Dear Barnes and Noble in Old Town Pasadena:
I am so sorry to see your windows draped
with kraft paper and only darkness beyond that. Still, I tried to share with
management how they could raise their daily sales by 15% based on my combined
knowledge of 30 years experience as a retailer and a decade as friend and coach
for writers. I even sent your principals a copy of my book A Guide to Frugal In-Store
Promotion with the chapter on how to partner with authors flagged.
And when authors brought me copies of your thoughtless refusal to partner with an
author in their very own communities, I cried with them. I cried for you, too.
If only you had honored the very people you need to be in business--authors. You needn’t have stocked their books. You
could just have featured them in your store for a day, applauded them, and
reaped the profits and good will. Your local authors are readers, too. They
do talk to their neighbors. Most do have lists--some of them very long--of people in your immediate
neighborhood who...yes, read.l
Sincerely,
From someone who browsed your aisles and, yes, bought books and other things from you—but not nearly as much as if you had been supportive of the local writing community
----- From someone who browsed your aisles and, yes, bought books and other things from you—but not nearly as much as if you had been supportive of the local writing community
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .
This is a sad thing! What great opportunities lost for them and the writers they could have helped!!
ReplyDeleteBob, some of the indie bookstores are doing better. Vroman's (a large one in Pasadena) at least has a pay-for track for indie authors to have signings, etc. And some are so smart they don't discriminate at all--except by quality of the writing, perhaps. And, yes, Jenna. Sadder than sad. It's one reason I think authors can often just bypass bookstores for their promotion and use the Web instead per The Frugal Book Promoter, http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo/
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