Friday, August 11, 2017

History of bookselling



The publisher and editor Doug Gibson long ago discovered authors periodically complained accusingly that they could never find their books in the bookstores they frequented. Eventually he distilled these complaints into Gibson's Laws for novice authors, the first law being "An author and his/her book can never be found in a bookstore at the same time. Blame your publisher," and the corollary, "An author's relatives and his/her book can rarely be found in a bookstore at the same time," etc.

I have found Gibson's Laws comforting from time to time, and have passed them on to other writers more than once.

I glad to say that the photo above will document that when I walked past my local bookstore recently, I actually found Gibson's Law being disproved, and in the front window, no less, not spine-out on some remote shelf.

This somewhat consoles me for news that the hardcover of Three Weeks in Quebec City is being remained this month (other editions will survive).  I have a handful of copies myself, if you are interested, and soon that will be it.

Image:  The blogger (faintly visible reflected in the store window).  Store credit: BookCity Bloor West Village branch.
 
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