How Spending $25 Made My Month
A week or two ago, I got word from my publisher that Barnes & Noble had pick THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE for the 2009 installment of its “Discover Great New Writers” series. Several times a year, a panel of B&N readers convenes to (in the B&N website’s words) “[help] publishers introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, highlighting the most impressive new works published each season.” The 15-22 books the panel picks are then given the literary equivalent of a spongebath — better placement in stores, face-out display, special coverage in a B&N brochure, etc. — and are more likely to sell well as a result. Past Discover authors include literary heroes like Jeffrey Eugenedes (Middlesex), John Grogan (Marley and Me), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), David Wroblewski (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle), and Joshua Ferris (Then We Came to the End, one of the best books I read in 2008). Rob Kurson, who wrote the wonderful Shadow Divers, and who gave my book an awesome endorsement, was also a Discover pick back in 2004.
Being picked for a major industry award is exciting news, of course, but it’s made even more exciting by this story. About a month ago, before Christmas, I was doing some gift-shopping at my local Barnes & Noble in Ohio when, at the check-out counter, the cashier told me that my B&N membership had expired. It’s not a cheap membership ($25 a year or so), and in 2008, I didn’t buy nearly enough books to make the discounts worth it. So I told the guy that no, I would not be renewing for 2009. He nodded, rung me up, and I was almost out of the store when I felt a pang of conscience. I should really support the book industry, I thought. And my book comes out next year, too. Just in case there is such a thing as universal karma, I might want to be on Barnes & Noble’s cosmic good side.
So I turned around, went back to the counter, and renewed my membership.
I’m convinced it made the difference.
