Saturday, October 24, 2009

From Shelf Awareness:

'Authors Need to Go Out of Their Way to Help Booksellers'


Patricia Wood, author of Lottery (which was shortlisted for the 2008 Orange Prize), sent the following e-mail from Honolulu in response to last week's column by Robert Gray--'Ideas That Work' at GLiBA:

Your article struck a chord. I went to my local bookstore today. I'm doing a workshop on writing at a school and wanted to make sure my '10 good books on writing" list informed/complemented what they carry.
They place a "shelf talker" on titles local authors recommend as good books for writers and I will send my students there to buy them.

They asked me to give a talk next month on the publication process (they are located in a mall) and another on getting kids to read. NOT a book signing--I think it's important as an author to do things for bookstores that DON'T involve promotion.

I also volunteered to talk at a book fair that high school students are holding there.I guess the point is, they don't hide when I come into their store. (Yes, I own a Kindle--I live on a boat and have limited space--but I left there with an armful of books that I purchased as well)Light bulbs: Figuring out ways to get people in a store works both ways.

Authors need to go out of their way to help booksellers survive and not just by doing self-serving signings.
Okay. My rant's done lol!!--
Much aloha,
Pat.

2 comments:

ORION said...

Thanks for sharing this
I think there are lots of things that will help booksellers survive and hope I can think of more!
Much aloha to you,
Patricia Wood

Anonymous said...

I remember reading The Lottery, it was actually recommended by my local bookshop years ago, i trust their judgement and i like that they are just as quick to tell me about books they didnt really enjoy as ones they did.

My advice to readers out there, talk to your local bookshop staff about any good new books they have, they are sure to be able to recommend some beauties for ya

MD