Today I sneaked into Borders with an uncorrected proof of my book under my arm, and used my best ninja skills to slip it onto the shelves for a few photos. I wanted to get a sense of how it would feel to see the spine waving and grinning at me in a bookstore (and I got a few strange looks from some other customers), next to the other 'E's.
I have a horrible premonition that I am going to be one of those authors who used to irritate me hugely when I worked as a book buyer. We had one lady in particular, a local author, who would come in every week and move her books from the shelf (where the spines faced outwards) to the end-caps of the aisles, so that they were more prominent. She would also re-position her books so that the covers were front-on, and then sneak fake 'Staff Pick' reviews underneath them. At the time I thought she was deeply annoying (as I had to rearrange everything after she had gone), but now I sympathise. I felt a bit too self-conscious to be hugely accurate about alphabetising (an employee started following me around in a suspicious manner), but it was totally worth it.
P.S. Thrilled to be only a few letters away from Dave Eggers and What is the What.
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