Your book is in Barnes & Noble, and you’re complaining?

It was a random post that came across my feeds about how the science fiction and fantasy author Fonda Lee was complaining that she was competing against dead authors. I will grant you that it was an old post, dating back to 2019, but it was one that struck up a bit of negative emotions in me.

In her local Barnes & Noble bookstore, she had discovered that J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert Jordan were taking up roughly four shelves of space. She went on to complain about how there was only one copy of one of her own book on the shelves.

While I understand what it is she's complaining about, what she's trying to highlight to the world at large, my initial reaction was: "Get over it!" As I read through the article, my reaction started to include a level of irritation aimed at Fonda Lee and other writers like her who are complaining about not seeing their books in brick-and-mortar bookstores.

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