Hey, look at that—I’m actually writing this
post the day before it’s due to go live on the blog! That...somehow doesn’t seem
right. It’ll be fun to see what ends up getting in the way of the post this
week, but until that happens, let’s keep a good thing rolling and dive right
in.
And instead of going right to today’s new
comics—though there are a number of very good ones this week—I want to take a
moment to write about bookstores. (I know, I know. You’re asking, what’s a
bookstore?) And, by “a moment” I probably mean “a lot more than a moment” as my
ire was raised this past Sunday and I’d like to talk about it here.
Okay, so. Back to the question above—what’s a
bookstore?
Apparently, the answer to that is: A place
with very few books, all arranged haphazardly, and with very little in-store
promotion, and with a bathroom that’s downright disgraceful.
Now, since the bookstore I’m talking about
specifically here is a Barnes & Noble, and there are hardworking employees
at this Barnes & Noble dealing with inane corporate policies that have led
to such a sad state of affairs, I will not mention where this particular store
is.
You know, because of the awe-inspiring power
of this blog.
I even hesitate to bring it up at all, since
I hate bashing one of the few remaining stores in my remote area, but my visit
Sunday was so depressing that I feel it’s important to bring up as part of a
larger problem.
For a mainstream store, I’ve always felt that
Barnes & Noble does a pretty good job of carrying some lesser-known
authors. That, apparently, is no longer the case. And, sure, I realize that
this particular store was not one of their superstores, so the selection is,
understandably, less than one of the larger stores.
Even so, there needs to be a better balance
of big, honking mainstream titles and smaller ones. People don’t go to the
bookstore anymore in hopes of scoring the latest big release—they simply
pre-order at Amazon and get the thing at a ridiculous discount.
Barnes & Noble—and Borders before
them—has no hope to ever compete with Amazon’s pricing.
And while they can’t compete with Amazon’s
selection either, what the brick and mortars need to do is start carrying some
lesser know, genre books. I don’t say this simply because I’m a dork and I want
more books that I like in the store; I say this because the type of person
wandering around a Barnes & Noble on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon is
likely to be very similar to me and will likely spend just more time in the
graphic novel and science fiction/fantasy section than he will in the new
release section.
I know what the new releases are. People like
me know what the new releases are. If I’m in the store looking for them, I’ll
have picked them up first before wandering around aimlessly through the genre
sections.
While I might buy a new release, it’s in that
genre section that I’ll do the most damage, as wandering around the stacks
makes me want to buy books. And if there’s one or two or three books I’ve not
before heard of that look interesting to me just sitting there, chances are
I’ll buy them all.
That, of course, would be the ideal bookstore
experience.
What more usually happens, however, is that I
come to—duh—buy a book. After an hour-plus of looking and coming up with nada,
I get annoyed and try to find anything to pick up—even a magazine that I’ll
likely just flip through once when I get home then recycle.
Going into a bookstore with the intent of
buying multiple items and walking out both frustrated and empty-handed is a
problem.
Going into a bookstore with the intent of
buying multiple items and walking out both frustrated and empty-handed and
having had to use a dirty restroom somewhere in the middle of searching for
books I’d never find is even more of a problem.
Coming from publishing, this type of stuff just really annoys me. It's hard enough to sell books in this market. Barnes & Noble needs to do better, plain and simple.
Oh, and also? Go read the new Batman issue today.
It’s good. I promise.
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