Friday, April 06, 2007

Every author is a local author somewhere...

So the surreal conversation I referred to in the post below, between Mark Budman and the Barnes and Noble sales clerk, went like this:

Mark: "Will you put my book here one day?"
Clerk: "We don't put every book here."
Mark: "But I'm a local author."
Clerk: "Local authors are all print on demand. We don't carry them."
Mark: "No, my book will be out from a major publisher."
Clerk: "Even major publishers, like Random House, publish local authors only as POD."


That's so illogical it's genius. Thanks to Mark for reporting the exchange and allowing me to use it. And congratulations on not slapping the fool.

5 comments:

Faye L. Booth said...

My brain hurts.

Nik Perring said...

Goodness me!

It's funny, I heard somewhere that most authors are local authors. Crazy stuff, eh!

And yes, congrats for not slapping the fool.

Nik

David Isaak said...

Most authors may be local authors somehwere, but I guess I'm not!

That's a great story! But you could have skipped the name of the bookstore, shown me the exchange, and I would have said, "Ah, Barnes & Noble!" They deserve some sort of award. The headquarters allow individual stores little decisionmaking power. And, before any book can be stocked, the head office must have put the publisher on their 'approved' list.

If you recall, when I went to one B&N to see if Gentle Axe had arrived, they have several copies...somewhere. (As far as I know,they never did find them.)

B&N isn't just writer-unfriendly, it's publisher-unfriendly, and often just a bit incompetent.

David Isaak said...

David Thayer's blog alerted me to the fact "Gentle Axe" made the Washington Post Book World--rarefied air indeed, buckaroo.

Just in case, it's at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/08/AR2007040801022.html

Roger Morris said...

Thanks Faye, nik and David (x2). I hadn't heard about the washington post one. I shall check it out.