The final frontier — Manhattan!
My book, “Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail” was published April 2011 in hardcover and July 2012 in paperback, but my first-ever event in New York City is November 14, presenting with three other authors at a mediabistro evening.
I’m glad to finally have a chance to present the book in NYC, as it’s virtually impossible to get a bookstore or other event there unless you’re a Big Celebrity; 100 authors (!) asked to be chosen for this event, so those odds give you some idea what we’re up against!
The Stand
228 Third Avenue, between 19th and 20th.
6:30 to 8:30p.m.
Few Broadside readers live close enough to stop by, but if you do, I hope you’ll come out!
I’ve been doing a lot of public events in the past few months: The Decatur, Georgia Literary Festival; speaking to 200 retail students and retailers at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; speaking locally to two women’s clubs.
I love meeting readers and potential readers. We all shop and many of us have worked, or are working, in retail, so it’s a subject we can all easily relate to. Retail and foodservice, part-time jobs with no benefits and very low wages, are the two largest sources of new jobs in the U.S.’s still-struggling economy.
“Malled” offers several important stories:
It’s my own story of losing a well-paid staff job, at the New York Daily News, in July 2006 — returning to freelancing — and watching my income plummet to barely one-quarter of my former salary, like many people in the recession.
It’s the story of what it’s like to, even part-time, shift careers from a respected and intellectually-challenging role as a writer to a low-wage hourly worker whose every move is captured on security cameras.
It’s the story of dozens of retail associates around the country, some earning excellent money on commission to a woman in her 50s, with a shiny new master’s degree, making $7.25/hour at a department store in North Carolina.
It’s also the story of how a global supply chain puts workers’ lives and health at risk, like the 30,000 workers in Shenzhen, China who make electronics for Apple, Nokia, Samsung and others; as I was writing the book, 17 workers at Foxconn committed suicide, so appalling were their pay and working conditions; this link is to Wired magazine.
On Black Friday, 2008, on Long Island, a worker who opened the doors to impatient shoppers was trampled to death. His story is in “Malled” as well.
If you buy a print version and would like me to sign it to you or someone else as a gift, email me and I can share my mailing address; it’s also available as an e-book, of course.
I’d really appreciate it if you’d help spread the word about this the event and the book — blogging, Facebook, Tweets. We also have a Malled FB page with timely, updated retail-related stories.
Thanks!
Congratulations, Caitlin! Have fun at the event! ~ Lily
Congratulations on being selected – wishing you a great turnout and success!
Congratulations! I just posted a link to this on my FB page. š
Thanks!
Congratulations! Hope you sell a lot of books.
Thanks much. The goal is not to sell books but put Malled in front of a lot of local/national journalists. Whether they show up is a gamble.
fingers crossed and hope for the best, then.
Congrats! After you had posted on my blog I read your book, loved it, and have commented on your blog a time or two. This time I would like to tell you I am now working retail for the first time as a 59-year-old. Part-time, seasonal, no benefits except for free candy in the breakroom, happy to have a job. They gave me an employee handbook.Your book has now become the real handbook.
What a fantastic compliment! Best of luck in your job. Please be sure and email me to let me know how it’s going?
I’ll be there in spirit! Hope it goes off with a bang š
PS – There seems to be a problem with your Petraeus post – not appearing, can’t find š