From our newspaper today:
"We had sat around and griped and griped and griped about how poorly Kentucky authors were treated, even in Kentucky," said KaBooM member Mary Alexander, 54, a fiber artist from Harrodsburg. "Bookstores didn't take us seriously, so we started going around and reorganizing their shelves."
With permission?
"Not necessarily," Alexander said. "That's why we called it the book mafia." http://www.courier-journal.com/features/2004/10/14/kaboom.htmlThey've turned into a writer's critiquing group, now. Cathcoy, you may be interested in this idea.
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"we started going around and reorganizing their shelves" - They've turned into a writer's critiquing groupActually, they've turned into a writer's regrouping group.
Actually it's a combination of vandalism and trespassing. I guess I'm a prescriptivist of sorts because I find nothing amusing about rearranging book shelves. Bookstores pay employees to stock their shelves and if they have to pay them to redo the shelves so people can find books eventually it drives up what I pay for books.
A good book is like a good baseball field. If you write it they will buy it. If you build it they will come.
I agree with all of your points TEd. I’d be very upset if it were my bookstore or if I were the one who kept the shelves in order. However, according to the Courier-Journal they have renounced their evil ways. In light of this fact and in the spirit of rule #10, I have decided not to break into their homes and rearrange their spice shelves. I will also resist the urge to open their sox drawers and kidnap a sock from each pair that I find there.
One last item; The E.M. Forster article had this quote which I found a little disturbing: "Writers are infamous procrastinators and excuse-makers."
I'll get back to this later, my coffee's getting cold, and my dog ate my Thesaurus.
Owlbow,
!
A simple solution would be to emulate many independent book stores and some of the chains: have a "Local Authors" section.
I had a feeling this group would be interested in/horrified by this! Yep, rearranging the store is pretty outrageous; it makes me wonder about the motive(s). FTR, all the bookstores (except used-book ones) I've been to here do have a local-authors section.
Looking for an art book I found that the "painting in oils" jacket covered a "learning to use watercolors" book. When I approached a clerk I was met with an apprahensive glare. When she saw the nature of the mix-up she laughed, saying the usual problem was a deliberate re-dressing by young browsers, who loved watching the shocked reactions of sober readers finding sex manuals in the jackets of bird-watching guides or cookbooks.
shocked reactions of sober readers finding sex manuals in the jackets of bird-watching guides or cookbooks.
Is there a word for being 50% inclined to laugh helplessly and 50% inclined to rise up in righteous anger?
That's pretty evil, Jomama. I frequently walk into bookstores knowing what I want and buy it without even opening the cover. And I invariably read the blurb on the jacket when brousing and almost never leaf through the book.
But I cannot see what thrills youngsters would get out of the switch because it might be days or weeks before someone comes in and looks at the switched book.
I wonder if booksellers check to see if the book and the cover agree. Almost always they seem to just scan the barcode on the jacket. That would seem to me to be an excellent way to lose some valuable merchandise. I have a friend back in Denver whom I met in a bookstore, and I will write to her and ask her opinion.
But beyond that, it appears to me this is a good way for someone to get into legal trouble for attempted shoplifting even though completely innocent. It takes a pretty nasty person to put another person into jeopardy like that.
I NEVER buy a hardcover book with a loose jacket without making sure that the book CAN be judged by its cover ...
Ted, just the same silly thrill that some kids get from leaving outrageous messages on the answering machines of strangers or leaving obscene graffiti in neighborhoods where they probably know no one. And I doubt that they think past that to the possible legal effects. A new meaning to "buyer, beware"?
And, Jackie, if you find that word for 50%laughter, 50% righteous indignation, Please tell me--I could use it often!
On Friday i didn't think so,
...but now I know! It's, "bipolar".
Owlbow, we are looking for a word that means experiencing both "poles" simultaneously.
Not that I accept your diagnosis--
TEd--good one!
I see now, in a calmer moment, that you are right Jomama. I gave the impression that I was making fun of Jackie, but I intended it to be a joke on myself only. I should have been more clear, and thoughtful. I think Jackie is the cat’s pajamas. Ted, you make me laugh so very often with your clever wordplay. Just the type of silly genius that makes me grin so that my cheeks hurt.
a deliberate re-dressing by young browsers, who loved watching the shocked reactions of sober readers finding sex manuals in the jackets of bird-watching guides or cookbooks – Jomama
In conjunction with:
But I cannot see what thrills youngsters would get out of the switch because it might be days or weeks before someone comes in and looks at the switched book – TEd
Years ago, I worked in a bookstore that had a similar problem. We found it wasn’t that the kids wanted to play a prank, but that they wanted to look at books and magazines dealing with sex and would hide them in the covers of other books so they could look at them in the store without drawing too much attention to themselves.