adventures in bookselling.
Earlier this week, while waiting for a movie, John and I killed time in a Barnes and Noble to sort of check out the competition and get ideas for things I might want to stock in my store. It was a little overwhelming, seeing all those books...that we don't carry. John ended up pulling me out of there before I got really depressed.
Then, last night, I had a dream about the bookstore down the street. It has lots of gifts, since it's also a Hallmark. I don't want to sound catty, but it's mostly a Hallmark store. Anyway, last night, a had this dream that they had a sidewalk sale (or something else that would require outdoor shelves) and I happened to walk by (I never, ever walk by there, since they're at the end of the block and not even the same block we're on) and see all these fantastic kids books and I nearly hyperventilated right there on the street. I have the feeling most of the books were real, which is the first weird thing. The second weird thing is that the first thing I did when I woke up this morning was pull out my laptop and try to look them up.
I felt a little rattled, a little shaken up. The first call of the morning though, after I opened, was a repeat customer looking for two books that had been recommended to her and we had them both in stock! Not only did we have them in stock, I knew what they both were and was able to tell her the name of one of the authors. I felt like a rock star! Just a minute ago, a guy was in, and asked for help picking out a Faulkner book. Fantastic! I know about that! I want all further transactions to proceed in kind.
Meanwhile, I'm researching some more stock for a possible new section. I watched this video about an author who has a new book coming out this month and he starts out by saying he was raised in the jungles of Indonesia with cannibals. It was then that my eyes glazed over and I stopped paying attention. I mean, seriously, if that's your opener, when your book is not a memoir, but a novel that's not about a jungle, Indonesia, or cannibalism, where could you possibly be going with that line of thought?
Then, last night, I had a dream about the bookstore down the street. It has lots of gifts, since it's also a Hallmark. I don't want to sound catty, but it's mostly a Hallmark store. Anyway, last night, a had this dream that they had a sidewalk sale (or something else that would require outdoor shelves) and I happened to walk by (I never, ever walk by there, since they're at the end of the block and not even the same block we're on) and see all these fantastic kids books and I nearly hyperventilated right there on the street. I have the feeling most of the books were real, which is the first weird thing. The second weird thing is that the first thing I did when I woke up this morning was pull out my laptop and try to look them up.
I felt a little rattled, a little shaken up. The first call of the morning though, after I opened, was a repeat customer looking for two books that had been recommended to her and we had them both in stock! Not only did we have them in stock, I knew what they both were and was able to tell her the name of one of the authors. I felt like a rock star! Just a minute ago, a guy was in, and asked for help picking out a Faulkner book. Fantastic! I know about that! I want all further transactions to proceed in kind.
Meanwhile, I'm researching some more stock for a possible new section. I watched this video about an author who has a new book coming out this month and he starts out by saying he was raised in the jungles of Indonesia with cannibals. It was then that my eyes glazed over and I stopped paying attention. I mean, seriously, if that's your opener, when your book is not a memoir, but a novel that's not about a jungle, Indonesia, or cannibalism, where could you possibly be going with that line of thought?
