Jeri Smith-Ready

Treasure hunt! Finding SHADE at real-life bookstores

I can't begin to describe how nice it is to see all the pictures people have sent me of Shade on the shelves of their local stores. I even got a pic from a Twitter pal who said they were selling it at the Albertson's (supermarket) where she works (click for larger size):


It's especially nice because usually when one of my books comes out, I get a flood of, "WHY CAN'T I CAN'T FIND YOUR BOOK IN MY LOCAL STORE?!! R U A REAL AUTHOR OR NOT??!" messages.

(Okay, they don't actually accuse me of not being a real author, but that's the subtext my paranoid mind hears: "It's not in my store" = "Ur a loser.")

BUT there is a chance that if you go into your local bookstore, you might have a bit of difficulty finding Shade.

Not because it's not there. A quick inventory on Borders.com and BN.com shows that almost every store has it in stock.

But it might not be where you think it is. It might not even be where the "helpful" kiosk computer says it is. Because it's a new book, it could be in places that are designed to catch the eye of browsers, but not necessarily people who are actually seeking it.

For instance, I went to the Madison Square Garden Borders on release day and looked it up on the computer. It said Shade was in stock and shelved with Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror.

Giddy, I trotted over to that section and found no Shades. My heart sank.

Finally I asked one of the helpful sales associates, who took me to the New in Teens table. Voila! Right on the edge for easy access. (I autographed them all, but forgot to take another picture with the "Signed Copy" stickers, so you'll have to take my word for it.)

EDITED TO ADD: The ever-awesome Leah Cypess (whom I interviewed here two weeks ago for her release of Mistwood) was in the same bookstore yesterday and took this shot, of my autographed Shades on the Summer Reading table. It's part of Borders' Double Dog Dare deal, where if kids read 10 books, they get one free.



I got on the train, giddy once again. When I got home, a family member sent me a picture of Shade on the endcap of her local Barnes & Noble:

Yay! So on Friday, when I went to another bookstore to sign stock (having checked the online inventory to make sure they had it), I looked everywhere--tables, endcaps, shelves.

Nothing. My giddy was gone.

I asked the helpful information desk dude, who looked it up and said that it was supposed to be on an endcap. Alas, we discovered that the copies were still in a box in the back stockroom. Due to understaffing, they hadn't had time to put all of last week's books out yet. So I signed them and he put them on--well, he couldn't find the "Autographed Copy" stickers, so for all I know they're still sitting at the info desk.

See where I'm going with this? Shade is in stores, so if you can't find it, PLEASE ASK. Not only will you be more likely to get your copy, you'll raise awareness of Shade with booksellers. And I will love you.

Labels: bookstores, SHADE series

• posted by Jeri @ 8:23 PM
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