(lively music) - Will you "Consider This?"

In sign language, this means book, open a book.

And these two ladies know all about books.

Cheryl Langley is the owner of the Book Nook, and Crystal Routley is a local author, an area author.

So thanks for being here, you guys.

- Thanks for having us.

- Yeah.

Now you own the Book Nook?

- [Cheryl] Correct.

- And so how many thousands of books are in there?

- We typically always have around 140,000 books at any given time.

- [Christine] Is that all?

- That's all.

- That's too bad.

That's too bad.

And then, we're just gonna go back and forth, and Crystal, you've been writing for how long?

- Writing for a long time.

Since I was a kid.

Published since 2020.

- All right.

So you have a certain genre that you like to write?

- I do.

I stick with historical paranormal romance.

- Aha!

- So think King Arthur meets gargoyles.

- Interesting.

- Hm mm.

- [Christine] Very interesting.

How did that happen?

- That happened because I wrote a story that I thought no one but me would wanna read.

And then, lo and behold, someone got ahold of it and said, "Why is this not published?"

- [Christine] And so you went with a publisher.

- And I said, "Well, let's figure it out."

And the rest is history.

- [Christine] Okay, and how many books have you written in that series?

- In that series so far, there are six.

- [Christine] Aha!

Well, how long does it take you to write a book?

- It depends.

Sometimes I could write a book in a week.

And the books I write are anywhere from 60,000 words to 110,000 words, so a full novel.

If I'm on a roll and I'm not interrupted, it could take me a week.

But for the most part, it takes about six months.

- [Christine] Interesting.

And then you have to have editors to read 'em and everything.

- Yes.

Multiple layers of editing.

A cover artist.

I don't have a publisher now.

I publish myself.

- Okay.

- But that means that I wear a lot of hats.

So everything that has to get done goes through me.

I'm the one that actually clicks publish.

- [Christine] Okay.

- I'm the one that says this is final, this is done.

- [Christine] Well, who is your editor though?

Or are you the editor too?

- I use a few.

- Okay.

- I use a few.

Don't ever edit your own books.

- No - Never.

- [Christine] Because you miss 'em.

- You do.

Because in your mind, you know what that book should say.

- Right.

- Your editor doesn't.

- Okay.

- So they're looking at it with fresh eyes.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And don't use the same editor that you've used for the details and the story, the plot line.

Use a different editor for your final, for your, "Hey, just skim this over and make sure we're good."

- [Christine] Who knew?

- Hm mm.

- Wow!

There's a lot.

- There's a lot.

- Hm mm.

And then Cheryl, so you took over the store from your brother.

- [Cheryl] Correct.

- And it just keeps you busy, busy, busy.

- [Cheryl] It does.

- And you like to read, you like to read everything.

What don't you like?

- I'm mostly mystery, thriller, horror.

I will read some romance, but I'm not a huge romance reader.

- Okay.

Well, so we're gonna talk about all kinds of things.

One thing, the reason that I wanted to have you here, is because you have something coming up in September.

- Correct.

- It is called the Readers and Writers Rendezvous.

No, rendezvous.

Okay.

- Correct.

- And this is a gathering for nerds, book dragons and creatives.

And so you're going to hold this at the Peoria Civic Center at the end of September.

- Hm mm.

- All right.

How did this come about?

- So I have always done small author events in our courtyard upfront.

For the most part, I have anywhere from 10 to 18.

It can get tight.

And so Crystal and I were talking at our last event, I guess.

- Yep.

- On making it bigger.

And then we decided not to focus on any one genre.

So all genres will be there.

So it will be an event for all readers, regardless of whether you read romance, fantasy, mystery, thriller.

- Westerns.

Yeah.

- There's even a couple of children's authors there.

- Awesome.

And these are all local people?

- [Cheryl] Correct.

- How many local authors do we have, you think?

- Peoria actually has a lot.

- Really?

- This area is just full of local talent.

And so yeah, we have room for 100 tables.

Some of them will have two authors per table, so it should be a huge event.

