Another Friday, and here I was on the Starbucks line, waiting for my choice of word-inspiring ambrosia. As the line inched along, I gazed longingly at the pastry shelf next to the counter. Then, with more discipline than it takes to sit down at the computer, I tore my eyes away from the brownies with everything and forced my head toward the opposite shelf.

There stood a three-tiered, eye-catching green and yellow display stand-- not of less damaging Danish or modest biscotti-- but of a book! Was the management suggesting we drink in words with our brew?

I knew Starbucks had branched out beyond the coffees and confections to a few CDs. They were also displayed near the counter conveniently at arms-reach height: Never Too Latté to Love, When They Begin the Beans, Rock and Seeded Rolls, Ground Around the Clock, Let Me Espresso Myself, Strawberry Bagels Forever. But books?

Oh, I get it, I thought. It's some novelty item, a tie-in with the thousands of coffee blends they offer, or maybe a Rachel Ray special on 30-second syrups to fringe your frappucino. But curiosity aroused, although still 53^rd on line, I darted out, plucked a copy off the stand, and darted back. I was sure it was a hastily thrown-together book by a Starbucks whipped-cream squirter turned VP and published with some vaguely disguised name like Finely Ground Press. From the white sticker on the lower right corner of the back I was sure: "Starbucks, $22.00."

On the front cover smiled out an engaging young African man. His name, like the special blends they offer, was appealingly exotic-- Ishmael Beah-- but the title, to my puzzlement, was moving and provocative: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.

I flipped to the title page to confirm my superior supposition and almost fell into the man in front of me. The publisher was a major house, Farrar Straus Giroux! By now, of course, everyone knows the book's been a bestseller, probably to be made into a History Channel miniseries. Yes, I should have recognized the title, but I've long made a protective practice of avoiding all book sections and reviews (jealousy breeds blocks).

I looked up again at the three tiers displaying many copies of the book. Crowning the top tier stood a cardboard placard, a testimony in pseudo-handwriting and scrawled initials:

Beautiful, eloquent and moving. You must read this book.

                                                                        --JM

Without even caring about JM's identity (probably fictional anyway), and, I'm ashamed to say, not even caring to learn more about the book's subject, I saw this as a marketing coup. Sure, the requisite multiple-copy pyramids balance on tables at Borders and Barnes & Noble. But I bet there's more exposure in Starbucks than in a dozen bookstores.

Figure it out. In this mall alone, the Starbucks is open during mall hours, 11 hours a day, 6 days a week, and 8 hours on Sundays. That's 77 hours a week, or an average of 11 hours a day. Rivaling all the enticements of all the shops, it's a very busy Starbucks.

Later, finally settled at my table with steamy ambrosia in hand, instead of writing, for a half hour I counted 40 people on line, craning to see how many people were in front of them, shifting feet, buying. That's 80 people an hour, times 11, 440 a day. Times 77, that's 6,160 a week. Okay, maybe the mall is closed on major holidays-- New Year's, Easter, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Superbowl. It's still open 359 days a year, times 11, times 80 people an hour. In a year, that's 315,920 pairs of eyes seeing the three tiers of copies of that book!

And these are only the people on line. Think about the chronic Starbuckians, the ones you see every single time you go, no matter what time of day. They reel off the most complex orders with barely blinking élan and get up only for chain refills. For hours, they sit at the little tables, alternately crossing their legs every twenty minutes so they don't stiffen up completely. These addicts count for at least two of every line-waiter.

So here's a great new untapped market. How many Starbucks are there? Across the U.S., an almost uncountable number, with more frothing up all the time. Abroad, they've taken up ex-pat residence in 41 countries, from Bahrain to Turkey, with the grande plan to get into ever more countries. A colleague at a university in Bangkok as a visiting professor emailed me that when he used his Starbucks "credit" card there, they assured him that any remaining baht could be converted to dollars on his return.

