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Publishers Weekly‘s Judith Rosen had the story last week and now the Boston Globe‘s Stephanie Siek follows suit with the story of 24 year old bookseller Alex Green and his quest to sell out the entire print run of Jon Papernick‘s upcoming novel, WHO BY FIRE, WHO BY BLOOD. Why the urgency? Because the novel, which follows Papernick’s short story collection THE ASCENT OF ELI ISRAEL, is slated for publication by Canadian-based Exile Books – no American publisher wanted the book. Exile, being a small press, can only do so much promotion to make a profit and so Green, proprietor of Back Pages Books, has taken it upon himself to sell out the entire 1,000 copy print run of the book.
“If I can prove to a publisher that a 1,000-square-foot bookstore in a suburb of Boston can presell an entire print run before it’s released, then maybe American publishers will take a second look,” said Green of what he terms the 1001 Book Project. “Maybe they look at it and say that maybe if 1,000 people want [a book] from this small bookstore, then maybe thousands of people across the country will buy it.” Since May 21, Back Pages has presold more than 230 copies, with another hundred or so sold in Canada. Green said he’s heard from readers as far away as Washington, D.C. The project lasts until the book arrives on the store’s shelves in late September. “We’ve got absolutely nothing to lose,” said Green – and Papernick might gain an American publisher from the effort.