I went to B&N tonight to pick up Nation, and also because the nice floor manager said I could put out some flyers for the NADWCon and also bookmarks in the books. At first (when I called) it seemed like Nation wouldn't be on the floor until tomorrow, despite the Sept. 30th release date, but then we spotted them - a whole TWELVE of them - in one of those box-displays (you know, 4 rows of 3 with a sign on top that's the book cover). So I went ahead and put bookmarks in 11 (and bought the last) and left the other ones on the info desk counter, which was all they were allowed to let me do. So that was all fine and dandy, although I was surprised to see so few copies. The manager said that ordering more would depend on how well it did, and also something like, "Well, because it's a YA book..." So I guess they don't order as many for those? I dunno. Of course with Terry, "YA book" doesn't really mean as much, but the floor manager wasn't to know that.
Anyway, the FLOUNCE OF ANNOYANCE comes in here: on the way out, I noticed that 1) the 3rd book in that worthless dragon cycle thing by Christopher Paolini had it's own table right near the front; and 2) RIGHT next to the door was a table with hardcover editions of all of the Stephenie Meyer books.
...and Nation is relegated to a 12-book box display along the wall of the escalator.
Barnes & Noble, UR DOIN' IT WRONG.
*sigh*
OK, I realize it's not all B&N's doing, but still. Why? WHYYYYYYY do two crappy book cycles get their own fancy tables near the front door, and the newest book by a man who's the top-selling adult fiction author in the UK and who's sold over 60 million books (I believe is the last known figure) relegated to a little box display?
*flounce*