You can find my review of her debut coming of age novel here.

Meagan was amazing and offered to do a guest post for this week’s feature. Today She will be talking about TeenLAB and her role in it. So, now I hand you off to her.

Books + Teens + Local Bookstores = Magic

My first book, The Ocean in My Ears, came out last year, and my local bookstore, Browsers Bookshop, hosted a fabulous book launch party for me. That was one of the best nights of my life. After the launch, I was infused with gooey gratefulness. I wanted so badly to do something to show how thankful I was. I started thinking of ways I could give back to my local bookstore and its owner, Andrea Griffith.

Browsers Bookshop has been in my town (Olympia, Washington) for more than 80 years, and Andrea is the fourth woman to own the store. She has helped educate me this past year about local bookstores. Did you know margins on books are very small? Like tiny. You have to sell a lot of books to keep the lights on at bookstores. I didn’t realize how challenging it was to run one.

So anyway, Andrea, who has an incredible eye for interior spaces, has been renovating Browsers, and making fabulous changes, especially to the Young Adult section, which used to shelve YA and chapter books TOGETHER. Lawdy!

One day, Andrea was telling me about the new *bigger* bookshelves she was ordered to expand the young adult section. My heart sped at the very idea. I asked if she’d be open to me giving her book-buying recommendations. She seemed willing, so I started working up a list. Then I got to thinking about how much better it would be if actual teens were recommending books THEY wanted to buy. How could I help make THAT happen?

I began hatching a plan to start a kind of book club where teens would read books and write book recommendations for other teens. I reached out to local writers Heather Ezell and Gabby Byrne, and both were excited to help host a Teen Literary Advisory Board (TeenLAB). We talked to librarians at the high schools in our area, and they helped us recruit students for a summer TeenLAB program, and Andrea offered to let us use the store’s newly-remodeled upstairs meeting space.

Next thing I know, we’re scheduling summer meetups at Browsers for a group of about a dozen teens. The TeenLAB has been absolutely incredible. Andrea even ordered the kids their very own Teen Pick cards. The kids write book recs on the cards then put the cards on the shelf under the book they’re recommending. If Browsers doesn’t have the book, Andrea orders it. So far, she says customers love the teen picks and the kids’ recommended books are selling well!

This program has been one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I can’t believe how much I love getting together every few weeks to gab with teens about great YA reads. The TeenLAB kids have the best discussions and write stellar reviews. I’m beyond proud of these teens and grateful to Browsers for partnering on the program.

Where we spend our money matters. The TeenLAB and my book launch weren’t sponsored by Amazon. I can’t go downtown and peruse shelves of awesome books thanks to Amazon, and downtown Olympia isn’t a thriving, vibrant place because of Amazon. I’m not throwing shade on Amazon—I own and use a Kindle and the company carries my book and is responsible for loads of my book sales—or any online retailers. I’m simply being honest about why buying books locally is good for you and your town.

Books are more than stories written by individual writers. Books are community makers, world-sharing machines, visual art pieces, printed dreams, friend creators, and so much more. Sacred are the places in your town where you can go to borrow (libraries) or buy (local bookstores) these printed lovelies. My community is better because the lights are on at Browsers Bookshop, and I bet your community is better because of your local bookstore, too.

I want to thank Meagan again for being more than willing to participate in this new blog series of mine. She truly has done some amazing things, more than write a wonderful coming of age novel.

If you are an indie author who is interested in having your work promoted during one of my spotlights, contact me and in the subject area insert Saturday Spotlight. If you are an author who has participated, please spread the word. I would love for this to be continuous. I look forward to hearing from you.

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