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In article 1CL@world.std.com, sandyh@world.std.com (Sandra J Hutchinson) writes: > >Your numbers are a little off. I work for one of the flagship stores in >one of the chains, and we carry no more than half the number of titles >you estimate. We also carry a lot more political science than you cite. > I appreciate your responses, Sandra. You are obviously conscientious and probably do a better job than my original post gave you credit for. If my numbers are off; they are off. My figures came from Publishers' Weekly, about a year ago-- and from the SJMercury News book section about the same time. We are still talking about very large numbers of books, coupled with a very small number of books in the category I was interested in. We are also talking about SIX stores, not just your store. We are still talking about NO books found, and NO special orders taken. You see this as an accusation on my part of some kind of plot, and I suppose I worded it that way. I was really just thinking about my own personal experience, though-- and noting a remarkable pattern I followed through six stores. * * * * * * >But while adding more books might make you happier, the odds are that the >majority would just sit there taking up room and gathering dust. >Bookstores aren't libraries; they're businesses--businesses based on >selling though the stock so many times during the year. A bookstore that >just stocks titles for the sake of carrying them goes out of business. > No. The chances are that they would sell over time. These are standard, well-known titles. I think not finding ANY of fifteen titles through SIX stores is worth remarking on. * * * * * * >I'm proud of the chain that I work for. We carry a lot of books by >smaller presses, and we back up our statement that we'll special order >anything in print. Some of your help hasn't gotten the message. * * * * * * >But we have to take into account the actual tastes of the bookbuying >public. Genre books sell well: mysteries, romance, science fiction (and >yes, we have New Gingrich's sf book--the same copy has been on the shelf >snce it came out). You have valid points to make-- but so do I. Your store is HUGE-- there is plenty of room for more than a few standard, reasonable-selling Political Science and Economics titles. But they won't sell, if you don't stock them, will they? You didn't have ANY. * * * * * * > >You didn't mention what the other thirteen books you couldn't find >were--but I'll bet that the reason for not carrying them was more >economic than censorship--which was the purported reason for your first >post. I didn't argue that you were censoring your booklist. All I did, was to say that I couldn't find any of my books through six stores, after spending around nine hours looking and asking. Your 'books that sell' argument really doesn't explain the extreme absence of these titles everywhere I looked. I will argue now, that large chains are following some kind of buying policy that systematically eliminates books that politically aware people need to read. This policy should be changed. * * * * * * * >We're not in the censor business--but we're not in the propagandizing >business either. We're in the business of meeting the greatest needs of