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It's hard not to be in love with a pair of hawks that are willing to become our neighbors in the city... and in her version of the Pale Male saga, City Hawk, The Story of Pale Male, Meghan McCarthy chooses to ignore the fact that some neighbors might not like a) birds pooping on their windows, or b) hundreds of binoculars focused daily in the direction of their living rooms.

McCarthy does explain the controversy, and many details about the hawks in an extensive Author's Note (there is also a separate author's note about Central Park), but her story is really about the excitement and joy of watching nature in the city. Whereas the other books start from the hawk's POV, McCarthy begins with the people, taking us from the noisy, crowded polluted streets, to the lush escape of Central Park. We then watch -- just like birdwatchers -- as the hawks explore the park, make their nest and start a family.

I admit that I am a little in love with the gigantic bug eyes McCarthy gives her characters (human and avian), her illustrations are cheerful and everyone looks to be enjoying themselves. She illustrates various city vistas, and although there are numerous views of the sky, she brings us back down to earth, where we humans live, quite often.

It certainly qualifies as an uplifting tale (no pun intended!).

Want More?
Visit the author's website.
Read all my reviews of Pale Male books.
Visit Central Park.
Gothamist posted a video of Pale Male's new mate.

Big Kid says: You know, lots of other birds also live on rooftops, like sparrows and finches.
Little Kids says: Park book, please.

All of the picture books about Pale Male take a different approach. Of the three I am reviewing, Jeanette Winter's The Tale of Pale Male is the only one to begin with life for the Red-tailed hawk outside the city, pointing out that the hawks live in tall places such as trees, cliffs, or even cacti. She explains how the bird likes the high perch in order to spy tiny mice, but she then jumps a little too quickly to New York City's skyscrapers. After this somewhat awkward beginning, Winter successfully maneuvers her way through dual storyline -- on the one hand, the hawks' life in the city, and on the other hand, the reaction to the nest by New York's human residents.

Winter's depiction of the city is focused almost entirely on the height at which the birds live. We rarely see the street and in a few images, she uses a split-screen to represent the birdwatchers far below the buildings, emphasizing the height of the nest. I also found it interesting that she gave curtains only to the windows in the apartments directly below the nest,  drawing attention to the contrast between the human's high nest and the birds'. I  liked Winter's illustrations, even though the overriding colors are purples, pinks and aquas, but I found it odd that, until the final pages, the hawks always seemed to be wearing rather angry expressions.

Winter's text clips along and works nicely when read aloud.

Want More?
Visit Pale Male's website.
Watch a short clip from PBS' Nature episode in which the famous hawk mates on Woody Allen's balcony.
Read a short article about the author.

Big Kid says: It keeps talking about the mice!

During the next few days I will be looking at three picture books about Pale Male, the famous red-tailed hawk who built his nest at 927 Fifth Avenue.

Pale Male, Citizen Hawk of New York City is the most detailed of the three books about Pale Male. From the horror-flick fate of Pale Male's first mate (she became so disoriented by a flock of screaming, harassing crows that she slammed into a high-rise!), to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918's impact on the fate of the nest, to the careful descriptions of the fledglings' first steps, no detail is too small to be included in this book. To say Janet Schulman's book is very thorough is an understatement.

After setting up the story of the birds' lives, nest and family building, Schulman focuses on the controversy over the nest's location at the ritzy Fifth Avenue apartment building.  She examines the parties involved, media attention, why the nest was removed, and how it came to be replaced. Conservatives may feel uptight about the mention of George W.'s administration's practice of relaxing wildlife laws and how that led to the first dismantling of the nest. However, it's still a fact and Schulman's sets it within the context of the story.

Meilo So's illustrations are absolutely beautiful. She skillfully merges nature and urban landscapes. Of all the Pale Male books, I found her marriage of natural world with urban landscape the most appealing and sophisticated. The opening image of Pale Male finding the autumnal colors of Central Park amidst the blue-greys of the city buildings and waters is simply gorgeous.  I'm not a skilled art critic, but I would suggest reading this book if only for the lovely illustrations. Her portrait of the tenants in the Fifth Avenue building looking out at the protesters (almost) makes you sympathize with them.

A wonderful picture book to be enjoyed by kids... and adults, too!

Want More?
Read the review in the New York Times (spoiler alert: it mentions the other books I will be looking at).
Read an article at Audobon Magazine, "How the Nest Was Won."
Learn about the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 on Wikipedia, or if you are adventurous, read it in full.
View more of Meilo So's illus

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman, illustrated by Meilo So

Reviewed by Erica Moore

What would you do if your neighbors destroyed your home of nine years? Well thankfully Pale Male had many fans and friends to protest for him.

