Today I was in the MPH bookshop in Midvalley. I wanted to buy the book "The Gift of Rain" by Malaysian Author Tan Twan Eng, a novel set in war-torn Penang. It is published in UK, and has been reviewed, reasonably favourably, by the Times Literary Supplement. Seems like an author that Malaysia can be proud of, right?
And the bookstore was hung with posters saying: "Proud to be Malaysian". It was a "Buy Malaysian and get a discount" promo...
Now I know I am clueless. All I could remember was that it was by someone surnamed Tan, and I thought Eng was in his personal name. And I couldn't remember the name of the book, but I knew what the story was about and that it was published in UK recently. Should have been enough for them to recognise what book - surely Malaysian bookshops would want to promote that rare commodity, a Malaysian getting overseas attentions and kudos. How many have we had over the past 10 years? Enough to use all the fingers on one hand? And this was a 2007 publication. All told, I asked 4 assistants and they consulted 2 computers - nope, never heard of him or his book.
I eventually found it myself. And I scolded the shop assistants for not living up to their own promo. Tan, I hope they listened.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Lost Gift!
Aiyoh MPH - so much for promoting local authors! Glenda has a very hard time finding The Gift of Rain:
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16 comments:
MPH search is very broken, should have a better search.
In all fairness, if you deal with 50,000 books you can't possibly know what all of them are about or who wrote all of them. And they were let down by their search, which is really really bad :P
in fairness - yes you can and should expect a bookshop to be able to find exactly where copies are and quickly. this is what bookshops are for!
and even more so when we are talking about a book written by a local author who is enjoying success overseas. (he reached 64th bestseller on amazon.co.uk recently)
I'm sure they could have found it if they knew the name of the author or the title.
Seriously Bib, do you really mean to say that if I walked into any big bookshop anywhere in the world and asked for say, a book by someone called Jones, who wrote about the jungle and natives and people having tea, they'd be able to find the right one ?
In a small bookshop (like Raman's) maybe he would be able to. But with possibly hundreds of thousands of books, how would anyone be able to locate it with just part of a name and a vague idea of what it's about ?
A book store is where you go to find lots of books, not where you go to have someone else find them for you.
I'm not arguing with anyone here, I just can't see how that would be possible. If you can tell me how that can be achieved (without a computerized search) I'd really love to know about it.
It is disheartening to read about such lapses. I think if an author spends a lot of effort promoting a novel, to bring some recognition not only to himself , but also to his/her own country, then it's sad that he or she is let down by such a lack of awareness on the part of a major bookseller. ESPECIALLY if the bookshop has been making a lot of fanfare about celebrating Malaysian arts and linking it with the anniversary of its independence.
It's not possible to know all the titles in one's stock, yes, but as there's a campaign on to promote Malaysian writers by the same bookseller, this is a serious oversight on the management's part to train its staff well.
True, one doesn't have to love/read books to work in a bookshop (witness Borders' infamous manageress in KL!)but one should at least know what one is selling.
Thanks for blogging about this, Sharon and Glenda. Unfortunately, as I'm not in the country, I rely on friends and booklovers to bring such things to my attention so I can inform the bookshops.
Tan Twan Eng
Well, I suppose it can be argued that "Buy Malaysian" means "buy books made in Malaysia" and not "buy books published by local authors overseas". I suppose that's what most people mean.
MPH should've taken the initiative to 'display' the book in accordance with their signs-- however from an economical or marketing perspective, I can see anon's (above) point.
I suppose it depends on whether or not the term 'Buy Malaysian' in a bookstore is intended to promote the Malaysian book/publishing market or the Malaysian literary spirit. Eitherways, a book's a book, regardless of the promo. The store should've been able to find it by it's name alone using their internal search engine.
sorry, but how long has Glenda lived in Malaysia? :P
shouldn't she know the standard practice by now?
try walking into any music store and asking for a John Coltrane album. they'll probably direct you to an album by rock band Train.
Viz
Instead of just having bookstore assistants, MPH and the other big bookstores should consider having book specialists among their assistants. That way, all the books will be covered. If someone walks in and needs help on Malaysian fiction, they will be directed to the specialist in charge of Malaysian fiction who will be expected to know what Malaysian fiction and writers are in the bookstore. Being familiar with one area of the bookstore should be easier than being familiar with the entire bookstore.
the problem is, these book "specialists" would also mean higher salaries. the stores would rather hire cheaper labour in the form of part-time students, etc.
Viz
I was at the last Times warehouse sales in PJ. The staff were arranging the books & I overheard this rather scary conversation (translated from BM to English):-
A: Is this fiction or non-fiction?
B: How can this be fiction - it's a novel!
A: How about this? Is it fiction or non-fiction?
C: It's a comic book lah ...
I kid you not. I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.
Hmmmm...but the M in MPH stands for Malaysia, correct? So I walk into MALAYSIA Publishing House, ask for a MALAYSIAN writer's work, and I draw blank stares?
The M stands for Music.
I think.
Does not! Ussed to stand for 'Methodist', but they changed it to 'Malaysia'...
orignally stood for methodist publishing house then changed to malaya publishing house and then malaysian publishing house and now just mph. history here.
sadly.... this is true to a lot of books, cds, movies stores where the people working there are working for the $$$ and there is no love for the things they are sell. I bet, some of these folks don't even read a book a year. Thus, their knowledge of the products they are selling is zip.
woofie
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