My Letter to Barnes & Noble

This incident is being discussed on Twitter, so I thought I'd share the letter I sent to Barnes & Noble this morning, so you can understand the whole story...

Dear XXX:

I was told I should contact you regarding treatment I received at my local Barnes & Noble store last night. I’m referring to store # XXXX, located in XXX, Maryland.

Some background—I’m a multi-published author, writing for Harlequin as Leslie Kelly, and for Penguin/NAL-Signet as Leslie Parrish. I’ve lived in this community for many years, have done book-signings in this particular store, and have always gone in to autograph stock when I have a book out. I’ve had mixed feelings about the staff—sometimes they’re very friendly, sometimes they border on rudeness, and I began to hear from readers that the store just isn’t “romance friendly.” Maybe they don’t sell a lot of romance fiction, I certainly understand that, and the “romance snobbery” certainly isn’t unique among Barnes & Noble stores. But until now, I’d at least always been treated with professionalism, if not friendliness.

Last night, July 5, 2011, at approximately 6-6:30 p.m., I went into the store, because it was release day for my new title, COLD TOUCH. Here, on your website, as you can see, it’s in the top 1000 on Nook sales right now: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cold-touch-leslie-parrish/1027966455?ean=9781101516430&itm=1&usri=cold%2btouch

Not seeing the book on the shelves, I went to the help desk in the center of the store, which was being worked by a polite young man. He looked it up for me, and then told me the book was not in stock, and that it wasn’t going to be in stock because the store wouldn’t be carrying it, but he would be happy to order it for me. I explained again that I was the author, and admitted I was stunned that they weren’t carrying it, considering I was local, that I’d done signings there, and that my last several books were displayed on the “New Release” tower in the store. Considering I have a lot of friends and family in this area, as well as a lot of local fans on Facebook and Twitter, I would really like to be able to refer them to a store where it’s in stock. I’ll admit, I was shocked, and a little annoyed, but never raised my voice or treated the young man discourteously—I was, of course, fully aware that it wasn’t his fault.

He apologized, said he had no idea why it wouldn’t be carried. He said he could put in a request to “short list” it into the store, but couldn’t guarantee anything.

At this point, a young woman—blond, probably in her early-to-mid twenties—entered the conversation. Her manner was snide and offensive, and I began to wonder if she had an attitude against the genre, or if she thought I was some self-published author trying to sell books out of the trunk of my car or something. I told them I was not, explaining, “For heaven’s sake, the Borders across the street has ten copies of my book on the shelves!” Then I, my husband, and my daughter turned to walk away. I’d taken several steps when the young woman called out, “Well, why don’t you just shop at Borders then!?”

I was shocked. Not just at how rude she’d been from the moment she opened her mouth, but that she’d say something like that, to a paying customer, to someone who is part of the industry supplying the product she’s supposed to be selling..and that she’d call it out, for all the other customers to hear, after I’d turned away from the counter and was several feet away!

Wow. I’m still shocked talking about it now.

Look, I know not every store can carry every title, and this isn’t about whether my local B&N carries my book or not. But nobody deserves to be treated that way by an employee. And I sincerely doubt you want your staff members calling out the very loud suggestion that their customers take their business to your competitor!

I will admit, I was angry once I left that store. So angry I posted about it on Twitter, and on Facebook. Between the two, I have thousands of friends and/or fans. And it obviously generated a lot of interest, and anger, among romance readers and other authors, who are a very loyal bunch. I honestly don’t know how far it went, but I do know some authors with far bigger followings than my own were commenting about it. It’s this kind of instant digital reaction that store employees should be warned about, because your clerk didn’t just insult me, wasn’t just rude and disdainful to me, her words and attitude are now the subject of conversation among thousands of Barnes & Noble’s paying customers.

I also must point out: I returned Saturday from a major writer’s conference in New York City, where the main topic of conversation was the digital revolution currently underway. The one that’s threatening to make bookstores obsolete—which would be a tragedy, in my opinion. That said, I’ve now written off my own local bookstore and will do all my shopping—and suggest my readers do the same—across the street at the very nice Borders store that not only always orders in my new books, but keeps a backlist in constant supply.

One final note…I’m not a diva—far from it. I’m a hard-working writer, a mom, a long-time XXX resident with deep ties in the community. Nor am I some newbie. I’ve been in this business for more than a decade. I’ve sold dozens of books. I am doing a booksigning and a worldwide-broadcast Internet event this Saturday with Nora Roberts, Meg Cabot and one other author…I was invited to this event both because of the buzz my book is getting and because I’m a Maryland author. Further, next week, COLD TOUCH is going to be featured on Barnes & Noble’s own website, in the Romance Book Blog!

I wish I could tell you the name of the clerk who was so incredibly rude and unprofessional, but I was too shocked and embarrassed to get it. However, her co-worker was standing right beside her at the help desk during this incident and heard the entire thing…including her obnoxious parting comment. I’m quite sure he could identify her…whether he’s willing to “rat” on his fellow worker, I don’t know. But he seemed earnest and sincere, so hopefully he’ll see that what she did was wrong and back-up what I’ve told you here. (As would my husband and daughter, who both heard every word!) In any case, I seriously think somebody should have a talk with that young woman.

Thank you for your assistance.

Leslie Kelly

Aka Leslie Parrish