Today I would like to talk about my recent experience with a local bookstore here in the Louisville KY area.  I will spare that company from using it's name since my experience was a negative one.

Some time ago I was walking through my favorite part of old Louisville and came across a local bookstore.  I entered the store to browse and noticed that in the far back corner there was a "Local Author's" section.  I decided to ask about offering my books on that shelf and the young man behind the counter was very polite and helpful.  He provided me with both an email address and a phone # for the store manager and suggested I contact said manager.  I thanked the young man and went about my day.

A few days later I emailed the manager.  There was no reply.  I waited a week later and emailed again.  This time I also called.  Still no reply.  I decided to take a chance and make a second phone call.  This time I got through to the manager.

I wish I could tell you that the conversation was a pleasant one.  It was not.  We discussed pricing and the store manager told me that the store would have to mark up the list price of my books since I sale them at the minimal price allowed by my publisher.  In case you are wondering, my publisher has set $12.99 as the minimum price for my detective novel The Worst of Times (which is almost 400 pages) and $9.99 for my science fiction book Elsewhere (which is 200 pages).

I expressed my concern that marking the price up to the suggested in store price of $19.99 (for The Worst of Times) seemed counter productive.  My goal has always been to make my writing as available and affordable as possible...not to make the largest profit.

The manager informed me in not uncertain terms that I had no idea what it took to stay in the bookstore business and preceded to lecture me about overhead, distributor costs etc.

Long story short (too late, right?) my novels will not be appearing on the shelf at that particular bookstore anytime soon.

I hope that my experience with this particular store manager was the exception for my fellow authors rather than the rule.

As always I welcome any comments, questions or suggestions you might have...and thanks again for reading!

Keep Writing!