Narrative

Print Networks

Introduction

Entering a bookstore, you first notice the books. They’re front and center. Perhaps you note how they’re arranged or how one set of shelves differs from the rest. But before you continue these thoughts, you’ve already arrived at the section you’ve been looking for. After all, the point of going into a store is to buy something.

In the spring and summer of 2015, I stopped short of buying something, and instead I let my thoughts and impressions about the bookstore continue: why were these shelves arranged this way? How did all of these books come to be here? Was there a special deliverer of books for each kind of store? What about smaller or bigger stores? I could clearly see the books and the shelves, but not what was behind them: the hidden world of Edmonton’s bookstores.

I set out to find answers to a very broad question: how do Edmonton bookstores get their books? I divided my research into categories: chain bookstores, nontraditional bookstores, independent bookstores, universities, associations, publishers, newspapers. I managed to conduct six interviews which feature industry-sized information, and I’ve sectioned this narrative accordingly. Every person I interviewed loves his or her work and how he or she contributes to Edmonton’s popular print culture.

As I continued my research, it became not so much a question of how Edmonton bookstores get their books, but rather one about who is responsible for the stores having books. In the hidden world of Edmonton’s bookstore there are owners, operators, and leaders of the industry who facilitate the complex communication circuits formed between publishers, printers, and distributors, but who are also just readers and lovers of books, the same as you and I.

Reports

Conclusion

Entering a bookstore, you first notice the books. They’re front and center. Perhaps you note how they’re arranged or how...