The Devil's Accountant

Hi Paul, Great post. I agree that Mike Shatzkin i...

2010-07-29T21:36:48.641-04:00

Hi Paul,

Great post. I agree that Mike Shatzkin is oddly dismissive when he makes the blanket assessment that when indie booksellers sell eBooks it won't help them continue in business as print booksellers. I think his point is that the big publishers will have lost so much access to the market--with the collapse in chainstore shelf space--that these publishers won't be printing much in the way of print books for indie booksellers to try to sell. I was arguing with him that the collapse of chainstores will herald a rebirth of indie bookstores--which could forestall the decline in print-book publishing that he was forecasting. He disagreed heartily. I was delighted that Richard Howorth came into the conversation and pointed to Jack McKeown's extensive research this past year showing that people across the country love local bookstores and say they would shop there if they had them. Since Jack and Richard are, like Mike Shatzkin, longtime leading figures in bookselling and publishing, their opinions and data can be reasonably weighed against Mike's. Jack even opened a bookstore (he was CEO of Perseus Publishing up till a couple of years ago) on Long Island, just a month ago.

Jack proposed a few months ago that there should be a National Bookstore Investment Bank founded using capital supplied by players like Ingram. He thinks that there's huge latent demand nationwide for more indie booksellers and it is only the very tight banking/credit markets that are restraining this. I agree with him -- I think that the eBook revolution will in fact be taken in stride and eBooks will coexist with print books, and indie bookstores will once again be opened all over the place.....once the business-lending credit markets get relaxed. I don't know when that will happen. In the meantime, it is important that prospective indie booksellers educate themselves on how to sell eBooks as part of their business plans.

Andy Laties

I don't think it's as dire as all that. It is howe...

2010-07-23T17:12:09.289-04:00

I don't think it's as dire as all that. It is however going to be a reality.

When I first started out in the book business it was through selling used and collectible books via websites like ABE books, etc. The goal was brick and mortar and we succeeded in arriving at that goal.

We realized that it might have been slightly more sound to have just bought or rented a warehouse and expanded our online inventory. New books were nowhere near as profitable as used and collectible ones where you can enjoy mark ups in the range of 500%-1000%, if not more. We chose to open the store and sell new as well as used, because that's where our hearts were. We wanted to have a bookstore that represented new releases that were not enjoying featured positions in big top stores (or even shelf space). Even if that meant shorter profits and the occasional loss.

The thing I kind of failed to communicate in the piece is that it can be irrational. When you are your business, and you believe that what you are doing is important to society, you engage in a series of value judgments that do not always equate with good business practice. It is irrational.

So was Random House's decision to publish William Faulkner again and again despite his poor sales. They leaned on the Modern Library and more popular titles to fund this illogical but noble pursuit.

I would absolutely maintain a space for people to come in and peruse and interact with a real live bookseller.

I think small book sellers should jump right in wi...

2010-07-23T16:45:26.610-04:00

I think small book sellers should jump right in with e-book sales because that's the future, but they should also advertise the special qualities of owning the traditional book as I think people will always want to own something they can hold, look at, and put on a shelf or coffee table. It's only human to do so. Heck, maybe there's a real-book renaissance on the horizon.

sheesh, time to take the poison pill and end it al...

2010-07-23T07:59:57.184-04:00

sheesh, time to take the poison pill and end it all. bleak and bitter end to thousands of years of book format in the "blink of an eye", is that it? Like the dot.com bubble that wouldn't burst?

Thanks for that s-a-m. I never heard of this man ...

2010-06-17T11:31:30.836-04:00

Thanks for that s-a-m. I never heard of this man and now I am intrigued by him. THe tradition of visual poetry, which exists in the French literature back to the 20's with Guillaume Apollinaire, is a strong one. Combining the eye and the ear makes for lush art.

Jim M.

I'm working on an article on Gellu Naum's "Zenobia...

2010-06-04T00:56:12.078-04:00

I'm working on an article on Gellu Naum's "Zenobia" but I'll be in Vermont until the beginning of the week.

I also wrote this (http://ghostorballoon.tumblr.com/post/596239351/98-wrecking-crew-by-larry-levis) article on the out-of-print and brilliant poetry collection "Wrecking Crew" a few weeks ago.

I was unaware of that project. I am kicking off ...

2010-06-01T13:00:19.499-04:00

I was unaware of that project.

I am kicking off Lost Books Month tomorrow, so feel free to champion something once again.

Nothing I've read about the Joyce thing mentions C...

2010-05-28T13:15:16.317-04:00

Nothing I've read about the Joyce thing mentions Christian Bok's Xenotext project (http://www.subtletechnologies.com/2007/?page_id=82) which seems functionally very similar.

I guess it never got off the ground, but you'd still expect for it to at least get a nod as having come up with the idea first.

Armadillo... Remaindering at its worst. I bought a...

