ABSTRACT
A merican publishers distribute their books in agonizingly complex ways. Readers can buy books not only in bookstores, but in drug stores, supermarkets, department stores, convenience stores, museums, and a host of specialized retail outlets ranging from art suppliers to computer software dealers. Canvassers regularly knock upon Americans' doors to sell religious books, encyclopedias, or other reference books. Flashing across television screens, commercials promise delivery of refererce books for just a flick of a credit card. A deluge of book advertisements stuffs mailboxes every year and a host of book clubs continually send boolss on approval; as do specialized publishers to school administrators, college teachers, and other professionals. Some books have even transcended covers and paper: increasingly, they can be read in microform or on a CRT screen or can be listened to by the sight-impaired on records or tape. Books stumble along an equally complex path to these numerous outlets; bookstore chains, wholesalers, distributors, and salesmen of every stripe assure that the marketplace will be well-supplied with books.
