Bookstores

Bookstores You all know that most of my editorials come from the little seeds planted When you email me, my heart breaks, or my anger seethes, and my brain kicks into gear. This time an author wrote me about the sucky booksigning she had at an indie bookstore. Finally I had an excuse to write this op-ed. Bookstores are not sacrosanct, people. While some of them shine, some of them can stink. This author had an atrocious signing, with the store owner obviously not a fan of her story, her title, her hair color, who the heck knows? They stuck her in the back of the store near this tiny rack of her genre (which screamed that the owner didnt love the genre, BTW), and left her to rot for hours on a Saturday when shopping shouldve been hot. The author was mad; she was hurt. And this author has an award-winning book Because someone throws up a bookstore does not make them a god, a celebrity, or an all- knowing bibliophile. A bookstore is a business first and foremost, and some of these owners dont appreciate authors. Well, unless those authors are Stephen King, Pat Conroy, Karen White, fill-in-the-blank. Those are okay. Those are worth groveling over. The rest, well, they are hatchlings, and most of them wont live long. My point is that you need to be selective of your bookstore signing just as you are about anything else in your writing career. You dont jump at the first agent that speaks your name. You dont self-publish with the first vanity press that shoots you spam. You dont hire the first editor who quotes you a cheap rate. You dont listen to all criticism from your writing group. In other words, be true to yourself. If the fit doesnt feel right, trust your instincts and walk away. You have to be able to look at yourself in the morning. Some bookstores are fabulous. I have some in my circle Id die for. Theyve been so kind to me, and so supportive. A couple of them, however, I wont name. They shunned me because I wasnt big enough. They have their business . . . but so do I. Do not feel you have to sign . . . theres the Internet. Do not feel any bookstore is king . . . there are good and bad ones. Do not let them stick you in the back of the store . . . speak up. Too many writers think they are at the mercy of whoever will carry, sell, mention their book. No. You deserve some pride. And you have a right to be selective so you can feel proud.