The rules of shelving can seem arbitrary, even arcane, but the fundamentals are easy to learn: two hard covers, and no more than three paperbacks of the same title, on each shelf. The exception is the face-out. If the jacket is displayed horizontally, behind it you can stack as many books as can fit.
Over at the Atlantic, novelist and independent bookshop employee Susan Coll looks at how the shelving and positioning of a book within a store can mean success (or demise) for a writer.
