You might want to read my previous posts, Meet my new friend Enzo (2) and Somewhere the zebra is dancing (1), before proceeding.
As previously stated, we believe The Art of Racing in the Rain is going to be incredibly popular. I'm having a hard time imagining anyone who won't be entertained by this one. It's neither low-brow nor high-brow, and yet it's accessible in a widely popular way and deeply philosophical, even spiritual.
The people who will love this book can't be pigeonholed because everyone is going to love it. Now, there will be people who, like me, just hate it when the whole world is saying "you have to read this book." That's a dead-certain prescription that will have me refusing to read it. But for those who will give just page one a chance (although I recommend reading the first three chapters in the store - it will take 5-10 minutes, tops), they will be richly rewarded.
I've read no reviews as of yet, but word of mouth will sell this book. It's what we call a "hand sell" independent favorite. The best books are usually the ones recommended by your bookseller. Those are the books that don't open at the top of the lists (James Patterson, etc.), but then those books hardly sell at all in independent bookstores, where the standards of our patrons are higher.
This is also one of those books that probably won't be in paperback for a loooong time because it will continue to sell and sell and sell in hardcover. It will be just the right book for Fathers' Day and it will still be growing when Christmas rolls around. It's actually a tad shorter than most hardcovers, too, so even those who complain about how difficult it is to read hardcovers (an excuse, sez I) will be able to handle it. At 324 pages, it should be easy to finish in about a week, no matter how busy you are. And once you finish it, you'll be recommending it to your friends and family. I hope you'll refer them here.
This is probably a good time to tell you about our new Web initiatives. Alert visitors to http://www.destinationsbooksellers.com/ will have learned about this already, but we've added massive research-and-buy capabilities. Any hour of the day you can log on and find millions of books, CDs, and DVDs, pay with a credit card, and have them sent directly to your home.
But for most of you, we have an even better way to go. Go ahead and research the items you want. Then e-mail us to see if we can't save you money (no discounts on the Web site). We can usually have your books in a day or two, and depending on your current rewards level, you'll get your regular discount. And if you want to send the book to a friend, we can have the book drop-shipped directly to them. We'll pay shipping on hardcovers by media mail --- or you can pay the shipping for expedited delivery.
I honestly think you'll want to send this book to others, so why not just have it shipped? We even have gift-wrapping available on those books shipped from warehouse to "your" house.
LATE BULLETIN: Over the weekend I'll tell you more about The Art of Racing in the Rain, including why that's the title. We sold all but one copy from Friday's shipment. First come (or e-mail), first served for the holiday weekend, but we will reserve copies for delivery next week.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Meet My New Friend Enzo
You'll definitely want to read the previous posting, Somewhere the zebra is dancing, but today I want to clue you in on a totally entertaining novel from Garth Stein.
You may know that we get dozens of advance reader copies of upcoming books. Our publishing friends send us books that they think we will want to order and sell. Sometimes we request them, but most of the time they come in unsolicited. Depending on the source, we quickly scan the books and Mark, Sophie, Ann, and I grab up a stack to take home and read.
The Art of Racing in the Rain does not have a flashy cover. A week ago I didn't even know what the book was about. Ann had picked it up but never got around to reading it, so I threatened that if she didn't start it by the time I finished the history book I was reading, then I would start on it.
That's a real threat, too, because I am notoriously hard on books, particularly paperback galley proofs of books I may or may not plan to stock.
So, Tuesday night, before bed, I started the book. I read more the next day while walking to work, and again today. I've not quite finished it, although I must say the book has turned much darker in its second half.
In any case, that's all I'm going to say on the subject right now. This weekend I'll add some cover art and provide a few more nuggets of wisdom from my new friend Enzo. But here's a tiny taste.
Enzo watches a lot of television and he is very specific about who his favorite actors are. When you read the book (and I'm convinced you will), you'll learn why.
1. Steve McQueen
2. Al Pacino (Enzo loved the remake of Scarface, but it doesn't compare to the Godfather movies, "which are excellent.")
3. Paul Newman (partly because he purchases his palm fruit oil from renewable sources in Colombia and thereby discourages the decimation of vast tracts of rain forest in Borneo and Sumatra.)
4. George Clooney ("...because he looks a little like me around the eyes.")
5. Dustin Hoffman
The first person who can come in to the store and tell me what 1, 2, 3, and 5 have in common, according to Enzo, before buying the book, wins a BookTV t-shirt.
