What is it with Dan Simmons? One of his books, I can't recall which, used to reside on the bottom shelf of a bookcase outside, its bulk adding weight along with others to help anchor the five separate shelves, along with the hook that links it to the wall, of course, although that in itself isn't enough because once, apparently, they all tumbled, nearly killing a child, so we now add a double pack (bound in tape) of kitchen roll behind it to create the necessary tension to said metal hook and arm (are you following this?).
Anyway, there sat one of Dan's blockbusting three-inch thick sci-fi epics, gathering dust and dirt along with the other poor authors relegated to the bottom shelf, which is the worst position regarding being sold. As you can probably guess, books on high or low shelves are only ever touched by the most dedicated of searchers, those possessing a rare set of eyes, namely those which will scan not only the two or three shelves immediately in front of them from a head maintained in the level position but swivel upwards and downwards (aided by a change of head position, naturally) to survey remote book spines.
I sometimes make a point of promoting books that have languished too long beyond the visual limits of most, not because I feel sorry for them (although it's tempting to anthropomorphize) but in an effort to sell. So I raise them up to an eye level shelf. This means having to banish one to the lower depths of Never Sell Land, but it can't be helped.
I suspect that books squashed up against either the left or right hand side of a shelf don't sell so well either, but I've no real proof and something has to be there. Only yesterday I felt sorry for Tennessee Williams, down there in the bottom right hand corner of the Plays section. Such a great writer doesn't deserve that fate, but what can I do about it? What could he do about his name? If he'd thought enough about it, though, with a view to improving his position on bookshop shelves, he would have changed his name to Tennessee Carter. That way he'd have a good chance of being in the treasured eye-level position. The only thing preventing it would be a huge bookshop, so big that the 'C' alone filled several shelves and the 'r' after 'a' demoted him to a lower position. 'Caarter' would be better in that respect, supposing the employee is dedicated enough to precisely order, alphabetically, every book.
But what about Dan Simmons? On Tuesday a woman asked his we had his Hyperion. We didn't. OK, that's not so strange, just because he's never been requested in my short time as a bookseller. But the next day, a man walked in asking for 'any Dan Simmons'. I mean, what are the chances? More importantly, why? Mistakenly, I admit, I start to think there must be a reason why a previously unrequested author gets requested two days in a row. They appeared on TV (there are no books shows on mainstream TV, are there?). Radio? He died? It's another bookshop mystery which will remained unsolved.
On the subject of requests, guess what a girl (slightly older than the last one) asked for on Tuesday? Yes, Lolita! I couldn't help asking in a jovial manner as she stood there with two friends: "Is that book trending, or something?" Oh how they laughed. All she said by way of an answer was that a friend told her it was 'amazing'. Hmm...I'm not sure these kids are getting the full picture of Nabokov's perverse masterpiece. Should I ever announce the arrival of a copy there will be a rush, just as there was when the librarian in The Missing Page (Hancock’s Half Hour) announced its return.
Black Gull Books, 70 Camden Lock Pl, London NW1 8AF (I'm there Tues, Weds & Thurs)
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