Looking for your audience? Wanna be closer to your readers? How about property shopping based upon book sales, etc.?
The annual rankings of the "most literate cities" are out from Central Connecticut State University, accounting for per capita booksellers; educational attainment; internet resources; library resources; newspaper circulation; and periodical publications.
These cities led the per capita bookstores list:
1 Seattle, WA
2 San Francisco, CA
3 Minneapolis, MN
3 Cincinnati, OH
5 St. Louis, MO
6 Portland, OR
7 Pittsburgh, PA
8 St. Paul, MN
9 Cleveland, OH
10 Washington,
10 Denver, CO
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Do We Need to Move?
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8 comments:
Huh. I dunno, I've lived in some of those places and I don't think we need to move :D I'd be more interested in book *sales* per capita than book *stores.* (When I lived in St. Louis, for example, there were some great independent bookstores, but the one I frequented belonged to a guy who was basically going to keep it open until he went broke--it never made any money and he never figured it really would.)
Several months back there was a big bruhaha on one of the listservs I belong to about whether a novel's setting determined whether it would sell or not. Would publishers only buy books set in NY? There was much kvetching, but I think the answer is "no."
So even if people in Seattle are the biggest book buyers, I am going to hope they're willing to buy a book by a New Yorker about a former Atlanta cop now living in the French Caribbean.
These cities would be good destinations for book tours at any rate....
Lois got the idea - it sure is nice to find a good bookstore/launch spot for a book. Partners & Crime bookstore in NYC was a great setting for the launch of MURDER NEW YORK STYLE.
I'm not planning to move, but if I were... Nah!
But I would be interested in a road trip through each of the mystery book stores in those states! Are you with me?
It's a travesty. Not one single city in Texas made the list.
On second thought maybe that explains how our current president came to his rise in power.
Too funny, Travis. I lived in Austin for 8 years and there were some great bookstores there when I got there, but they were gone by the time I left.
The list is more interesting when you look at it by state. Minnesota and Ohio are represented twice and Seattle+Portland might as well be in the same state! (chuckling)
The state of Ohio has an outstanding library system, combining technology with accessibility. When I commented upon it at the time, they said Ohio had 3 out of the top 10 libraries in the nation. I'm convinced it helped readership.
My US Geography is not great, but aren't those places all either cold & snowy or wet in the winter, except maybe S.F.?
I like Leigh's observation that the list is more interesting when you look at it by state. It's disappointing to notice that New York City didn't make the list. Our mystery-genre bookstores are down to two hold-outs. Bummer!
Her mention of the role that libraries can play is also worth pondering. We hated moving away from our favorite library and the resources it offered. I'm into the internet, but there's nothing like a great reference librarian who knows what you need before you do.
And Reb's comment on the effect of bad weather playing a part sounded right-on.
Travis, you make me laugh at the truth. The anti-intellectual movement in this country is due to do its pendulum swing back to the Age of Reason sometime this century, isn't it?
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