The Galley Game

The other day Melville House posted this on their blog, about the question about whether getting access to freebie ARCs means people buy fewer books because they have sense of entitlement to free books as a job/career perk, or just because they're so used to getting free stuff they don't buy anymore.

Whether or not I have access to galleys has little effect on what I buy. When I got them, I didn't buy full-price hardcovers unless I desperately wanted the book, and I still don't. Most of the books I received in galley were not books I'd rush out to buy in hardcover. If anything, I might buy the paperback eventually, but what galleys did do for me was make it easier for me to read things I might not think to pick up otherwise. Since I stopped working at a bookstore and moved to New York, my own access to galleys has more or less dried up (save for one or two sources) and I spend less time reading current fiction and more working through my to-be-read shelves. Fine. And I'm buying fewer books these days mostly because I don't have an income of my own.

In the past, sometimes I would sometimes ask for a review copy of something I really wanted to read, sometimes not, depending. Sometimes it felt like I asked for a lot and once in a while ought to buy something. And sometimes I just didn't want the obligation to review it right away, or review it positively, or at all. Plus, I just like to shop.

When I spent my days shelving, handling purchases and making recommendations in a bookstore, I bought more because I was exposed to more. All of a sudden the whole store felt like my to-be-read pile and it was just a matter of how much I would bring home every week. I could use my store discount to buy whatever I wanted, and I rarely asked for review copies that weren't available through the store.

Now I'm back to being a blogger, and I like getting review copies but I don't feel entitled to them. Which is a good thing considering I rarely receive them. (I think I fell off a lot of mailing lists when I moved.) As a bookseller it was more important to have access to advance copies because it was my job to sell the books and reading a hot book ahead of time made a real difference to the enthusiasm I could muster on the sales floor.  Same for when I worked as a librarian. Now, it feels more like a luxury and less like a necessary tool. And I'm just as happy not to have the obligation to post things by a certain date and all that.

I do wonder why people who don't actually sell books (or review them or encourage borrowing at the library) need advance copies of books they're not promoting.  I get that it's a job perk, and one that folks are used to, and expect, because it's fun and makes them feel special. It makes people in the industry feel like part of a community, which they are, and helps them share their enthusiasm about books with each other. They foster conversations and friendships and build relationships which help build careers. And it would be a brave publishing worker who would start denying freebies to their friends!

But still. When I hear people talking about bloggers and return-on-investment, I wonder about all the freebies given to people just because they're part of the club, and then I feel less badly about the perks I've been lucky enough to receive. (What drives me crazy? Listening to someone who works in a back-office administrative role, with no exposure to the public or role in promoting books to readers, opining on what bloggers "deserve." Really? One such person once gave me a hard time about getting a galley signed, something folks do all the time.) Sometimes I hear someone bemoan the number of galleys sent to bloggers, and then I'll hear a sales rep or someone else say they have so many galleys to give away they don't know what to do with them all. Something about the galley game is a little out of whack.

Not having access to galleys definitely means I don't read as much current fiction, which I miss, but I do read more from my TBR pile, which is probably a good thing. Lately I've read some older books I've always been meaning to get to, some less-old books I bought with the intention of reading them soon and it also means I'm actually acquiring fewer books than I read- and opening up space on the shelves for the first time in a while. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss access to free recent stuff.  Galleys are a great perk and it's hard to blame anyone who doesn't want to give them up.

ReaderCon, SF and Independent Bookstores

This past weekend my husband and I made our annual trek to Burlington, Mass., (actually about 20 minutes from Cambridge) for ReaderCon, that celebration of science fiction and fantasy literature. It's four days of panels, readings, signings and shopping (the dealer room is always a highlight).  I've always gone because I learn a lot; I'm not a hard-core (or even medium-core) SF reader, so ReaderCon is my opportunity to learn about the latest and greatest in the genre and take that back with me to enrich my reading and my understanding of the book world. Working as a bookseller, I had an additional motive- to gather some information that might help the bookstore where I work serve its fan customers.

As I said, the dealer room is a major highlight of the show. Booksellers as well as publishers gather to share and promote their books. The publishers include Small Beer Press, Prime Books, Tachyon, and others; some of them will be familiar to you but many are small presses that will not. All of them have generous selections of their offerings and knowledgeable representatives as well as authors present. Over the course of the weekend, several sessions focus specifically on the year's best books, many from these smaller presses as well as big houses like Random House and HarperCollins. Both the sessions and the opportunity to shop and talk with small presses represent valuable opportunities for booksellers.

