Writer Unboxed

I was in NYC this weekend for family fun, and lemme tell ya, those retailers know how to merchandise the crap out of anything. The Union Square Barnes & Noble, in particular, was fabulous all spangled up with holiday displays. It was sad to see the Virgin Megastore in Times Square shuttered, but the Times Square Toys R Us was Ground Zero for shopping insanity. Chestnuts were roasting, the $10 scarf dudes were everywhere, and people were toting shopping bags full of purchases. At last!

It left me feeling optimistic about the economy.

Maybe the excess tryptophan has left me delusional. But I honestly feel like people are starting to shop again, cautiously, but a little more than they did last year. Let’s hope so.

Like Anna suggested last week, my plan of attack this year is to give books and book-related products. I’m supporting indie booksellers by shopping in their stores, and if I need a gift for a non-reader, I can easily find something that can fit the bill, whether it is notecards or gourmet chocolates or music. It’s not just altruism at work, either. A viable indie bookseller in your neighborhood will be your best ally when it’s time for you to promote your book. Help keep them in business!

What’s your sense of the economy this holiday season? Do you think the spending is on the rebound, or is 2009 going to be another meh year for booksellers and retailers? Take the poll and let us know.

Reminder: buy a book befor Dec. 21st, and our own valued contributor Anna Elliott will read either a query letter or the first five pages of you WIP! Details below!

Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She has written two novels under the pseudonym Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter--both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President's teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins.

Kathleen Bolton

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