Paul Wilkinson, a Christian bookseller in Belleville, has a great new blog called Christian Book Shop Talk, giving the rest of us – writers, publishers, and customers – a window into the challenges the bookseller faces these days. A good bookmark for authors and publishers.
In one post, “Telling a supplier to get lost”, Wilkinson confesses,
I never liked having a seasonal card department in the first place. Waaaaaaay too much work for too little return. I’ve decided that the way our industry is going, they need every retailer they can get, so none of us has to take any crap anymore. This is a new day, and the big accounts no longer dictate the terms, because the big accounts are all toast. Guess what medium or small retailer? You’re in charge now.
And here he offers some very illuminating stats about where customers are buying books these days.
Hats off to Paul Wilkinson for keeping us up to date on key industry partners – booksellers!
- Denyse O’Leary
