The Happy Writer with Marissa Meyer
Support Your Local Indie Bookstore - The Bookstour Documentary with Mason Engel
In this bonus episode, Marissa chats with Mason Engel, sci-fi writer and filmmaker, about his documentary: THE BOOKSTOUR. Topics include a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the documentary making process; why bookstores are the best places to make new friends; the adventure inherent in any roadtrip (hurricanes, pandemics, power outages, oh my!); the unfortunate disconnect that persists between indie authors and indie bookstores; and at least one reason why someone might choose to shop at an independent bookstore, even when there are cheaper options online. (Spoiler: it's all about the love!)
Find out how you can watch The Bookstour by visiting thebookstourfilm.com. All proceeds from the film go to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation in support of independent bookstores.
Purchasing your books through our webstore at Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Order The Happy Writer: Get More Ideas, Write More Words, and Find More Joy from First Draft to Publication and Beyond https://bookshop.org/a/11756/9781250362377
Find out more and follow The Happy Writer on social media: https://www.marissameyer.com/podcast/
In this bonus episode, Marissa chats with Mason Engel, sci-fi writer and filmmaker, about his documentary: THE BOOKSTOUR. Topics include a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the documentary making process; why bookstores are the best places to make new friends; the adventure inherent in any roadtrip (hurricanes, pandemics, power outages, oh my!); the unfortunate disconnect that persists between indie authors and indie bookstores; and at least one reason why someone might choose to shop at an independent bookstore, even when there are cheaper options online. (Spoiler: it's all about the love!)
Find out how you can watch The Bookstour by visiting thebookstourfilm.com. All proceeds from the film go to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation in support of independent bookstores.
Purchasing your books through our webstore at Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Order The Happy Writer: Get More Ideas, Write More Words, and Find More Joy from First Draft to Publication and Beyond https://bookshop.org/a/11756/9781250362377
Find out more and follow The Happy Writer on social media: https://www.marissameyer.com/podcast/
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:Welcome to the happy writer. This is a podcast that aims to bring readers, more books, to enjoy and to help others find more joy in their writing. I'm your host, Marissa Meyer. Thank you for joining me. We have a special bonus episode today. Instead of talking about a book, that's just come out. We are going to be talking about a book related documentary that just came out so super fun. I'm very excited before we get there. The thing that's making me happy this week is that my mother-in-law has decided to take the kids away for the weekend. They are going to go over the mountains to visit a good friend of hers who lives on a farm. And you guys know, I love my children of course, but as every parent can attest, it is awesome when they leave for a few days. So I am super looking forward to it. Uh, I dunno if my mother-in-law is going to listen to this episode, but thanks, Connie. Super appreciated. And we're all going to have a great weekend. Of course, I am also so happy to be talking to today's guest. He's the author of the science fiction series 2084, which is based on the award-winning short story of the same title, as well as the outliers trilogy. He's also a filmmaker and his newest documentary. The books tour just came out this past July and is presently available to rent or buy on Vimeo. Also all proceeds from the sale are being donated to the book industry charitable foundation, please. Welcome Mason Ingle.
Speaker 3:Hello. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Thank you for deciding to come on and talk to us today. I'm super excited,
Speaker 3:Excited as well. Thanks for making, uh, a bonus episode for me and making an exception from the book, focus to a book, film focus.
Speaker 2:My pleasure. We're about all book-related love here. So I really enjoyed your documentary. I've watched it twice. It's very short. It's only 20 minutes, so it's not a great feat. Um, but I really enjoyed it. Obviously the, the topic is one that I feel really strongly about having been to visit so many wonderful bookstores myself. Uh, and so I was just really appreciate that you're drawing attention to the wonderful indie bookstores of the world.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you. Thank you for saying that. And thank you for watching twice. I'm sure you haven't watched as many times as I have, but I'm sure you noticed plenty of things that people haven't.
