“I want to support my favorite authors. Where should I go to buy their books?”
It’s a question every author gets from time to time. The thing is, it doesn’t make a difference to me. Like most commercially published authors, I get a set royalty on my books. Author royalties are based on the copies shipped minus the number returned; it makes no difference whether they sell from Amazon, Borders, or your local independent, so long as they don’t come back to the warehouse. (Yes, this means I still get my $.48 if you steal my book. But don’t, because stealing is Wrong.)
There are exceptions. If you buy a book from a used bookstore, the author doesn’t get a cut of the resale. And electronic royalties tend to be a little higher — I get 15% for electronic copies, as opposed to 6% for printed copies. For the most part though, it doesn’t matter.
If I’m at a convention, I’ll send people to the dealer’s room. Out in the real world, there’s part of me that wants to send everyone to the chains. The buyer at Barnes & Noble can make or break a book. Doesn’t it make sense to encourage people to buy there so the chains will continue to stock my work? Maybe … if the number of people asking was large enough to make a difference in that chain’s bottom line.
Like a lot of authors, I’d rather direct my readers to local independent bookstores, particularly the SF/F stores. Places like Mysterious Galaxy, Bakka-Phoenix, Uncle Hugo’s, Dreamhaven, Schuler Books, and so on have been very good to me, and I want to repay them by steering customers their way.
Yet–and I’m going to get in trouble for this–I wonder if it really makes sense to try to push readers toward the independents. Isn’t the important thing that people buy books in whatever way they can? Large chains can get better discounts (witness the recent Walmart/Amazon price war). Amazon gives you the convenience of ordering from the comfort of your home, and with most books, you can get that 4-for-3 discount and free shipping to boot!
Like everything else, bookselling is evolving. Are independents the dinosaurs of the industry? Am I fighting the evolution of bookselling when I try to send my readers to brick and mortar stores? Will future generations look back and see me as hopelessly backwards, clinging to my horse-and-buggy while the rest of the world zooms around in motorcars?
Maybe. But no matter how convenient Amazon is, no matter how cheaply Walmart can sell books, they can’t match the sense of community you get in the SF/F indies. Walk into your average chain store and ask about the latest Elizabeth Bear, and they’ll click away on a computer and tell you what’s in stock. Walk into Mysterious Galaxy, and likely as not they’ll start chatting about the latest episode of Shadow Unit, or ask whether you’ve read A Companion to Wolves.
It’s the same reason I go to conventions. Because it’s a chance to connect with my tribe. These are the booksellers who can talk about the latest Jay Lake, the new Tobias Buckell, the next E. Sedia, and even that Jim C. Hines book that came out in October. Heck, go into Bakka-Phoenix and you’ve got a good chance of finding a pro author or two minding the store!
It’s pure nepotism. The people working in these bookstores are family. In all likelihood, if you’re reading this blog, they’re your tribe as well as mine. And that’s the real reason I’d encourage us to support them.
Jim C. Hines’ latest book is The Mermaid’s Madness, the second of his fantasy adventures that retell the old fairy tales with a Charlie’s Angels twist. He’s also the author of the humorous Goblin Quest trilogy. Jim’s short fiction has appeared in more than 40 magazines and anthologies, including Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, and Sword & Sorceress XXI. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. He’s currently hard at work on the fourth book in his fairy tale series. Online, he can be found at http://www.jimchines.com.
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