I'm back in the book biz, sorta, kinda... helping my local bookstore purchase books from university presses.

I used to be good at this -- I was the bookstore's principal "book buyer" from 1980 through the fall of 2006, and we stayed in business all that time. Amazon, Barnes & Borders were expanding everywhere, while literacy slowly gave way to... well, to post-literate things such as chat, messaging, video games, all that.

Back in the day I skimmed publisher catalogs like kids eat ice cream -- fast and skillfully. I prided myself on finding the one book (on page 157, left side, down at the bottom) that would turn out to be a true discovery.

I loved it when the sales rep had the same book in mind and turned to the same page. I already had marked page 157 with a big red circle. It made me feel I was doing something right.

With less pressure and more time I find myself reading, actually reading, all the florid catalog copy. No full-time booksellers have that kind of time. They might want to read everything, but they have to skim, so they skim.

Today I read the spring/summer offerings of Harvard, Yale, and MIT, a daunting trio of high-end university presses, sold to us by a very smart sales representative who knows her books and authors.

The publishing arms of universities always are subsidized to some degree, so the books these presses publish need not sell in large quantities, nor must they appeal to a wide audience. Thus The Allure of Machinic Life or Midbrain Mutiny: The Picoeconomics and Neuroeconomics of Disordered Gambling. Still, some titles will sell to discerning readers with diverse tastes and interests.

In April Yale University will publish The Hamburger: A History by Josh Ozersky. "This is the story of their sizzle and their symbolism, where they came from and how they conquered the world."

Why didn't a bigger publisher take on such a juicy subject? The sales person will tell me either (A) the book is too scholarly to sell many copies, or (B) the commercial publishers will be sorry when it sells a bunch. We'll see. A or B.

Other interesting titles include The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. "It was neither a random event nor the act of a lone gunman -- (it) was an appalling and grisly conspiracy. This is the unvarnished story..."

Buckminster Fuller, Starting with the Universe is "the first comprehensive survey devoted to the fascinating career of (this) American visionary..."

I'm quoting from the sales pitch. The books are written by experts, but impecunious graduate students and green editors write the catalog copy. On such prose are serious decisions based. It's a dangerous game when your store is on the line.

Once in a while you find a gorgeous book way underpriced for its apparent quality. In the same way, graduate students seek funds to study rainforest botanics, books also may receive funds to pay for publication.

Overriding all of this, however, is a truism of modern bookselling: If not for university presses and small, independent presses in general, many valuable books would never be published. That simple fact makes the searching worthwhile.

Aired Sunday February 10, 2008 at 10:55 am and Wednesday February 13, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Notes:

Then there are the books I circle with a "reading copy request" while intending to buy zero copies for the bookstore. Most sales reps are delighted to forward these books in the hope I'll change my mind, or write them up (I often do) or otherwise make use of them. Based only on the desire to see, touch and hold interesting books, I have accumulated an embarrassingly large library of books on Italian cooking, playing the electric bass, understanding my camera, using software, as well as novels set during wartime in exotic historic locales.

But the best thing is when the sales person not only takes this buyer to lunch (dessert? another glass of wine?) but actually opens her car's trunk to display several cartons of reading copies. Take what you want. Try this one. Take that one for your staff. Is that all you want? I need to get rid of these.

I miss all that.

Who knew there still is enough money in bookselling to buy lunches and offer free books?

But it's all over now. There goes the expense account.

|  Words on Books Index  |  Home | Bookwinkles | Favorite Books | Local Books | Tony's Writings | Order Online | Email Us!  | Check out the programming on KZYX, Mendocino county's own public radio station.

Copyright © 2008. All materials posted here are copyright protected. Please do not copy or distribute without contacting Tony Miksak for written permission.