To the Editor:
I read your article “Thinking Outside the Bookstore Box” in the August 31 PW, and agree that we need to continue looking at new options for getting books to customers. However, I would answer a very strong “yes” to the question as to whether some of these new venues are simply “just adding more forks to the pie.”
In quoting Kim Ricketts about selling 900 copies of Al Gore's new book, the inference is that that is some kind of success. The reality is that any brick-and-mortar bookstore worth its salt (in Seattle, Third Place Books, Elliott Bay and University Boosktore do events like this all the time) could easily sell 900 copies of Gore's new book. So then the question is: what's the advantage to the publisher to have someone host this event, who has no venue for selling the book after the event is over? The bottom line is that any event the publisher books with an organization like the one in your article takes away an event from a store that supports publishers the rest of the year. It's a shortsighted approach from the publishers' point of view, one that undermines their relationships with their most consistent ambassadors and customers.
Robert Sindelar
Managing Partner
Third Place Books
Lake Forest Park, Wash.
To the Editor:
After reading “Thinking Outside the Bookstore Box,” there were a few things that I would like to add.
As retailers, we know that we need to be strategic about how we find and engage with our customers. Author events are a great way to do this. But we are definitely finding that there are too many “forks in that pie.” The businesses profiled in your article are not what I would call “booksellers”; rather they are “special event sales.” And special event sales don't support publishers and authors for the long haul.
Brick-and-mortar stores house a selection of all of the publisher's catalogue, 365 days a year. We employ passionate, knowledgeable people to promote and sell these books all year long. We carry backlist titles and work with our reps to bring in those debut authors whose books might not sell 900 copies but who are worth supporting. Special event sales might sell 900 copies of one title on one night, but their support for the publisher ends there.
Seattle has a fantastic book ecology, with some of the best independent booksellers in the country. Our events programs are threatened by special events sales. I haven't seen any stories that truly address the downsides of using these companies.
Stesha Brandon
Manager of Public Relations and Events
University Book Store, Seattle