Pale Male is New York City’s famous red-tailed hawk who came to Central Park when he was very young and stayed. He and a mate built a nest atop an apartment building across from the park. This was the first time people witnessed a red-tailed hawk nest on a building. Pale Male would raise more than 20 chicks in nine years in the nest on 5th Avenue.

In 2004 the building owners removed the nest thanks to the Bush Administration’s weakening of environmental protections. This set off an international outcry accompanied by local New Yorkers protesting. Pale Male’s nest was soon restored.

The story of Pale Male is inspiring--something wild adapts and survives in an urban environment. The writing is smooth and full of information as it unfolds. This is an easy book to share with kids. There is factual information as well as a great story with tension, drama and a perfect resolution. This should inspire new bird watchers. I know it made me get my backyard birding books out of the kitchen drawer and look up the birds at the feeders with my kids.

The illustrations by Meilo So are beautiful. The reader is given a hawk’s eye view as most of the pictures are from a hawk’s perspective as he flies around the park and buildings. The water colors capture the movement of the hawks. I love the picture of the babies leaving the nest and landing nearby. The end papers are the red tails of the hawks, and even the dust jacket has a hawk in flight wrapped around the book with a stick in his beak ready to rebuild that nest.

There have been several picture books about Pale Male since his nest was taken down, and this is my favorite. Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City has received many starred reviews and is sure to show up on recommended book lists.



What Other Bloggers are Saying:

Chicken Spaghetti: "The ensuing bird-related goings-on make an exciting picture book, and young readers have a fine avian protagonist to cheer for." (read more...)

Fort Lee Children's Room Blog: "I recommend Pale Male for all ages because it is a story anyone can appreciate and it may just inspire you to learn more about this great animal." (read more...)

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: "I have one word for you: Endpapers. Man, I wish I had them to show you here. They’re sublime: Pale Male’s auburn hawk feathers, all spread-out and larger-than-life atop a bit of blue sky. Gorgeous, I tell ya. Thank you, Meilo So, for that moment of beauty." (read more...)

Texas Trifles: "Though I already knew about the New York City hawk's story, this book turns it charmingly into an avian adventure with a heartwarming ending." (read more...)

More Info:

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375845585
• ISBN-13: 978-0375845581
• Source: Review copy from publisher
  

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City written by Janet Schulman and illustrated by Meilo So is the wonderful, true story about an exceptional bird, presented in a book easy enough for children to read.

In 1991 a young red-tailed hawk was noticed in New York City, flying around the buildings and spending his nights in Central Park. Over the years, Pale Male, as he was delightfully named, takes a mate and together they build a nests high in the rooftop of an apartment building. Through citizen complaints, nest destruction, and un-hatched eggs, Pale Male and his mate continue to be one of the most popular attractions among the residents of the city, a pair that some residents will do anything to keep around.

Meilo So’s beautiful, bright watercolors accompany a rather remarkable tale and one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. There is a section in the back with more information on Pale Male’s story and some additional facts that add to the story. To me, as a librarian, the best non-fiction books are those that both educate and entertain, a goal this book certainly reaches. It can be read aloud to children or used in a project for school. Though a native New Yorker, I’ve never actually been to NYC, though now I definitely want to make a trip, just to see the building these two birds inhabited for so long!

A first post by a new writer here at The Bookshop Blog. Scott Davis runs an Amazon Store as well as an eBay Store. Check out his sites..

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What Doesn’t Kill You Only Makes You Stronger

As an online bookseller on Amazon, I’d grown used to perusing the local thrift shops at my leisure; my area was not exactly a hotbed of booksellers. Of course, there were many Ebay sellers who sometimes grabbed obviously expensive books, but until recently, my smartphone and I had our way with the locally available “inventory.”

Until late last year …

A competitor showed up, complete with fancy phone and a scouting service. And she was buying “my” books. I was flabbergasted, and, after some thought, more than a little worried. After all, I was a small seller, comparably, and got a good portion of my inventory from the local thrift shops. To share the wealth, so to speak, would greatly reduce my wealth.

I was not a happy scouter … until I remembered an incident when I first started selling online.

I was in a thrift store, looking at the books, saw a set of six Left Behind books, and grabbed them. A gentleman who also was looking at the books asked me if I was a reader or a dealer. Feigning innocence, I said reader, and asked him what he meant by “dealer.” He went on to explain to me about book selling, Amazon, etc., information that I already knew. I innocently asked him how much he made selling books. While I don’t remember the exact amount he told me, I remember being astounded, and, to be honest, somewhat skeptical. But, I decided at that point, that if good money was to be made selling books, I was going to get a piece of the proverbial pie. After several months of heavy book scouting at that location and others, I realized that I had never seen that gentleman again.

