Books

Indie Bookstores “Rise Again”

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Darrick Dean

From Slate.com:

According to the American Booksellers Association, the number of member independent bookstores has increased more than 20 percent since the depths of the recession, from 1,651 in 2009 to 2,094 in 2014. Meanwhile, Borders went bankrupt in 2011, and the fate of Barnes & Noble, which failed to make the Nook into a viable e-reader competitor with Amazon’s Kindle, appears murky. What happened?

Independent bookstores never had to answer to the dictates of public markets. Many of their proprietors understood, intuitively and from conversations with customers, that a well-curated selection—an inventory of old and new books—was their primary and maybe only competitive advantage. In the words of Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, “The indie bookselling amalgam of knowledge, innovation, passion, and business sophistication has created a unique shopping experience.”

In other words, the Big Guys got too big too fast and tried to be too much to too many people. People want bookstores, not warehouses.

indie

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Are You Prepared?

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Darrick Dean

It’s National Preparedness Month and I can’t help to wonder why something so simple is so overlooked by many. Just look how quickly shelves went bare a few weeks ago when water supplies went bad in northern Ohio. Or how people wipe out the bread, milk and toilet paper in the face of a two day snow storm.

Sometimes I wonder how civilization made it this far. What would happen in a far larger, sustained disaster? It doesn’t take much time or money to prepare. I don’t mean you have to be one of those hardcore prepper types, but could you and your family make it a few days without electricity and access to stores? Would your life break down and spiral out of control without a phone and the internet? What would you eat and drink? If it is winter, how would you heat?

sur

Fiction is littered with apocalyptic tales of survival. These imagine what would happen in a complete collapse. What attracts so many to these tales is that they are way to explore the best, and worst, in man.

end

They also serve as a warning: Pay attention. Don’t get lost in the useless and let others be responsible for the direction of yourself, your nation or humanity. Don’t take life for granted. Many a civilization has fallen, ones far older than our own. We think ourselves as unsurpassed in intelligence and greatness.

So did they.

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Lost on Venus

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Darrick Dean

While Mars gets all the attention in sci-fi, Edgar Rice Burroughs (of course) penned a five volume series back in the day (1930s) and has been the epic adventure on the clouded planet ever since.

He uses his classic formula: Earth man lost on another world, meets the girl of his dreams (native of the other world), must face peril after peril, often losing and rescuing his girl in the process. In spite of being a well-used plot in his books — and an archtype for much of pulp fiction that would come later — he creates fresh backdrops of alien cultures and beasts. One can detect allusions to nations or ideologies of our own world in his creations, yet he’s always subtle, never in your face with parallel meanings.

Is there anything wrong with an entertaining story that lets the reader disappear into another world? Must every book be on some sort of crusade? No, but all good books have some depth to them. Others try too hard and come off unintelligent to the thoughtful reader. Yes, there are those who like books that explicitly affirm their worldviews, no matter how poor the presentation.

Burroughs’ books, however, decades after they were written remain fresh, relevant and, above all, entertaining.

venus

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Burroughs’ Dystopian Earth

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Edgar Rice Burroughs is best known for his pulp-sci-fi Barsoom series (John Carter of Mars) and Tarzan. His swashbuckling heroes and their over-the-top adventures influenced countless authors and movies ever since. He’s not known for dystopian tales like those so popular today. Yet, before Orwell and Huxley, he wrote one, a lesser known book, The Moon Men.

A sequel to The Moon Maid, it takes a decidedly different tone than that volume. Maid is the typical Burroughs adventure: Hero finds himself in perilous situations, always perseveres and rescues the girl in the end. In Men, Flash forward a few centuries after these events, and we find Earth invaded and conquered.

Earth, after its own wars, had created “peace” by disarming all. The world’s militaries also all abandoned. A world lulled into a false Eden, ripe for someone to take advantage of it. What follows is a subjugated population who worships in secret, books are rare and people are stolen by those aligned with the invaders. Fall out of line and face death and being fed to the alien race. But Julian has had enough.

Burroughs, writing in the 1920s, had seen the destructive Great War and writes of the follies of war in the first book, but also of the futility of pretending evil is conquered and peace can be forced. He then shows how tyranny can begin to falter because of one man. The master of pulp fiction showed that this genre could give us as much to think about as any “literary” work.