Speaker 2:So why don't we start with you telling listeners, what is the bookstore about
Speaker 3:The bookstore is abouts my transformation from a, at first an Amazon loving self-published author to still a self-published author, but a lover of any bookstores. So, um, that internal transformation takes place over the course of two road trips. The first happened back in 2019, and that would, that was a couple of years after I had self-published my first novel on Amazon. And I was looking for ways to promote the book. So my big idea was to take a road trip around the country from Indiana to California and back and visit 50 independent bookstores in 50 days and give away a copy of my book at each store. I visited so very much a self-promotional trip, but a few, maybe in eight to 10 stores into the journey, I was walking up to a bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas called the Raven bookshop. And I saw this little black and white homemade looking Xen that was entitled how to resist Amazon and why. So I saw that pamphlets and I looked down at the Amazon exclusive book. I was holding in my hands and it wasn't until that moment that it really clicked what I had been doing on the trip so far, I was going into these bookshops and asking the booksellers to promote a product that was available only through their direct competitor. It sounds so obvious in hindsight, but I must've been just so preoccupied with my own career, my own agenda, that it just never clicked for me, but the, the cool part was the moving part was that's on my trip so far in having my conversations with these booksellers, despite my obvious insensitivity to their business, and really to them as people, they were so kind, so supportive and just excited about my trip because they just love books. They love people who love books, and we were able to have great conversations. Um, so after having that experience, it just made me interested in the industry and these people. Um, and I wanted to take a second trip that would not be self-promotional, but would be investigative, uh, trying to answer, trying to figure out why they love their stores so much. And trying to answer for answer for people like me, who were Amazon supporters, why would anyone shop at an indie bookstore when there's a cheaper option? Um, and over the course of a few dozen interviews, I think we came up with some pretty great answers.
Speaker 2:[inaudible] I am so fascinated by this idea of you with your, your, your book. You're going out on this first tour, the original tour. And what I mean, when you would call the bookstores and say like, I want to come and promote this book. Were they able to even have your book on hand to sell?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So if it sounds confusing, it is because the plan was had a ton of holes in it. So that's 100% on me. Like I didn't even call ahead to the stores I was visiting. I would just, I had my personal spreadsheet of the stores. I would be visiting on the road and I would just roll up, walk in, carry my book and then make my cold entrance, make my little pitch to whoever happened to be at the counter. And my goal really wasn't to get them to sell the book I was giving them. It was just too to be in front of them, um, to, to start building relationships in that world. That was my, my initial goal. Um, but I don't think, I don't think any of the, the bookstores ended up actually selling my book for four in hindsight, pretty obvious reasons. Um, but yeah, my, my plan was, was rough to say the least,
Speaker 2:But it's such a cool idea. I know my husband and I love road trips and we've talked so many times about like, we'd love to just take a summer and drive all around the country and like do a, uh, a book tour essentially, but a road trip book tour, it's like neat concept.
Speaker 3:It is. And there, it was really easy to make a film about two because built into any road trip is going to be a story or stories. Um, and that was one of the great appeals for me of telling this larger story about the industry in this way is because, um, the industry is, is all about stories and the power of story and the road trip just lended itself to a very literal, um, hero's journey. So yeah, it gave us a lot of opportunities, narratively that we wouldn't have had
Speaker 2:Right now. You can tell him watching it, that there was definitely some adventure involved
Speaker 3:Was a lot of adventures that we, at least in the moment that we would have preferred to avoid the hurricane was it was very inconvenient. Um, but it, it was crazy. This was, it would have been early. I'm getting my months confused, uh, early August when we took the trip of 20. And as soon as we rounded the corner up from the Florida panhandle to start driving up the east coast, there was a hurricane that was coming in from the Atlantic and curving upward with us and following us up the coast. So we were in the driving in the eye of the hurricane for about 200 miles before, uh, eventually just outpaced us. But that was, that was an adventure to say the least.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I know. And it mentioned at one point that there was one bookstore that had lost power during your trip and yeah, good times COVID happening.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That was a logistical hurdle. This was as the time when, um, travel restrictions were lifted. So we had to be careful where we stayed more than 24 hours because in some places, if you were there more than 24 hours, you weren't just passing through and you would have to quarantine for 14 days. Definitely didn't have the budget to add a casual two weeks trip. It was a very fast paced trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And no, it sounds exhausting. And you can tell the footage that you were exhausted and I imagine your camera man also. Um, but it was worth it. Gosh, darn it.
