Faces versus Algorithms

In reviewing Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century by John B. Thompson, Jason Epstein, long-time editor at Random House, co-founder of The New York Review and Library of America has penned a thoughtful piece in The New York Review of Books on the publishing industry, and by implication book selling in the 21st century. Fifty years ago, publishers relied, according to Epstein, on independent book shops with a knowledgeable and well-read staff to sell their back list titles. The sale of these titles provided the financial stability to those “Merchants of Culture”. Publishing decisions were made with this back list in mind.
With the corporatization of the publishing industry, books increasingly became viewed, according to Epstein, as commodities, ushering the era of the “big book” or bestseller. This brought a shift in publishing decisions and distribution as retail chains became the sounding board as well as the outlet for publishers accountable to shareholders. What happens when this relationship between chains and becomes unstable?
As the chains struggle to adapt to an increasingly fickle best-seller market—who is the next Stieg Larssen or Stephanie Meyer—publishers are left with unpaid invoices and returned inventory. The absence of a well-read staff means that if books did not sell themselves, they did not sell. It is readily apparent that this publishing model was built on a foundation of sand.
Chapter One as an independent book shop strives to connect readers with books—particularly those titles not backed by huge marketing budgets. The books that frequent the bestseller lists—often camped there for long periods—are ubiquitous and likely known by the reading public. Available from grocery stores to gas stations, it is hard not to see these as commodities.
For those who seek out the unique book store to converse about books, however, they will find on our shelves Vasily Grossman, Tadeusz Rozewicz and Amos Oz. They will discover that Kate Morton’s The Forgotten Garden has been put into nearly 100 hands due to Mara Lynn’s enthusiastic review. They will learn about the origins of The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha, and about that other book by Antoine Saint-Exupery—Wind, Sand and Stars.
As buyers for an independent book store, Mara and I are able to be flexible, but also adventurous. When a book appears in a front list catalog, we can buy for one person for whom we know that book is perfect, or take a chance on a title which helps define Chapter One as a true independent. No algorithm, no matter how sophisticated, can do that. Our customers and our knowledge of books outside the bestseller lists are where we excel.

New Leaf

The Chapter One blog: hmm....

The first, best and most important Chapter One news for 2011 is that Mara Lynn Luther has become a co-owner of Chapter One Book Store. Her passion for books, her knowledge of them, and her ability and willingness to share these is old news to those who have engaged her at the shop during the past six years. That she will be here for a long-term future is marvelous news for the reading community that haunts Chapter One and for me personally as she is both a savvy business partner and a dear friend.

Less newsworthy, but nonetheless an omnipresent fixture of soul-searching in the bookselling industry is the eBook conundrum. The spectrum of commentary on the issue is breathtaking in scope, as crystal balls are rubbed, polished, and scrutinized. One well-known writer, Simon Winchester, was quoted in ShelfAwareness as arguing that since he no longer used the printed OED, but rather utilized its on-line edition, the book was essentially destined for the rubbish heap of History. Others see e-readers as nothing more than gadgets, with which people grow tired rapidly, and will soon fill our closets and attics alongside Palm Pilots and Walkmans.

A more reasoned assessment concluded that the same debates probably consumed Europe after Guttenberg printed his bible--scribes would soon be cast aside, bemoaning their fate as they cried into their mead--or fabulous beers brewed by Czech monks. As it turned out, those scribes continued to write--for hundreds of years. I wrote the draft of this blog with pencil on paper.

I am a book lover. Reading is a consuming, tactile experience for me--the smell of ink on paper; the texture of the cover; rag-edged paper; stitched signatures. I write in the margins as I debate with the author. I book dart. There may even be a coffee stain or two hidden between the covers. More importantly, I share books with friends. Recently a customer bought a paperback copy of book to give to his friend—a book the customer had on his e-reader, but was unwilling to loan. I am, however, not so egotistical as to think my passion is everyone's. There are many who do not share these feelings for books, but do share a love of reading. A number of our customers embrace both. Eventually, an equilibrium will be reached. In this dual reality, Chapter One will stock thousands of physical books to give those who walk through its doors a unique and unforgettable book shop experience. For those who want the digital version of those titles, a few clicks on our website will allow you to download whatever eBook you desire.

To conclude this initial foray into the blogosphere, as you ponder what to read next, here are a few titles we at Chapter One consider to be the best books of 2010:

The Collected Prose 1948-1998 by Zbigniew Herbert

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

The Golden Age by Michal Ajvaz

The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw

To the End of the Land by David Grossman

Note Bene: What best of 2010 would be complete without mentioning that SPAIN WON THE WORLD CUP!!!!