Having worked in a bookstore for well over a year, a few interesting facts about writing tend to spring up.

Large companies and many of their employees rarely care about your book.

Anyone who’s worked at a corporately run bookstore will know, that the people who run show rarely really give a crap about who the author is, or what the story is about. What they do care about, is whether or not the book sells.

There are exceptions to this rule however. Some small businesses, and many employees of these bookstores are very passionate about who their favourite author is. Personally, I get excited when I meet a customer who reads the same books as I do. Who wouldn’t? There is of course the odd CEO that makes sure all of Canada or the U.S. know which books they read and like. Yet I have a feeling this is more out habitual vanity than passion for literature. Who knows, I could be wrong.

What can we learn from this? Well, for one, if you have a well written story, word of mouth will sell it all. There’s a reason why bestsellers exist. People pass on to others that they really enjoyed Stockett’s The Help, or that their favourite book of all time is The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margret Atwood. Concentrate on writing a good story. Don’t worry about anything else.

Everyone judges a book by it’s cover.

Don’t believe me? Which of these book covers would you choose?

The image on the left is such a crime of literature. The cover says very little of what the story is about. It’s boring, and it’s using one of the worst fonts ever invented: COMIC SANS

If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, never EVER use comic sans!!! … but I digress, we’ll have more on fonts another time.

Which one of these books would you honestly choose though? To me, many local authors make the horrendous mistake of choosing poor quality over price. It may be more expensive to upgrade the quality of your work if you’re self publishing, but it’s worth it. If your book looks cheap – you look cheap. I don’t want to buy something like that, because 9 times out of 10, I’m afraid it’s going to be total crap.

Customers rarely remember boring titles or author’s names.

If your book has managed to catch the eye of a customer, sometimes they’ll wait to buy it another time. If you’re one of the authors this has happened to, I apologize. But many customers will come into our bookstore and say to me “I don’t remember what the book is called, or the authors name, I just remember it has some crayon-ish style words on the front.”

“Were you perhaps thinking of Room by Emma Donoghue?”

You have to make sure you have a damned good title that sticks into people’s minds, or catches people’s eyes. Water for Elephants, The Shining, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Phantom Tollbooth, Murder on the Orient Express – Notice a trend? These titles all have specific words that GRAB your attention, and ignite your imagination. People remember these titles for a reason. Tread carefully when choosing an appropriate title for your book or movie.

Some final words on how writers can learn from the bookstore business:

- Shopping is a visual experience. Make sure that the title of your story, or your cover art stand out above all other stories. Screenwriters submitting query letters should take this advice to heart. Long or generic titles will not grab the attention of producers.

- Local authors, and self published authors tend to ignore several important things when selling their books. At book signings, DO NOT ignore every customer that walks through your door. DO NOT publish a book cover that looks like you don’t take your art seriously. ENGAGE your readers, and talk to them about your story. People want to hear the STORY BEHIND THE STORY. Challenge your audience to a great read.

- Don’t be discouraged by authors like Nora Roberts, or James Patterson, who quite literally have teams of writers working for them. I’m sure these stories may be excellent, but no author who publishes that much work does this on their own time. Well, maybe Stephen King, but that’s because he’s a God.

- Very rarely to authors like Clive Cussler produce works of ‘great’ art. That’s just my opinion anyway. What they do have however, is some a level of success. I’m sure every household in North America has at least one Clive book collecting dust. These are cookie cutter stories kids. If these books don’t look like they all tell the same story, I don’t know what does.

It’s evident these authors and publishers are more concerned with quantity than quality. I’ve read a few Clive Cussler novels, and let me be the first to say, if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. Also, these books are always the first to go directly into our ‘bargain’ section.
Surprise, Surprise.

- A good story will sell itself. Writing is re-writing. Don’t publish something unless you’re positive it’s a great read. If you have that sinking feeling in your gut that it isn’t ready – it isn’t ready. Many writers take several years to write a masterful work. Don’t be discouraged by time. Have patience.

NEVER GIVE UP. People are hungry for a good, original story. PLEASE DELIVER.