If they are "not carrying it" for some moral reason, well, happen to think that's lame. However, I'm a buyer for an independent bookstore and a children's / YA specialist. I carry POP (along with gossip girls, a-list, the clique, &c, &c.) ... but I have more room dedicated for my YA section than most stores of any size do. Still, there are loads of things that I just can't carry - not because of any censorship, moral problem or anything else, but simply because I have limited space on the shelf.

If I've never heard of the author, the marketing doesn't appeal to me, I don't know or don't like other stuff from the same pub/imprint/editor, I haven't seen a galley or the sales reps aren't talking about it, there's a good chance it will be a miss for me. There are things that are an automatic buy (mostly those that have some of the aforemenioned criteria) and there are some I get in because they intrigue me for some reason. I can, and do, certainly take chances - but not a LOT of them. And I have more freedom and flexibilty than chain buyers do.

In order for a book to remain on my shelves, it HAS to turn over - if it doesn't, that's valuable real estate that can belong to something else. So if POP doesn't sell, it will go to the boneyard... and the next book from that author will probably be a pass (unless there's something irresistable about it.) Clique, et al, are known commodities. The numbers they sell are 5, 10, 20 or more times the numbers sold of any other teen books. I literally couldn't afford NOT to have them. POP (and lots of other books of that ilk) are unknowns... and you can't have a whole section full of them.

I can see a big chain being even more sensitive, both in terms of money and for "moral" reasons. After all, a central office is buying books for the whole country. Just because something is acceptable in SF, LA or NYC doesn't mean it's going to fly in Topeka.

Everything your saying makes total sense Jennifer - and Jessa wondered about much of that in her Book Standard piece (although everyone agrees that the possibility that it is in the book's cover design is beyond lame). This is what makes this so odd though - Wallington has written for Veronica Mars & Sex and the City, so while this is a debut novel, she isn't without some writing cred and the story is actually quite well done and very realistic. I guess I just don't get what you are supposed to do with debut authors then - we all know the Gossip Girls, etc. will sell for ages (shades of a trashier Nancy Drew) but does that mean that they are it? Everyone has to have a first novel at some point (think of wonderful Cecil Castellucci and Boy Proof) - have the Gossip Girls type books pushed out the chance for others to even debut on the shelves?

Bummer!!!

And of course it still doesn't explain why Borders let this particular book go by, an answer they don't seem willing or able to give.

I went to my local Borders a couple of days ago. You want to know what they didn't have?

NO Cecil Castellucci.
NO Andrew Auseon.
NO Justine Larbalestier.
ONE MT Anderson (a single copy of "octavian nothing")
ONE Scott Westerfeld!! (a single copy of "specials", hidden)

ONE SHELF of Stephenie Meyer
ONE SHELF of Lurlene McDaniel (hahaha)
THREE SHELVES of Cecily von Zeisegar

... maybe Borders doesn't carry POP because Borders sucks?

also:

I guess I just don't get what you are supposed to do with debut authors then

Well, y'know, like in Cecil's case, I generally buy pretty much everything Candlewick puts out because THEY are a known commodity. Then I got a galley and read it - and Boy Proof is still one of our bestsellers.

From bigger pubs, the debut authors with the best chance of survival are the ones that get a push from the sales reps and publicity, or the ones that are reviewed excellently.

After I read Pop! (early November), I checked my local Borders -- they had at least one copy of Good Girls, Doing It, Looking for Alaska and Forever in stock.

I don't think it had a thing to do with the sex and had everything to do with the amazingly crappy-ass cover art, the unknown name factor, and a lack of push by the publisher.

It's a good book, though.

I'm sorry I'm still reeling from "one shelf of Lurlene McDaniel".

Heaven help us all!

I just don't see the Pop cover as that bad - it's not fantastic like Looking for Alaska but it's not like it's really horrific. It's just bland.

Is that what gets you now? Bland covers?

Yeesh!

I'm always shocked when patrons come to the desk with Lurlene McDaniels. As in, "My God, people still read her?" shocked. We only have a couple of tattered paperbacks, and they circulate. But not at a-whole-shelf-at-Borders levels.

As for the Pop! cover, I dunno. It just looks like someone created it in fifteen minutes. It looks generic. To me. And a generic cover coupled with an unknown author doesn't make for huge sales, especially at a place like Borders where hand-selling is practically unheard of.

It's a wonder that any debut author makes it in this business!

I mean really, can someone explain this to me?

Could it stem from an assumption that customers offended by the Bin Laden book are less likely to boycott the store than are customers offended by teen sex?

You know you might be onto something there Chris. I think there is a lot of knee jerk fear type reactions to books that deal with sex and teens. What's really weird about this book though is that it is so much more responsible then others.

I don't know - if the sexual situation seems too realistic and possible for the average teen to emulate does that make the book all that much scarier?

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