Help a Bookstore!

[Hatton]

My mother-in-law owns a used book store and has asked me what authors she should look for at sales to stock her Sci-Fi and Fantasy shelves.  I've got my list of partials but I wanted to ask a community of readers what they thought.

Right now she has a single shelf for Sci-Fi/Fantasy.  It's full now, includes some of the "main titles" for the genre.

Bear in mind that we're in a small town in Western New York - we get about three or four months where tourists pass through to see the Falls and boaters dock for a night or three.  I don't know what kind of impact that has on the style or kind of books to get but it does bear mentioning.

For myself, I'm partial to the series... Honor Harrington by David Weber, Bolo by Keith Laumer, Hammer's Slammers by David Drake.  I just finished Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon and have asked them to order the series for me.  It drives me batty to find a book that looks good but is book 3/8... I hunt for book 1 so I don't get my head on backwards.

So, if you were to stock one or two shelves of a bookstore with your favorite authors, both Science Fiction and Fantasy... maybe even Horror... who whould you pick?

[shwankie]

Just for the sake of commiseration, I *love* the Moon series, too!

I am recommending some of these not because they're the best authors I've ever read (some are great, others just alright), but because they tend to be entertaining reads for a mid-summer vacation. Given the potential demographics (vacationers), carrying some "lighter" reads mixed in with the meatier stuff might work well.

Authors I would look for (IMHO): Heinlein, Robin McKinley (fantasy), O.S. Card, Melanie Rawn, Terry Pratchett, LeGuin, A. C. Clarke.

There are more--the genres are huge--but this is my stab at a start for you.

[Heradel]

Pratchett's probably the best summer read. I'd stock Sandman and some of Gaiman's other works too. The Star Wars X-Wing series is good, and good for the teenager/late pre-teen stuck on the family vacation trying to find something to read.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

As serieses go, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books stand alone pretty well, for the most part.  And they're quick, fun reads (not to mention recently re-released in several omnibus editions).

I always gravitate toward anthologies when I'm at loose ends, reading wise; you probably can't go wrong with a few "Year's Best SF" titles.  (But that's probably a given, if one is ordering for a book store.)

And I'd highly recommend carrying some audio sci-fi, too.  Have you heard of this "Escape Pod" podcast thingy that's out there on iTunes...? 

[Windup]

My mother-in-law owns a used book store and has asked me what authors she should look for at sales to stock her Sci-Fi and Fantasy shelves.  I've got my list of partials but I wanted to ask a community of readers what they thought.

Right now she has a single shelf for Sci-Fi/Fantasy.  It's full now, includes some of the "main titles" for the genre.

Bear in mind that we're in a small town in Western New York - we get about three or four months where tourists pass through to see the Falls and boaters dock for a night or three.  I don't know what kind of impact that has on the style or kind of books to get but it does bear mentioning.

For myself, I'm partial to the series... Honor Harrington by David Weber, Bolo by Keith Laumer, Hammer's Slammers by David Drake.  I just finished Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon and have asked them to order the series for me.  It drives me batty to find a book that looks good but is book 3/8... I hunt for book 1 so I don't get my head on backwards.

So, if you were to stock one or two shelves of a bookstore with your favorite authors, both Science Fiction and Fantasy... maybe even Horror... who whould you pick?

Hmmmm... for that situation, I'd stay away from series.  You don't know if a visitor has started a series, and they may not want to commit to one. 

I'd go for some well-known stuff -- titles people might recognize but haven't read.  Classic Heinlein (Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress).  Throw in Asimov's Foundation series as a one-volume (I think I've seen it that way), and Asimov's I, Robot short story collection.  Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, also as a one-volume (I own that, so I'm sure it exists in that format).  And also William Gibson's Neuromancer, and the Gibson & Sterling collaboration The Difference Engine. 

Also some Star Trek novels.  They tie to the series, but aren't necessarily connected to each other.  And they tend to be light, quick reads.

[stePH]

Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, also as a one-volume (I own that, so I'm sure it exists in that format).   

I own it too.  It's the first volume in a series of five (or ten if you like). 

[Hatton]

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Regarding audio, I'm not sure if she'd have space for it unless she sold CD's.... but I couldn't do that with EscapePod because of the licensing that is used.

[Alasdair5000]

My mother-in-law owns a used book store and has asked me what authors she should look for at sales to stock her Sci-Fi and Fantasy shelves.  I've got my list of partials but I wanted to ask a community of readers what they thought.

Right now she has a single shelf for Sci-Fi/Fantasy.  It's full now, includes some of the "main titles" for the genre.

Bear in mind that we're in a small town in Western New York - we get about three or four months where tourists pass through to see the Falls and boaters dock for a night or three.  I don't know what kind of impact that has on the style or kind of books to get but it does bear mentioning.

