Like all good independent bookstores, BookCourt in Brooklyn has a robust section of staff recommendations. There, nestled in with titles by Jennifer Egan, Haruki Murakami and David Foster Wallace, is “Other People We Married,” a collection of short stories by Emma Straub. A handwritten note taped to the wall below reads: “I wrote this book. Please buy it. I love you.”

In 2009, Straub published a novella and celebrated with a party at BookCourt. She started working there the next day. Last month, when Riverhead bought her first novel with a significant advance, a co-worker asked if she was planning to quit.

“I told him absolutely not,” Straub said. “I’m a writer, but I also love selling books.”

Through her job, Straub has befriended other booksellers across the country, at conferences and, increasingly, on Twitter. Which, in turn, helps her as an author. “When I was setting up a tour, I called on them,” she said. “Working at the store has helped me make relationships with people I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.”

It’s safe to say that the staff of the average independent bookstore contains at least a few aspiring writers. But Straub and other bookseller-authors like her don’t necessarily need their bookstore paychecks to survive. They have already been published, enjoying (in some cases) sizable advances and (in many more) critical praise. For the most part, they view bookselling as more than just a steppingstone.