Yesterday, Jill Hendrix, owner of Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC, opened a box of promotional material from Running Press to discover this poster, for forthcoming gift book Bent Object of My Affection by Terry Border. A quarter of the poster was taken up by an anthropomorphized (and apparently amorous) Kindle. “This is not something I’m going to hang up in my store,” Hendrix told PW.
Bent Object of My Affection is the second photo collection from Border, who adds limbs to inanimate objects using bent wire. “It feels a little bit like a kick in the face,” said Hendrix, that “one of the [images] they chose to use, on a poster that they’re paying to send out to independent bookstores, has a Kindle on it.”
Hendrix reported her displeasure on the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance listerv, where it first caught our attention. PW is still waiting to hear back from the Perseus imprint on the promotional faux pas.
If I was sent material featuring a Kindle I would file it in the circular container. It is a slap in the face. Why help to promote a site which is so ignorant of the economic damage it has done? Buy from your local bookseller, like me.
If it were a non-Kindle ereader like a Nook or Sony, would it be better b/c it allows for purchase of google ebooks from independent retailers? Just wondering if it’s Kindle specifically since they’re proprietary.
That’s in the Amazon business plan — use “bricks and mortar” as free storefronts for online sales — no rent expenses, no advertising expenses!
It seems like a no-brainer on the surface, but these are becoming iconic images. If they elicit a response from readers, even Indie B&M Booksellers would do well to figure out how to join in the new dance. The steps can’t be that hard… or can they?
I know I wouldn’t send that image out to a B&M Bookstore, but then, I’m old-school and have a lot to learn about marketing to the new readers.
I can see why an independent bookseller would be upset…but it also makes me giggle.
Can’t we all just get along?