by Jas Faulkner
For those of you playing at home, I got to go to this rilly nifty sooper sekrit cabal of booksellers in Memphis a little while ago. The main topic on the dias was the untold history of those who are charged with the care and feeding of visiting authors. Chatter on the floor was all about the next big push: Valentines Day. Some booksellers love it, especially those who either have a coffee shop or sell candy. Others? Not so much.
“Are you single?” asked one store owner from Kentucky. I told him I was.
“How do I market so that people will come in on and around the 14th? The month of February seems to be about people making a rare visit to get a gift and everyone else avoiding anything remotely heart-shaped.”