For myself, I'm partial to the series... Honor Harrington by David Weber, Bolo by Keith Laumer, Hammer's Slammers by David Drake.  I just finished Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon and have asked them to order the series for me.  It drives me batty to find a book that looks good but is book 3/8... I hunt for book 1 so I don't get my head on backwards.

So, if you were to stock one or two shelves of a bookstore with your favorite authors, both Science Fiction and Fantasy... maybe even Horror... who whould you pick?

Science Fiction
Allen Steele's Books.  Specifically the 'Near Space' loose series because they're very, very hard science fiction completely driven by character. 
-Orbital Decay-Orbital construction jocks uncover something very nasty in an NSA module on the ISS.
-Clarke County, Space-The first functional O'Neill colony falls victim to a series ofmurders and only the sherriff, along with his spirit guide, has a hope of saving them.
-Lunar Decay-Magnificent novel about the moon declaring independence.
-Labyrinth of Night-One of the best something wibbly and alien on Mars novels ever.

Also highly recommend Coyote, Coyote RIsing, Coyote Frontier and Spindrift, a very, very bleak series about the first human colony and his two short story anthologies.

-The short stories of Arthur C Clarke.
-The short stories of Ray Bradbury.
-The Time Traveller's Wife-Which I'm reading at the moment and is peeling the back o my damn head off.
-Starship Troopers-There's hitting and gigantic bugs and most people have seen the movie.  It's huge fun and crucially, it's not in Heinlein's completely bloody loopy phase.
-The entire John Wyndham back catalogue.  Because there's very little, for me, more fun than quiet, English apocalypses.
-The Hitch-Hiker's Guide series.  Total crossover appeal.
-Jumper by Stephen Gould-Excellent and again crossover YA novel.

FANTASY
-Looking for Jake by China Mieville-Totally, UTTERLY superb collection of stories.
-Anything by Phillip Pullman.  The Sally Lockhart novels are good Young Adults and the Dark Materials series have major crossover appeal even months after the movie.
-The Lies of Locke Lamora-Have heard nothing but good about this from people I trust.

[Troo]

Just remember the trouble with Pratchett in an American store: He was once described by an American buyer as "Oh, he's that guy that's like Craig Shaw Gardner, only less funny, right?"

So while we in the UK may heartily reccommend him, he might not go down well with the shop's customers.

The shop's clearly not in a large SF/F community, otherwise more space would be devoted to it on the shelves. Is there an SF/F group in the area? Or schools with SF/F societies? Perhaps some canvassing of the local area can be done to ask what the store's customers would like to see, or what they often order long-distance because she doesn't stock it?

For casual shoppers I'd certainly reccommend movie tie-ins or books from which movies have been adapted. They have nice, presentable covers and can make good display facings to draw customers toward that corner of the shop.

[Hatton]

The shop's clearly not in a large SF/F community, otherwise more space would be devoted to it on the shelves. Is there an SF/F group in the area? Or schools with SF/F societies? Perhaps some canvassing of the local area can be done to ask what the store's customers would like to see, or what they often order long-distance because she doesn't stock it?

I would not make that assumption - the shop is mainly romance and general fiction because that's what the owners (my mother-in-law and her sister) and their family reads.  It's also a very small store - no more than 300 square feet.  There's room to expand but that takes time and sales.

I'll make the suggestion of doing some more canvassing to help identify local tastes to them as well.  Maybe have a conversation with the public and school librarians to see what is in demand from there.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Just remember the trouble with Pratchett in an American store: He was once described by an American buyer as "Oh, he's that guy that's like Craig Shaw Gardner, only less funny, right?"

So while we in the UK may heartily reccommend him, he might not go down well with the shop's customers.

Pratchett is actually pretty widely known and beloved here -  at least, he's been on the public library shelves and on the lips of every sci-fi fan I've run across in CA, AZ, TX, MD, and VA.

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Regarding audio, I'm not sure if she'd have space for it unless she sold CD's.... but I couldn't do that with EscapePod because of the licensing that is used.

Dang... I didn't think of that.  Still... you could give them away to your favorite customers! 

[Heradel]

Just remember the trouble with Pratchett in an American store: He was once described by an American buyer as "Oh, he's that guy that's like Craig Shaw Gardner, only less funny, right?"

So while we in the UK may heartily reccommend him, he might not go down well with the shop's customers.

Pratchett is actually pretty widely known and beloved here -  at least, he's been on the public library shelves and on the lips of every sci-fi fan I've run across in CA, AZ, TX, MD, and VA.

Add NY/CT/MA to that. He took a bit longer to be popular here than there, but he is now.

[Windup]

Regarding audio, I'm not sure if she'd have space for it unless she sold CD's.... but I couldn't do that with EscapePod because of the licensing that is used.