With such international exposure, if Ishmael crosses the seas, a little more arithmetic will yield a truly taste bud-boggling number of eyes on his book.

Granted, not all owners of these eyes will buy the book, but I guarantee that their brains will subliminally record something about those three tiers of Ishmael.

The next question is, How did that single book get to such a Starbucks-studded position at the front of the line? True to the company's humanitarian sensitivity (one of the mission statement's guiding principles is "Contribute positively to our communities and our environment"), they choose a book with social value. And the company donates $2 of each sale to a designated charity. In this case, consistent with the book's author and theme, it's UNICEF.

So writers, the next question is how can we increase the exposure of our books, whether they're socially redeeming or sociably entertaining (everyone sometimes needs a break)? How about short readings to serenade the sippers? Or a bubbly Q&A for the fans of extra foamy? Or a slab of delicious intimacy for those who dip into People dunking their Danish-- "How I wrote my book on nonstop-nonfat-maple-cinnamon-chocolate-quad-shot macchiato con panna"? 

We could offer to bring our own displays. If they can put up one three-tiered stand, they can place more. In our country's present obesity pandemic, we'd be doing a public service by positioning our display in front of the all those fat-packed brownies and frosted, chip-gorged cake wedges.

And what about a display next to each table? Many lonely people try to fill their souls with double cappuccinos. What more compassionate gesture than to offer them wo/man's best silent friend-- a book?

And why not two more displays flanking the entrance? After all, in the centuries-old tradition of European literary cafés, books and coffee have always enjoyed a mutually satisfying liaison. We all know plenty of writers, from J. K. Rowling to this author, who've staked out squatters' rights in much more commonplace coffee shops to work on the unremitting magnum opi. And as a gesture of your gratitude, with Starbucks-like largesse, you could donate a (small) portion of your increased book sales to the NFFDDW (National Fund For Donut-Depleted Writers).

Do you need more to convince you? Everyone is crazed with coffee, an addiction that will only increase given the newest studies that once more reverse previous ironclad findings. Now, instead of declaring that caffeine induces cancer, it protects you from it, as well as heart disease, memory loss, and excess hairiness. With this coffee renaissance and our proliferating displays, exposure of our work could almost rival the Internet. Book sales could even nudge out coffee sales, and the store could then change its name legally to the title of this piece.

Looking ahead to ever more venti vistas, when your book is fully ensconced between the order and pickup counters, you could branch out. Place displays and schedule readings in your local diners, restaurants, tofu stands, and Laundromats (no one can read The Inquirer all the time).

So, with all the proof here, offering your book to Starbucks adds another piece of artillery to your marketing arsenal. If enough of us do it, we'll not only coax their name change but could even spearhead a revolution where reading could rival coffee as the national addiction. Then think of your sales!

Noelle Sterne’s latest hard-copy magazine piece, on the virtues of not reading while you’re writing, appears in March issue of The Writer. Writer, editor, writing coach, and academic consultant, Noelle Sterne holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in English and Comparative Literature. She has published fiction, essays, poems, and writer’s craft articles in many magazines and online resources, including Absolute Write, ByLine, Children’s Book Insider, Writer’s Digest special issues, Writers’ Journal, The Writer, and, most recently, the 2008 Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market. Her children's book, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks: A Book of Dinosaur Riddles (HarperCollins) was in print for 18 years and featured in the first dinosaur show of the PBS television children's series "Reading Rainbow." In 2006, a short story won an award and was published in the CrossTIME Anthology, Vol. V. She continues to write and publish motivational and how-to articles for writers, with additional pieces scheduled in national magazines for 2007 and beyond. Current nonfiction projects include a book based on her academic consulting practice, Grad U: How to Survive and Succeed in Graduate School, Get Your Degree, and Ease the Trip for Yourself and Everyone Who Has to Live with You; a book specifically for children’s writers, Give Great Children’s Presentations; and a collection of essays for all writers, First You Find Your Desk: Start Writing and Keep Writing with Less Agony and More Joy.

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