books on broadway

self publisher, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

For the past 7 years, Brett Dean McGibbon has been selling his books in front of the Broadway News on Broadway. He pulls up a card table, covers it with his laser printed, leather bound books, and strikes up conversations.

One of his books, Lucifer's Redemption, is about the devil, born on earth with one weakness, the human heart. It's a tale of crossing the United States on a motorcycle, Alaskan fishing boats and falling in love with God in a woman. I only got the quick pitch on the book, but I did get to talk to him a little bit about self publishing and his experience on Broadway.

Apparently, the online world hasn't worked for Brett. He has a website (www.differentfish.com), but he tells me that for the most part, it doesn't generate sales at all. His direct method of selling has sold thousands of books and makes enough for him to live on. In our short talk, it made complete sense. He's passionate about his work, is proud of his product, and has the temerity to sit alone at a table in Seattle and not only strike up a conversation, but attempt to sell a product to strangers. He handed me a small piece of paper with a passage from his book.

Apparently, like a seed, for the stubborn like me, the hard shell of the heart must crack, be broken before anything worthwhile can bloom...

He told me that once he gave these slips (and he has a stack of hundreds) to spare changers, so they could give something out instead of just asking for money. Later he asked if it had helped or hurt. They told him that when asking for change, they could expect indifference, but by handing out anything, they garnered hostility.

It's funny, at first I feigned surprise, but it really isn't all that surprising. Walking down Broadway every day, I am bombarded by people asking for change, trying to sell me a newspaper, wanting to tell me a story (which is usually a longer, more involved form of panhandle or scam), hand me a flier for a shop or a service. If I accept the flier, I'm stuck with it. It'll go in my pocket, and get put on my bookshelf when I get home, with a pile of receipts and other pocket offal. It will probably get tossed in a box of papers to be sorted, shredded or filed, which will almost certainly be forgotten and stored as-is. Years later, I'll see it for the first time, and think "wow. that is a really good deal on Doc Martens, why did The Cramp close anyway?"

All in all, Brett is an interesting, charismatic face on the north end of Broadway. If you're interested in picking up a book, you can renew his faith in the Internet by picking one up at his online store, or you can drop by the Broadway News on a Friday and he'll show you what he's got available and hook you up with a signed copy. If you're not interested in his book, that's OK too, but don't be mean to him when you walk by. He's a nice guy.