- And it's gonna be in the Civic Center ballroom?

- Correct.

- So we're not talking, you know, a little alcove somewhere.

- No.

- That's amazing.

- It's just over 18,000 square feet.

- Hmm.

- So.

- So you have a lot of authors already signed up, or..?

- We do.

- How are you reaching out to them?

- So far, it's just word of mouth, social media.

- Yeah.

- She has reached out to a lot of her... - Before we said we're definitely gonna do this, I reached out to my author friends and said, you know, "Guys, are you interested?

Is this viable?"

And a lot of them said, "Yeah, I'm in.

If nothing is excluded, then I'm in."

Because some book signings will say we're just romance, we're just sci-fi, we're just this, that, or the other.

And so we said, "Well, the bookstore is everything so let's just do everything."

- You're all inclusive.

- Yeah.

And so that's why we might have children's authors there, we might have horror fantasy there.

We can only say what we have now.

I think we do have a children's author.

- [Cheryl] We do.

- And then, I know we definitely have horror.

And so we can't just call it a romance book signing.

- [Christine] Right.

- So, yeah, it was really fun to get everybody together.

- So that's why you called it book nerds, book dragons and creatives.

- Yeah!

Yeah.

- I think it really includes everybody.

- [Cheryl] Correct.

- Oh.

So is there a local author's organization around here where you get together, or how have you met these others?

- There are small pockets, there's small groups that get together usually, but it's a scheduling thing.

Like, you know, nobody's schedule meets up usually.

And so the ones that can get together do get together on a regular basis.

But yeah, there's a lot of 'em that we write similarly, but not the same.

- Right.

- And we could really jive off of each other.

- [Christina] You get ideas then from others?

- Not ideas from, but yes.

You know, when you're hashing out an idea, you might say to another author, "You know, I've got this point and I'm stuck."

Or, "I think I've written myself into a corner."

And they'll be like, "Well, what if you tried this?

What if your character came into, you know, $50,000?

Would that change their, you know?"

- Right.

- "How would that work for them?"

- Just a goofy thing.

Or you might say, "Well, that could never work because," and then you start throwing ideas around.

- So how do you sleep at night because aren't these stories always like, just running through your head all the time?

- They are.

They are.

That's why published, I have a few, there's many more that are not published.

- Okay.

Okay.

And then Cheryl, but the store has, well, doesn't have her things right now because she told me an interesting story about publishers.

- [Cheryl] Correct.

- Do you wanna explain that or are you gonna let her explain it?

- [Cheryl] She can explain it.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- Go ahead, Crystal.

- So I pulled my books from the publisher that I had.

Decided to go what's called indie, and do everything myself, which meant I had to change the covers.

So now I have to get 'em back to Cheryl and say, "Hey, here, sell my books for me."

- [Christine] Okay.

- And we work out a deal there so local authors do.

- Because the publisher owns that stuff, I mean, that's... - They do.

When they publish it, they own it, which also means they own part of your profit.

- Okay.

And they still do, even if you sell it as an indie?

- No.

Because that book that I had with them is now done.

- Okay.

- You can't buy that any longer.

- From them.

- From them.

- Okay.

All right.

All right, so what's been the most confusing thing for you at the store?

Have you run into any kind of snarls like she has with publishing or..?

- No, not really, because since I am strictly a used bookstore, it doesn't matter so much because somebody has already paid their portion to her publisher.

She's already gotten her cut.

So it's almost like you're having, you know, a garage sale and selling your stuff there.

It's still yours.

You can do what you want to with it.

And so I don't have to get into all that.

- Right.

- It's out of print with her publisher.

So it's just this one that's for sale.

- Okay.

- So.

- And then, you've been doing this for nine years?

- Correct.

- Did you help your brother before you took over?

- [Cheryl] Very, very little.

- Very.

Okay.

- I was supposed to get more training and then he got sick and had to step away.

- [Christina] Okay.

Well, gosh.

Yeah.

But you've organized it.