You may know that we get dozens of advance reader copies of upcoming books. Our publishing friends send us books that they think we will want to order and sell. Sometimes we request them, but most of the time they come in unsolicited. Depending on the source, we quickly scan the books and Mark, Sophie, Ann, and I grab up a stack to take home and read.
The Art of Racing in the Rain does not have a flashy cover. A week ago I didn't even know what the book was about. Ann had picked it up but never got around to reading it, so I threatened that if she didn't start it by the time I finished the history book I was reading, then I would start on it.
That's a real threat, too, because I am notoriously hard on books, particularly paperback galley proofs of books I may or may not plan to stock.
So, Tuesday night, before bed, I started the book. I read more the next day while walking to work, and again today. I've not quite finished it, although I must say the book has turned much darker in its second half.
In any case, that's all I'm going to say on the subject right now. This weekend I'll add some cover art and provide a few more nuggets of wisdom from my new friend Enzo. But here's a tiny taste.
Enzo watches a lot of television and he is very specific about who his favorite actors are. When you read the book (and I'm convinced you will), you'll learn why.
1. Steve McQueen
2. Al Pacino (Enzo loved the remake of Scarface, but it doesn't compare to the Godfather movies, "which are excellent.")
3. Paul Newman (partly because he purchases his palm fruit oil from renewable sources in Colombia and thereby discourages the decimation of vast tracts of rain forest in Borneo and Sumatra.)
4. George Clooney ("...because he looks a little like me around the eyes.")
5. Dustin Hoffman
The first person who can come in to the store and tell me what 1, 2, 3, and 5 have in common, according to Enzo, before buying the book, wins a BookTV t-shirt.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Somewhere the Zebra is Dancing
I write this on Wednesday, May 21. With the holiday approaching (do you know that the uberpatriotic South , even to this day, treats Memorial Day as some kind of false holiday? That's a leftover from the Civil War, or the War of Northern Aggression as it's still called in some environs.
But my point is that the Memorial Day holiday means it will be that much more difficult to keep our stock levels up over the weekend. A couple of customers could clean us out on that hot new book you were waiting to read until your next day off.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning is always crunch time at the store. Thursday is the last day we can restock or promise next-day delivery. After 11 a.m., anything that's not in stock can't possibly be delivered before Monday. And a holiday means the delay is to Tuesday. If you want John McCain's Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them or The Host, Stephenie Meyer's venture out of the young adult world where she has been the most popular author of the year to cater to the not-so-young adult market, you might be out of luck if just one person decides now is the time to pick it up.
That's not so bad on a Tuesday, when we can promise it the next day because we will have restocked. And trust me, it is necessary for a local, independent bookstore to carefully manage its inventory - or go broke! So both of those books are down to one copy. If you want it on Saturday, but I sell it on Friday, I can't possibly get another copy until Tuesday.
So?
Well, the problem then becomes that you aren't served. You then start to think "they probably won't have it," and a downward spiral begins. You decide to go elsewhere. I decide that I can't take a risk on a new title because, after all, I only sold one copy of that title last season.
That's the dilemma Ann and I face with the store. We can't "stock up" on a title because we believe in it. We can love it to death, but if our customers divide their purchases among a half-dozen stores, or if the raw number of customers who shop here, or if "our" customers just can't get down to actually browse and see and touch and read the books we pick, then the balloting is over. Local bookstore: Yes or No?
I sometimes tell the story (and reveal what a geek I am) about the old game SimCity. In SimCity you are given a set amount of money with which to build a city. If you build it right, not too fast and not too slow, if you hedge against disaster while investing for a greater future, you can win the game. Such simulations involve taxing and spending and zoning and transforming. And they require a clear vision of what you want your city to become.
So I will ask the listener, if you were building a city from scratch, what would you put in it? Roads. A post office. A church, and then more churches. A school, and then more schools. A university. A swimming pool. A park. Maybe a stadium. Certainly a library.
For your populace, what stores would you build or what businesses would you recruit? A hospital, a drugstore, a gas station, a florist, a jeweler, several groceries. A bookstore. Maybe even a brewery.
You are playing SimCity, if only in an indirect way. By your decisions and choices, you are creating the town you want. If you think your city should have, say, an ethnic restaurant of a certain type (or quality), then maybe you ought to eat there. Certainly you can't personally provide enough business to keep it going. But if you only eat there infrequently, aren't you really saying "I don't think we need, I don't want this restaurant?"
