Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

And this weird business model goes back to the Great Depression.

That's when publishers offered this deal as a way of keeping bookstores afloat and ordering freely.

And no major publisher has dared roll it back since.

So bookstores buy their new stock from publishers with this little insurance policy.

They're usually paying around 50 to 60 percent of the list price, and the list price for the Carthage book is about $40.

So you're putting up the capital at the beginning, which is maybe $20 per copy, and then if you don't sell it, eventually you could send it back and get that $20 back.

I see.

So a little bit of cost.

Finally, we get to the most important section of all for Fisher to make their decision, the comparable titles and sales tracking section.

This is where the publisher lists similar books, so booksellers like Fisher can see how many copies of those titles their store has sold in the past.

If the same author has published a book before, Fisher can see how well they sold.

Some people are just competing against themselves.

The author's sales track record, or track for short, is one of the biggest indicators that an author's new book may already have an audience at your bookstore.

And it makes ordering that new book a safer bet.

Fisher decides they are going to order the book because of all the factors we've talked about.

And one other little thing is they're considering each book.

They're also sometimes thinking about specific customers who might want that book.

I love that.

You're looking through all of these publishers' catalogs and sometimes you'll see a book that you know a particular customer will be interested in.

And so you order it.