Posted by Jeanette Shaw
It's commonly said that publishing is dead during the holiday season, but I must be doing something wrong because I certainly don't find that to be the case. I'm not even in the office this week, but I still can't seem to get away from work. Of course, that might have something to do with all the time I spend in bookstores.
As a child, bookstores were magical places full of exciting new stories; I never failed to leave without purchasing at least three new paperbacks. As an editor, I now approach stores with a mix of anticipation and dread. Instead of wondering excitedly if my favorite author has a new book out or hoping to randomly discover some great new series by wandering the shelves, I walk in and immediately scan the front tables for my new titles, worrying that they've been relegated to sitting, spine out, on the bottom shelf of their section, where no one is likely to find them. If I see a similar title from another publisher on prominent display, I get righteously outraged on my author's behalf. If I see multiple copies of one of my books spine out on a shelf, I casually turn them face out, all the better to catch the customer's eye. And if I don't see one of my books in the store at all, I seethe so intensely I'm surprised the other customers don't notice the smoke coming out my ears. Basically, going to a bookstore has become a more stressful experience than I ever imagined on that long ago day when I said, "Mom, I want to make books when I grow up."
But that's all the more reason to be an editor, and to stick with publishing even when it's hard and the doomsayers are ringing the death knell. Editors should be passionate about their books and their authors. And for all the stress and heartache when books don't sell, there's also that happy occasion every so often when I'm in a bookstore and realize that the person next to me has one of my author's titles in their hands, headed to the cashwrap. And then I think about the books that I buy, and hope that one day the editor or author is standing next to me when I go to ring up my purchase, so that they can have that same feeling of accomplishment, of knowing that you've reached at least one more person. So as I haunt the stores this holiday season, that's the feeling I'll be hoping for.
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