The weekend included sessions on the year's best short fiction and novels; Sunday featured the presentation of the Shirley Jackson Awards for horror, psychological suspense and the dark fantastic, and many of the books that make these lists are probably already in the bookstore ripe for display. This year's Year in Novels panel included mention of books like Kim Stanley Robinson's latest 2312, two China Mieville books (Embassytown and Railsea) and Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf was nominated for a Shirley Jackson award; it's out in paperback now and its sequel, Tallulah Rising, is hot off the presses. The dealer room featured interesting things like Tachyon's The Secret History of Science Fiction, an anthology featuring literary authors like Margaret Atwood, Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem alongside genre standbys like Connie Willis and Robinson and more, as well as the only James Tiptree Jr. short fiction anthology currently in print and gems from Kelly Link, Ekaterina Sedia and others.  Lots of these things folks probably already know about and stock, but there are so many discoveries waiting to be made and seeing them here helps me see them in a new light.

I've only been a bookseller for a short time, but even this experience coupled with a lifetime of book shopping and reading has taught me that many independent bookstores give genre short shrift. A well-stocked general fiction section tended to by literary-bookish staff is wonderful but often other areas, like mystery, romance and science fiction, are scanty at best, stocked with the bestsellers but little else. So what happens to those customers? They go to specialty shops, and shop them loyally, or, in the absence of a strong SF bookstore, they go online, all the while thinking indies don't care about them or understand their needs. I've seen this phenomenon over and over again and I believe there's a real opportunity for general-interest indies to make inroads into the fan community, if only they'll take the time and interest.

I understand that there are constraints. Shelf space is limited. Staff time is limited. Small presses often present unattractive selling terms that make it difficult or impossible for many bookstores to buy from them. But I also believe more can be done. Put George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan on a spinner and fill the shelf with a deeper selection from mainstream presses and bigger small presses, keep a copy of Locus in the staff room and find someone on staff to make a project of the section, including creative displays and events. Promote to the fan community. Small efforts can add up.

I would really love to see more booksellers attend ReaderCon and put all this information to use in their stores, and for ReaderCon to include more people from the local literary community as well. SF specialty stores are rare; independent bookstores have an opportunity to find something different for their shelves and reach out to the fan community through displays, small-press evenings and other events- just by getting to know it better. I'd love to see ReaderCon reach out to independent bookstores in the Boston area especially, since the conference takes place here every year. And I'd love to see booksellers included on panels like the Year in Novels and others, to bring that perspective to the event and build relationships between booksellers and the very knowledgeable critics who routinely attend and participate in the conference. I was surprised to learn how few of the people I know in the local book world even know about Readercon. That should change!

Bookstore Blogging: How to Get It Done

Do you read blogs from bookstores? As a new bookseller I'm interested in getting to know what you like or don't like about blogs written by booksellers on behalf of their stores. I confess I don't read that many; once in a while I read the Green Apple Core, a blog from the wonderful Green Apple Books in San Francisco. I visited the Green Apple when I was in San Francisco several years ago and started reading their blog afterward. They did a hilarious video series on the book vs. the Kindle and they always have interesting, fun articles about the book industry and the weird and wonderful books they stock. I've read the Porter Square Book Store blog off and on (and now that's where I work, so I'll be reading it more consistently!) and some library blogs.

What do you look for in a bookstore blog? Do you want to interact with the booksellers? Do you want a convenient way to find out about events? Do you want to see staff picks or new arrivals? What holds your attention? Or if you don't read them, why not? What have you seen on a bookstore blog that you don't like?

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a Twitter chat on the subject of bookstore blogs and the consensus from booksellers seemed to be that their customers want to know about events and want a blog that transmits the personality of the store while offering customers content they're interested in. Sounds simple, but how do you get it done, and how do you evaluate results?

As a bookstore customer, I like engagement and unique content; I don't want to read the same promotional blurbs I'm seeing everywhere else. I want to hear about idiosyncratic arrivals, selections that make that particular bookstore unique, and I want to interact with the blog. From a customer perspective, I think it's nice when the comments are posted quickly so I can see my comment on the blog and if the blogger wants to respond in the comments, great. I don't want to talk into a void!

 

If you're a bookseller, how do you view store blogs? Does your store have one? How do you delegate or divide up the workload? Writing a blog is a lot of work; you have to come up with ideas, come up with a schedule, write the posts, respond to comments, and keep it going over time. When you also have to wait on customers, stock shelves and do all the things you have to do to run or work in a store, blogging may be the last thing you have time for.

I'm fascinated to learn more about blogging for a bookstore and I hope you'll share your thoughts and experiences, whether you sell books or buy them!