New! Monthly Column Debbi is the owner of Mack Research and Writing, providing articles, reports, case studies, white papers and otherwise assisting businesses and organizations with communications needs. She has also done research for legal and reference publishers and attorneys. A select list of clients and writing samples are available here. Debbi is also a mystery author, whose published work includes a novel, Identity Crisis, a hardboiled mystery featuring lawyer/sleuth Stephanie Ann "Sam" McRae, and a short story in Chesapeake Crimes I, an anthology written and edited by members of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Submitted for Your Consideration December 2008 Support Your Local Bookseller As we continue to be confronted (assaulted? overwhelmed?) by news of the economy going into the tank and bailouts for big companies who shouldn’t have robbed Peter to pay Paul, but are “too important” to be allowed to fail, we need to keep our wits about us. Small to mid-sized businesses owners may need to adjust services or marketing to meet changing needs, but that just means being a bit smarter than the corporate behemoths that got us into this bind in the first place. Of course, it’s not just the big banks and car companies who are suffering these days. Booksellers and publishers are nervous, too. Recently, the American Booksellers Association issued a letter to bookstore owners, providing some guidance on how to weather what was expected to be a difficult holiday shopping season. Even Leonard Riggio, chairman of the bookselling giant Barnes & Noble, told store managers in an Oct. 29 email,“Never in all of the years I've been in business have I seen a worse outlook for the economy. And never in all my years as a bookseller have I seen a retail climate as poor as the one we are in.” And, if booksellers are scared, that means store buyers are, too. Buyers are reportedly reluctant to purchase books by literary or first-time fiction authors. Their wariness affects publisher acquisitions, which in turn affects agents, who end up becoming even more careful about who they choose to represent. This makes the already difficult process of starting and maintaining a writing career even more difficult -- especially for new or unconventional authors. Bottom line -- the economy is hurting everyone in the publishing food chain. But, on the other hand, these dire reports and expectations may be overblown. According to this article from The National, the conventional wisdom is that books are “recession-resilient." While publishing doesn’t tend to fare as well as other industries in boom times, it doesn’t languish as badly in hard ones, according to the article. Publishing doesn’t suffer the extreme highs and lows of other forms of entertainment (e.g., cinema or music). And books provide a great deal of value for the buck. For roughly the cost of a two-hour movie (if you buy a “mass market” paperback or the cost of two tickets, if you spring for a trade paperback), you can get nights of great reading. And when all else fails, publishers can count on libraries -- it’s their business to buy books. So maybe all isn’t lost, after all. Perhaps reports of the publishing industry’s death have been highly exaggerated. Of course, those reports relate to issues like the dwindling number of major publishers due to mergers and acquisitions, content digitization and Amazon’s bid to corner the market not only in retail sales, but in POD publishing, so the economy’s general malaise is just another aggravating factor among many. Besides, the publishing industry has always been dicey, making authors’ financial situations precarious as a matter of course. John Steinbeck once said, "The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid and stable business." (No pun, one presumes, intended?) And Steinbeck was writing back in the so-called “good old days,” before corporate and technological change got the publishing world wringing its collective hands and making Cassandra look like Little Mary Sunshine. As for me, I’m thinking the predictions could be wrong. Maybe booksellers have reason for hope. A lot of people put off buying holiday gifts until the last minute. Sales may be sluggish in November, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way. Besides, the article from The National said it best -- what could be a more cost-effective form of entertainment than a book? In general, books are more cost-effective than most other gift options. Gift cards from bookstores make ideal gifts, because they let the recipient choose the book. Or you can make the choice -- give a book to a friend or relative that they might never have thought to buy, thereby expanding their mind and world in unexpected ways, thanks to you. Books do so much more than entertain: they inform, persuade, move us to act, make us think. They’re not only inexpensive, but they give so much for the money. I’m not the only one who feels this way. There’s a Facebook group called Buy a Book, Save the World!, made up of people who pledge to help our flagging economy by purchasing at least one book from the bookstore of their choice. Authors are blogging about the need to buy books, and J.A. Konrath provides extra incentive to do so with his list of Top Ten Reasons Books Are Better Than Sex. So, when you’re shopping for presents this year, please consider buying a book or gift card from a bookstore. Of course, you can buy at Barnes & Noble or Borders, but don’t forget your local independent booksellers. In fact, you can find a pretty good list of independent bookstores here, organized by state. And those don’t even include the independent mystery booksellers, which you can find on this site (just click on “Find a Store” and go to the interactive map). If you just Google “independent booksellers,” you’ll come up with lots of regional or state independent bookstore associations that can help you find an indie bookseller in your area. Some of my favorites include Mystery Loves Company on the Eastern Shore, Vertigo Books in College Park, and, in DC, Politics & Prose, plus the bookstore at Busboys and Poets Restaurant. Booksellers may be hunkering down for a miserable holiday shopping season, but let’s all do our best to defy their expectations. November 2008: In Tough Times, Think Marketing 101 October 2008: First Times September 2008: A Trip to Aqaba August 2008: Little Lies (Or How Weeds and The Sopranos Are Really the Same Show) July 2008: Having the Last Word on Words June 2008: Opportunity Knocks (Even When it Knocks You Down) May 2008: Zen and the Art of Spring Cleaning April 2008: A Virtual Crowd March 2008: Four Great Reasons to Hire a Freelance Writer February 2008: Beyond the Bend January 2008: Green Thoughts December 2007: What Goes Around Comes Around November 2007: Bitten by the Bug