Courtesy of Little, Brown and Company
Not since the Harry Potter days has there been such a tizzy over a book release, which may be why Little, Brown and Company stuck a countdown clock on its website for the release of David Foster Wallace's final novel, The Pale King. Set in a Midwestern IRS office, it was scheduled to come out April 15, Tax Day. Subterranean Books in the Loop had a midnight party scheduled on April 14, organized by customers and Wallace fans, Cameron Riesenberger and Robert Wallace.
Then, on Wednesday, booksellers across the country discovered that Amazon and Barnes & Noble were both already selling the book online. In an interview with the New York Times, Kelly von Plonski, owner of Subterranean, described herself as "irate," which pretty well matched the mood of the other booksellers quoted in the article. As a result of these developments, she, Riesenberger and Wallace were forced to do some very fast rescheduling—the midnight release party is now the "EARLY Release Party,"—early being tonight, April 1, at 8 p.m. (the bookstore has leftover Schlafly beer from an art opening earlier this week, so BYOB means "bring your own book," since beverages are on the house). Subterranean is inviting people to email palekingparty@gmail.com if they'd like to read at the event.
Of course, this brings up all kinds of long-simmering issues vis-a-vis publishers and booksellers, specifically what many independent booksellers have perceived over the years as lopsided treatment, e.g., chains benefiting from deep discounts on volume book buys. The odd thing about this situation is, according to the New York Times, Barnes & Noble's website started shipping books on Wednesday, but not even its physical stores had copies.
"I was confused after reading the New York Times article—the fact that wholesalers weren't shipping, either," von Plonski says. "It doesn't make sense. None of it makes sense."
Nevertheless, plucky little bookstores like Subterranean are making the best of the situation. "We had a flurry of exchange, like 'my God, we need to move this date up!" von Plonski says. "How are we going to do this? We decided 'We'll just do it, and then try to get the word out.' My sales rep has guaranteed me that the books will be here. It will be a little different; it will be more of a celebration of all things David Foster Wallace, as opposed to a build-up to a midnight release, because people can come in and buy the book as soon as the book arrives. So it will be more like a gathering of kindred souls."
Which is something you can't sell online, and may be worth more than a million times its weight in free shipping.
The Pale King Early Release Party
Subterranean Books, 6275 Delmar, April 1, 8 p.m.
Event details and book pre-orders at subbooks.com.
If you haven't seen it, check out Kyle Beachy's review of The Pale King that ran earlier this week; you can find that here.
