Here are important some of things you should know about booksellers:

1. The first time a customer takes a bookseller’s book suggestion seriously and buys the title the bookseller falls in love—in love with the book (again), in love with the customer, in love with bookselling and in love with the power of a positive hand-selling experience—love, love, love, love. Love. Yes, it is a many splendored thing.

2. Booksellers talk a lot—about books they’ve read, customers they’ve helped and authors who have entered the store. Call it talk, gossip, discuss—whatever—they do it all day and everyday with their bookselling coworkers, booksellers from other stores, and even with booksellers from other companies should they happen to cross paths. They like to tell a good story just as much as they like to read them.

3. Booksellers have very long memories. They have to, otherwise how will they know what that one blue book that was on the table near that one window about three months ago was. Why would they need to know that? Oh, because it is pretty much a guaranteed thing that a customer will come in asking just that, and expect an immediate answer.

4. Booksellers are always hungry. You would be too if you spent all day hauling books, shelving, and helping customers…in between all that talking, of course.

The inner psyche of the average bookseller is not a very dark or murky thing (and should you ever meet a bookseller with a dark and murky psyche, I would suggest you run away. Run away immediately), and there is no reason why you, the author, can’t turn this knowledge into book sales. In fact it is rather easy: just be nice to every bookseller you meet…and bring cookies.*

Booksellers will follow you over to your genre dark side in a nanosecond if cookies are involved.

What? We all know that snack cravings rarely ever coincide with actually scheduled break times. Enter an author with cookies, candies, sweets and a smile and you’ve got a bookseller who will suddenly start paying attention. They’ll see that this is an author that gets it. They’ll probably remember the author’s name. And when it comes to a time when the bookseller is in a genre, suggesting titles to a customer, who do you think will come to mind?

That’s right, the author with the bribe sweets.

Now, I’m not saying that the (Preciousssssss) New York Times Bestseller List can be yours through bribery by cookie, but it is a way to break through the natural barrier that exists between most authors and booksellers.

Namely that the bookseller hasn’t heard of you or had time to read your book. Maybe they don’t read your genre, maybe you’re new, or maybe their TBR pile is so huge that their roommates have to call in contractors to access the structural integrity of their house. Whatever the reason an author often has a small window of opportunity to swing a bookseller to their side, and giving them something to stuff in their mouths so they can’t talk back can only be a good thing.

It’s a classic cookie defense, my friends, and you should know how it plays out.

Step one: Author feeds bookseller a cookie, is cordial, and briefly (I’m talking elevator pitch here, people) mentions their book and who they are like.

Step two: the bookseller assess whether or not cookie is a bribe that could damage her bookselling career only long enough to realize, hey, that’s stupid. It’s just a cookie, and if she breaks it in half it will actually have less calories.

Step three: the bookseller will tell other booksellers how this great author came in and gave her a cookie. (Side note: it doesn’t matter if you actually sign stock in the store. Spread the cookie love to stores that don’t have your book. Spread cookie love to bookstores when you’re on vacation. Spread it to every store you come across.)

Step four: Booksellers who did not receive cookies (as well as those who did) will store knowledge of this authorial largesse away. It will sit tucked away in the back of their minds, waiting. Just waiting, until…

Step five: A bookseller is approached by a customer looking for selection from X genre. As the bookseller scans the shelves looking for titles, she’ll come across your book and a little cookie shaped light bulb will go off in her heads. Maybe she’ll have read your book by then, maybe she won’t, but more often than not I can guarantee that title will get picked up and handed to a customer with a, “I might the author of this, and s/he was wonderful.”

Is it a commentary on the cultural significance of your book? No. Does it delve into the depths of your literary soul? Of course not. It just means that because you gave a bookseller a cookie, they may get someone to buy your book.

And that’s a damn hard thing to get people to do these days.

*It should be noted that you can substitute a smile and really listening for a cookie, but it does not have the same chocolatety goodness, nor the ability to decrease the growls emanating from the vicinity of the bookseller’s stomach.