-=> Quoting Jan Murphy to Helen Fleischer <=-
 JM> Well, here's the bookseller's dilemma.
 JM> We started out as a specialty shop with mostly science fiction,
 JM> Then we started carrying more mysteries
 JM> Now what do we do with the books which are neither mystery or SF?
 JM> We face a similar problem with the romances --
 JM> readers want to read EVERYTHING their favorite writer does no matter
 JM> what category this is. 
 JM> Ideally, we'd like the fans of writer X to be able to find these books
 JM> and buy them if they tickle their fancy.  If they don't know that
 JM> writer X has written in other categories, they won't go looking in the
 JM> other section.  If we put up signs (shelf-talkers, as they are called
 JM> in the trade) directing readers to the other sections, we will have so
 JM> many shelf-talkers, they'll just become a big blur and customers won't
 JM> read them.
 JM> 
 JM> So what's a bookseller to do?
Greetings, Jan. Yours is an interesting dilema and one I sympathize with
wholly. As a customer, I often dispair at the seemingly chaotic shelving
of books where authors' works are scattered over several genres or
mistakenly placed in the wrong category. It seems that books are
arranged at the whimsy of some ill-trained clerk and that every store is
perversely different.
What to do? Sorting by category works for a while but, as you found out,
the lines between genres is blurring as publishers milk authors for
profits. This creates the current confusion that plagues both bookseller
and customer. When I am browsing the Mystery section of a store, I may
pick up a favorite author or I may be looking for Sherlock Holmes tales
by various authors. How do I find out the favored author has other work
in the bookstore, perhaps in other categories? How do I find out if an
author, unknown to me, has written a Sherlock Holmes tale that may be on
your shelf? In the olde days, I would ask the knowledgeable staff.
Today, I would just sigh and walk out the store.
What would really be useful, for me anyway, would be a computer where
the customer can search for the kind of information exampled above. This
computer would be similar to the ones set up in public libraries but
would list books stocked by the store as well as those which can be
ordered by the store. The book database should allow searches by author,
title, category, book series or even key words. I know that bookstores
have computerized inventories so staff can look up certain requests.
What I am proposing is more comprehensive. Bookstores need to make it
easier for customers to find the books they are looking for. Impulse
buying from shelf scanning is not enough in these days of shrinking
market share.
Classification of books still remains the bane of booksellers, libraries
and book collectors. Still, make the searching easier and they will come
and buy.
Regards,
 Jean
... When is human nature so weak as in the bookstore? -- H.W. Beecher
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