It's a push me-pull you equation. Your patronage allows a store to thrive instead of merely surviving. Your choice to shop locally may permit a business to survive rather than fail. And as more of your neighbors join you in making informed decisions about what kind of city you want, the thriving store might expand. It might offer more frequent programs to enrich your life. It might be able to carry more of what you want, or take risks on new products and services that you could only dream of having available locally.
Ann and I recognize fully that it is not your responsibility to enrich us. It is ours to enrich you. And we continue to try to do just that. We can't be and do everything, but we want to do everything we can to provide you with what you need and want.
By shopping locally first, you tell local businesses you want them in town. It's the most important vote you cast. A thriving business attracts more thriving businesses, and the city benefits from a richer, fuller life. The costs of living in a thriving city are, arguably, less than of living in a moribund one.
So, beginning in June, we're going to invest even more into this business and see whether your vote is yes or no. We don't believe you want us to go away - you just don't know what you're missing.
We're increasing the payroll. We're investing in more stock. And we're going to actively market to you, to expose you to fantastic books you've been missing. This blog (and I've promised it before and failed) will be the kind of place you'll want to visit frequently because it will be filled with something new every day. It might just be a rumination. It might just be a tip. It might be a review or an unsubtle "You've got to see this!"
The phrase that is the title of this post, I believe, will be, by the end of the year, a part of American culture. It's stated by the narrator of the book I'm reading now. I started it late last night and though I've worked a full day today, I'm a third of the way through it. I put in a rush order today with HarperCollins for a major amount of stock, including audiobooks and larger print editions, what Harper calls Luxe.
This book will be, as I predicted today, as big a seller as any sleeper I can remember. Bigger than Marley and Me. Bigger than Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Bigger, maybe, than Tuesdays With Morrie.
At the end of this day, we have one copy of the book. By the weekend we will have another half-dozen copies. By next week we'll have plenty for everybody. But even today, while handselling the book, I asked a patron to leave it on the shelf unless they promised to read it this weekend. I can sell it to you, who will, and sell it to him, who won't, next week.
Remember this blog post. Somewhere the zebra is dancing. That which you manifest is before you. Give me my thumbs, you f---ing monkeys! The field is fertile - beware. I embrace the fertility.
Tomorrow, I'll offer you more. For now, I'm going to finish my reading.
But my point is that the Memorial Day holiday means it will be that much more difficult to keep our stock levels up over the weekend. A couple of customers could clean us out on that hot new book you were waiting to read until your next day off.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning is always crunch time at the store. Thursday is the last day we can restock or promise next-day delivery. After 11 a.m., anything that's not in stock can't possibly be delivered before Monday. And a holiday means the delay is to Tuesday. If you want John McCain's Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them or The Host, Stephenie Meyer's venture out of the young adult world where she has been the most popular author of the year to cater to the not-so-young adult market, you might be out of luck if just one person decides now is the time to pick it up.
That's not so bad on a Tuesday, when we can promise it the next day because we will have restocked. And trust me, it is necessary for a local, independent bookstore to carefully manage its inventory - or go broke! So both of those books are down to one copy. If you want it on Saturday, but I sell it on Friday, I can't possibly get another copy until Tuesday.
So?
Well, the problem then becomes that you aren't served. You then start to think "they probably won't have it," and a downward spiral begins. You decide to go elsewhere. I decide that I can't take a risk on a new title because, after all, I only sold one copy of that title last season.
That's the dilemma Ann and I face with the store. We can't "stock up" on a title because we believe in it. We can love it to death, but if our customers divide their purchases among a half-dozen stores, or if the raw number of customers who shop here, or if "our" customers just can't get down to actually browse and see and touch and read the books we pick, then the balloting is over. Local bookstore: Yes or No?
I sometimes tell the story (and reveal what a geek I am) about the old game SimCity. In SimCity you are given a set amount of money with which to build a city. If you build it right, not too fast and not too slow, if you hedge against disaster while investing for a greater future, you can win the game. Such simulations involve taxing and spending and zoning and transforming. And they require a clear vision of what you want your city to become.
So I will ask the listener, if you were building a city from scratch, what would you put in it? Roads. A post office. A church, and then more churches. A school, and then more schools. A university. A swimming pool. A park. Maybe a stadium. Certainly a library.
For your populace, what stores would you build or what businesses would you recruit? A hospital, a drugstore, a gas station, a florist, a jeweler, several groceries. A bookstore. Maybe even a brewery.