And any worthwhile book should entertain and make us think.

pyr

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Amazon a “Market Disruption” for Publishers

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Darrick Dean

The war between Amazon (who has led the wholesale changes seen in publishing in recent years) and traditional publishers (currently Hachette Book Group) has come to a head over e-book pricing. Hachette’s position is that they have the author’s best interests at heart, but indie writers argue otherwise. One of them, Robert Bidinotto, explains that there is more to the story:

…even though publishing contract terms (including advances, royalties, and rights) are simply awful for 99% of authors, a relative handful of Big Name Authors do in fact benefit disproportionately from their alliances with Big Publishing. These “one-percenters” (to borrow a term from current political parlance) get extravagant advances from the publishing houses — advances so large that they don’t care much about other contractual terms, such as royalties and subsidiary rights, which other authors must endure. They have a huge vested interest in keeping the publishing industry frozen in amber, exactly as it is. As marquee figures in the industry, these Big Name Authors also dominate prominent writers groups, such as the Authors Guild. So, when such individuals and groups issue statements, purporting to speak for authors generally, you can be sure that they are really only representing their own narrower interests.

You can read the complete post at his site and the petition that supports the Amazon side. Bidinotto also writes, “Look, I have no problem, in principle, with publishers. If they really did what they promise to do — take the burdens of editing and publication off writers, compensate them reasonably, and market them creatively and intelligently — I think many more authors would be happier than they are now. A number of small presses still do this.”

And that is truly what is at the heart of the debate. It isn’t that Big Publishing is evil or that no authors ever succeed with them or that no one but bad authors indie publish. Once writers had another path to publish their works, they were free to question the system that usually left them with the least return. If big deals come along, that’s great, but most writers would be happy to pay the bills and make a living. And most don’t.

The industry is changing. The death of many bookstores has shown us that. If traditional publishers don’t change, will they follow the same path?

P.S. For an example of how some in traditional publishing are adapting, see the October issue of Writer’s Digest in which “The Evolving Agent” details how agents are joining the digital era.

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Bad Deeds

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Tired of the System run by the corrupt that protects the corruption? You could call Batman. Or you could find Dylan Hunter.

In Robert Bidinotto‘s Hunter, we were introduced to investigative reporter Dylan Hunter who has, let’s just say, a bit of a past. Nor does he like when the criminal element gets away with murder.

In Bad Deeds, we find Hunter and his woman friend Annie on a much needed holiday in the towering forests of northern Pennsylvania. It’s not long before they find themselves in a middle of a war as ecoterrorists attempt to take down the evil corporate gas drillers. Soon, the trail leads to the cesspool of corruption known as Washington, DC, where the Hunter finds himself up against those who will do anything to cling on to power. They believe themselves untouchable. Hunter may have a thing or two to say about that.

Is this second installment, Bidinotto has built on the first and taken the story to a new level, as any sequel should. Readers find themselves in a “ripped from the headlines” tale that is all too plausible. Political games and money trails are all too the norm in our world. As are cover-ups and the near immunity of politicians from the rules the rest of us play by. This all unfolds in a page-turning fashion that exceeds Hunter’s last adventure. Of course, in the tradition of all memorable thrillers, Hunter finds himself in some over-the-top situations. At the same time, there is much to provoke thought in the thinking reader. When will more people become fed up with the status quo? Maybe not necessarily in the way Hunter goes about justice.

Then again, when are we going to stop letting the corrupt define justice?

pyr

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Of Martians and Details

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Have you ever read a book where you feel like you are bogged down in a swamp? The author wants to tell you every little detail of his or her world. The color of every last button, the exact feel of every object, every inch of every person in vivid color. It’s as if they are afraid the reader will perceive something, anything, different from what was imagined in the author’s mind.

It’s true that too little detail is boring. Just as certain is that not allowing a story to breathe, to capture the reader and bring them in, is just as boring. It doesn’t take a lot of detail to paint a picture in the mind. A perception. A feeling. An immersive book doesn’t have to be 200,000 words long. Fewer and purposefully chosen words can ignite the reader’s imagination, draw them inside and propel them forward.

One of my favorite books is Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles. Relatively short, it’s a collection of short stories, mostly connected only by the Martian setting. But Bradbury’s descriptions of the ancient, dead (or dying) Martian world leave an impression in one’s mind, one that stays with you long after. Maybe each reader’s image in their mind’s eye of the red planet is a little different in reading these stories. Yet long after they forget every exact word, character and event, the mere mention of the book brings up imagery and feeling like a memory of place actually walked.

And that is one of the traits that distinguishes remembered books from those forgotten.

Martian Chronicles

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Promoting Your Book, Off-line

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Writers dream of big newspaper ads, displays in bookstores and maybe a radio spot or two. Truth is, most books are not marketed like a movie release campaign. Authors also quickly realize that they hold much of the responsibility for getting their book noticed. Often this requires willingness to do some old-fashioned networking.

Ren Garcia, the mind behind the League of Elder series, writes that nothing is off the table:

“A key component of spreading the plague that is my brand is showing my smiling face: craft shows, bake shows, car shows, any place I can set up a table is fair game.” And then there is the convention scene where it is easy to be overlooked, but as Ren writes, “For me, the greatest value of attending a convention is the contacts and genuine friendships I make. I walk around and talk to the authors and show genuine interest in their work. I listen to them.”

