It felt like a rare, and momentous moment in a young writer’s life. While working at Routledge I happened to notice that the New York Public Library did not have a copy of A Reassessment of Asherah in their catalog. The first edition was published in Germany, so I wasn’t surprised that it was not there. Gorgias Press, however, had published a second edition and few people were citing it. I contacted the office on Fifth Avenue and offered to donate a copy. A librarian contacted me and we set up a time. I went between the stone lions (Patience and Fortitude by name), met my contact, and handed my work over without ceremony. He seemed genuinely glad to have the book and I felt like I’d made a small contribution to a big city.
When I need a pick-me-up I look at WorldCat. WorldCat is a conglomeration of library catalogues where you can find just about any book, including obscure ones, such as mine. I recently hopped on to see how many libraries had Holy Horror. (The answer is 90.) While there I decided to check my others. Nightmares with the Bible registered 68. These numbers aren’t bad considering neither publisher markets the books and they’re priced too high. The Wicker Man is still new and is only in 42. What surprised me was when I looked back. A Reassessment of Asherah is in 305 (total for both editions, one being in the New York Public Library). What really surprised me was Weathering the Psalms, which 324 libraries claim. Since it’s priced under $30, maybe there is something to the idea people will buy books if they can afford them. As an editor I know that sales of monograph over 300 are considered successful. Two of my books qualify.
Publishers don’t share sales information. I can look up those at my current publisher, and I can check some on Nielsen’s BookScan (now called NDP BookScan), the service publishers use to get an idea of other publishers’ sales. That’s the same Nielsen that does television ratings, by the way. Searching my own titles there is too depressing, so I stick to library catalogues. Libraries are feel-good places. (I couldn’t help but notice that Princeton has all my books—thank you, Tigers! The seminary has my first two, but the university has my books on horror films.) I can just feel all the ideas in the air. And I’m humbled to have contributed to them in a way, no matter how small.