R.I.P. Borders

I went to pick over the carcass in Concord, NH this past weekend. Borders is now filled with just the ghosts of books. I carved out a little piece of the YA section to carry away, since most of what remained was 75% off. Some of my purchases will be given away here in the next few weeks.

They still had a few copies of Minder and Adversary in-stock. Yeah, of course I bought them! But it was the first time I'd ever seen my work on the bargain shelf, and that wasn't a good feeling. At least I was in good company with Richelle Mead; they had a ton of Last Sacrifice copies still in-stock.

In any case, there are still millions of readers in the country and the world. But the places we buy our books have changed, and while we may sigh and wallow in wistfulness over past practices, we need to embrace the new reality and make it work for us.

Adios, Borders

It's official--Borders is liquidating, and the book industry is reeling. People in publishing are saying things like, "Now print runs will be smaller, since the publishers will only be selling to one big chain, instead of two."

Huh?

Just because Borders is closing doesn't mean people will stop buying books. The number of readers and the number of books they read isn't changing. Where they can buy them is. So all this is just kinda like the hysteria that the 24-hour news networks drum up to keep people watching and sell ad time.

If you're an author, one thing that WILL affect you is that, as these final stores close, Borders will be returning the books it hasn't sold. And those returns will show up in the minus column of your royalty statements. But once these are in the system, it's over. People will still buy books; they will just get them from Barnes & Noble, or from Amazon, or from their local indie bookstore.

But hey, if you need some bookshelves--or possibly some oversized, red letters--I bet you can get some cheap.

Where's My Copy?

I've been obsessively tracking my copy of Mockingjay as it makes its way here to rural New Hampshire.  Given the themes of the Hunger Games series, I'm aware of the irony of using technology to track a low-tech item like a book. 

Tough--now I know it's here in town.  It should arrive in my mailbox this morning. 

I'll have to physically put it down to drive, I think, but it's going to be tough. However, I've got a good reason: I have my Adversary book event at Borders in Concord (on Fort Eddy Rd.--exit 14 off Rt. 93) at 7:30 tonight.  If you're in Southern New Hampshire, please stop by.  Mention that you read the Disgruntled Bear and I'll give you extra chocolate or something. 

Did I mention there will be chocolate?  Books and chocolate.

And last night, Ganzfield and Hunger Games fused in my dreams, *tiny spoiler* centering around the term "avox."

Link-O-Rama (Part 2)

Hi folks,

Thanks for the good wishes--I'm feeling better today (it must have been one of those 24-hour leprosies). I've got a few links for you today, including another review for Minder that compares me to a cyborg...um, in a good way.

I also have two new book events to report: Pi-Con in Enfield CT (August 20-22) and Borders in Concord, NH (August 25th).

I love how international everything is--Minder is now available in Kenya.

Finally, I've got two links that made me laugh out loud:
Zombies (thanks to a friend-of-a-friend on Facebook) and Tough Love (via You Suck at Craigslist).