Vonnegut’s new book, Man Without a Country, was briefly in the Top 10 bestsellers on Amazon and is still selling at a more than respectable #57 as of this writing. I’ve been to Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million and Borders and none of them are carrying it (they weren’t just out, they aren’t carrying it, though it’s available through their websites). I can order it online of course, but I wanted it “in my hands”.
Out of curiosity, does anybody know why bookstores wouldn’t carry a bestseller? It’s distributed by an indie publisher, Seven Stories Press - do bookstores only carry larger publisher’s books?
Can’t say for sure but a lot has to do with where you live and other factors. Barnes & Noble and Borders both select books for individual stores based on past purchases and a “profile” (socio-economic, political, and religious among other factors) of the area. If you live in a particularly red-neck area big on fundamentalists then you aren’t going to see a lot of Vonnegut. I say this because I don’t know where “Gall Bladder of Dixie” is on the map. I have discussed these issues with the stores in my area and it’s amazing how narrow minded they are and also how they are not in business to sell 10 or copies of a book.
The other factor would be that Vonnegut isn’t going to sell mega million copies like a Stephen King. Thesetores are in business - they aren’t there to a library.
Well, for what it’s worth, the book is on the shelves at my local B&N (in Newport News, Virginia), so it doesn’t seem to be a chain-wide decision based on the publisher. Maybe the demographics at your location indicated to your particular branch that this book wouldn’t be a good seller and so they chose not to stock it, knowing that they could order it for any individual customers who wanted it?
I’ve seen it in stores here in upstate NY, and my friend bought a copy at a store in DC.
As someone else said, it may simply be that the bookstores felt the strong political views in the book aren’t likely to resonate with the folks in your area.
Just to make sure, but what section of the store did you look in? Did you ask an employee where to find it? It is a collection of essays after all, not fiction.
Actually, a lot of Barnes & Noble stores ARE pretty much a library! Many seem to make more money selling lattes and pastries to browsers than selling books.
Moreover, despite the widespread belief that “Well, big stores may carry all the POPULAR books, small independent stores carry a greater variety and carry all the cult books,” my experience has been just the opposite. You’re far more likely, as a rule, to find obscure books you want at a huge chain store than at an independent corner store.