- Yes.

- It's a lot different than it was before.

- Correct.

- And that was quite an undertaking.

- Yes.

- And I noticed that in the children's section, so you have a lot of the stuff, but then you have a lot of the scholastic or, yeah.

- Correct.

- In its own separate section.

- So we have picture books that are separate and then easy readers.

And then once they get beyond the easy reader stage, we just switch 'em into chapter books.

- Okay.

- So it doesn't matter if you're a first grade reader or a fourth grade reader, they'll still be in that children's chapter book section.

- Okay.

- So.

- Well, and so, I mean, you didn't know that before.

You just kind of had to figure that one out yourself?

Your brother, had he done that?

- Some of the things were organized.

I have switched how they were organized to an extent because I didn't agree with him.

- (laughing) Imagine that, a sister not agreeing with her brother.

Huh.

Go figure.

Have you ever thought about writing?

- No.

- No.

You just like to read a lot?

- I am a huge reader.

- Okay.

And so when do you find time to read?

- I read every night before I go to bed.

- Okay.

- So.

- On average I read about 300 books a year.

- Wow!

- So.

- What does the average person, average, average person read?

- You know, it depends.

You know, if you read one book a month, yay.

Pat yourself on the back, you're reading.

It doesn't matter whether you read 600 books a year or you're reading 12.

You're reading, you're gaining knowledge, it just doesn't matter.

- Right.

- So.

- And then Crystal, so you're writing all the time, or a lot.

When do you have time to read?

And what kind of things do you like to read?

- I read everything, almost.

I don't read the horror stuff.

- Okay.

- So I read almost everything.

But I write when I get home and I have to make it a habit.

So I get home, there's time before dinner, I... - [Christina] So you work outside the home?

- I do.

I work outside the home.

So I work a full-time job.

I get home, I write.

I set that time aside.

Even my kids know, don't open that door.

So I write just before dinner.

I have dinner with my family, spend a little time with family, and then I go right back in and write.

It's like having a second job if you're really serious about it.

- Well, who are some of the interesting people that you've met around here?

Both of you, who are local authors and some of the stuff they're doing here?

- Joe Chianakas is probably one of my favorite authors.

- Okay.

- And he actually just had a new book come out beginning of March, as well.

And he will be at the event in September as well.

- [Christine] So males and females will be there.

Okay.

- Correct.

Yes.

- What about any illustrators?

Will they be there too?

Or will they be with the authors?

- There is one that has contacted me about the illustrator.

- I mean, it's mostly children's.

Yeah, right.

- Who was going to come.

And I don't know for sure if it was gonna work for their schedule or not.

But typically, I think they would come with the author if they want to come with them.

- Okay.

And then Crystal, so who's been interesting that you've met around here and you wonder how did they get that started?

- I have actually become friends with Suzan Tisdale and she has mentored me a little bit, and she is making a living off her books.

So she doesn't have to have a outside job or anything, so.

- Okay.

I'm not familiar with Suzan Tisdale.

- Okay.

She writes historical Scottish romance.

- Oh, okay.

- So Scottish Highlands, all very big... - Kilts.

- Yes, kilts and, you know, muscular men.

- Okay.

- And all the stuff that women love about the romance.

- Okay.

All that they love about the Scotsman.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

And then they invented the game of golf, you know?

- Yes.

(all laughing) - Wow!

And she's from here?

- She's from here, yeah.

- Okay.

- She is from here.

Kate Bateman used to be from here.

- Dorothy Cannell was from here.

I think she was a mystery writer a long, long time ago.

- Yeah, that name doesn't sound familiar.

- I don't even know if she's still on the earth.

- Yeah.

- But no, but isn't it interesting that we have so many people around here?

- It really is.

It really is.

I was shocked.

I don't know if it was you that set me up with that group?

There's a group that was already meeting before I was even doing books.

And I think it was you that said, "Hey, there's a group here, you should meet up with them."

And I was like, "Well, okay.

I'm kind of shy.

I don't know if I should.".

