Dear Lit Loves,
Oh Lord, my literary loves, the end may be nigh! I read today on the Publishers Weekly Web site that SIBA's or The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance's executive director wants to boost profit margins for independent southern bookstores by investing in a non-book product that will sell often and well. And the examples of potential non-book products listed included notebooks, coffee mugs, and chocolates. Say Whhaaattt?!!
After picking my jaw up off the floor, getting a tension migraine from the sheer ridiculousness of this idea, and additionally becoming steaming mad, I decided to write this blog post. Now, I AM NOT a marketing specialist and I do take pride in saying that I did not major in marketing, but let me just say it does not take a rocket scientist to determine that what is needed here is not a non-book product; what is needed here is an entity that gets behind and supports a fledgling, struggling, southern writer with a good yarn to spin who needs a literary agent and a book deal. Seriously folks, new blood is needed within the ranks of southern writers. AND HELLO! I HAPPEN TO BE ONE OF THOSE FLEDGLING, STRUGGLING SOUTHERN WRITERS who gives a damn about writing a book that is informative, entertaining, and is geared toward a female audience because let us all acknowledge this one truthful, research-backed statement: the vast majority of individuals who buy the most books are WOMEN LIKE MYSELF.
Once again, I am an education major and not a marketing specialist (Hallelujahs are presently emanating from my tech guru husband who equates most marketing folks with scum) . I am not a social media brand or expert and I am DAMN proud of it. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. do not appeal to me. I think those mediums are a way of spreading useless, pompous, and self-aggrandizing information. I am a Generation Xer. We do not flinch when our cell phones suddenly freeze and stop working. No baby, I rejoice when my phone is off because frankly, texting and emailing are no way to attain or sustain any remote quality of interpersonal behavior or skills. I mean when my cousin recently informed me that he sleeps with his phone, I was overcome with horror and chills. The first thought that came to my mind was, "Have you lost your friggin' mind, dude?! Get WOKE and get a life outside your cell phone." Generation Xers like myself, we can handle the truth and we know how to live well and happily without cell phones or any form of social media. I get tickled pink and start singing Bon Jovi songs when I remember how much I enjoyed and embraced life before the era of social media! Long Live The Anti-Social Media Revolutionaries!!
Now SIBA executive director, Wanda Jewell: Here is a well-known fact especially among my peers. Me and my well-read female peers, sisters, and goddesses are annoyed as hell when we walk into a Barnes and Noble and see all these non-book products like toys, hand soaps, quilts, puzzles, board games, etc. etc. We go to a bookseller for, wait for it, BOOKS by our favorite authors and some new authors we have yet to discover. So my opinion is this: why not give a helping hand to a struggling SOUTHERN writer who truly wants to be published and has a strong book proposal and completed manuscript that both booksellers, publishers, and the struggling SOUTHERN writer can get behind and potentially witness copies fly out of SIBA doors?!! Wow! There's a winning idea!
Best,
Grace
(Amy)
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