Booksellers, this one weird trick could increase your bottom line by 25%
October 2, 2018 7:33 AM Subscribe
Nicola Griffith points out in a helpful post (with downloadable guide!) why making bookstores and book events accessible to disabled readers both online and in RL makes profitable sense. She also updates her Fries Test (named after activist Kenny Fries) count. Given that 1 in 4 people already in the US have some kind of disability, there should be roughly 1.25 million books out there on the Fries Test list yet so far only 55 have made it past the extremely low requirements -- which do not include the disabled character even having a name. Me Before You by JoJo Moyes sadly did not make the cut.
For YA readers: Disability in Kidlit (site sadly on hiatus)
posted by nicebookrack at 8:32 AM on October 2, 2018
posted by nicebookrack at 8:32 AM on October 2, 2018
The last time I tried to shop at a bookstore, about one-third of the books were out of my reach. This is true at most stores with shelved goods, but given the browsing-intensive nature of shopping for books this is especially problematic.
As for representation, I'm struck by how little true representation there really is, compared to how often disability is used for "color" or a plot device. It's always gratifying to find characters who are inhabiting the same kinds of stories as everyone else, but as a disabled person.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:15 AM on October 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
As for representation, I'm struck by how little true representation there really is, compared to how often disability is used for "color" or a plot device. It's always gratifying to find characters who are inhabiting the same kinds of stories as everyone else, but as a disabled person.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:15 AM on October 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
It doesn't make sense to me to target booksellers. There are so few booksellers left. They are surviving on very small revenue streams. Even larger stores like Barnes and Noble are not long for the world.
Even if they could implement these ideas at no cost, they probably will not survive.
posted by notmtwain at 9:36 AM on October 2, 2018
Even if they could implement these ideas at no cost, they probably will not survive.
posted by notmtwain at 9:36 AM on October 2, 2018
It doesn't make sense to me to target booksellers. There are so few booksellers left.
As a professional author with multiple sclerosis, I'd say that Nicola Griffith has earned the right to devote some spoons to advising booksellers on how they can increase their customer base.
posted by Etrigan at 10:02 AM on October 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
As a professional author with multiple sclerosis, I'd say that Nicola Griffith has earned the right to devote some spoons to advising booksellers on how they can increase their customer base.
posted by Etrigan at 10:02 AM on October 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
Seems unlikely anything whatsoever could increase booksellers bottom line by 25%.
posted by zeoslap at 10:30 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by zeoslap at 10:30 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure she's making a point that cutting off a full 25% of your potential audience and customers isn't the smartest move financially either, never mind ethically.
posted by lydhre at 10:36 AM on October 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by lydhre at 10:36 AM on October 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
Back in the 1980s I worked at a used book shop that was incredibly inaccessible. It was in a basement with only stair access, for starters, and its aisles were legendarily narrow and twisty. The store's owner liked stacks books on the floor, too, further constricting the already tiny spaces.
Around 1990 we moved to a ground floor location with twice the room, which was stupendous. I helped design the floor plans, which included several gentle ramps and much wider aisles. From the first *hour* we opened all kinds of people with canes, walkers, wheelchairs flocked in and bought many books. It was a great time.
I eventually left the store for grad school. Years later I checked back, and the owner - still there - had started stacking books on floors again, blocking passages.
posted by doctornemo at 11:13 AM on October 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
Around 1990 we moved to a ground floor location with twice the room, which was stupendous. I helped design the floor plans, which included several gentle ramps and much wider aisles. From the first *hour* we opened all kinds of people with canes, walkers, wheelchairs flocked in and bought many books. It was a great time.
I eventually left the store for grad school. Years later I checked back, and the owner - still there - had started stacking books on floors again, blocking passages.
posted by doctornemo at 11:13 AM on October 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
I'm struck by how little true representation there really is, compared to how often disability is used for "color" or a plot device.
I expected to see something like this in the Fries Test, because I've seen it discussed ... but apparently it's too much to ask that there even be a disabled main character who survives, with a disability, to the end of the story.