And then I met up with 'em and we're so different, but we're so much the same.

And it was just like, oh, I can jive with you.

That's okay.

- Okay.

- Okay, we can be friends.

- [Christina] We're different but we're alike.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- They said Starbucks and I'm not a Starbucks sort of person.

- Oh.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

And they're like, "We're meeting at Starbucks."

And I'm like, "Ooh, well, okay."

- If you know how to order one of those things?

- No.

- You know, the super duper latte uber, yeah, right.

- Right!

So I was like, "Okay, I'll go."

So I took my laptop and I set up and I was there and pretty soon they approached me and they're like, "Are you Crystal?"

I'm like, (gasping) "I am.

Are you my new friends?"

(all laughing) - And then how did you two meet?

- [Cheryl] Through the store.

Well.

- A little bit.

Yeah.

- I grew up in Eureka.

- Yeah.

- [Cheryl] Which is near where she is at, so.

- Yes.

So we walked into the store, my girls and I, 'cause I homeschooled them, or did, now they're older.

We walked into the store and I looked at her and I said, "I know you."

And she goes, "Oh, did you go to the doctor at Eureka?"

Like, "We did."

(Christine and Cheryl laughing) And my girls fell in love with her store.

And so we were there, what, every week for a while?

- For a while.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

We would bring books.

We would buy books.

It was just awesome.

- That's what it's all about.

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

Yeah.

Well, that's pretty fun that, you know, had that little bit of a connection.

- Yep.

- And then because you knew that she liked books, but you didn't know that she was gonna be an aspiring writer?

- I did not.

- I didn't either.

When we first met at the Book Nook, I had no idea.

I'd had that book written for years.

- Okay.

- And I would just stick it away in a corner.

Nobody wants to see this.

Nobody wants to read it.

It's just me.

And then finally, I finally got it published and I went to her and I was like, "Can I sell my book in your store?"

And she was like, "Of course!

We do that.

There's a local author section.

Here you go."

- Right.

- Yeah.

- Right.

Wow!

- It was eyeopening.

- That's fun.

And you have never thought about writing?

- No.

- No.

Just rather read?

- I am terrible at grammar, so, and spelling.

- Okay.

- So if somebody was to read my book, they would read maybe two pages and would throw it across the room and be like, "She has no idea what she's doing."

So I am just gonna stick with reading and uniting readers and writers together.

- Okay.

Well, that's a nice thing.

You know, we all have our special little - - Yes!

- jobs in life.

Okay.

So what about your daughters?

Do they wanna write?

Do they see that you're doing this and..?

- I didn't think so, because at first, mom was really cool that she could get 'em in the back door of all these book signings, 'cause she's the author.

Now, I'm not so cool now that they're a teenager and a young adult.

- Okay.

- But I have noticed and heard from them talking, that they do write.

They do what's called fan fiction.

- [Christine] Okay.

Tell me about that.

I have no idea what that is.

- So they take like, let's say "Beauty and the Beast."

- [Christine] Yeah.

- And they will take and put their spin on it and put it on an online forum where anybody can read it.

And if they allow it, people can add to it.

- Oh, okay.

- So they write part of the story, somebody else pops in - - And then somebody, yeah.

- and writes some the story and then they can go back and forth.

And actually, that's how my oldest daughter met her best friend.

- Oh, through that site?

- Through that site.

Yep.

- And that doesn't bother you?

It doesn't worry you that there's some creepy people?

- It did at first.

It did at first.

But the world we live in, that's how they're doing it.

- Right.

- That's how they're meeting friends.

- Yeah.

Wow!

And where does that best friend live?

Close by or..?

- Arizona.

- In Arizona.

So there will be a vacation at some point.

- [Crystal] She's already taken one.

They've met face to face.

They're still besties, which is great.

- Wow!

- Yeah.

- That's just fascinating.

And how do you, so Cheryl, being in the business of selling these books, how do you really get a kid to be interested in reading?

I mean, you gotta find something that they really like and then encourage it, right?

