Highlights from a USA Today profile of Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tenn., and owners Ann Patchett and Karen Hayes, on the store's first anniversary:
Patchett works in the store a few hours every other day and does a lot of handselling. She described her approach to the booksellers' art this way: "I don't look at someone and think, 'I'm going to make a sale.' I look at them and think, 'I know a book you're going to love.' "
Recently she handsold a book to R.A. Dickey, the New York Mets pitcher who just won the Cy Young Award and is the author of the memoir Wherever I Wind Up, published earlier this year. A resident of Nashville, Dickey was in the store to autograph copies of his book and browse. Patchett asked Dickey what kind of book he was looking for. He said, "Coming-of-age stories about boys, with happy endings." Although she might have recommended his own book, she gave him a copy of This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff.
The store's No. 1 bestseller, with 995 copies sold, is The All of It by Jeannette Haien. Patchett wrote the introduction to the 2011 reprint of the 1986 novel.
The store had sales of $2 million in the last year, with an 18% profit margin. Patchett has invested $150,000, to be repaid over 10 years. "Community founders" contributed another $30,000.