Two local independent bookstore employees — Weston Millar from Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley and Carolyn Pallof from White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield — are getting a little extra cash this holiday season, courtesy of bestselling author James Patterson.
Since 2015, Patterson has provided these monetary rewards through the American Booksellers Association. This year, he donated $300,000 to the program, allowing $500 bonuses to go to 600 booksellers nationwide.
Nominations were submitted by the coworkers and patrons of thousands of bookstore employees, and Millar and Pallof were among those chosen by Patterson to receive a bonus.
“There has never been a more important time to celebrate booksellers and librarians — period,” Patterson said in a statement reported by Good Morning America in April. “I’ve always said these people save lives. Their work has never been more crucial than in today’s world, and it’s not talked about enough. I’m happy to be able to give back to these heroes and to hopefully shine a light on all they do.”
Millar has worked at Penguin Bookshop since 2018. He doesn’t know who nominated him, but he is grateful for the recognition.
He said that it would take him over an hour to recount all of the positives about working at Penguin Bookshop, but one of the highlights is the community that is fostered through stores like it.
“It’s a small, independently run bookstore in a small town. Everyone who comes in — aside from when they’re new customers — tends to know people. We’re able to strike up conversations, friendly conversations about things that are going around in town and just catching up with people.”
From his old classmates from Sewickley Academy to Robert Morris University students coming in to buy books, he sees everyone as a member of the store’s family.
Millar said that employees at the Sewickley staple shop received at least four of the James Patterson holiday bonuses since he has been working there.
After six years, he wears many different hats and has taken on far more responsibility than his part-time beginnings would’ve portended.
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“I do inventory — when books come into the store, they arrive by UPS. I’m the one opening the boxes, inspecting everything for damage, checking them into the inventory. And then, calling the publishers to get refunds if something’s damaged, I send things out to customers. I clean up the place. I do shelving, organization, I do some register work but I’m still learning how to do most of that,” he said.
“There’s a lot more involved in operating a store that I never would have known had I not actually come to work the job,” he added.
He also lives close to the store, so he’s happy to come in and assist if something goes wrong or an extra hand is required. And his coworkers are very appreciative.
“To get this bonus — to be nominated for this bonus — as a bookseller as separate and additional recognition of the work that I’ve done is very much appreciated,” he said.
Carolyn Pallof, a bookseller for White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield, was the other area winner of the 2024 holiday bonus. She is currently traveling and was unavailable to comment for this article.
Luis Correa, general manager at White Whale, said that she deserves the recognition.
Before Correa took over as general manager six months ago, Pallof’s efficiency and passion were already being used to great effect at the store.
“When I visited the store last year, I was given a tour. I was told about Carolyn, who runs all of the inventory, and I could already tell that Carolyn was very dedicated to what she does and very interested in streamlining all the processes so that everything goes exactly where it’s supposed to,” he said.
Much like Millar, Pallof is in charge of inventory at White Whale, and Correa said that she has it down to a science.
“She even went to the trouble of printing out publisher logos for the signs that she was making for the back,” he said. “Since I’ve been here, she’s always been my go-to with some very complicated questions about our point of sale and she almost always has an answer and knows exactly what’s going on.”
One of the co-owners of White Whale has previously received the James Patterson holiday bonus, and Correa himself won it two years ago when he was with a previous employer in Athens, Ga.
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Correa said that Pallof has another vital asset for a bookseller — she’s a great reader.
“Particularly for a really burgeoning genre like romance and fantasy, she loves it and the customers love to come to her for recommendations on that, as well as for our children’s section that she also manages,” he said.
He is proud to have Pallof working at White Whale Bookstore and doesn’t find it surprising that she would be recognized for her excellent work. But he doesn’t know who nominated her for the James Patterson bonus.
“It could have been anybody, and it should have been everybody,” he said.