Library gets copy of my novel shocker…

Finally dropped off a copy of Martin Martin's On The Other Side at the library here in the Norwich today. It's surely among the best libraries in the country. I did the last edits there and thought they should have a copy, and as they didn't bother buying one I agreed to donate one. I gave them two copies last year and they were stocked in libraries elsewhere in the county (Thetford and Gorleston, you lucky people).

The experience reminds me of the efforts I made when the novel was published to 'make relationships' with the two larger bookshops in the city. Waterstones were very receptive, and asked me to sign a dozen copies, dedicated a window to the book for a week and put a little 'staff recommended' sign on the shelf where the book was stocked. In Borders, the assistant I approached rang the store manager who didn't talk to me directly but clearly thought I was a crackpot who'd self-published a book about local history. Borders went down a short while later, while Waterstones has expanded into what was Ottakars and now occupies two city centre sites.

The moral? Stock my book or be punished by the marketplace.