2010-04-19T17:09:46.601-04:00

Armadillo... Remaindering at its worst. I bought a copy of the Diamond Sutra there. It was the only literary title in the whole place.

I will always remember them as the place with ten copies of the Tom Delay "The Hammer" biography in the window for about four years. 2004-2008. Not exactly relevant political discourse.

Priceless.

About 2 months ago, when Armadillo was having thei...

2010-04-17T11:50:18.921-04:00

About 2 months ago, when Armadillo was having their moving sale, I pulled a "Lay Back the Darkness" by Edward Hirsch for $2. They didn't even know what they had.

Poetry in general is sort of lost on today's society, I think, especially when an individual's idea of "poetry" is the top 40 on whatever radio station they listen to.

Chester County Book Company does have a pretty gre...

2010-04-16T12:17:20.216-04:00

Chester County Book Company does have a pretty great poetry section. Pretty much my go-to for smaller press titles that are more than one or two years old, as well as one of the only places I've seen in the general main line area that carries n+1 and Pleiades. The beignets next door aren't bad either.

It is a somewhat odd comparison, but her style of ...

2010-03-15T23:29:17.527-04:00

It is a somewhat odd comparison, but her style of writing reminds me of Antoine Saint-Exupery, particularly Night Flight.

There is a succinctness to the ideas in her writing that is memorable. Thus also haunting.

Thanks for reading. I'm reviewing The Masters Of The Dew by Jacques Romain on Wenesday.

I finished reading this book a month ago and I sti...

2010-03-15T22:03:46.099-04:00

I finished reading this book a month ago and I still have recurring flashes of the beggar that rapes Rose and the ordeal she goes through. Marie Vieux-Chauvet's writing is brilliant and raw.

It is one of those places that should be on a nati...

2010-03-12T17:53:05.746-05:00

It is one of those places that should be on a national registry.

It must have been great to have that kind of institution a mere five minutes from home.

Depressing as hell. I grew up not five minutes awa...

2010-03-12T15:22:49.197-05:00

Depressing as hell. I grew up not five minutes away from Baldwin's and it was definitely a formative institution, a place that loomed as large for me intellectually as it did architecturally.

Thanks. But it isn't nearly as great as your pict...

2010-03-02T21:30:06.651-05:00

Thanks.

But it isn't nearly as great as your picture.

Enjoyed perusing the grossness too.

Carry on.

There, there— we ALL feel that way about them. (Yo...

2010-03-01T14:22:36.238-05:00

There, there— we ALL feel that way about them. (You'll get yours, Micawber's...some day.)

Great blog, BTW.

Because...they're just too...cool. ** Runs from r...

2010-02-28T21:02:27.965-05:00

Because...they're just too...cool.

** Runs from room sobbing **

Come on, D.A., confession time: Why do you hate M...

2010-02-28T11:45:17.538-05:00

Come on, D.A., confession time:
Why do you hate Micawber's?

Sorry good book people. I failed to put a link in ...

2010-02-26T16:01:48.151-05:00

Sorry good book people. I failed to put a link in there to your store. I fully meant to.

Micawber's was a big influence on the philosophy and layout we implemented when creating Wolfgang Books.

Problem corrected and link placed above.

Well, we're excited our picture made it into this ...

2010-02-26T11:57:15.648-05:00

Well, we're excited our picture made it into this piece even if our name didn't.

We're a real, living, bricks and mortar bookstore in St. Paul, MN

Check us out at micawbers.blogspot.com

What translation did you read, Chris? I've only se...

2010-02-08T16:01:54.695-05:00

What translation did you read, Chris? I've only seen the Ginsburg translation, but if it is at all like some of the versions of Master and Margarita (not by Ginsburg) the slap stick can be held back.

Think of the incessant singing of the doctor. Or the flooded bathroom scene.

BTW: The shrink wrap is for a reason. The book warps with moisture very easily. Communism. What do you want?

Kidding aside. As a footnote I'd like to say that soviet era publications were actually very well made. Especially ones they translated into English to send abroad.

Good stuff. I've had my eye on that Drakulic since...

2010-02-08T15:37:18.318-05:00

Good stuff. I've had my eye on that Drakulic since it came out, but the weird pseudo-shrinkwrap baggy I always see it packaged in keeps putting me off. I'm kind of wary of a book I can't skim through if I don't have a decent review backing it up.

As for "Heart of a Dog," I was actually somewhat surprised by how relatively low-key it was. After reading "The Master and Margarita" I expected a lot more outlandishness based on the premise.

Enjoy your visit. Have never met him - talked wit...

2009-12-29T21:36:53.079-05:00

Enjoy your visit. Have never met him - talked with him over the phone a couple of times and had a brief correspondence with him. From what I know of him, he'll be very welcoming.

Good point. I believe the contact information is s...

2009-12-29T21:20:16.964-05:00

Good point. I believe the contact information is still at the store.

Feeling inspired.