Talking to brick walls.

Books currently on display in the window of Pegasus Books:

My Year of Meats, Ruth L. Ozeki
The Giant's House, Elizabeth McCracken
Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem
The Pilot's Wife, Anita Shreve
Dead Sexy, Tate Hallaway
The Dogs of Babel, Carolyn Parkhurst
Jewell, Bret Lott
Sea Glass, Anita Shreve
The Map of the World, Jane Hamilton
Case Histories, Kate Atkinson
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
Night Moves, Tom Clancy
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See



Comment of woman walking by, "Oh, it's mostly science fiction...."

Sigh.


Comment of regular blog reader. "Oh, you have so much more stuff than I expected. You have lots of books!"

Double sigh.

See here's the thing.

Advertising and promotion is all well and good. Signs, and displays, and talking and blogging and jumping up and down in a monkey suit are all fine ideas.

But they can't overcome the mightiest hurdle of all.

Preconception.

A set mind.

When I brought in new books, I knew that it wouldn't matter to just about anyone who had been in my store in the last 25 years. They would continue to think of Pegasus as what they made up their mind about Pegasus when they first visited. Whether it be comics or cards or toys or science fiction or whatever.

On the other hand, the majority of new visitors are open to the idea that I'm a bookstore because they actually believe the evidence before their very eyes.

That's great. I can build on that.

Here's another situation that arises ten or fifteen times a day.

Customer walks in and asks, "Do you have Native Plants of North America?"

"We carry almost exclusively fiction," I say.

Completely blank look. Not the answer they expected. No, would suffice. Yes, would be good. Don't know, is what they expected.

"So you don't have it?"

"Probably not. We do fiction...you know -- novels...."

Slowly, perceptively, the understanding of what I'm saying enters their mind.

But I don't want to just say No. This is my opportunity to do a little marketing, one on one, the most valuable kind. So I make the effort. If I just say, "No," they leave and are never the any wiser about my store. Sometimes, they'll brighten up and say, "Oh, great. I've been looking for a good read!" and actually walk over and start looking around.

But it can be frustrating.