street, around the corner, and in our own backyards in this exciting new podcast from Rare Bird Books. If you’re a bookseller and would like to be on the show or have a special store you would like to recommend, let us know.
Supposedly we don’t know what’s missing until it’s gone, but a lot of times we let go of someone or something and don’t realize we’re lacking anything at all. We fill up the recently-vacated space with new people and activities and truly believe all is well, and maybe it is…for a while. But over time, a general malaise and lethargy develops. We don’t quite know what’s wrong, but something is most-definitely off. We switch up our routines, doing more of this and less of that. Unfortunately nothing seems to work. But then by fate, chance, or desperation, we experience what or who we let go and know…this has been missing.
Tom & Huck might be the most famous duo in literary history, but if you listen to Tom and Doug, you’ll probably agree there is some definite potential there. Come on, hitting on topics like fetal resorption, downtown Vegas, and bad relationships, not a bad way to spend thirty minutes.
Have a listen to Tom Stern, author of My Vanishing Twin (Rare Bird, 2017) and Sutterfeld, You Are Not a Hero (Rare Bird, 2015), speaks with Doug Cooper, author of The Investment Club (Rare Bird, 2016) and Outside In (Rare Bird, 2016) as they nerd out on why they went the word route.
The broadcast is available on Soundcloud from Rare Bird Books. Since being founded as a home for authors and publishers seeking new ways of publishing and marketing books that deserve to be read, Rare Bird has made a commitment to dedicating itself to being a leader in: a) developing, designing, and publishing great works that exceed the overall expectations of what just words on a page can provide; b) working with authors and publishers as a cohesive unit rather than adversarial opponents; and c) expanding the limits of what books can offer the world.
We all need help and have benefited from teachers in all shapes and forms to get to where we are. They often appear without us even seeking them out, seeming to appear by the unconscious summoning of our needs. But the lesson we learn from many of these guides is not in what they offer but in how we respond. Although their intentions may be genuine, their advice is shaped from their experience and beliefs and may not apply. If we feel they are misguided or dissembling, we can just forget the unsolicited advice as easily as it was requested.