- Yes.

And that can be troublesome for kids, 'cause they will pick up some books that they just do not like.

And then they tell themselves they don't like to read.

When you're a kid, you just have to figure out what interests you.

There are now Minecraft books.

If they're into Minecraft, there are now novels that are based off of Minecraft.

So maybe that is what interests them.

Rick Riordan writes a whole thing on gods and goddesses from Greek mythology.

So you just have to find that little thing to interest them.

And I think if your parents are readers, I think that plays a big part - - Right.

- in whether the kid is going to read.

- And read to them at bedtime.

- [Cheryl] Reading to them and, yeah.

- Yeah.

So when you first started out with reading, did you start as a kid?

- I did read as a kid.

I grew up in Eureka, like I said, so there's nothing to do in Eureka.

- [Christine] There's fun things to do there.

Come on!

- And so, yeah, I spent a lot of time at the library, so.

And it was weird, I read a lot of historical fiction when I was a kid, and I'm not a historical fiction reader today.

- And so what kind of historical fiction?

- There was this series called Dear America that was just a bunch of different authors and they write... - About Paul Revere, or..?

- And there's just journals.

- Okay.

- As if this person is telling their own story through a journal.

- Okay.

Yeah.

- I think I read all of them when I was a kid.

We do have some in the store, actually.

- Okay.

- And it does bring back memories.

But yeah, today I don't read historical fiction.

I might read five a year.

Whereas, then she's got this little twist on historical fiction with gargoyles or whatever.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- How did that happen?

(all laughing) I mean.

- It was a story that I thought, well, you have knights in shining armor, right?

- Right?

- Okay, these are big, wonderful warriors that everybody loves.

That's boring.

Everybody does that.

Well, what if they were like the gargoyles that I was watching on TV?

What if they could fly?

- Oh!

- So I gave 'em wings.

- Okay.

- And that's where the story went and everybody loved it.

And I was like, "Oh, okay."

When my first book was out, they kept saying, "Where's the second book?"

And I'm like, "Don't you just write one book and become famous?"

- Right.

- Isn't that how this works?

- It's not, is it?

- No, no.

It's not really how it works.

So I learned a lot, but I also had fans saying, "Where's the next book?"

So I thought, "Well, I'll write the next book, I guess."

And now there's five or six.

- In that series.

- In that series alone.

And there's another one coming.

- Will you continue with that?

- Yes.

- That series?

- Yes.

There's more coming.

- You won't stray off into something else?

- [Crystal] Oh no, I stray off all the time.

- Do you?

Okay.

- Yeah.

That's why I've got cowboy romance.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

So I've got modern cowboy romance, I've got historical paranormal romance, and from that historical paranormal romance, it went even darker and deeper, and there's Triple X books that go with that.

- Oh!

Okay.

- Yeah.

For the real romance reader.

Yes.

- So the paranormal, how did that come in?

Do you live in an old house and you have a ghost or something?

- No, and a lot of people think paranormal is ghost.

- Right.

- Paranormal is just anything not normal.

So as soon as I gave my warrior's wings, - - Oh, that was paranormal.

- that became paranormal.

- [Christine] Right.

- I didn't even know what to call it when I first wrote it.

I just called it sci-fi.

- Okay.

- 'Cause to me that's sci-fi.

- [Christine] Right.

- Well no, that's paranormal.

Oh, well, I didn't even know there was a genre for it when I wrote it.

- No, and so there is a genre for it?

- Oh, there's tons.

- And so is it the paranormal genre then?

- It is paranormal.

The problem that my publisher had with the first book was it's historical paranormal romance.

- Yeah.

So.

- So you can't fit all those into one genre but I did.

- Okay.

Yeah.

Like, where do you put it in alphabetical order?

- Yeah, where do you put it at Barnes & Noble.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- [Crystal] Which one?

You put it in both.

- Yeah.

Wow!

Well, that's pretty interesting.

And you don't wanna stray?

- No.

- You don't wanna write?