Speaker 3:It was, I can say that with 100% certainty.
Speaker 2:So about how many bookstores did you visit here on the second, the second tour
Speaker 3:On the second tour, we visited 27 stores,
Speaker 2:Seven stores, and had a, how many hours approximately a footage. Did you get that then had to be edited down to this 20 minute film?
Speaker 3:Well, we, uh, I'll give you memory first. We had about two and a half terabytes of footage that we had to work with.
Speaker 2:I have no idea what that means.
Speaker 3:It's, it's 2 2500 gigabytes. Uh, so just, just a lot, but I'll give you, I'll give you hours as well. The main challenge for us was sorting through the interviews. So we visited 27 bookstores. We did 27 interviews with, um, different booksellers along the road, each for about 45 minutes, which amounts to, um, I dunno about 22 hours of interviews that we had to pull from. And there was just so much information to sort through. I spent about two months just listening to everything. 2, 3, 4 times dropping markers in our editing software, uh, rendering out transcripts of the, uh, of the selects. They're called the sound bites that we pulled out that we really liked. And then my editor go, I would go back and forth with him and we would have these transcripts and I would drag soundbites as text up and down the page because that's as a writer, that's how I think best. He was able to hold visually all of these elements in his head and I needed to see it on the page to be able to manipulate. So it was, um, it was an interesting creative collaboration in that way. Yeah,
Speaker 2:No, it's, it's clearly a process and I, I mean, I love documentaries just in general. Um, but I can't watch one without my little analytical brain thinking, gosh, this is so much work to put this together.
Speaker 3:I, I didn't fully appreciate that going in. If I had known how hard it would be, I may never have begun, but I think one of my, one of my greatest strengths and also biggest blind spots is having the brazen confidence to think I can take on big tasks like this. I
Speaker 2:Relate to that so much. I know exactly what you mean. Okay. So the film you're visiting these indie bookstores, talking to them and trying to answer this overarching question. Why, why should anyone bother shopping at an independent bookstore when you can go on Amazon and get everything cheap and fast and convenient. And as you mentioned, there's a number of, you know, very good reasons brought up. But for you personally, what is the number one reason that someone should choose to shop independent over Amazon?
Speaker 3:The number one reason? Well, let me, uh, let me lead up to it a bit because this is, this is kind of like the big answer of the film, and I think it deserves a little
Speaker 2:Please preface.
