Three Stories Books Receives Bookseller Bonus From James Patterson

LEMONT, IL — Three Stories Books in Lemont is one of 501 independent booksellers that have received a $500 bonus from author James Patterson.

Three Stories Books owner Sommer Steele said the store was nominated by its customers for the bookseller bonus.

"We'll never know if I was chosen from one nomination or if it was a culmination of many," Steele said. Each recipient will receive $500 bonuses from Patterson, for a total of $250,500.

Patterson has done a bookseller bonus every holiday season since 2015, but this month's bookseller bonus is additional and created in celebration of his newly-released book "The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians."

Steele said she actually missed the first announcement which included her store as a winner, and was just checking her email when she got the reminder from the American Booksellers Association.

"I read the email aloud to one of my booksellers and was like, 'Wait. Oh my god. I won.', and we just stared at each other for ages."

Steele said the $500 feels like a million dollars.

"The bookstore has been such a hard, hard labor of love," Steele said. "I've wanted to give up so many times."

She said the people who love the bookstore have done so much, but other more infrequent visitors may have to be reminded to visit, and some may not know the bookstore is there at all.

Three Stories Books opened in downtown Lemont in 2021.

"The bonus felt like validation...like maybe this will work after all," Steele said. "Believe me, $500 doesn't go far in a bookstore, but the support means everything."