I'm not ready for Halloween

It's January, you say? As I immerse myself in the Summer 2008 publisher catalogs, I find it hard to believe you.

Why on earth am I reading about books that will be published so many months from now? Because, that's the way the industry works. As a book buyer, you have to order books incredibly far in advance to ensure that they arrive on the doorstep of your bookstore the minute they're published.

But wait, it's worse than you think. I'm not reading about books that have anything to do with summer. Those books were in the Spring 2008 catalogs, of course, which we ordered from in October 2007. I'm reading blurbs (and advance reading copies) of books about the first day of school and Halloween. HALLOWEEN!!

I'm just not ready to think about Halloween yet. For starters, it just happened. We just got the Halloween books from this year out of the store. And it's nine months away. I'm still recovering from Christmas.

If you're frustrated that Valentine's Day displays are already appearing in stores, just be thankful that the retail industry doesn't operate as far ahead as the publishing industry.

Off I go to read about ghosts and pumpkins.