STATUS: TGIF! I’ve got a lot of reading to do to catch up on client material this weekend.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? YOU DON’T OWN ME by The Blow Monkeys
On this blog, it’s pretty much been publishing from an agent’s perspective. But here’s a great blog entry from Arsen KashKashian of the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colorado. Right here in my neck of the woods.
He’s giving his blog readers a sneak peek of his sales meeting with RH rep Ron and what books he is buying for his bookstore this fall. Dan Brown, Margaret Atwood, Jon Krakauer.
Aptly named Random House’s Hail Mary Pass. Hugely interesting.
What do you think? Is this a bold move on RH’s part? They are placing some heavy bets on some big hitters to galvanize the holiday sales. Will it work? Agree? Disagree?
Have a great weekend.
Well, since I have a book coming out from Random House this fall, I’m hoping it works.
Please please please let it work!
The Blow Monkeys?! Kristen, I’m digging your scene.
I believe it will work.
I also believe Dan Brown will always be remembered as the bestselling author who might have saved Doubleday if he’d finished his book earlier.
I love agent blogs! So much to learn here, I’m sure. I found you via AAR.
Wow, Kristin — thank you for the link — it was such a fascinating read.
Ok. Been there and done that whole blog. I’ve read a lot lately about eBooks and the high volume that went through Amazon last Christmas. I feel sorry for independent book sellers right now, I wouldn’t want to be the person in charge of gambling. (I’ve been to Vegas…it was sad)
From the article: “…Perhaps if Dan Brown could have delivered his manuscript as scheduled a few years ago, a few more people at Doubleday would still have their jobs…”
And perhaps if publishers didn’t put all their marketing into one or two titles a year, and perhaps if BOOKSTORE owners had staff that helped customers finds books they’d like to read instead of parking a few teens to man the cash registers, people would be aware of other titles they might like aside from “schlock-meister” Dan Brown. They might buy books instead of standing, bewildered, at a display of the same five authors upon entering a store. Dan Brown? James Patterson? Mitch Albaum?
I hope it works. I hope this season’s sales are amazing. I hope there will be less doom and gloom in the news by the time December hits. (One can but hope…) After all, look at what happened with all of the swine flu hype. For weeks, whenever you turned around, there were stories about a pandemic, epidemic, you name ic…
(In case you can’t tell, my cup is almost always half full)
I don’t know. My trips to bookstores lately have been fruitless. For the most part, they don’t carry the authors I read. I’m tempted to go with amazon just because the books are there. Sure the brick and mortar stores are happy to order it for me or the chains will tell me that all of their other stores have copies and I can go to any of those for the book I want. Why is it that the only store that doesn’t have that book is the one I’m standing in?
And yes, the kids behind the counter seem generally clueless. I asked about a book recently (third in the Inda series by Sherwood Smith) and was told it was being released sometime in July. Amazon tells me the hardcover came out last July and the paperback is coming out July 7th. I could’ve been reading it already, but now I guess I’ll wait for the paperback release. It might actually be in a bookstore then.
The public is fickle, but they do like their established authors. Sounds like a safe bet.
..lake
I’ll be all over the new Margaret Atwood. A writer who deserves all her success. Love her!
I had a very very helpful fellow in the Barnes & Noble help me find an obscure children’s book the other day. He actually looked it up on his computer and walked with me over to the section to help me find it. No apathetic teens to be seen behind the counters.
I’m loving that a Books-a-Million just opened about 2 miles from my office…
I think, among the many things that struck me about this post, as a writer, I reacted most to his comment about Twittering with an author and how that made him place a buy he would otherwise not have.
That was a fascinating and somewhat depressing post.