I learned from Tom Doherty in 2009, when I interviewed him for an article that was published in the SFWA Bulletin, that the people who maintain the spin rack pay attention to what types of books sell.
Almost a year ago, on Nov. 29, 2015, I wrote on this blog ("Help the spin rack make a comeback") how my efforts - at least at the Dollar General store closest to where I worked - had paid off. There were so many s-f titles being stocked they cleared shelf space for them and put all the other genres in the spin rack.
I still follow my policy, and this evening I stopped at the Dollar General store in Blossom, Texas, - which I don't think I have ever patronized before - and was pleasantly surprised to see they had a fine selection of s-f paperbacks, and I was quite happy to pick up this little gem by Harry Harrison.
The authors don't benefit much personally from these remaindered sales, but I'd like to think they have an overall uplifting effect on the genre. Who knows, some kid may spent a buck he was planning to use for a candy bar on one of these books, get hooked, and in 20 or 30 years become a great and famous author?
I thought about hitting a Dollar General this afternoon for that reason when I was running errands, but if I brought any more books home right now, my wife would kill me.
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