This time of the year bookstores are visited by publisher sales representatives to sell the next season’s books, now mostly May-September. While trying to figure out the present book business upheaval, I ask myself this question: Is the publisher going to support independent book selling? I feel that the publisher might actually need good independent bookstores now, perhaps more than anytime since the 80s.
The publisher sales rep is the independent’s voice to the publisher and that same rep is the publisher’s voice to the bookstore. Now more than ever, this role is important. Last week, I worked with Liz Sullivan, our very fine Random House rep. (One of three–their other great reps are Toni Hetzel and Sarah Nasif.) We discussed her value as the link in helping the independent bookstore make judgments that affect both sides drastically, especially in using the art of selling to prevent costly mistakes for both her concerned customers–bookseller and publisher.
Think about the concept of the publisher’s sales rep as a publisher’s customer. I think it’s an interesting idea. (The publisher must sell the sales rep good books at a sales conference so the rep can pass the correct knowledge on to the bookstore.)
Rodney Crowell kicked off his bookstore tour in January for Chinaberry Sidewalks at Lemuria. Made possible by Liz’s savvy match-making of bookstore to author, Lemuria’s community of readers were captivated at the event.
Most Lemuria customers are unaware as to how much a good sales rep affects our local community’s reading. Her association with Lemuria affects Lemuria’s association to Jackson’s readers. Liz’s behind the scene work affects the authors and the inventory quality for which you the reader get to choose from and experience first hand. Liz’s job is to inform us of the best books for Lemuria and our job is to present them to you. Working together, our job is one of editing to bring a great selection of books to you, our readers.
Liz encouraged us to read The Invisible Bridge; Lemurians and customers will attest that this was a wise choice. Invisible Bridge is still one of our most popular books in the fiction room. We wrote more than one blog for this one, but here is one.
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The point of all this is to make you aware of how valuable the publisher is in enabling the bookstore to survive and create a joint identity for reading in their local communities. Lemuria is fortunate in that we get to “make” books; sometimes Lemuria is the first step in introducing many authors not only to Jackson but also to our region. We want Jackson and Mississippi to continue to be a hot bed for literary events, magnetizing our region with the best books for each season. Why shouldn’t great writers and great books evolve out of Mississippi?
Lemuria’s close work with Random House/Crown enabled Mississippians to get the most out of this important book with our sneak previews and events with Curtis Wilkie. Zeus was one of six books we worked on with Random House to secure for our First Editions Club 2010.
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Another question I ask: Where would e-reading books be if authors, reps, publishers and bookstores were not in sync and vital? E-books could be the best invention to re-establish the need for good bookstores and good publisher reps. Does this sound strange? Not to me, more people may be reading in January/February 2011 than in a long time and I hope they are enjoying good books in whatever format they choose to read them. If readers enjoy what they are reading, they read more.
For March of this year, we have been working intensely on these two debut novelists, Téa Obreht and Karen Russell, both of whom are already receiving copious amounts of national praise. Lemurians loved reading both of these books. As a result of Toni and Liz’s work, we picked them for our First Editions Club and secured author visits with Karen Russell and Téa Obreht in late March. Lemurians could not even wait until Swamplandia came out; Kaycie and Zita were blogging about it in 2010. (Many thanks to Toni and Liz!)
Will more readers cause more excitement to be created about authors visiting Mississippi? As far as e-books go, at present Lemuria has no desire to sell e-books and may never, but who knows what the winds of change or what the future will bring.
However, I can assure you that Liz and the Lemuria staff worked hard last week to associate Random House through Lemuria with the goal of giving Jackson the best possible book selection. We strove to arrange prime author appearances (regional and national) for our local community and Mississippi. Enjoy reading and loving books. It’s a decent way to live.
The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry
Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)
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When entering Borders, I was immediately greeted by a vanity author welcoming me to the store. She seemed determined to intercept all visitors. I’m not faulting the author but the store management. At times, I feel I’ve let Lemuria be taken advantage of by dominating-self-centered authors “hawking their books.” I’ve always considered this rude to my regular reader customers. So now, I promise we will do a better job of keeping this sales tactic under control within Lemuria.
Saturday at 6:30 on my way home from work, I browsed Barnes & Noble. It seems down scaling of the physical book inventory is well underway. Already, I see expanded children’s activity sections, larger product displays, puzzles and multiple sideline gimmicks. I don’t think I’m deceiving myself but it seems in a short month’s time since Christmas, the B & N transition to less real book inventory is well underway.
Walker’s book covers the anatomy and physiology behind stretching and flexibility. Exercises are indexed according to the part of the body being stretched and information on the targeted muscles. As we age, muscles and joints become stiffer and tighter, and stretching is the most effective way of developing and retaining muscles and tendons.
A rewarding aspect of growing older is watching how friendships from childhood evolve to share the common ground of adulthood. Caring bonds of youthful friendship evolving into business relationships. Who would have thought over 20 years ago that William’s mom, Nan, would be working as a bookseller at Lemuria and Saramel would be opening an art show for a Mississippi emerging artist to the art folk of South Carolina.
