Monday, November 11, 2013

Hand-selling Books



I am doing something fun on November 30th and I have author Sherman Alexie to thank for it.  After being a bookseller-for-a-day to celebrate a new bookstore’s opening, Alexie and the owner came up with the great idea of having local authors hand-sell books at local independent bookstores on Small Business Saturday.  


Big box stores have their Black Friday and online giants have Cyber Monday, TV football games their expensive ads.  If the long Thanksgiving weekend is going to be taken over by commerce, why not feature the stores and products that we should all be truly thankful for.  What is life without good books?  And where will we find them without good local indie bookstores?    

This is a win-win-win-win idea if I’ve ever seen one:

Win!   Authors will draw more business to the store.

Win!   Authors may sell lots of their friends’ books.

Win!   Authors may sell some of their own books.

Win!   Some authors (me, for sure,) may convince stores to beef up their children’s nonfiction collection.


So…

Authors, find your local indie and see if they are interested in having you come in. Or register with the American Booksellers Association.


Local indie storeowners, say, “Yes!”


Teachers and other book lovers, come in, support your local store, meet a local author (Support him or her too.  We are very indie).



PS.  I will be at the Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA, on November 30 from about noon to 4 p.m.  Come on in, I have many books I love that I’m happy to share with you.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great idea, Susan. I'll be in Manchester Center that day (we have a home there)where one of the great indies, Northshire Books, is located. I just sent them the link to your post and volunteered to do the same. Let's see what happens.

Susan E. Goodman said...

Hey Vicki, let me know what happens!

Unknown said...

I will let you know. So far there is silence.