The Rural We: Ben Rybeck
The manager of House of Books in Kent figured he'd spend his career in academia, but fate lead him to book selling.
Armed with a master’s degree in creative writing, Ben Rybeck never thought he’d find himself running bookstores, but he has no regrets in leaving academia behind. After managing bookstores in Houston and Brooklyn, he became the general manager of the House of Books in Kent in 2020. Rybeck tells us how he got involved in the business of book selling, and how he landed at House of Books.
I grew up in Maine and moved to Arizona for grad school in creative writing. After I got my MFA from the University of Arizona, I taught there for a few years. I’d assumed my interest in books and literature would lead me to teaching and academia, but when I moved to Houston, I didn’t have a job, and sort of wandered into Brazos Bookstore. They offered me a job running events and marketing. I had no idea that bookselling was an industry one got into. I found it combined a bunch of stuff I really liked doing. In 2017, after five years, I took over management of the store. Two years later I moved to Brooklyn and began working with The Center for Fiction, a nonprofit literary organization, and opened its bookstore. I ran that for a little over a year.
When potential new owners were thinking of buying House of Books in Kent, I came on as a consultant, advising them on the sale, opening inventory, and the design and renovation of the store. I also advised them on hiring a manager, but they couldn’t find anyone. They wanted me to take the position, and I kept saying no, and then I finally said yes. That was in March, 2020, and the world changed very quickly. But it was good time for me; I was up in Connecticut for most of that year, getting to know the store and community. It wasn’t the ideal in many ways, but even through a mask and a closed door, it was possible to get to know the community, which was really supporting the bookstore during that difficult time.
I lean on my staff for everything, because it’s the staff that makes the bookstore special and unique. You all kind of come together to create the kind of space that you want to be in, which you create in partnership with your community.
The literary culture in Kent is extraordinary. There are so many writers who live in the area. We have events hosting them and other non-local authors. One of the most exciting events was when we had Hernan Diaz here three days before he won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Trust. He actually co-won the prize with Barabara Kingsolver, whose publisher was at the dinner we had for Diaz after the event. For that moment, it felt like Kent was really the center of the literary world.
It's hard to say what the bestselling book of the season is. Although there are a lot of books coming out, the media landscape has shifted so much. There’s less books coverage, and not always general agreement about the best books of the year. That’s where the staff picks come in. Customers want to learn about books they haven’t really heard about.
