ellenkushner | Life's Little Annoyances

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People asking "Where can I buy your books?"

What on earth do they mean by that?

Where do we usually buy books, folks?

This is particularly annoying in the age of internet, where, even when they're self-published, the answer is always "Amazon."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ellen-kushner.livejournal.com

"I'm an author."

"Published?"

That one doesn't bother me. Seems a reasonable question - and I actually kind of enjoy getting to reply offhandedly, "Oh, sure" and supply details if asked.

The part I don't like is when they follow it up with, "Have I ever heard of you?"

That is just silly.

No, what I'm afraid I'm responding to in my post is the perceived (by me) implication that my books are weird and fringey and therefore not published by real publishers and for sale in real stores where real books are sold to normal people. Judging by most peoples' comments so far, that's just the giant chip on my old shoulder. But in my own defense I will add that I am not talking about getting this question from people (and, oh, let's say old friends who recently found me on FaceBook) who do not buy books for themselves pretty often. I find it somewhat painful to have to cheerfully drag out my, "Why heavens, you can find them in justabout any bookstore, or on the internet!" line. Some people have even asked me, "Are they in normal bookstores?"

Chip, chip, chip.

Yeah,

coppervale, I guess it could be worse. I could write comics.

From:

drcpunk.livejournal.com

Having recently picked up copies of a few of your books for holiday gifts, I can attest that they are sold in Normal Bookstores, like Borders, in the Normal Section of Science Fiction.

Twenty-first century shopping experience: I got an Instant Message on my phone from

jlighton, using his phone, from a bus, to ask, "Okay, so, with the game store Neutral Ground closing, is there anything you want as a non-denominational holiday present that you didn't already pick up from them?"

I IMed back, "Yep, Grand Tome of Adversaries for Witch Hunter, and if that's sold out, I can give you alternatives. How about you? I'm in the Borders near Penn Station."

He IMed me with a link to the web page where most of his fiction is cataloged. Quick check: Nope, doesn't have Thomas the Rhymer, doesn't have any McKillip. Right. One Rhymer, one Riddlemaster. All good. (He's read TPotS and Swordspoint.)

From:

ellen-kushner.livejournal.com

Great story!

From:

drcpunk.livejournal.com

Thanks. I also got Swordspoint and Privilege of the the Sword for the daughter of my ex-assistant (who is now running the department, which is good, except that said department now consists of, well, just her) who is now sixteen. I gave a quick run down of the possible flags to her mother.

I already knew that mother and daughter were okay with fantasy and sf about weird religious stuff, including made up religions ("Oh, that's fine -- she finds it interesting") and violence ("It's okay -- she just read the first Narnia book, and there's plenty of violence in that.") I figured TPotS wasn't a problem, as it's a coming of age story, and that seems to allow for an awful lot to slip in, but I wasn't sure about the other, so said up front that it was a gay romance.

"Oh, that's fine -- she knows about all that stuff," said her mother.

"Oh, good," I said. "I have no idea what kids today know."

"I start to explain about something and she says, 'Oh, Mommy, I already know that."

I sort of remember being 16. But, it's already blurring in my head with being 26 and 36.

From:

nancylebov.livejournal.com

It's a rude question, but speaking as a swamped reader, there's a chance that I'd recognize (or even have read) an author's books without remembering their name.