Speaker 3:Um, as you say, there are many great reasons. Many of which we hear very often, one is, um, we should shop at an independent bookstore because it contributes more to the local economy than does Amazon, or because it's better for the environment, um, or because it employs local people and contributes to the community. In that way. We also, in the film, we talk about book clubs and how that can, um, facilitate conversation, especially, uh, over hard topics. We talk about the children's programming with, I think we can all agree that getting our kids to read early and often is a good thing and bookstores are very good at doing that. So we talk about all these reasons, but the most important, the biggest answer for me was a little bit more, a little bit harder to define, and it started my, my thought, my thinking about this began, um, about midway through the pandemic, when the first logistical wave, the logistical nightmare rather had passed by, we were all able to get things relatively quickly and relatively cheaply online. Yes. Uh, the deeper we got in the pandemic, we saw spikes of depression across the country, spikes of anxiety and various mental, emotional problems for people. And, and for me that pointed to, uh, something that we were lacking, we we've always craved cheapness and convenience. And during the pandemic, we were able to have those things, but there was still something missing. That was the context that I began the trip with. What was that missing thing? Of course, there's, there's physical, human in-person interaction. That's an obvious one. And the connection that you can have in those interactions. But I think the magic sauce in, uh, a human to human encounter, especially within a bookstore is, is a little bit deeper in the nature of that encounter. So that I know I'm getting a little abstract, but, um, really what I experienced going into a bookstore and talking to these people was the love that they felt for their job, for their fellow book lovers and for the books themselves. So the number one reason for me, the, the big answer to that question of why should we shop indie is very simple. And it's because indie booksellers love selling books that love is, is the secret sauce of the human interaction because it spills over, right? It's not just something that is directed solely at the books they're selling. These people are just filled with love. And I think in general, um, the pandemic deprived us of that. And if, if there's even just the smallest way we can increase the sum total of love in the world, then I think we should, and shopping at any bookstores is a great way to do that.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, here, here to that increased the love. I agree 100%. And I mean, for me, and I actually have met some of the booksellers that you interviewed. So even just watching the documentary and seeing their faces brought me back so much joy, um, because you know, for an author who gets to go on book tour, and I feel really lucky that I get to go on book tour and see so many of these fabulous bookstores and also to see readers and to be a part of that community. And you meet people who come through the signing line and they say, oh, I've just been hanging out in the signing line for two hours. And I've made so many new friends and it's like, well, you can't do that. If you're shopping on Amazon now, I mean, it's totally different experience and yes, the love behind it. Um, you can feel it, you can feel it when you're in these stores and when you're talking to booksellers. And I think that that comes across really strongly in the film as well. I'm
Speaker 3:Glad because it, it was the central parts of the whole experience for me. Um, and I think it centers that love stems, of course, just from the passion that they have for books and for reading. But I think it also comes from the empathy that we develop from reading books. Um, and I think in, in building our individual empathy in the course of that, we're all changed in some way change, but United to, or with other people who've had that shared experience because we've all been changed by a book we've been saved or inspired, or just gotten through a tough time with the help of words on the page. And the, the knowledge of that I think really helps bring people together within the book world and booksellers are, um, the guardians of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'm curious, obviously in your first, during your first book tour, you were kind of on the Amazon bandwagon, and then at some point that changed and you began to see this great value in indie bookstores. And so then for your second book tour, you know, it sounds like you really went into it feeling personally, like there's a great value here, and I want to draw attention to that and find out what, what is that and where is it coming from? But I'm curious if there was anything that you you saw or learned or heard during the second tour that surprised you that caught you off guard?
Speaker 3:Well, uh, I'll give you, I'll give you two. One is just kind of the, um, what goes on behind the scenes in a bookstore on the other is, is more to do with writing. But the first thing, the first big thing that I learned should have been obvious in hindsight, but, um, I spent a day after we got back to my hometown in Columbus, Indiana. I spent a day filming a day in the life of the, the owner of my hometown bookstore. And she was showing me all of these things. And at one point we were back in her office and she was in the purchase portal, um, with publishing reps and, uh, this whole like complicated interface. And I realized that every book that was on the shelf in the store was chosen by her individually handpicked curated based on what had sold well in the store in the past, what people seem to have liked based on conversations she had with her booksellers who had read the art copies, uh, or just the arts rather. Um, and, uh, the entire tens of thousands of books in the store were handpicked. And so I kind of, back-filled my road trip in thinking about all the stores I've visited. It's now a humbling experience to think about walking into a store. It's not like there's a, a, a drag and drop website where you can drag 30,000 books into a brick and mortar store. They're all curated. And that was just mind boggling to me. Um, as for the second, um, the second thing that I learned about writing it did have to do with writers and there's, this seems to be this disconnect between indie authors and indie bookstores. That I really don't. It doesn't make sense that it's there because they're everyone loves books and they're just trying to evangelize reading, but a lot of indie authors will publish through KDP and go through, uh, the Amazon portal in sell oftentimes exclusively through the website. And that's great. No one is going to stop selling books on Amazon and the, for selling in the foreseeable future there's gets a, such a huge audience, but there are other ways for indie authors to sell their book. And I think in neglecting those other avenues, they, they create, um, that divide between them and their local bookstore that shouldn't be there. And I, I just wish both parties did a little bit more to, um, to close that gap and to work a little bit more closely together. And that's, that's another interest, a passion of mine that hopefully we'll be turning to with a subsequent film.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you're right. And that's interesting, you know, I've always just kind of seen it as like a logistical issue. Um, obviously if you're an indie author, you don't have a big distributor with sales reps going out and pitching your book to all these stores. And it's like, there is, there is this space in between the indie author and the indie bookstore that nobody has yet been able to fill that, that pathway.
