Authors: Renewing the Bookstore Experience

Published authors bring baggage to the bookstore, not all of it good. That’s what Ploughshares seemed to be reminding authors in a recent piece: “How to Shop at a Bookstore: An Easy 20-Step Guide for Authors.”

Number one, when you first open the door:

1) First, smell it. Look at the new arrivals, lined up like candy. See if, for just one second, you can remember what it was like to walk into a bookstore as a reader. Just a reader, a happy, curious reader. With no agenda, no insecurities, no history of bookstores as scenes of personal failure and triumph. Wish for a time machine.

The second applies to everyone: not just authors, but all sorts of readers and everyone who loves books:

2) Nervously check how the store seems to be doing. Are the lights still on? Do the employees look well-fed? Thank God. The world isn’t over yet.

The balance are just as smart and on target, and are all right here.