The King's English is on the right page

Walking into Betsy Burton's The King's English independent bookshop was like walking into someone's home library, although I don't know anyone with a library as big as the Salt Lake bookstore.

It's quaint. It's unique. It's fun. It's museum-like. The people are incredibly nice. You're asked your name, and it's even remembered. You're not just a number or an unknown customer.

"We ask what book you like and match it to you," Burton says.

"You have to experience for it for yourself," says Burton's good friend of 30 years, Deseret News columnist Ann Cannon. "It's a comfy, cozy nest of book-lined rooms — like something out of a movie. You walk inside and say to yourself, 'Yes. This is everything an indie store should be.' "

"Chains are paid to recommend books," Burton adds. "We ask what book you like and match it to you."

Burton founded the bookshop and later wrote "The King's English," her first book, published by Salt Lake City's Gibbs Smith, which chronicles Burton's adventures of indie bookseller ownership.

And indie booksellers nationwide have benefited from Burton's book. "I've heard numerous booksellers who were starting up stores and that were learning things and said it gave heart and warnings," she says.

"Loved it. LOVED it," says Cannon about Burton's book. "Not to brag or anything, but I am totally that book's godmother. I told Betsy to write it one day when we were having lunch at the Market Street Broiler. (I remember everything in my life by what and where I was eating at the time, incidentally.)"

Burton's also a wife, mother and serves on three national book boards, as well as on Local First Utah, an organization with a mission "... to educate the public and government about the importance of locally owned, independent business to the community."

"To this end, [Betsy] has donated time and money to many worthy social causes," Cannon says.

Burton's love for books came from her mother, who was a bookaholic. "She taught me that it doesn't' matter how old you are, you can start a new life no matter your age," she says.

And for Burton, whose highest mission is to match books with people, she declares, "You have to not just give, but listen to people.

"I like to think our purpose is to contribute to the greater body of humanity and, in the book business, that's passing on a book."

Cynthia Kimball Humphreys is a professional speaker and trainer. She writes a column for weekly newspapers in southern Utah and is a southern Utah correspondent for Deseret News. She can be reached at kimball@every1counts.net. Her column, "Every1Counts," appears on deseretnews.com bi-monthly.