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| Linda Cannon (center, standing) after receiving NAIBA's Kristin Keith Sales Rep of the Year award, with some of the people she loved: the team from Parson Weems and her sisters, Judy and Kim. | |
Very sad news: Linda Cannon, co-owner of Parson Weems Publisher Services, died December 5 after a brief illness. She was 68.
Cannon began her publishing career working in college and independent bookstores in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Kent, Ohio. She was then a commission rep in the Midwest and Texas, and a house rep in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1989, she left publishing to work as a marketing manager for a software company in California and then became operations manager of an Internet startup. In 2003, she moved back East for family reasons, and joyfully returned to publishing, joining Parson Weems. She became a partner at Parson Weems in 2005, and in 2014, she and Eileen Bertelli bought the company.
In 2017, Cannon received the inaugural Kristin Keith Sales Rep of the Year Award from the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association. In his presentation of the award, Mark Laframboise of Politics and Prose, Washington, D.C., who was NAIBA president at the time, captured what so many of us liked about the recipient: "Linda's dedication and generosity to her accounts is immense. Her optimism and sense of humor can brighten an ordinary day. I'm proud to give this award to Linda Cannon, not just because she's my friend but because she exemplifies everything great that sales reps contribute to our stores."
In accepting the award, Cannon said in part: "Working with the amazing and passionate booksellers in the mid-Atlantic has been as fun and rewarding as anything I have done in my decades as a bookseller. Through the good times and bad, we persist. Thank you to one and all for your hard work and support and, for this fabulous award. I'm feeling fine on cloud nine."
Parson Weems co-founder Chris Kerr remembered: "Linda was a voracious reader. She particularly enjoyed biography, history and mysteries. She was widely admired for her direct, forceful manner, her integrity, and her commitment to her customers, her client publishers, and the industry.
"I met Linda in 1979 where she was a Cleveland bookseller and I was a brand-new rep working out of New York City. She had just competed in a winter sailing race on Lake Erie and was covered in ice. She had come straight from her boat to the party. She was then, as always, a high-energy, say-anything gal, and huge fun to party with."
We at Shelf Awareness remember Linda the same way: she was always so friendly, serious about the business but also entertainingly informative.
A memorial service will take place this Wednesday, December 11, at 6 p.m., at Tatalovich Funeral Home, Aliquippa, Pa. Friends will be received starting at 3 p.m.