What kind of books do they sell in your neighborhood?
Here鈥檚 an interesting algorithm for the e-book programmers: How do you translate surroundings into sales? Can an online 鈥渘eighborhood鈥� affect the books readers buy?
I鈥檓 wondering that after writing about the success of Seattle鈥檚 showcase bookstore, The Elliott Bay Book Co., which moved last year from its longtime home in Pioneer Square to a newly renovated building in the hip Capitol Hill neighborhood. Plenty of fans thought there was no way bookstore owner Peter Aaron could transplant the soul of the bookstore into a new location. (I admit I was among the doubters, having seen after it moved its flagship store in Berkeley. But instead, , the bookstore thrived in its new home. Sales shot up. Interestingly, though, they weren鈥檛 always the same sales. For the first time in ages, he started stocking Agatha Christie mysteries on the shelves.
Why? His new neighborhood was perceived as safer than the old one, with more convenient parking. Senior citizens (evidently prime Christie fans) had returned to shop. Capitol Hill also has a longtime status as a gay-friendly neighborhood, and the store鈥檚 section of lesbian-gay-bisexual-transsexual books thrived.
I realize that online sellers know more than brick-and-mortar ones about how to appeal to my personal taste. They know more about my browsing habits, even if they can鈥檛 always make sense of them. But would they draw in different customers with a different 鈥渉ome鈥� (or, I suppose, home page)? Or, if my friends all gathered in an online spot (perhaps would our presence and discussions influence our purchases the way that Elliott Bay鈥檚 book readings lead me to new discoveries?
I鈥檓 sure online stores have their own ways of creating community, and that they鈥檒l create still more.
But for now, I'm mostly just rejoicing in this new lease on life for Elliott Bay. I love being able to write the words 鈥渋ndependent bookstore鈥� without ever using the word 鈥渄emise,鈥� thrilled to know that my own kids will still be able to read in the 鈥渃astle鈥� in Elliott Bay鈥檚 children鈥檚 area, that local authors will consider their careers a success when they hold an Elliott Bay reading, that my mom (recently deprived of the only bookstore in her Delaware neighborhood, a Borders), will still happily browse their shelves on her visits to Seattle, telling me 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 know how lucky you are that this is here.鈥� "
Seattle writer Rebekah Denn blogs at
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