The days are growing shorter. Sitting at the counter at Edgartown Books, behind Register 2, where I’m found most days, the crowds now thinned, I find myself staring at the books all around me. They are neatly packaged, with colorful covers and sharp typefaces, but I know the road to our shelves is packed with boulders, potholes, detours, and God knows what else.
Since becoming the bookmonger of Edgartown, I have gotten to know writers better. I have become, thanks to my work with The MV Times, a writer myself. Our shelves are lined with thousands of titles, including hundreds by Vineyard or Vineyard-related authors. From best-selling authors to those who have self-published their work, the process is, well, a process — and not an easy one.
Robert Louis Stevenson reportedly drafted “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in three days. Noel Coward supposedly wrote the play “Hay Fever” in as many, but these feats of literary sleight of hand are rare and far between.
I often stare at the blinking cursor wondering if the first word of an article will ever come. That’s not unusual for most writers.
Books, articles, stories happen sometimes because it is something the author needs to do. Geraldine Brooks’ “Memorial Days,” a recounting of her journey after the passing of her husband, Tony Horwitz, was one she said she “had to write.” Recently, Terri Potts-Chattaway, author of “Journey to the Inner Light,” talked about research she was starting for a story she can’t shake, so now she has to get it out into the world.
Getting the written word out into the world is a Herculean task. Finding a publisher for your work is challenging, only accessible, for the most part, through agents, who are hard to find. Then you must convince them to take a chance on you. And even with an agent, getting a publisher is harder than ever. Then you have to hope your book finds shelf space in a bookstore. Last week, 1620 new titles were published in the U.S. . That’s about as many as we have in the store. And that happens nearly every week of the year. You can see how hard it is to break through.
It’s no wonder self-publishing has become popular. “Theo of Golden” was originally self-published, and became a huge success. Simon & Schuster offered to take on the book. The author, Allen Levi, had it demonstrated to him he could make more money continuing to self-publish, but he chose to go with Simon & Schuster to broaden his distribution and to get the book in front of more eyes. And he has; it’s rested on the New York Times Best Sellers list for months. (He was also 70 when he self-published the book. There is hope.) Colleen Hoover of “Verity,” Andy Weir of “The Martian,” and Hugh Howey of “Wool” are among the many authors who started by self-publishing, finding their way to traditional outlets when they had become successes on their own. The Vineyard’s Carole Hopson self-published “A Pair of Wings” and then had it picked up by Macmillan’s Henry Holt imprint.
Holly Hodder Eger’s “Split Rock” is a perennial seller here. Tracey Braun, under the name of T. Elizabeth Bell, has written three romcoms set in West Tisbury. The first, “Goats in the Time of Love,” has been our top-selling beach read in the years I’ve run the store. Self-published.
One thing I’ve noticed: Island writers are supportive of one another. “The Washashores” is a group of female authors who meet and help each other, and have published a review of their work each of the last two years. Emma Brodie of “Into the Blue” is good friends with Julia Spiro of “Such a Good Mom.” Cleaveland House Poets have met for decades, helping each other hone poetry.
Elisa Speranza, self-published author of “The Italian Prisoner” and “Triage,” has generously offered me suggestions on a long piece of fiction I’ve been struggling with forever, helping me figure out how to handle a download of information necessary for the story.
Recently, a gentleman came into the store. He’d written a book, wanted to know how to get it into Edgartown Books, and what path to use to self-publish. It was apparent that the story had meaning for him. I gave him what wisdom I had about publishing platforms and told him that we do our very best to find places for Island authors. We’ll have space for his story on our shelves.
I think a local bookstore should be part of the local scene, help local authors, support them. It’s what I and the owners of Edgartown Books want us to be. Whether through a traditional publisher or by self-publishing, every book on our shelves represents a work of love, commitment, and dedication that is remarkable — a sacrifice of time, effort, energy, love, pain, worry, joy. Every book is an act of creation, of hope, of belief. Kudos to authors!
Mathew Tombers has been the manager of Edgartown Books since 2020.