I wonder if Steve would cut you a discount on bulk purchase of Escape Pod Classic CD's and allow you to sell them for "list" price.  Steve's call of course, but it's a thought...

[CGFxColONeill]

ok so my 2 cents on this ( with the understanding that I have not read as much SF as most of the ppl that have posted before me)

gotta have at least the 1st 3 books in the hitchhikers trilogy ( the last 2 are take them or leave them)
I have read a couple books by Ben Bova the best being The Dueling Machine which one of the best summer reads ever

Asimovs Foundation series ( at least the first few)
Asimovs Robot series is not to bad but the foundation stuff was better IMHO

I listened to one of H Beam Pipers short stories from Librovox and liked it so much that I got all the rest of his I could find on there.  I am sure you could find some anthologies of his that would be worth reading

Authors this is a list of " SF authors" some of them are SF and some are not ie I consider C S Lewis to be more Fantasy than Science but ya
every one of them that I have read (somewhere about 1/2 maybe a little over) has good stuff

Card has some really good stuff out Empire was excellent as were some of the Enders Game series

then there are the classics like Jules Verne etc

any how that is all I think of atm
hope you can find some good stuff

[Heradel]

<snip>
Card has some really good stuff out Empire was excellent as were some of the Enders Game series
<snip>

No, it wasn't.

[CGFxColONeill]

<snip>
Card has some really good stuff out Empire was excellent as were some of the Enders Game series
<snip>

No, it wasn't.

I thought it was excellent but then again I was not reading it as a heavy critic but just as something to enjoy
that is the beauty of personal opinion, not everyone has the same one
yes it has flaws but every story has them and I think that it was good enough to look past them

[Heradel]

No, it wasn't.

I thought it was excellent but then again I was not reading it as a heavy critic but just as something to enjoy
that is the beauty of personal opinion, not everyone has the same one
yes it has flaws but every story has them and I think that it was good enough to look past them

I was reading it for fun, it just provoked that reaction in me. It was decent as a pulp thriller I guess, but I expect more from him. It felt like he was prostituting his talent. Or wasn't, and had lost it.

[qwints]

Card has some really good stuff out Empire was excellent as were some of the Enders Game series

Ender's Game is a s.f. classic, probably one of my top 10. Some of his other stuff is pretty good, but my problem with this statement is it fails to recognize the true greatness of one work.

I'd throw in a couple Phillip K. Dick short stories or novels. Trippy stuff but the movies based on his works might encourage buyers.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Has anyone else seen that subject line and thought it would make a good title for a really bad B movie?

"Run!!  It'll eat us all!!"

"Stay away from it's sci-fi section... it's all Warhammer!"

"Aiiiieee!"

[CGFxColONeill]

Has anyone else seen that subject line and thought it would make a good title for a really bad B movie?

"Run!!  It'll eat us all!!"

"Stay away from it's sci-fi section... it's all Warhammer!"

"Aiiiieee!"

now that you mention it that would be a very bad b movie

[Troo]

I would not make that assumption - the shop is mainly romance and general fiction because that's what the owners (my mother-in-law and her sister) and their family reads.  It's also a very small store - no more than 300 square feet.  There's room to expand but that takes time and sales.

Doh! Running a business as a hobby is never a good idea.

[Hatton]

Has anyone else seen that subject line and thought it would make a good title for a really bad B movie?

"Run!!  It'll eat us all!!"

"Stay away from it's sci-fi section... it's all Warhammer!"

"Aiiiieee!"

now that you mention it that would be a very bad b movie

I thought that was the premise of Night at the Museum only in the History section.

[Hatton]

Just to update this thread, and thank EVERYONE for their suggestions.

I managed to get them to increase their space for Fantasy / SciFi... it's up from one bookshelf to 6!  On top of the authors suggested, they've bought a lot of serials, like the Star Wars, Star Trek and also picked up the Dragon Lance and Greyhawk Adventures series.

I've broached the idea of the PodDisc CD with them.  They're willing to put a couple on the counter and see how they sell.  Now I just need to broach the idea with Steve

The results - they've experienced a boost in book sales overall.  Seems that couples and families are coming in, each of them picking out a book.  They have a selection of children's books as well, but those are given away with a purchase.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions!  If you're ever through Niagara Falls (US side) drop me a yodel (my contact info is on my profile), I'll tell you how to find the store.

[corporatewhore]

Boaters you say...?

You might want to just try marketing ideas over authors. 20,000 leagues, that sort of stuff (except just about anything ocean related you can get, oh and Dune).

Make up some signs "Get your monster stories here" market it as light reading for people who might be spending a night or two out on the sea. Like their own personal scary movie.

[Troo]

That's brilliant news, hatton!

Next up, get a few independent publisher's books in there. Humdrumming, Pendragon Press, PS Publishing, Screaming Dreams... Just slip 'em on the shelves like yer regular books and see how they go!