Well, This is Embarrassing
June 23, 2010
A case study in book etiquette:
So there I am, walking out of the library, and I run into an old friend. That’s nice, you say. It would be, if not for the fact that I had, under my arm, a copy of this friend’s latest travel memoir. And here’s where many of you might wonder: What is the problem?
People unaware of how publishing works may not realize it, but being caught this way is not a good thing—because the question on the mind of the author of said memoir will certainly be: Why didn’t she buy my book?
Possible answers are that even though I have plans to buy it, I saw the book on the library shelf and couldn’t resist it, or that I have already bought it and this copy is for my sick mother-in-law. On this occasion, I chose the former, and my writer friend pretended to believe me.
Only slightly less embarrassing is being caught by the remainder table—a.k.a. Bargain Bin—of your favorite bookstore, with a book authored by your old friend (perhaps now it would be more appropriate to say “ex-friend”). Yes, it’s true that in this situation you are intending to actually buy the book, but the fact is, this book was once $30 and is currently selling for $1.95 because the publisher dumped it. And this is something that you and your writer-friend don’t want to acknowledge. And how’re the kids? you ask her, chastising yourself because you should have bought the damn book when it was selling for full price, so that your now-ex-friend could collect the royalties on it. (Just so you know, she likely isn’t making a dime off that $1.95.)
I do buy books written by my closest friends, unless those books are ones I know I’ll never read. (I’m not interested in underwater hockey. I’m just not.)
Here’s the thing. If you know a lot of writers, you have a lot of books to buy, but being a writer yourself—especially one like me who earns income mainly from magazine articles and teaching—you don’t have much discretionary income. And what you have, you might prefer to spend on the latest novel by Margaret Atwood, whom you have never met.
Other than book-shopping/library borrowing early on Sunday when none of my friends, ex- or current, are likely to be awake, I don’t really have a tactful solution to this problem. Do you?
