In the Shadow of the Giants

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The rare newcomer is greeted by gratitude mixed with incredulity. Kerry Slattery, manager of the fledgling Skylight Books, a 2,000-square-foot literary store in the Los Feliz section of LosAngeles, says customers ask, 'You're just selling books?' The store is owned by a group of 10, including some actors and an acting teacher who owns the building. 'We don't want to be all things to all people,' Slattery says. 'We want to make our departments deeper and smarter.'

How to translate that commitment into retail terms is the task that the independents face every day of their work lives. Dan Cullen, editor of the trade magazine American Bookseller, recently advised indies to consider themselves personal information managers rather than tradespeople. In his view, the true role for the bookstore of the future, and the key to its survival, is as a source of continuous, in-depth, one-on-one dialogue with its customers. In this vision of bookseller as social director, stores must reach out via e-mail, the Web, customer databases, and whatever other resources they can cultivate to discover what valued customers want to read and whether they'd like to meet other people interested in the same subjects. With 50,000 titles published annually in the United States, we need help moving through the thicket from a partner who cares enough to keep our intellectual and other needs in mind, someone whose job is to serve us. We have money managers for our money--why not information managers for our minds? Stranger things have been dreamed of.

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Literary fiction, children's books including some in Spanish, magazines and newspapers from home and abroad, computer books. Also staff recommendations, book reviews, and an events calendar.

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