Monday, July 14, 2008

Borders shelving...it sucks

I notice Father of Dragons is being shelved as "Literature/ Fiction - Gay and Lesbian - Gay Fiction". In my mind FoD is, first and foremost, high fantasy. The protagonist is gay but of course that never happens in books shelved as high fantasy like, oh, The HeraldMage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, and a pile of other books by MZB, Fiona Patton, Tania Huff, Tanith Lee etc etc etc.

Meanwhile the erotic romance anthology Dreams and Desires is still under "Psychology - Sex/ Recovery - Erotica"--because I always look for romance stories under non-fiction/psychology. The ghettoization of these genres (erotica, gay story lines, books by African Americans) is one reason why I have mixed feelings about the rumors of severe financial problems with the Borders chain. On the other hand if my local Borders behemoth closes there isn't another book store for miles.

2 comments:

Helen said...

Is the shelving system handed down from corporate on high? Is there anyway to get them to change it? Probably not I realize, but I'd be curious to know what it would take to get them to put a book in a more appropriate category.

Fiona Glass said...

I'm convinced some publishers of 'bigger name' authors pay to get the books shelved in a particular area. Since many UK branches of Borders don't even have a gltb section, I'd be worried about my (hypothetical *g*) books being shelved there too. You're missing out on a chunk of the market. Does your publisher have any clout?