Frontlist versus Backlist.

Frontlist: Books that are just coming out.

Backlist: Books that were published in the past.

So I finally have the terminology I've been looking for to describe how my store differs from so many others. Because my main concentration is on backlist versus frontlist, while just about every other new bookstore I see does the opposite.

A question I often get is: "Are you a used bookstore?"

"No...I can't pay the rent with used books." I have limited space and if I'm going to get XXX dollars per square foot, it needs to be retail, not half or less. No matter what those books cost me.

I liked to think this question isn't because my store somehow looks shabby, but because the titles they see are often what they'd find in a used bookstore. I mean--a really good used bookstore, because most used bookstores would not have the quality selection of backlist books I carry. A used bookstore can only carry what people bring in, and buyers tend to slough off less than stellar books, mostly, with a few quality books mixed in. It's a tiring process to try to negotiate, and in my opinion, no longer viable. There are too many books in the world, at the same time that only a few of them actually sell as backlist books.

Whereas I can pick and choose which older books to carry,

I've concentrated on carrying the backlist books that are worth carrying. The classics, cult books, the books that have a following. Find an author people like (Murikami, PKD, Bukowski, Palahniuk, Vonnegut), and carry their entire oeuvre. Find books that have enduring interest--The Princess Bride, for instance. And of course the classics, especially in kids books.

I concentrate on carrying the newest frontlist YA graphic novels--but in concert with that I carry the entire series, from book one to the latest.

I reorder just about everything I sell, because most of what I select to carry have legs--they are perennial sellers.

Frontlist? It's a guess and a gamble. Even there, I tend to wait and see how frontlist books are doing before I order them. I order a few each week based on the reviews and publicity--but for those titles that are new but haven't had a huge push, I tend to stay back and wait. I check the "bestsellers" lists because I can usually catch a few sales even if I'm not the first store in town to carry a title.

Meanwhile, I keep selling Edith Hamilton's "Mythology," and the "Princess Bride," and "1984," and
"Watchmen" day after day, week after week. 

All of this is due to the nature of my store. People don't come to me looking for the newest bestsellers. That would require that locals actually think of me as a "bookstore" and I've given up ever convincing locals of that. I have an image and nothing I do can change that.

Tourists and visitors, on the other hand, take me for what I am--what they see when they walk in the door. And they are more likely to buy a older standby, one they've always heard about but never see, a classic they've always wanted to read. And, yes sometimes, a bestseller they've been hearing about. 

There is no wrong way or right way--each store has to decide what their customer base is and order accordingly. But I do believe ordering two/thirds backlist and one/third frontlist is less risky than ordering two/thirds frontlist and one/third backlist. 

The bonus is that I can often pick up backlist books are more of discount. I also think it makes my store more unique--not the same bestsellers that everyone else is carrying. I don't know. Maybe I'm just old enough to remember what were the hot books from twenty, thirty years ago.

I've moved more and more into the frontlist realm. It's a bit of a challenge, but we're doing well enough to take the chances. But I really enjoy carrying That One Great Book that no one has. Going back and ordering not only "Shogun" but all the followup books. Carrying "The Godfather" and "The Thorn Birds" and so on.