A Day in the Life of a Rep: Sarah N.
Erin is taking a social media class right now and she recently mentioned that a big emphasis has been on how you, the reader, want to connect with us, the writers, how you’re interested not only in the subject matter but also the people behind it. So in order to test that theory, we’ll continue a series we started last year called A Day in the Life of a Rep as well as introduce new series that let you get to know us a little better in the coming weeks.
A little background about me: I live in Mississippi and I cover a pretty large territory – 11 states in the Southeast, plus Ohio – so I travel quite a bit. No trip is ever the same, but after a few years I’ve developed a fun routine and I always look forward to hitting the road. Last week, while Mississippi was getting hit with yet another ice/snow storm, I got to escape to Florida where the average temp was 75 and the sun never stopped shining!
I started my trip in Miami where I spent the day at the highly regarded Books and Books in Coral Gables. I love the store’s mantra: “We’re your independent, locally owned bookstore with three locations in South Florida – plus stores in Grand Cayman, Miami International Airport and our newest edition in Westhampton Beach. We’re a community of writers and readers, hosting 60 author events a month and featuring a carefully curated selection.”
Note the sliver of blue sky that was such a wonderful relief after weeks of gloomy winter weather.
I meet with the children’s buyers in the children’s section of the store so I have plenty of time to check out the shelves and see what they’re excited about. This is something reps always love to see: The Running Dream, our spring “Rep Pick” book, faced out at eye level on their “What’s Hot” shelf (next to another personal favorite Trash by Andy Mulligan – here’s a great post featuring the author and a few rave reviews). And click here to read a previous post about The Running Dream.
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
The Red Umbrella was another 2010 rep favorite and here is a lovely stack of signed copies that Books & Books will go through quickly; the author Christina Gonzalez is a local and the store has already sold close to 1,000 copies! This is another book that we’ve posted about before, click here to read a great review from Deanna.
Stacks of The Red Umbrella signed copies
On Wednesday I headed up the coast to Palm Beach but I forgot to bring my camera out so I didn’t get any pics of the beautiful dreamlike town. I made up for it the next day by taking tons of pics in the quaint town of Vero Beach, where I caught the sun rising over the Atlantic before heading to Vero Beach Book Center for a day of meetings and a fun lunch with my sweet buyer Susann.
Vero Beach, Fl Sunrise
Vero Beach Book Center Children's Store has around 9,000 sq-ft of retail space. The adult books have their own building next door (it's also pink)!
This is the seasonal/holiday table you see when you walk in the door - it's early February so the theme is Valentine's Day.
That's me on the right enjoying lunch with the children's buyer, Susann.
Just a few more quick pictures to wrap up the week. The first is a rock that I was so excited to find while walking on the beach in Vero one morning. This will probably make more sense when you see one of the very cool picture books that we’re selling to accounts right now…. If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet will be available in May.
L is for a Little Lamb (maybe?)
And finally, I wrapped up my week with a trip to Orlando where I met with the media products buyer for the Disney Theme Parks. One of these days I’m going to stay for the weekend and go to Disney World…
Disney Theme Parks Merchandise offices
And that’s it. Thanks for sharing a little slice of my life! If you have specific questions for us about our jobs and travels, please comment below and we’ll fill you in on a future post.
Thanks for sharing, Sarah! How often do you have to go on the road like that?
Wow, 1000 copies of Red Umbrella is amazing!!! You have such a beautiful territory.
This is all so fascinating to me. I really had no idea exactly what sales reps did and all the travel involved before reading these posts.
Keep them coming!
Wow that sounds like so much fun. I wish I could have a career that will allow me to travel as much as you do!
Thanks for all of the comments!! My travel schedule is pretty random. Some months I’m on the road every other week and other months I spend a lot of time in my home office…. I love the variety. All of us reps have collected some pretty funny travel stories over the years so we plan to share them with you in a feature post–hope you’ll get some laughs from them! Happy Friday all. (Sarah)