Malcolm Gladwell, longtime contributor to theNew Yorker and author of several books, spoke to a room full of independent booksellers about underdogs, the theme for his next book.  According to a recent “Shelf Awareness” article, a basketball team of adolescent girls in Menlo Park, CA, inspired the author, pictured at left, to rethink what it means to be an underdog.  Despite being the offspring of “many generations of nerds,” and gifted with very little in the way of passing and shooting skills, the team managed to climb their way to the championship games in their region by surprising their opponents with fierce and aggressive defense.  Their coach’s advice?  Be “like maniacs.”

Gladwell spoke about underdogs being “in the position to innovate and break rules,” and cited the biblical story of David and Goliath, where David defeats Goliath by tricking Goliath intothinking his sword more lethal than a simple slingshot.

When asked if booksellers could be likened to David and Amazon to Goliath, Gladwell replied, “Amazon might be a special case…It’s not a business, it’s a business-like activity. It seems to exist in its own universe and is given a pass.” He joked, “I would love it if the government would give me 20 years to decide if I wanted to pay taxes.”

But Gladwell also said he believed Amazon’s reach has limits, and that small booksellers offer an intimacy and care of selection that is lacking at Amazon.

That kind of careful attention is what we do at Fuze as we select our manuscripts, ever mindful of our mission to “launch fresh voices” and “challenge the status quo.”

Read the entire “Shelf Awareness” Article.

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Written by: Fuze Publishing on March 30, 2013.