Julius J.E. Thompson, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by Julius J.E. Thompson
Goodbye Borders! 8/5/2011 8:15:50 PM
Another casuality in the decline of the paperback and hard cover book formats! When the announcement came that the bookstore chain Borders has announced that it will seek liquidation and close its remaining stores, it was another attack on the print book format.
They will close 399 stores which mean that over three-hundred outlets for author’sbooks will be unavailable for authors at the end of the fourth week of July
2011.
This is very, very sad news!
This is another casualty in the long drawn-out decline of the paperback and hard cover book formats.
I remember when I was marketing my first novel, A Brownstone in Brooklyn and Philly Style and Philly Profile, the venues for new authors was nil. Today, it is even harder for authors to get book event at major venues.
For years I tried vainly to get book signings in bookstores to prove to the reading public that I was a legitimate author.
I walked into many bookstores and got a resounding “No”!
I went to the Stonecrest Mall Borders in Lithonia, Georgia without much confidence in getting a chance at a book signing.
I met the store manager and told him I was a local author and teacher at a Dekalb County High School. He was very gracious and receptive and loved the
idea of a local teacher getting a chance at a book signing.
He introduced me to the community relations manager and I had my first major bookstore event!
I sold over fifteen copies on thatSaturday afternoon and gave out tons of marketing material, but mainly this was my first major exposure at a major book event venue.
That was a signature moment, in my career as an author, and lead to me getting speaking opportunities at other major chain outlets and eventually a stint as a
presenter at the AJC-Decatur Book Festival, The Virginia Festival of the Book, Buffalo Book Fair, New York City Book Festival and other major book festivals.
Now, I wonder where the road would have taken me if it wasn’t for a manager at a Borders store that gave a newauthor a chance to showcase his work.
