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I saw a tweet yesterday that isn’t sitting well with me, as a person who buys new books for an indie bookstore. It boiled down to ‘I asked for X, the bookstore offered to order it, but I’m not going to support someone who doesn’t carry X’
A store often has one person who does all the buying and no matter how hard we try, we can not be a master of all things. So we rely on our sales reps (who are heroes) and out sales comparisons to make choices about what books to carry.
Here are my comps for Psalm for the Wild Built to give an example of the data I’m going to use to decide if I’ll carry a book. I’ve done pretty well with the Harper titles she’s put out, and they threw in a comp from the new publisher that lets me know how I do with TDC titles.
Based on these numbers and restock turn around, I made the call to start with three copies on opening day. It is a rarity that I have a sale for every comp title for a new release. I expect to restock this several times in the first few months it’s out.
Here’s the thing though. I only started carrying Becky Chambers in store because I got a few special orders for her books. I haven’t read them so I hadn’t prioritized stocking them. But, I have a strong SFF section and can take a chance on new titles there.
Here’s the comps for a hugely promoted book that I did not bring into the store. No sales for the authors backlist at all. I think I did have one person order a copy and then that was the end of this book for me.
So, where I’m going here is by not ordering what you love, you give the people who order for the store at best no data to use to order from, at worst a self fulfilling ‘X readers aren’t our customer’.
But Meg, why don’t you just build sections and let the customers learn that you’ve started carrying books that they like? Because it’s expensive. To build one shelf of paperback fiction costs me two weeks of payroll for one of my booksellers.
With no sales history, it’s a risk I’m not able to take. Much like when budgets were tighter I’d stock three of a hardcover bestseller rather than three new release hardcovers. Margins in bookselling are tight, we have to make calculated choices about every book we bring in.
So, be the change you want to see in your local indie. If we see sales someplace we’ll follow them. If our sales reps see a trend that we don’t, they’ll push us towards new things. Bookstore buyers, for the most part, really are just trying to get the right mix for our customers
Also, for the love of all that is good, please preorder books, especially if they’re from debut authors. It is the number one thing you can do to get us to try new things.
Speaking of preorders, might I suggest a queer, magical Great Gatsby retelling told through an immigrant perspective? Much loved by myself and my booksellers.
https://www.copperdogbooks.com/book/9781250784780">https://www.copperdogbooks.com/book/9781...
https://www.copperdogbooks.com/book/9781250784780">https://www.copperdogbooks.com/book/9781...