Speaker 3:Right. Yeah. I wish I wish there was a platform that allowed eBooks to be more centrally distributed through the indie bookstore network. I know people have tried that in the past, but as, as a smash words, um, can distribute to, um, Barnes and noble and Amazon and well, not Amazon yet, but all these different places, I wish there was a place where, um, indie bookstores can more easily sell eBooks. And that was a popular well-used platform, but that's just something that I need to learn more about.
Speaker 2:Right? Yeah. I'm not particularly nodule knowledgeable myself. Um, I'm curious, did bookshop.org come up much on your travels
Speaker 3:Did. And this was, um, for, for folks who don't know about bookshop, um, it's a site that allows any bookstores who aren't particularly tech savvy to sell their books online and to take a sizeable cuts of those sales. It's a very indie first organization, and they're doing some great things, especially, um, during the pandemic. And booksellers did mention that often as a happy compromise between having to do the whole tech thing themselves and, uh, still competing with Amazon in some small way.
Speaker 2:I'm glad to hear that because I love bookshop and it's become kind of my go-to when I can't actually get down to a store and I need to order a book. Um, but I've never actually stopped and like talked to a book seller and ask like, do we, do we really love bookshop? Or is it just like one more competitor? Um, but I'm glad to hear that for the most part, it seems to be pretty, pretty beneficial.
Speaker 3:So, so far we'll keep an eye on. Sure.
Speaker 2:Right. So for me, like breaking the ties to Amazon, um, I mean, I decided, I don't know how many years ago that I just, wasn't going to order books from Amazon. Um, and, but nevertheless, I sometimes need to order a book online and get it quickly, um, or just have that convenience. Um, and so for me, for a long time, I was going through Barnes and noble, and now I'm going through bookshop. Um, but for you and for listeners, like how would you recommend if someone's like, yeah, I really, I get it. I don't love Amazon, but I'm just, you know, they, they're just so easy, so cheap, so convenient. What would you recommend to somebody to start to break those ties and begin supporting an independent bookstore instead? What can they do?
Speaker 3:The first thing is to acknowledge that is not easy. It is a difficult change to make. We have these rope patterns that were used to wrote, uh, buying patterns that are hard to break the first. Um, the, the second step is just awareness, uh, because there are most mid to large, any bookstores do have their own website that can, you can order through and they can ship for, uh, like two or$3 and it'll get to your house reasonably fast, or you can pick up in the store. So just being aware of that option. Um, but then the third thing is, is the most important. And that's to consider your priorities in making the purchase. If all you want is the cheapest book, the fastest speed possible, then buy from Amazon. If that's what you value most over everything else, then it's, it's okay to buy from Amazon. But it's also important to acknowledge. There are other pieces of that commercial exchange that you're not getting from the everything store, um, because they do not sell everything. They can't sell that human touch. They can't sell the looking into someone's eyes and being seen as a person. Um, so if that's something that you do value, you just have to make time to, to go after that, into, uh, make sure you get that in your exchanges, along with the book. But other than that, it's just, it's making the effort, um, to, to make the change, which isn't easy, but is important.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And also just as a reader, getting to go to stores and attend the events and meet my favorite authors is huge. I mean, to me, that's a huge part of the value that a lot of them bring.
