Two words:  KAREN VAIL

Okay, more detail . . . ALAN JACOBSON’S KAREN VAIL

Virginia and I first met Alan Jacobson a couple of years ago when he came to the PNBA to promote The 7th Victim, his first Karen Vail novel.  Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the book I was anxious to meet him.  We met at the convention hotel prior to the event, and got to know him while he signed books for us.   Since that first meeting we have come to enjoy a friendship with Alan as I continue to be impressed with his work.

Last years Crush took FBI profiler Vail west to wine country as she gets pulled into a case involving a serial killer in Napa Valley.  Alan uses the wine industry, its people, and its locale as characters in the novel, bringing the story to life.  Crush concludes with the story still raging, with many questions unanswered.  Somewhat frustrating for the reader, but as Alan explained at the time, “the story was just too big to be told in one book.”

So I waited.  Yes, I waited a whole year.  A few weeks ago I received an advance copy of Velocity, and it was truly worth the wait.   I immediately decided that this series deserves special treatment, and that we needed to acknowledge Alan’s work in way to get you to read the first two Karen Vail mysteries, get sucked in . . . anxious for the third, and NOT have to wait a whole year to be rewarded by the finale.

We have designed a special limited production collector package that features all three Karen Vail mysteries housed in a specially designed slipcase with an exclusive introduction written by Alan Jacobson.   Subscribe now and we will immediately ship to you signed first edition copies of The 7th Victim and Crush so that you can start reading.  Early in October we will send you Velocity, Alan’s exclusive introduction, and the deluxe slipcase to house your collection.   These are books you must have, by an author you must come to know, offering stories and characters that will astonish you, in a format to grace your collection.   I spoke with Alan recently and he agreed to produce the video below to introduce this collection.  Please enjoy it and pass it on to other booklovers!

John

A Commentary On Price Wars On Bestselling Books

We love books, we promote books, and yes, we sell books.  Our mission statement is to deliver to our customer an innovative approach to bookselling that recognizes the love of books that resides in all collectors.

Now this may seem like a trivial point, but we sell books because we love books . . . not the other way around.  From this vantage point we do not discriminate between blockbuster titles by bestselling authors and the new author delivering his or her first novel.  In fact we rely on the new author to fuel the excitement that brings our customer back to see what’s new.

This year we have brought you Abandon by Blake Crouch, Crush by Alan Jacobson, A Quiet Belief in Angels by R. J. Ellory, and The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny, just to mention a few.  These are all noteworthy books that would normally get lost in the big market stores who use their clout and buying power to push more James Patterson, John Grisham, Michael Crichton, and other mainstream titles at us in attempt to gain or secure market share.

Similarly, NY publisher editorial staffs select for publication those authors and titles that fit this limited view of “what will sell,” driving market trends rather that listening to what the reader really wants to read.  The result is a “dumbing down” of literature, and we end up with what I refer to as “airplane reads,” books that get read and thrown away.

For the record, we also rely on big selling books to provide us with the capital we need to offer a broader selection to our customers.  Sales of those big books allow us to comb through the hundreds of new titles each year and bring understated, infrequently advertised quality writing to your attention.  Michael Connelly was unknown when Little, Brown introduced us to Harry Bosch in The Black Echo, and John Grisham sold A Time To Kill from the trunk of his car to independent bookstores across the south.  We believe that tomorrow’s hottest authors are now residing in the new release flyers we send to you twice a week.

A lot of talk is spreading throughout the industry, outrage over the predatory pricing being used by Wal-mart, Amazon, and Target to gain a larger share of the market.  Unfair practices by these behemoths threaten the future of bookselling.  They can sell books either below their costs, or through backroom agreements with publishers, to bring customers to their stores to buy other products that they offer.  “Loss leaders” are not new, but this goes beyond such practices.  They are robbing the small independent bookstore of profits necessary to enable them to bring the full range of titles worthy our consideration to their shelves.

So we are asking you to refrain from buying these two or three books from the superstores.  Please buy these titles from your local independent bookseller.  Reward them with your business and they, like us, will guarantee you more to choose from in the years ahead.

All best wishes and good reading,

John

The Dead Eyes Killer lurks in the backyard of the famed FBI Profiling Unit. His brutal murders confound the local task force, despite the gifted profiling skills of Special Agent Karen Vail. 
 
With material meticulously researched during seven years of study with the Bureau’s vaunted profiling unit, Alan Jacobson brings refreshing realism and unprecedented accuracy to his pages.  The 7th Victim is a page-turner as only Alan Jacobson can write, with a stunning twist of an ending that will satisfy even the most discerning thriller reader. 

See Alan Jacobson titles at www.vjbooks.com

(jverse.com, Nov. 16, Jeff Carlson)

Here’s a freak twist of fate for you. I can see Alan Jacobson’s house from my front yard. He lives on the street across from us, and, through bad fortune, is also much closer to the new construction than I am. The 5000 sq. ft. monster-mansion is basically done… but the shack on the next property down the hill has also sold, and someone else is knocking it down as well as cutting out a lot of brush and trees. Welcome to the war zone! Chainsaws! Bulldozers! Hammers in the sky!

In the meantime, Alan is writing kick-ass, bestselling, twists-and-turns (more…)