You are playing SimCity, if only in an indirect way. By your decisions and choices, you are creating the town you want. If you think your city should have, say, an ethnic restaurant of a certain type (or quality), then maybe you ought to eat there. Certainly you can't personally provide enough business to keep it going. But if you only eat there infrequently, aren't you really saying "I don't think we need, I don't want this restaurant?"
It's a push me-pull you equation. Your patronage allows a store to thrive instead of merely surviving. Your choice to shop locally may permit a business to survive rather than fail. And as more of your neighbors join you in making informed decisions about what kind of city you want, the thriving store might expand. It might offer more frequent programs to enrich your life. It might be able to carry more of what you want, or take risks on new products and services that you could only dream of having available locally.
Ann and I recognize fully that it is not your responsibility to enrich us. It is ours to enrich you. And we continue to try to do just that. We can't be and do everything, but we want to do everything we can to provide you with what you need and want.
By shopping locally first, you tell local businesses you want them in town. It's the most important vote you cast. A thriving business attracts more thriving businesses, and the city benefits from a richer, fuller life. The costs of living in a thriving city are, arguably, less than of living in a moribund one.
So, beginning in June, we're going to invest even more into this business and see whether your vote is yes or no. We don't believe you want us to go away - you just don't know what you're missing.
We're increasing the payroll. We're investing in more stock. And we're going to actively market to you, to expose you to fantastic books you've been missing. This blog (and I've promised it before and failed) will be the kind of place you'll want to visit frequently because it will be filled with something new every day. It might just be a rumination. It might just be a tip. It might be a review or an unsubtle "You've got to see this!"
The phrase that is the title of this post, I believe, will be, by the end of the year, a part of American culture. It's stated by the narrator of the book I'm reading now. I started it late last night and though I've worked a full day today, I'm a third of the way through it. I put in a rush order today with HarperCollins for a major amount of stock, including audiobooks and larger print editions, what Harper calls Luxe.
This book will be, as I predicted today, as big a seller as any sleeper I can remember. Bigger than Marley and Me. Bigger than Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Bigger, maybe, than Tuesdays With Morrie.
At the end of this day, we have one copy of the book. By the weekend we will have another half-dozen copies. By next week we'll have plenty for everybody. But even today, while handselling the book, I asked a patron to leave it on the shelf unless they promised to read it this weekend. I can sell it to you, who will, and sell it to him, who won't, next week.
Remember this blog post. Somewhere the zebra is dancing. That which you manifest is before you. Give me my thumbs, you f---ing monkeys! The field is fertile - beware. I embrace the fertility.
Tomorrow, I'll offer you more. For now, I'm going to finish my reading.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Indie Film? In New Albany?
I'll admit I was shocked. Shocked, I say, to discover that independent film was returning to New Albany. Last time I looked, Constituency for Progress was putting on the COLDEST outdoor screening of "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" ever recorded. And they showed it twice, despite several near cases of hypothermia.Hoosiers for a Common Sense Health Plan, joined by CFP and your local independent booksellers, are offering Michael Moore's "Sicko," an entertaining and provocative documentary about America's health care environment, where not only the children but millions of others are "Left Behind."
Huzzah, Hooray, Kudos. And thank you.
DETAILS: Thursday, April 3, at 7 p.m. The film is a little over two hours long and the time will pass rapidly when accompanied by the brew and repast par excellence provided by host Rich O's, off Grant Line Road on Plaza Drive in New Albany. We'll close the store a few minutes early to get over to the No. 6 beer bar in the world, order a Big Ten pizza and a couple of Electors.
It will be fun to reconnect with our old friends from Constituency for Progress and our new friends from Hoosiers for a Common Sense Health Plan, co-sponsors of this amazing film. While everyone in attendance won't agree as to who should lead our country forward, you can count on a common wish for COMMON SENSE when it comes to collectively providing health care for all.
If there's one thing we've learned, it is that the so-called free market is destroying lives. Our duty to our fellow man requires that we join to provide a common sense health plan that leaves no one behind.
Don't believe me? Come watch the film with us and then tell me where I'm off-base. Or just enjoy the food, libations, and company. I guarantee you won't find a more literate, compassionate, and rational gathering of souls than at this singular event.
I'm reminded of the query, "What Would Jesus Do?" I'm convinced he'd be there at Rich O's on Thursday night.
But this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Oddest Title for 2008
Bookseller magazine has announced the winner of its competition for oddest book title of the year. Are you ready?