Speaker 3:Uh, it is it's, it's a hub, a community hub and a place in, in a neighborhood, a town, a city where we have an excuse to be in the same space. And that's, that's important because even, even as cities become more and more densely populated, um, we, we still need that excuse to talk to someone it's, it's not easy to go up to someone on the sidewalk and say, Hey, how are you? Do you want to be friends? Um, and we, we need a bridge between, uh, our fellow city dwellers or town weathers or people in the neighborhood and bookstores and bookstore events provide that bridge.
Speaker 2:That's so funny. I was just here a few days ago with my kids at a park. And of course, children, you're both at a playground. Cool, Hey, you're about the same age. Let's be best friends. And they just run off and start playing tag. And it was like, how did we lose that? Like at what point did it become really hard to just go up to someone and say, Hey, you look cool. I think we might have something in common. Uh, let's be friends, but now that you mentioned it you're right. When you were at a bookstore or at a book club or at a signing event, you already have something in common and that's really cool. You,
Speaker 3:You have something in common. And I think, uh, because that thing that you have in common is the story, which just by its nature, activates our imagination and our sense of adventure. I think it does bring a little bit of the kid out in us and it does make those connections, more natural feeling and easier to make.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Do you want to make sure to, um, mention also the charitable aspect to the documentary? Um, all proceeds are going to being B I N C or the book industry charitable foundation. Um, could you tell people a little bit, what is bank and why do we care?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so bink is essentially the industry's safety net. If you've ever talked to a bookstore owner or a bookseller, or if you've just looked at the prices on the backs of books, you'll know that the book business isn't a high margin, one it's, it's one that you just kind of escape buy in. And that means that oftentimes bookstores can't afford to pay their booksellers as much as they deserve, or they can't compensate them with the best insurance. Um, and, and all these other drawbacks. So bank basically helps supplement, um, some of those shortcomings, some of the financial shortcomings and enables bookselling to become more of a career, but what does that look like in practice? So, um, if, if a bookseller happens upon a, um, an unexpected medical expense, or if there's a natural disaster or something of that kind, a big expense, even just four or five,$600 for someone in these situations that can break the bank and they won't be able to make their rent next month, or they won't be able to feed their kids bank is the organization for the book industry that steps in and make sure that doesn't happen. And, um, they've, they provided that safety net, especially during the pandemic, but, um, have done so before and will continue to do so after. So when we were looking for an organization to support in our making of, and selling of the film, bink was thoughtful.
Speaker 2:[inaudible] no, I know a lot of book sellers who have been helped and supported by being over the years. So it is, it is a great, a great organization. All right, last question. Before we move on to the bonus round in the documentary, every time you are pictured on film, you were wearing like really bookish clothes and masks, where do you get all this stuff?
Speaker 3:I had to scour the internet for these, that
Speaker 2:Was like an intentional decision. I will be in every time I'm shown
Speaker 3:Determined to be on brand.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love good branding. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Etsy was a lifesaver because they always have really great custom, oftentimes bookish things too. And then other, just kind of deep web random websites. Uh, I would order, I ordered in like March and got the shirts like a week or two before the trip in August. So it was, it was kind of sketchy the acquisition of the shirts, but I'm glad I took the plunge.
Speaker 2:You could have ordered it on Amazon prime next day. Absolutely not. All right here comes the happy writer bonus round. First question. What book makes you happy?
Speaker 3:The book that will always make me happy is any book from the Harry Potter series. I go through a cycle of reading all seven books and then listening to the audio books and then watching all the movies. And when I finished the cycle, I just repeat and keep going. Thanks. It's just my, like, it's my fiction lifeblood.
Speaker 2:My kids are almost seven and I feel like that's the age to start. Um, and I'm so excited to read them so excited to read the books with the kids.
