Introducing myself to the community.

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

ysabetwordsmith has recommended that I let people know who I am before listing my crowdfunding venture, so here's a little bit about me. Sorry that it's so cut-and-dried CV-style, but I'm not always the best at describing what I do.
Patty Cryan

Owner / Annie's Book Stop of Worcester, located in Worcester, Massachusetts USA

Patricia M. Cryan is, by turns, a retailer who never sleeps, a walking library of children’s literature, a fan of hard science, harder science fiction, and literary horror tales, and a freelance editor who makes strong folk cry at regular intervals.

She has been active in bookselling since 1987; her first bookstore job was at Reader's Market, a discount outlet for the Waldenbooks chain. From June 1990 until September 1996, she worked at Children's Book World in Guilderland, NY, and then relocated to Massachusetts. She became the Children's Department Head in October of 1996 at Tatnuck Bookseller & Sons. She transferred to their Purchasing Division in May of 1999, where she remained until February 2003, when she chose to pursue a career in freelance editing. She maintained a keen interest in bookselling and kept abreast of the field through contacts in the book trade.

Patricia began volunteering at her local Annie's Book Stop in August of 2008, and took over its existing operations in November 2010. Since then, she has expanded its focus beyond the traditional used books and trade-in traffic it had previously relied upon.

She has been a member in good standing of The New England Children’s Bookselling Advisory Council and the New England Independent Booksellers Association since 1999.

Since 1986, she also has also served [and continues to serve] as General Partner for Mike’s Comics - http://www.mikescomics.com - a mail order and Internet company established in 1976, which carries comic books, audio dramas, science fiction and fantasy books and collectibles, roleplaying game supplies, fantasy greeting cards, and much, much more.

Questions may be directed to Patricia via e-mail at anniesbookstopworcester@gmail.com.

I am currently running a fundraiser on Peerbackers.com to help keep my bookstore afloat. We support many local authors, and host creative events like a weekly textile craft-and-audiobook social called Spinning Yarns.

More details in my next post. Thanks for reading so far.

---pmc2