Adam PalmerThere are now enough e-readers' on the market for everyone in your family tree to have a different brand. With all the hoopla surrounding the new crop of e-reader's and tablets at this year's CES, it is a breath of fresh air (and a relief) to read Knute Berger's piece at Crosscut "Will the book survive?"Berger's piece is littered with sanity and hope for the book and, as importantly, the bookshop.Here are a few nuggets:"Kindle and products like it are a boon for readers, and I don't object to them. In fact, I was pleased to learn that my...
From the Square to the Hill: Elliott Bay Book Company is on the move
Now it is official. The Elliott Bay Book Company, the retail centerpiece of Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood for over 35 years, will be packing up and moving to Capitol Hill.It is a sad day. For the city as a whole, for Pioneer Square in particular and in some sense for EBBC as well.Our book shop has been a block or less away from EBBC for over 15 years. We have seen, felt and have been affected by all the issues EBBC attributes as factors for their decision. Bookselling can be a very competitive business. When you look at the pressures...
By the Pound: Bookselling "Deli-Style"
Is this simply the latest manifestation of the race to the bottom mentality that is polluting much of the bookselling world or will it prove to be a new way to sell books?At the newly opened Market Fresh Books in Evanston, Illinois all books and related products are sold by the pound! Yes, by the pound.Here's how it works:Books cost $3.99 a poundBooks on tape $10.99 a poundAudio CD's are $24.99 per poundThe store stocks lightly used best sellers and other popular current titles. Nothing old, nothing rare, nothing antiquarian. It also boasts a children's room, a room dedicated to...
Old Books Fresh Eggs
Between Muddy Gap and the Lander, Wyoming lies Sweetwater Station home of the Mad Dog and the Pilgrim Booksellers.Population of Sweetwater Station: 5Inventory of Mad Dog and the Pilgrim: 75,000In addition to the books Lynda “Mad Dog” German and Polly “The Pilgrim” Hinds operate an "eccentric working farm" featuring two dogs ; four cats; 62 chickens; 26 sheep; two llamas; one milk goat; four pea fowl, and two ducks.The roadside sign above is the only advertising they do for as German says “People who like books will find you.”Rone Tempest profiles Mad Dog and the Pilgrim at New West MissoulaPhoto...
A sign of hope in the latest "last chapter for bookshops" saga
The Kindle was released into the world today.In anticipation of the event the UK magazine Retail Week published the piece: As e-readers launch, is it the last chapter for bookshops? by George MacDonald.Surprisingly, before the yawn and the customary filing in the 'end of the bookshop is near' file the story balances itself out. It actually ponders "if the world of print will prove resilient" and offers some nuggets of sanity from Tim Waterstone, founder of the Waterstone’s, the UK's largest chain bookseller.While Waterstone admits that the e-book revolution will have an effect he also is quite convinced that books...