Welcome to TALES OF BRAVE BOOKSTORE, my newsletter on bookselling. Thank you for reading.
As a writer, I come to bookselling with a lot of knowledge and a lot of baggage. The running script in my head at work is often, why did this get published and not my second novel? (I wrote a second novel that was rejected forty-six times back in 2018, which is a tale for another time.)
That said, I reject books all the time. I read a lot, and I don’t finish a lot of what I read. Because I got bored. Because the prose was weak or tried too hard, because I like plot more than vibes, because I don’t relate to motherhood narratives, because I want to read about women in middle-age and older, because I don’t want to read novels about the pandemic, and on and on and on.
The first book I truly loved was an old, forgotten book I plucked off the shelf at B. Dalton in 1987 called Almost Paradise by Susan Isaacs. This novel is probably the #1 influence on my writing. It got in my brain first. I like novels that I can trace back to this one in some way.
The store where I work is adorable, small, and beloved. The neighborhood is residential but we’re on a cute commercial street. Our clientele is largely white, mostly elders and families who come in with their kids. We are near a high school and between 4-6pm, we see a lot of high schoolers, although less since our beloved store cat, Molly, went to live in the big bookstore in the sky. We host some really lovely, fun events, but rarely big name authors, as those always go to Powell’s. I will say that poets over the age of sixty are the happiest bunch of folks I know and they throw really joyful events that I’m proud to host.
I am an avid Edelweiss cowgirl and have probably read at least the first three chapters of most new literary novels, which is as much part of my work as a bookseller as it’s me trying to figure out what all the editors are fucking thinking. I will never know, but I keep searching. I think about this a lot.
There are some contemporary novels that, in spite of my putting in effort and even getting permission to relocate the book in the bookstore where I work (front of store positioning matters. A lot.). In spite of things like glowing reviews and awards and sterling reputations, I cannot sell.
Case in point: Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward.
I have tried.
You'd think this would be easy? Two-time NBA-winner and Oprah Pick! Incredibly strong writing, like, gut-level good stuff!
Nope. It doesn't move. Since it's publication last October, it has sold SEVEN copies at our store.
We've put it on the bestsellers shelf, the staff faves table, the new releases shelf. I have had days when I become determined to sell that book as a personal challenge and leap on any opportunity to hand-sell. It gets a nope more often than not.
One of my coworkers surmises that the cover does it no favors. The cover doesn't match the content, and there's something oddly off about it. The yellow, that moth. I don’t think it’s a bad cover, maybe not one that says “moving and elegaic novel about an enslaved girl written by a master of the craft.” Maybe in paperback, it will have a new cover and we can try again?
The Oprah badge of honor is another thing that has lost value over time, although Demon Copperhead and The Covenant of Water certainly picked up a lot of steam via the Oprah bona fides. Similar to Ward’s latest, recent Oprah pick Wellness by Nathan Hill didn’t exactly run out of our store on its cute little paper legs.
HERE’S THE THING, THOUGH: If I can’t inspire customers to read Jesmyn Ward, heavily decorated and revered author with a singular voice and vision, largely agreed to be a genius, then what? Do certain books lose out on the marketplace for committing the sin of being really well-written?
What does sell most often in the fiction category:
Chemistry. (I hated it.)
Tomorrow. (I loved it.)
Grocery Store. (I ran out the clock on my library copy and need to finish it but A+ otherwise!)
Tom Lake. (I love Ann Patchett but the minute anyone says they loved 2020, I have to leave the room.)
The one with the octopus. (It was fine.)
Anything by Emily Henry. (Haven’t read any.)
And that’s the majority of fiction that leaves our store.
There are a few other titles that I have tried very hard to sell but they are the books of friends and acquaintances and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. So they will remain unnamed. Because I'm not here to foment anxiety. I’m only here for love.
LESSON LEARNED: Some books don’t appeal to most readers and even brilliance fails on the market a lot of the time.
HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? Anything you want me to cover? Please leave a comment and I will be grateful for the suggestion!
PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS, LOVED ONES, AND ENEMIES ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER IF YOU THINK THEY’D BE INTERESTED.
CURRENTLY READING: Blackouts by Justin Torres
MO!!! Almost Paradise is one of my all time favorites! I found it on my mom’s bookshelves when I was maybe 12 and read it over and over. I have never met anyone else who knows it. Rock! Also — this is great 💕
“The one with the octopus. (It was fine.)” made me snort