Speaker 3:Are you going to get the illustrated versions and, uh, and go through them that way? Um,
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I mean, I've got just my set, my hard cover, just the traditional set covers that were from whenever. Um, yeah, so I don't plan on getting a fancy, but I also love the audio books. So we might do like heart mom reading in part Jim Dale reading. Oh, I'm so excited.
Speaker 3:I'm so excited to have kids, which might not be for 10 or 20 years. But as soon as I do, I will start planning the, the, uh, introduction of the,
Speaker 2:Oh no, no. It's been on my radar for a long time. And I started reading the first book with them. I think they must've been four or five at the time. And they were like, mom, no, we're not ready. I it's like, okay. Patients will get
Speaker 3:There. We're more excited about it than they are. It's probably not time yet.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. But I do think that there, I think that they might be there now, so. Okay. What is your personal mantra?
Speaker 3:Um, my personal mantra I'll say, um, is something that I try to live by is, um, judge, judge yourself by your actions and judge others by their intentions. I think if we can do that more as people, it will results in a more empathetic, loving, compassionate world.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. I love that. I'm going to write that down.
Speaker 3:Okay. Uh, I can't, I don't know if I can claim that. I'm sure someone smarter than I has, uh, have said that way before.
Speaker 2:What is one small thing that brings you a lot of joy? One small thing. I,
Speaker 3:Of course my mind goes to food. Um, I, I love watermelon. If I can eat a good piece of watermelon in the summer. That's, that's just a little piece of heaven for me.
Speaker 2:What is the top song on your road trip playlist?
Speaker 3:Um, I think it's, I always forget the title. I think it's country fried. Do you know that? Would you, do you like country music?
Speaker 2:No. I'm not a country listener, not familiar
Speaker 3:Growing up in Indiana. That's all I listened to on the radio. And this was just is a perfect road trip song. Um, the added my camera guy and I would always go crazy for that one.
Speaker 2:Nice. What is next for you
Speaker 3:Next for me? I, um, I actually have a first draft of a novel slash memoir. That's based on my various bookstore road trips. Uh, and it's, it's really my, my story. The, the film is the story of the book stores and the booksellers, the book industry, this, this book that I've been writing is almost like a long form journal for me and the things happening in my life and the things going on in my head during the trips. Um, so I'm slowly taking that pile of things, informing, forming it into a story, um, that, that people might be able to read at some point, but that's still in the early stages.
Speaker 2:Nice. I love memoirs. And as you were talking, I realized, I don't think I've had any memoir authors on this podcast yet. I'm going to have to fix that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well maybe, maybe if I finish this thing, we can circle back and, uh, I can, I can be your first memoir author.
Speaker 2:Yes. We actually talk about your books instead of just your films. Lastly, where can people find you and where can they watch the books tour
Speaker 3:So they can follow, um, all of these film[inaudible] adventures at bookstore daily on Instagram, that's just at bookstore daily. We post behind the scenes stuff from the film and other fun bookish things. Uh, me personally, I am the Mason Ingle on Instagram. That's my meek attempt at a clever Instagram tag.
Speaker 2:I get it took me a second. I'll admit, right?
Speaker 3:No, no. It takes everyone longer than I would like, but, um, that's, that's my personal account. And as we're watching the film, you can find the link for a seven day rental for$10. And all of that money goes straight to bank. The book industry charitable foundation@thebookstorefilm.com. That's T H E B O O K S T O U R. Film F I L m.com. So the bookstore film dark.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Mason, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Marissa has been fun
Speaker 2:Readers and listeners. I hope you will check out the books tour documentary, maybe consider breaking your Amazon shopping habit and supporting your favorite local indie. Of course, you can always check out our affiliate store at bookshop.org/shop/marissa Meyer. If you're enjoying these conversations, please subscribe and follow us on Instagram at Marissa Meyer author and at happy writer podcast until next time stay healthy, stay cozy and whatever life throws at you today. I do hope that now you're feeling a little bit happier.
