I just read in The New York Times that some of the independent bookstores are starting to charge to meet the author. They’re taking this approach because they’re being squeezed by the competition—Internet retailers like Amazon. You can read the article HERE: Be sure to read the comments too, and think about it. As an author, you might feel slapped in the face if no one paid to attend your signing. As a fan, you might get a little ticked if you shell out ten bucks to hear a reading, have to stand the entire hour and don’t even have a visual of the author. I can understand why independent stores feel the need to give this a try, but I don’t like it. At the same time, I feel a little guilty that I visit book stores and key titles into my phone. I want to get them for free from PaperBackSwap or cheaper from Amazon. Please tell me you’re as guilty as I am. Of course, I purchase new books too, and support brick and mortar stores--just not as much as in earlier years. These days, I’m a little more careful in how I spend hubby’s hard earned money.
On the other side of the country, visiting The Los Angeles Times, the following headline screamed at me: Spam is Clogging Amazon’s Kindle. Spam? How’s that happening. According to the article, thousands of e-books are being published and they just aren’t book worthy. The article is worth reading. Go HERE.Progress is great. Progress is also a curse—in its own way. Sometimes I yearn to go back to the flashlight under the covers with my Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys books. I hope I don’t read an obit telling me that free author readings and signings are dead. That would actually bring tears to my eyes.
How about you? Got any news to share?