As a (mostly) abled wannabe author, this is something I'm going to think about. I haven't been great with this type of representation, so I'm tucking it into my bookmarks as a reminder.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:29 PM on October 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
I expected to see something like this in the Fries Test, because I've seen it discussed ... but apparently it's too much to ask that there even be a disabled main character who survives, with a disability, to the end of the story.
As a (mostly) abled wannabe author, this is something I'm going to think about. I haven't been great with this type of representation, so I'm tucking it into my bookmarks as a reminder.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:29 PM on October 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
I went book shopping with two of my kids a week or so ago. I was in my super-cool wheelchair (really. My wheelchair is super-cool. Designed to be an "off-road" wheelchair, it is also great in urban areas, suburbs, and malls. One day somebody had left a hose looped all over the sidewalk. This would totally have stopped my regular wheelchair, but my Freedom Chair just rolled right over it.)
The bookstore was roomy, with wide aisles. I had no trouble navigating. But I discovered that from a sitting position, I couldn't see any of the signage, so I couldn't find my way to any of the sections I wanted. The staff were really helpful, and agreed with me that lower-level signage, or signposts with arrows to various sections here and there, would be helpful.
posted by Orlop at 3:50 PM on October 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
The bookstore was roomy, with wide aisles. I had no trouble navigating. But I discovered that from a sitting position, I couldn't see any of the signage, so I couldn't find my way to any of the sections I wanted. The staff were really helpful, and agreed with me that lower-level signage, or signposts with arrows to various sections here and there, would be helpful.
posted by Orlop at 3:50 PM on October 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
If I were designing the Fries test I'd add "the book is not an Issue Book About Being Sad To Yourself About Disability". So like, in addition to not being there for a nondisabled character's education they're also doing things in their narrative that are just things, unrelated to their disability, at some point, ever, just for themselves. Hahaha, it is bleak out there.
posted by colorblock sock at 5:43 PM on October 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by colorblock sock at 5:43 PM on October 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm short and near-sighted, so I can't see the top shelves and sometimes I need to ask for a foot-stool just so I can get close enough to read the titles. If I ran a small bookstore, I might set up a computer display that listed my titles in stock. For example, you could click on "Mysteries" and scroll through pictures of each cover. Audiobook titles could have an option to be listed audibly.
Doctornemo, you didn't work at the "Dawn Treader Bookstore", did you?
posted by acrasis at 5:51 PM on October 2, 2018
Doctornemo, you didn't work at the "Dawn Treader Bookstore", did you?
posted by acrasis at 5:51 PM on October 2, 2018
Wasn't Dawn Treader on a second floor with only stair access before it moved?
Midtown Comics (west side incarnation) still is.
posted by praemunire at 6:34 PM on October 2, 2018
Midtown Comics (west side incarnation) still is.
posted by praemunire at 6:34 PM on October 2, 2018
"So like, in addition to not being there for a nondisabled character's education they're also doing things in their narrative that are just things, unrelated to their disability, at some point, ever, just for themselves."
Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at. It's so -- I don't know what, but it makes me happy -- when I encounter a character like that.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:35 AM on October 3, 2018
Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at. It's so -- I don't know what, but it makes me happy -- when I encounter a character like that.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:35 AM on October 3, 2018
acrasis, I did.
praemunire, I think you have in mind David's Books, which was "on a second floor with only stair access" when I lived in Ann Arbor.
posted by doctornemo at 6:10 AM on October 3, 2018
praemunire, I think you have in mind David's Books, which was "on a second floor with only stair access" when I lived in Ann Arbor.
posted by doctornemo at 6:10 AM on October 3, 2018
You must be right. (Either way, not accessible.)
posted by praemunire at 8:34 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 8:34 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
« Older Inside Tokyo's audiophile venues | Degrowth/Green Deal Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Etrigan at 8:12 AM on October 2, 2018 [3 favorites]