If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs, by Big Boom.
Big Boom claims to be a man, but the advice seems pretty universal.
The Diagram Prize has been awarded since 1978 by the British publication. Runners-up were I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen and Cheese Problems Solved.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wow! Looks Like Fun
You'll have to wait until October, but...
...and yes, we are taking pre-publication orders. It's priced at $19.95 right now and we'll honor that price even if it changes.
You also might want to take a sneak peek at the dramatic change at www.destinationsbooksellers.com.
...and yes, we are taking pre-publication orders. It's priced at $19.95 right now and we'll honor that price even if it changes.
You also might want to take a sneak peek at the dramatic change at www.destinationsbooksellers.com.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Daniels, Legislature Besiege Booksellers...and Freedom
OK. Now I'm just slightly calmer than I was an hour ago. Patrons, friends - even strangers - need to know that yours local bookseller is now under the impending threat of arrest.
That's right. If I don't register my bookstore with the state and outline all the sexually explicit materials I sell (and pay $250 for the privilege), the state will arrest me. Presumably, they will shut me down.
Now, I'm told by my lawyers that the actual statute applies to "new" bookstores, those who aren't already established. That means it would apply to the satellite store and the other full-service bookstore we plan to open.
Well, you might say, what's so wrong with that?
Let's just for a moment take a look at a few of the books that would qualify as "sexually explicit."
Hoosier Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy would top the list. The Holy Bible certainly contains sexually explicit material. Our Bodies, Ourselves is clearly sexually explicit as are any number of parenting guides that help people teach their children about their bodies.
Take a look at this list from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression as part of this year's list of banned books, many of which would have to be documented to the state of Indiana, Floyd County, New Albany, and the various zoning boards.
Please read this article from The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
ABFFE Condemns Indiana Bookstore Registration Law
On March 25, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) condemned a new Indiana law that requires mainstream bookstores to register with the government if they sell “sexually explicit materials.”
“Sexually explicit” is defined so broadly that the law could apply to bookstores that sell mainstream novels and other artistic works with sexual content as well as educational books about sexuality and sexual health. H.B. 1042 was signed into law last week by Governor Mitch Daniels. “It is un-American to force booksellers to register with the government based on the kinds of books they carry,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said. “It is also unconstitutional, and we intend to do everything we can to challenge this violation of the First Amendment rights of Indiana booksellers and their customers.”
Finan said ABFFE will ask the Media Coalition to file a legal challenge to the Indiana law. Media Coalition defends the rights of businesses that produce and distribute books, magazines, movies, videos, recordings and video games that are protected by the First Amendment. Its members include ABFFE, the Association of American Publishers, and the Freedom to Read Foundation.
That's right. If I don't register my bookstore with the state and outline all the sexually explicit materials I sell (and pay $250 for the privilege), the state will arrest me. Presumably, they will shut me down.
Now, I'm told by my lawyers that the actual statute applies to "new" bookstores, those who aren't already established. That means it would apply to the satellite store and the other full-service bookstore we plan to open.
Well, you might say, what's so wrong with that?
Let's just for a moment take a look at a few of the books that would qualify as "sexually explicit."
Hoosier Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy would top the list. The Holy Bible certainly contains sexually explicit material. Our Bodies, Ourselves is clearly sexually explicit as are any number of parenting guides that help people teach their children about their bodies.
Take a look at this list from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression as part of this year's list of banned books, many of which would have to be documented to the state of Indiana, Floyd County, New Albany, and the various zoning boards.
Please read this article from The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
ABFFE Condemns Indiana Bookstore Registration Law
On March 25, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) condemned a new Indiana law that requires mainstream bookstores to register with the government if they sell “sexually explicit materials.”
“Sexually explicit” is defined so broadly that the law could apply to bookstores that sell mainstream novels and other artistic works with sexual content as well as educational books about sexuality and sexual health. H.B. 1042 was signed into law last week by Governor Mitch Daniels. “It is un-American to force booksellers to register with the government based on the kinds of books they carry,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said. “It is also unconstitutional, and we intend to do everything we can to challenge this violation of the First Amendment rights of Indiana booksellers and their customers.”
Finan said ABFFE will ask the Media Coalition to file a legal challenge to the Indiana law. Media Coalition defends the rights of businesses that produce and distribute books, magazines, movies, videos, recordings and video games that are protected by the First Amendment. Its members include ABFFE, the Association of American Publishers, and the Freedom to Read Foundation.
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