- Hm mm.

- And you're just gonna keep reading all these books that come in?

- I'm just gonna keep reading.

- So what are some of the interesting things that have come through that?

I mean, some major valuable book that's come across your desk or..?

- There have been some more valuable type books.

There is one that I just secretly will come across my desk someday, but I do not see it happening.

- [Christine] Okay.

- I have a customer who always gives me a hard time 'cause he is looking for a Gutenberg first edition, but also signed.

- [Christine] Oh, okay!

(laughing) - So it's like this inside joke with us because he knows it will never happen.

- [Christine] No.

Go to Germany.

- Yeah.

(laughing) But there's just a wide variety of prices and subject matters.

- What about autographed books?

Do you get signed by the authors for some of these classics, maybe?

- Signed can be kind of a... - Touchy?

- Yes.

Not so much.

It's just because you might find the book that you had signed by James Patterson to be worth a lot.

It all goes into how many books out there has James Patterson signed?

- Okay.

- Does he do tons of events and signs them?

Because then that causes the price to go down.

- Right.

So how do you figure?

Is there some way to calculate that or is there a website that you go to to figure that out?

- You can.

I am not a first edition store, so if you bring me in a first edition of Harry Potter, I'm gonna treat it like anything else.

- [Christine] Right.

- So I do have some dealers who come in and look for first editions.

Same thing with signed.

You then have to make sure it is actually his signature.

- Right.

- And somebody didn't just sign their name, and I... - Well, I almost brought a book that it was by Arnold Palmer.

- Oh!

- And that I had gotten from my husband.

And then, you know, so I was going through and there it is, signed.

I went, "Okay, no, we're keeping this one."

- Right.

- Okay, yeah.

So... - [Cheryl] And that's the thing, most people keep 'em.

- Right.

- Because it means something to you.

- [Christine] Right.

- Hm.

So.

- What fun.

So September 27th at the Civic Center is the Readers and Writers Rendezvous.

- Hm mm.

- All right.

And then people can get ahold of you where?

- They can actually go to booknookevents.com.

- Okay.

- And purchase table space.

We still have table space available.

Or they can contact me directly at the Book Nook and I can get you set in the right direction.

- Okay.

And then Crystal, if somebody wants to read your six books, they can access them online too?

- Online, everywhere.

Yep.

- Okay.

- You just type in, I go by a pen name.

- Okay, yeah.

Tell me, yeah, that's... - My pen name is McKayla Jade.

- Yeah.

- So you type in McKayla Jade or "Warriors Secret" or "Elite Warriors," you could type in a few things.

- [Christine] Okay.

- If you just remember something about the book, type it in, and my name will come up with the books.

- [Christine] Okay, McKayla Jade.

How'd you come up with that?

- So my... - Because it sounds Scottish or..?

- No, I needed a pen name, because I didn't want my family to know I was writing just right away.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So I was throwing names around and nothing really stuck.

And we were making sure that nobody else used the name.

And then my oldest daughter, her first name I used, so McKayla.

My second daughter, I used her second name.

- [Christine] All right.

- So that's how we got it.

- And they feel pretty proud about that or they did when it was cool?

- They did.

They did.

Until mom is not cool anymore.

- Okay.

Well I hope you get cool again sometime.

- Someday.

(all chuckling) - Okay.

Well this'll be a fun event.

- Yes.

- I think.

And how original.

And this is gonna be the first annual?

- Correct.

- Or you're hoping it's gonna be annual?

- Yes, correct.

Yes.

- Okay.

All right.

Well thanks for being with me.

- Yeah.

- And thanks for sharing this idea with so many people.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for having us.

- September 27th and it's from 10 to 5.

- Correct.

- Okay.

- So you can come anytime.

- Okay.

Kind of an open house.

- Yes.

- And come and make sure that you wanna be a book reader.

- Correct.

- Okay, sounds good.

Thanks, ladies.

- Thank you.

- Cheryl and Crystal.

And thank you for joining us.

Until next time, be well, and read.

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