Robert Bidinotto, author of the Dylan Hunter novels, details that something as apparently mundane (in our electronic world anyway) as business cards can effectively spread the word about your book. He explains:

“…by far the best way to use them is person-to-person. Every time you meet someone new, they want to know what you do. ‘I’m an author,’ you say, and hand them your card. If you have a spiffy-looking book cover, your card will impress them and very likely generate questions.” In other words, be proud that you are writer and let people know. He adds: “But you don’t have to wait around to encounter strangers. You are constantly running into strangers: store clerks, waiters and waitresses, barbers and hair stylists, people sitting next to you in coffee shops, the clerk at the post office window. You can initiate a conversation, quite naturally…” Read the rest of his post for an amusing little lesson in bringing your book up to complete strangers.

So instead of waiting for the big movie trailer for your book, explore every and any opportunity to make your epic story known.

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Summer is Close….

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Darrick Dean

For many, this weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. For us purists, we have until mid-June for the real deal. In either case, summers unearth years of memories from everyone’s past. All differ a bit, but so many are the same: Summer vacation, blue skies, swimming, friends, beaches…

One of the best books to capture the essence of summer is Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. It’s one of the few times he left sci-fi and horror, yet is still quintessential Bradbury. Set in the Midwest in (now) distant 1928, 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding’s summer adventures will remind everyone of those July and August days long thought forgotten. A must for your reading list in the coming weeks of Sun as you sip on lemonade or dandelion wine under the shade of a towering oak…

Dandelion Wine

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Reinventing Barnes and Noble

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Once again, come the predictions of the end of Barnes and Noble.  Even with the end of Borders,  B&N has had troubles, with many laying the blame at the foot of Amazon and its Kindle-led e-book revolution.

As usual, it is never quite that simple.

I’ve seen many bookstores pop up in former Borders locations. Amazon is a great place to shop for books, and is the legend of internet commerce, but its profit margin isn’t all that high [And since I first wrote this, Amazon has begun to open stores, seeing the profitability in them.  Indie bookstores have seen strong growth. Who says no one buys real books?]. Ironically, B&N stores compete against e-books — all the while pushing its Nook reader — and its own website. All stores have websites, that isn’t the only problem. B&N does make money, if in decreasing fashion. It can survive, if it reinvents itself. That is, it will if it gets back to the basics it began with:

Become known as the local neighborhood bookseller, rather than the national chain bookstore.

The suggestions below are the same I made about a year ago. To these I add this: Forget the Nook. Let Amazon and Apple and all the others have it. E-books are here to stay, but be the old-fashioned bookstore. Be the specialty store. Paper books will never disappear. They are timeless and durable. Just like we treasure ancient tomes, so will the future want ours. And these:

1. Make that regional and local book section more prominent. Expand it. Make your store the one stop place for anyone looking for local authors and books on area subjects.

2. Ditch the cafes. Never stepped foot in one. You’re a bookstore. Yes, there are people who like to hang out in them, so farm them out to someone else. Get out of the food business. [Update: I have since “stepped foot” in the cafe once or twice. Not bad, but just not what I’m looking for when I go in a bookstore.]

3. Indie books and indie presses have grown rapidly in recent years. E-books are their main outlet because they still operate outside traditional distribution networks. Change this. Get their books in your stores.

4. Ditch the music and movie section. If e-commerce has hurt book sales, it has done more so for these other two. Save a spot for local artists, toss the rest. [Update: I realize that there has since been growth in vinyl records, which B&N sells. Good, sell them, but don’t bank on this or that fad (like adult coloring books). Fads come and go. Address them, but they can’t be at the core of your business.]

5. Enough of the $20 membership fee. Virtually no one charges for their loyalty cards.

6. Keep cutting unprofitable stores, but don’t pass up chances to open new, smaller stores in areas with a bookstore vacuum.

7. The kids area, the learning toy section and the games area are the best non-book items you have. They are better quality than what we find in department stores. But how many people know you sell this stuff? Your kids book section blows everyone — even Wal-Mart — away. Tell people. [And remove the toys that others have at cheaper prices. We all love Legos, but you can’t compete. Hobby board games are huge, your hobby board game section is great, but too small.]

8. Overall, your selection, style, arrangement and size of stores isn’t bad. Use your strengths as a national chain, but operate like a local store. Each market is different. Be able to respond and provide at an individual store level. Let them know that you are there. Host events more regularly. Be a destination.

Be like the stores of old. Books will never die, nor do you have to.

 

Categories: Books | Tags: , , , , , | 6 Comments

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