December 22, 2005
Cut out the middleman
A couple people have e-mailed me to ask if I know of any bookstores in the city that have Holy Tango in stock, in hopes of landing a copy for gifting purposes. Unfortunately, I don't -- Borders and B&N can order it from their warehouses, but neither one is stocking it on shelves, nor is either one likely to start keeping copies in stock again, given the ways of large bookstores. But I now have some copies (freshly shipped from Emmis), so if anyone is either (a) sufficently motivated to buy the book or (b) close enough to places where I will be that the lack of any sort of subway service isn't a problem, you can come buy a copy from me. Or, heck, maybe you own a car. Today and tomorrow afternoon I am in the vicinity of 28th Street and Park; tonight, tomorrow night, and Saturday I will be at home in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn -- though god knows how long it will take me to get home tonight and tomorrow night. E-mail me (the address is in the left-hand column of the main page of the blog) and we can work out details.
Posted by Francis at 11:08 AMAccording to the Barnes & Nobles system, we don't even have it available anymore- it'll have to be backordered. In any case, 82nd & Broadway just shortlisted it- as soon as it's available, we should get it in.
Posted by: Mark N. Fiction at December 26, 2005 05:57 PMThe unavailability may have something to do with Emmis changing distributors, which I think should be sorted out in a week or two. I'm curious -- what does shortlisting mean? It certainly sounds good, anyway. Does it put me any closer to having a pile of books on one of those coveted tables?
Posted by: Francis at December 26, 2005 07:45 PMOh, Francis- dear, sweet Francis.
No. No, you do not get a spot on the table, unless your book was deemed a "Gift Book." We only display books that we get 4 or more of, like Sunrise Adam's "Lust Ranch" or the novelization of "Underworld: Evolution".
Shortlisting just means that I wrote a note to the manager that does the ordering that suggests picking up a few copies of your book. The manager will usually order at least one copy of any book shortlisted, and if you can give a good reason why it should be shortlisted (in your case, I wrote "Written by blogger who started internet sales campaign, sold out Amazon and all local booksellers, very popular in New York"), you can grab a few more.
By the by, if you know that a B&N has your book in stock, you can just wander in and sign a few copies. One local author insisted that I check his ID, I guess to make sure he didn't sign all of the copies "I.P. Freely," but it's pretty casual.
Even if stores don't currently have Holy Tango in stock, the more people who go in and request the book, the more likely it is they'll reorder it. If everybody who reads Francis's blog could just start making a habit of asking for it whenever they walk into a bookstore, or arranging it so that it's face-out (rather than spine-out) on the shelf, that'd be great.
-Francis's Publicist
Posted by: Meg at December 30, 2005 05:36 PMI picked up a copy at the Strand to give as a gift. She loved it, but it would have been nice to find it in the first store I searched, and not the third.
Posted by: Andre at January 2, 2006 04:48 AM