Dear Everyone ~
Let me take you back to last Sunday morning at BZS. I publish the Extravaganza of Serizawas e-blast at 9:30, as planned. It’s still early on the Left Coast, and I wonder when shoppers might start shopping. Almost immediately, three customers each purchase three of Mary McCarthy’s gorgeous buttonhole-stitch books. Wow-awe-zawa! One of the “trio book trio” promptly composes a lovely email:
Dear Bari, I cannot believe the email I just read from you with those GORGEOUS books for sale. I bought 3—1 for me, of course, and 2 for Christmas presents. I know who they will be for, and I know they are going to just loooove them. What a wonderful person that woman is. I am as dumbstruck as you must have been and the entire wonderful story has just made me so happy today. – Laurie O.
Orders are streaming in. I am in the studio by myself, because Ruby is out of town. I want to share the grand news with someone, so I text Alyson, a.k.a. my postal muse.
She calls right away and asks if everything is all right. I say, “Absolutely, but why are you asking that?” And she says, “Because nothing, not one book, is showing up as ‘sold out.”
I shift into full panic mode. I get into the backend of my shopping page and confirm that the “inventory available” has not changed on any of the books. I then go to my website and try to order a book that’s already been sold. THANK GOODNESS, I can’t add it to cart.
I immediately email Squarespace to find out what’s going on, because their live chat is not available on Sunday, alas. I spend the rest of the day & evening monitoring and adjusting each listing manually, using my phone and my laptop in sync. I will spare you the exhausting details.
Ecstatically, most of the books are purchased within hours. It is beyond thrilling, and I can’t wait to tell Mary (as I assume she is not haunting the Serizawa Extravaganza page).
I receive a clever text from Audrey K. (niece of my postal muse):
Bari, I’m in Seriz-awe-wa over the latest newsletter! How fabulous!
So, my thanks to Audrey for inspiring the headline for this post, and my kuhngratulations to her for buying “October 1982,” the month and year of her birth!
A little later, Janet L. writes, and I can almost hear her frustration:
What a lovely stash of beautiful books! I am trying to order 2. I'm at the cottage and only have one bar of service and the payment won't go through. Is there any chance you would hold? them for me. I'll be back in the land of full service Tuesday night. I want to learn this style of bookbinding so badly. Do you have plans to teach it soon? The best always, Janet L.
I have put one (the available one) of the two Janet wanted aside.
You might think All’s well that ends swell—as I did—but you would be premature! Monday I receive an email from Jan R.
Bari, What a great sale! Books that were marked as SOLD yesterday are no longer marked as SOLD today. Is this a mistake? As there is my birth month that was marked as SOLD, but is not now. I would like to change books if possible. I do like the one I ordered, but October is outstanding. – Jan
I wrote back to Jan, giving her the abridged version of the debacle. In her reply, she added, “There were so many lovely books it was hard to decide. Some sold while I was looking at your site.”
Mary McCarthy sent me the shortest, sweetest email of all:
That is AMAZING! And It's your magic touch Bari
I hasten to attribute the extraordinary success of the Serizawa Extravaganza to the beauty of Mary’s books, the appreciation of the BZS community, and our collective joie de livre. My deepest heartfelt thank you to Everyone who purchased a book—or wished they had but couldn’t because they flew out so swiftly. I’m also doubly delighted to be hand-folding two envelopes from my own reserves of Serizawa calendar pages to present my checks in person to both Artist Book House & The Newberry (scene at top).
In deep bow, Bari
P.S.
We’ve carried Denise Fiedler’s collage cards for several years. Their charms are endless, and the paper they’re printed on is thick and luscious to write on. Well, Denise is the artist of the USPS’s new Holiday Cheer stamps: a festive quartet of seasonal greenery, fruitery, and aviary. The stamps and their companion notecards debuted on September 13, though many Post Offices will not carry the stamps until later this fall. Denise and my postal muse are long-time paper pals. Later this week, we’ll post the fruits of Alyson’s chat with Denise about her inspirations for her first (we hope!) stamps.