Nothing but opera and Beethoven? Not here.

From Digital Book World: "No conversation about publishing’s future and the importance of engaging readers directly is complete if it doesn’t include the perspective of the independent bookseller — our partners, curators and, most importantly, community organizers."

On the origin of humor: "When a child is about a year and a half old, they might point to a dog and say, 'cat,' and that’s the beginning of humor and nonsense."

Who says studying rare books is impractical?: "What struck me was Professor Traister’s reminder that the book was never intended to be read. It was intended to be owned."

If you're looking to spend a little more on presents this year: "Some items come from James Marshall's estate, some from International Wizard of Oz Club founder Fred M. Meyer's collection, and some from the artists themselves."

And a very happy blogiversary to you!: "This public service announcement brought to you by White Readers Meet Black Authors is to remind you to pick up a book by a black author while you're doing your Chrismukkwanza shopping next month."

Michael Cairns makes me glad I didn't go to b-school: "More analysis is likely to show that a variable approach to pricing and packaging will generate more revenue. For example, in an approach the authors suggest for music, a publisher with a selection of 10 political/legal thrillers could generate more revenue selling the package for $29.95 than relying on selling each separately for a total of $79.00."

How Diana Peterfreund celebrates her Next List status: "Hi there, Indie booksellers! Would you like a signed bookplate or five to go with your copies of Rampant? Would you like a few of these gorgeous sparkly RAMPANT bookmarks?"

How a multimedia story is built: "The process I used was that, when I came up with the idea for Skeleton Creek--and this is a little different than any other story I've come up with--I didn't come up with the plot first, I came up with the characters first."

David Hewson has little sympathy for his former profession: "If the press still reviewed music the way they review books they’d be full of articles about nothing but opera and Beethoven, and they wouldn’t be read much either."

Can we use this logic to take Go Ask Alice out of the curriculum, too?: "Once it is established that the book presents a false picture, Carnes said, the argument that the school board acted as ideological censors 'collapses on itself.'"

Possibly the single best response to this: "Shirky's plan to save bookstores sounds like he wants to make them into public libraries! Nonprofit, 'third place', community gathering place, "inviting physical location" etc. Strange that he doesn't mention libraries as a model." (see also)

Not sure I like the conclusions, but as an astronomy nerd I have to love the analogy: "I tend to believe that gravity is working in Amazon's favor, I just hope they don't turn into the black hole of publishing. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for publishing supernovas, companies throwing every last dollar into one brief burst of unsustainable activity before collapsing in on themselves and their industry creditors to become white dwarfs of bankruptcy."

Ownership, permanence, and chemistry: "You buy a book, it’s 'permanent'; you 'own' it. But books degrade, over time. If you bought a cheap paperback printed on last-century’s pulp, the clock is already ticking — the paper itself was insufficiently processed, so trace amounts of acidic lignin remain, which is why the pages of many books yellow and grow brittle over time... Ironically, books from four centuries past (printed on vellum or parchment) will last longer and will in fact survive after the vast majority of books — those from the industrial age, printed on mass-produced pulp paper — have crumbled to dust."

Little Shop of Stories: "So I started to find excuses to take the kids to the bookstore--any chance I could get we would visit. You know, 'for the children's sake.' Then I'd find excuses to go without the kids."

Graveyard Book contest update: "Still, two were ever-so-slightly out in the lead. I watched their videos over and over, trying to decide. I wondered if I could legitimately award points for climate, or for whether I actually wanted to go there or not, (suddenly throwing Octavia Books in New Orleans into the lead), or deduct points for it being probably rather cold in, say, Winnipeg, in the winter. No, I couldn't. It was all about the parties."

Old Harbor Books: "Now, this is mavericky." (see also Green Apple Books)

Oblong Books: "I was literally raised in our bookstore! Oblong Books & Music in Millerton, NY was founded by my dad ten years before I was born, and I spent time in the store every day after pre-school. He had me ringing up sales by age eight."

New York metro stores: "I believe it's family run, the owners or managers live upstairs (a woman and her son)."

Harvard Book Store: "Jeff said they’ve had the printer for about a month and a half, and it is used three or four 15-40 times a day (which was more often than I expected, but then again, the store is right across the street from Harvard. Nerds.)" (quite possibly related)

Skylight Books (and surrounding stores): "4 days later, it was anonymously returned. That happens like 1% of the time, so I feel pretty fortunate. The next day, I felt wonderful, full of helium balloons, and I wanted to get out into the world. Let me share 3 great independent businesses I went to."

Posted at 05:59PM Nov 20, 2009 by Sarah Rettger in General  |  Comments[2]