Barnes and Noble

I found the field trip to Barnes and Noble informative and interesting. I was really able to learn a lot from what Terri, Jonathan and the CRM had to say. Before this trip, I had no idea that so much went into running a bookstore. As a lead bookseller, Terri has many responsibilities to fulfill including making the decision as to whether a book gets sent back to the publisher or not. Also, I had seen people like Terri using the PDTs in other stores, but I never knew what they did. I found it fascinating that such a little device gave them so much information about each book.

This field trip also made me aware of the PR opportunities involved in working in large retail stores. I love creating newsletters and planning special events. The position of CRM seems like it would be right up my alley and something I’m interested in looking into. I could see myself figuring out ways to draw customers into the store and getting the community involved.

Finally, I felt that Jonathan Mayberry’s passion for the field really got me excited to learn more about it. I was shocked to learn that authors (for the most part) do not get to choose the title of their book or what the cover looks like. That just doesn’t seem fair to me. I also could not believe that the author only receives approximately ten percent of the cost of the book. In that aspect, becoming an author seems discouraging. After all the hard work you put into a book, you only receive ten percent of the cost while the retailer enjoys fifty percent. All in all, the trip taught me a lot about the basics of bookselling and publishing.