When I was in the habit of buying more art books, bookstores were the only good place for that – you can’t get much sense of an art book on-line.

I wonder if local indie bookstores could benefit from providing home delivery – like the local pizza parlor does. It might make people more likely to order through them if they delivered.

And I love that quote, too. All through history, we’ve seen great change. We don’t pass our stories through an oral history anymore, but I’m glad there are more people who can read books. We no longer use steam engines as we once did. But literature and travel not only survived but grew. I’ve never been one to fear change. It’s just, when you’re in the middle of change, you don’t know what it will look like on the other side, and so we are in the period of the unknown. I really do think the publishing industry will and should find ways to make and distribute books without such huge costs, and I know they’re talking about all of this right now. In the meantime, I’ll continue to write my stories and read good books.

Ann Kingman said: Is it a crisis? I don’t think I’d label it as such. This feels more like an evolution (emphasis mine). Certainly things will change, and the uncertainty makes people uneasy. It’s a personal crisis to those who have devoted their lives to the industry and find themselves out of work with few opportunities to stay in publishing. But as an industry, publishing will always exist.

And mostly, Ann, thank you for telling us your story. Do you remember that commercial about what happens to your luggage when it disappears down the conveyer belt and into some back room? And there’s this gorilla back there, jumping on the luggage and throwing all your vacation clothes and toiletries all over? I think a lot of writers fear that’s what might happen to their books when they finally get them right and then let them go to the next step in the process. And it’s really, enormously heartwarming to know there are people like you handling our books and reading them and talking about them and finding readers for us. Thanks so much for what you do and for being here.

I was also delighted to see that author Cory Doctorow has been thinking about the role of the publisher’s sales rep, as evidenced by his article in Locus that appeared in my inbox today. For those of you who want a look at it from an author and bookseller’s perspective, it’s here:
http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/03/cory-doctorow-in-praise-of-sales-force.html

Needless to say, I’m buying Cory’s book, Little Brother, tomorrow.

Thank you all, for your wonderful comments and thoughts. I’m honored to have your attention.

Ann

Can’t wait to see you when you’re in NY!