I met my husband at the door Friday afternoon, consumed with excitement about my discovery of a new bookstore, and in our neighborhood, no less! He patiently asked me to explain my enthusiasm. His engineer mind needed structure to understand why finding a new bookstore was such a fantastic event. First, I needed to define terms.
Brick and Mortar: an actual, physical bookstore, as opposed to ordering reading materials on-line.
Shelf Space: rare as a snowball in Florida is the chance that a budding author published by a small press will a) find their way onto a major chain bookstores’ shelves, or b) remain there long enough for your friends to make a trip to the store to buy your book.
Book Signing Event: a gig that is shockingly difficult to obtain, except at Mom and Pop bookstores, and is non-existent in the virtual world of on-line book shopping.
Used Bookstore: an enterprise seeking to liberate your overloaded shelves of their burden. As used bookstores are to avid readers, so are no-kill shelters to crazy cat ladies court-ordered to divest themselves of excess felines. Readers prefer the books they have read and loved go to a good home, not a dumpster!
My husband began to understand that a brick and mortar bookstore provided a unique outlet for local authors, but just to be sure, I enumerated additional advantages:
Why Not Books? graciously placed books one and two in my Rock Shop Mystery series, Stone Cold Dead and Stone Cold Case, on their local author shelf. These are new books by Colorado authors.
Why Not Books? is conveniently located near the Pikes Perk coffee shop on North Academy. Imagine - buying a local author's novel, or perhaps a good used book, and then reading while enjoying a hot beverage at a coffee shop!
Brick and Mortar: an actual, physical bookstore, as opposed to ordering reading materials on-line.
Shelf Space: rare as a snowball in Florida is the chance that a budding author published by a small press will a) find their way onto a major chain bookstores’ shelves, or b) remain there long enough for your friends to make a trip to the store to buy your book.
Book Signing Event: a gig that is shockingly difficult to obtain, except at Mom and Pop bookstores, and is non-existent in the virtual world of on-line book shopping.
Used Bookstore: an enterprise seeking to liberate your overloaded shelves of their burden. As used bookstores are to avid readers, so are no-kill shelters to crazy cat ladies court-ordered to divest themselves of excess felines. Readers prefer the books they have read and loved go to a good home, not a dumpster!
My husband began to understand that a brick and mortar bookstore provided a unique outlet for local authors, but just to be sure, I enumerated additional advantages:
- Personal service, as opposed to computer generated algorithms deciding which books fit your reading habits.
- Spotlight on regional authors and topics.
- Supporting a local business helps employ folks in your town.
- While I love libraries, I also purchase books. If I want the luxury of a local bookstore, I need to support it with my book-buying dollars.
Why Not Books? graciously placed books one and two in my Rock Shop Mystery series, Stone Cold Dead and Stone Cold Case, on their local author shelf. These are new books by Colorado authors.
Why Not Books? is conveniently located near the Pikes Perk coffee shop on North Academy. Imagine - buying a local author's novel, or perhaps a good used book, and then reading while enjoying a hot beverage at a coffee shop!
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