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It’s also the ONLY goal you should have as a writer.
So let’s start by saying something bold:
The lesson of Barnes & Noble is the lesson for every writer.
The jazz critic and music historian Ted Gioia has a great piece on Barnes & Noble. It’s expanding. In 2023.
The 136-year-old book retailer owes its expansion to a new CEO, James Daunt, who’d revitalized the British book retailer Waterstone by following one mandate.
In a book store, you should sell great books.
Daunt has applied the same rules to B&N. Gone are the cafés, the toy departments, the schlocky celebrity memoirs at the front entrance. Instead Daunt has store by store and year by year — he took over in 2019 — empowered B&N managers and their staffers to prominently feature the books they like. Sales have surged well beyond pre-pandemic levels and, this year, Barnes & Noble will open 30 new stores across the U.S.
Okay, but what does that have to do with longform writing?
Here’s how I see it.
In this time of resolutions, we’re tempted by the shiny new thing. Could be a podcast we want to start or some screenplay we want to write. There’s nothing wrong with new ventures — if your schedule allows for them. But even if it does bear in…
