This morning, I had a conversation with a publisher, and of course the big questions are, "where would a book, Wisdom of the Hands, fit on the shelf? Which of the store buyers would be lured to buy it? and what would it's library, Dewey Decimal classification be?" Darn. The book doesn't nestle into any simple or direct categories. It fits so many. Self-improvement, education, psychology, philosophy, science and of course crafts.
The hands literally touch and have shaped every aspect of human physical, emotional and cultural reality.
So then the challenge becomes to determine which category it fits best, determining if there is enough of an audience that it can be published, and then hoping that there is crossover... That those who will most benefit from reading the book will find their way to it on the shelves.
Anyway, great minds with greater experience than my own are looking at things and help is on the way.
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And therein lies the problem brick & mortar bookstores or even some virtual bookstores, face in doing business. Dewey? Library of Congress? ISBN? We're still working in a card catalog set of mind. Even the modern library electronic catalogs have a base in the old system.
ReplyDeleteAmazon has done well because they ditched the standards and went for 'search' as a primary means of discovery. Books are... books.
When I apply for an ISBN, I am usually stumped by how to answer the questions. And I've worked in libraries for over 10 years. Forget the shelves, Barnes & Nobles or you'll never survive tilting at Amazon.