Barry Eisler, who’s currently on tour to promote his latest John Rain thriller THE LAST ASSASSIN, engaged in a most unusual email exchange with “G”, the son (and corporate counsel) for an independent bookstore in the midwest. We’ll talk more about “G” in a second, but the exchange began after Eisler had a formal signing at the store and then had to get going to sign stock at the town’s B&N – a move that so pissed off the bookseller that he fired off an angry email about the move, going so far as to tell Eisler that “as your agency training would put it, know who you’re talking to. Fortunately, we’re in the Midwest so we can laugh it off. If we were in Japan, I’d have killed you to avenge the family honor. Really, truly.”
Eisler responded, saying that G “must have misunderstood me when we were talking about B&N” and that he wouldn’t apologize for signing stock at chains as they are “important distributors in my business, and I can’t make a living selling through independents alone (nor would I have been able to build my business as I have without the backing of independents).”
I’d quote more, but really, read the whole thing, if only for the amazing display of tactlessness by G – who is really Geoffrey Jennings, the son of Rainy Day Books‘ owner Vivien Jennings. There’s no question that independents are crucial in building an author’s audience – especially in the early years – but by sticking to the “exclusive club” sentiment, it really does no one any good, and perpetuates the myth that independent bookshops have little to no long-range planning or long views about the industry.