New independent Queen Anne Book Company launches this Friday with 3 days of book fun

Attention bibliophiles: it’s almost here, Queen Anne Book Company is just a few days away from its grand opening! If you’ve been watching the shop’s daily countdown on the front door or on Facebook, you know that our new, independent, locally-owned bookstore is set to open this Friday, March 1st (and the countdown has been a lot of fun, with each daily book selection highlighting the number of days left til the doors open).

In addition to new owners Judy & Krijn de Jonge and owner/manager Janis Segress, you’ll also find some familiar faces, as four of the previous Queen Anne Books’ staff members have joined the new shop’s team of book experts.

I stopped by Queen Anne Book Company for a sneak peek yesterday, and spoke with the owners and staff members that are making it happen. They’ve been very busy prepping for not just opening day, but also opening weekend – that’s right, they have in-store author events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, it’s going to be a book-a-rific weekend! They’re open all 3 days, 9am-9pm, with “Authors in the House” events planned every day:

Friday, March 1

• 1-3 pm: Maria Semple, Seattle resident, screenwriter and author of the 2012 bestselling Where’d You Go Bernadette, set on Queen Anne
• 3-5pm: Mary Daheim, Queen Anne resident and author of the popular B & B and Alpine mystery series, including recently released Alpine Xanadu
• 3-5pm: Lance Weller, Gig Harbor resident and author of Wilderness, a debut novel set during the Civil War
• 4-6 pm: Matt Ruff, Seattle resident and author of 5 novels including The Mirage, released in February 2012
• 7-9 pm: Erica Bauermeister, Seattle resident and author of three novels including recently released The Lost Art of Mixing
• 7-9pm: Jennie Shortridge, Seattle resident and author of five novels, including the soon-to-be released Love Water Memory (April 2013)

Saturday, March 2

• Noon-4 pm: Bernadette Pajer, Seattle resident and author of the popular Professor Bradshaw mystery series set in the Pacific Northwest
• 7-9 pm: Sherman Alexie, Seattle resident and winner of the 2013 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award, 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Blasphemy, a collection of short stories, is Alexie’s most recent book

Sunday, March 3

• 11-12:30pm: Carmela D’Amico, Seattle resident and author of the popular children’s series featuring Ella the Elephant
• 12-2 pm: Jonathan Evison, Bainbridge Island resident and winner of the 2013 and 2012 Pacific Northwest Booksellers awards, 2009 Washington State Book Award and author of 3 novels, including the Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
• 12-2pm: Jim Lynch, Olympia resident and author of 3 novels set in Western Washington, including recently released Truth Like the Sun
• 2-4 pm: Seattle7Writers, a collective of Northwest authors – featuring Laurie Frankel, Seattle resident and author of two novels; David Lasky, Seattle resident and cartoonist, graphic novel author; Shannon Huffman Polson, Northwest resident and author
• 4-6 pm: Seattle7Writers, a collective of Northwest authors – featuring Sean Beaudoin, Seattle resident and author of four novels; Kevin Emerson, Seattle resident and young adult author; Suzanne Selfors, Bainbridge resident and childrens/young adult author; Kevin O’Brien, Seattle resident and thriller author

Co-owners Judy de Jonge and Janis Segress are “excited to fill the full-service independent bookstore needs of the Queen Anne community” – it’s a brand-new venture, but you’ll see a few familiar faces at work to fill your reading needs, provide recommendations, and a highly-personalized customer service experience that only an independent bookstore can provide. So much so, they want the new Queen Anne Book Company to “feel like coming to your second home” – and they have plenty to offer in the way of tailored book recommendations and personal service:

• Author events – focused on local and Northwest authors, small and up & coming authors with new books
• Personalized list service – they’ll notify customers of new books, place advance orders, and take special orders – most arriving the next day and with free shipping!
• Recommendations – the staff will provide recommendation cards for books (one of the best ways to find your next read), and to kick off the grand opening, every staff member will be providing their “top 10 of 2012” lists covering fiction to mystery to children’s books
• e-Books – the shop will stock the American Booksellers Association’s Kobo e-book readers and will set up ordering your e-books via its web site. Kobo e-books will also work on Kindle Fires, iPads, and Nooks
• New web site – launching in mid-March, the web site will available for orders 24-hours a day
• Book groups – in addition to a store-hosted book group, the shop will also act as a resource for independent book groups, with a special shelf set aside for your book group reads at 15% off
• Customer Appreciation – kind of “Baker’s Dozen” of books, when you buy 12 books, you’ll get a deal on your 13th book

Stop in this weekend at 1811 Queen Anne Ave N to help celebrate the opening of our brand-new local, independently-owned bookstore – in addition to the author events listed above, the shop will also have surprise “flash mob” discounts, prize drawings of autographed books, and spontaneous contests.

According to manager Janis Segress: “We anticipate a weekend of high-energy book fun. We’re returning to warm traditions of personal service and neighborliness over books, while introducing an exciting new literary center for the neighborhood.”

Welcome, Queen Anne Book Company, we’ve been waiting for you!