Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 3/4

It was a nice day on the street. A Russian gentleman purchased John Lescroart's Guilty, the merry mail-woman selected Karin Slaughter's Fractured, and the security guard at Stop n Shop chose LeeAnn Rimes' Unchained Melody, a collection focused on the early years of her fabulous career. It seems only yesterday she burst onto the scene as a 14-year-old with Blue. She's now in her 30's. Thanks, folks.
I was visited by Robert Rubenstein, author of Ghost Runners. He is a bit frustrated, as the book sold only 22 copies last quarter. He is experiencing the evolution all small press writers do. At first we're thrilled just to get into print, then we think: "If it only sold a hundred," then 200. I'm around 530 for my three books. 600 seems decades away in today's market.
On a positive note, Bob went into the Barnes and Noble at Union Square, perhaps the most important in the country, and asked to see the manager. The guy looked up the novel on a computer and ordered copies. That is a major coup. I tried it when Close to the Edge was published in 2000. Only a tiny bookstore in Bay Ridge, which has since gone out of business, ordered it. The managers in the large bookstores all said a book had to first demonstrate demand. Bob is now waiting for the book to hit the shelves, then he will go to other B & N's and tell the managers it is in the Union Square store. That's a good strategy. And since Ghost Runners is about the 1936 Olympics, he wants to go to the London games this summer and set up shop. That would not be cost effective, of course, but it might create buzz that would spur sales. And with more sales there is the hope that the book will go viral. That is the dream of all small press writers. I've always believed the book would be a worldwide sensation amongst Jews. It just has to fall into enough, and the right, hands.
Bob also said he is dating a rich woman, the owner of a five million dollar Park Avenue duplex. Way to go. Best of luck, buddy.
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