Did my entry into the marketplace force him out of the online book business? I don’t know. However, with the situation now somewhat reversed, I could either meekly accept the increased competition, and lower income, or I could use this perceived adversity to kick my business up a notch.

I chose the latter, and haven’t looked back.

Next time, we’ll talk about scoping out your competition.

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Here was one of the better responses I had to the question “What can we do to take our businesses to the next level”. A very informative reply, as usual, from Guy Weller aka Mr. Pickwick of The World Book Market. Of course you may not all agree with every remark but I’m sure some of you will pick up a great tip or two. Comments are always welcome here; we also have a more in depth discussion at the new forum.

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Funny, isn’t it - it used (until VERY recently) to be about the slowest-moving stream of all, the calm old world of second-hand bookselling!

Now - turmoil and constant change as online markets swirl about like dust-storms, and we cling to our small huts on the hillside as the winds rage.

But to respond in more detail to your question, I would counsel that taking one’s business to the next level is a two part step:

1. Re-examine and consolidate what one already HAS (whether in a B&M or online, or both); and

2. Plan and introduce new strategies and techniques in pursuit of new and hitherto (largely) unattended fishing grounds.

I would recommend that Step 1 should always precede Step 2 in this exercise. Simply running off and seeking new market areas and leaving the existing ones to fend for themselves is not, in my view, much of a plan.

Within the first step, I would take (and have taken) a long, hard look at what I am selling both in-store and online, and what I am not, and would then start a major overhaul and cull both of stock and general approach.

If I had a B&M (which I do) I would enlarge its horizons a little to accommodate all sorts of value-add lines and activities. I would set up a small but good range of CDs and DVDs, comics, ephemera etc, and I would ensure that I had at least one locked glass cabinet in my shop which carried an interesting range of “book-related” items: bookends, pipes, collectible, whisky paraphernalia, old cards and a host of other things.

Some jewellery, even. Anything to help create the impression that there was something more general in one’s offering than merely books.

No matter WHAT sort of bookstore I had (and there are many types) I would also make sure I had another locked glazed cabinet with at least a small offering of lovely old leather-bound books and rare specimens, from $500 upwards.

If necessary, I would simply go to rare book auctions and purchase these, treating any such outlay as a business (capital, not stock) investment much as I would my bookshelves, carpets and signage. If and as they sold, it would not matter over-much if they carried no huge profit or markup - you would simply use the incoming funds to replace such stock with like items.

This latter area acts as an Icon for customers, adds a “Wow!” factor, and gives a class badge to your other books, many of which you will “sell on the rebound” after someone has pored over the top-end stuff.

It will also give a sharp uplift to offers from people in your store asking you to purchase their own “old books”, and you would likely obtain a number of such “specials” over time from that source.

I would make sure that I had a comfy-chair reading area in store; played lovely and soothing music throughout the day (we use Mozart, mainly); had at least a little area with a kiddies table and a few soft toys; that I enrolled all my regular customer in my “Zeeba Booklovers Club” with a nice little numbered card guaranteeing a fixed future 10% discount either in-store or online; and a range of other such things, most of which you have probably already covered yourself.

For my ONLINE existing business, I would try and move as far away from the bottom-end of the marketplace as possible - that end of it is simply in ruins, online.

I would stop listing stock below a set figure (this would vary from seller to seller), but let’s say $US 15-20 for argument’s sake.

If I had a B&M, I would set myself to list ONLY the best 10% or so of my entire stock, and leave the other 90% for sales in-store.

If I was the purely-online type, I would do much the same (perhaps permitting myself 30-35% of all stock in, and would bundle the remaining stuff and cut a deal with a large B&M owner to take the rest for either a small pittance paid or (better) for a credit line in his/her store - thus selecting books from more obscure sections (trade, mining etc) which were undervalued by that store, but which are known winners on-line.

I would abandon the attempt at mass market sales online pretty much altogether, and ease myself more and more up the ladder, which is where significant $ returns are still possible online, and where the competition is considerably thinner.

So much for Step 1 - and please note this is just MY take on your question, and others would handle some or all of the above very differently indeed, I would guess. there is no “right” or “wrong” approach, in my view.

Step 2 - the expansion side of things.

Here the Internet is the critical factor.

As I keep pointing out at the ABE Forum (generally to muted giggles there) the practice worldwide of people buying books on the Internet is only just beginning, and will wind up sharply over the next 5-10 years.

All the available statistics and data are quite clear on this point, and it may be taken as gospel, not some wild theory of mine.

Our task here is to PRE-POSITION ourselves for such future, rich markets, rather than assume that they will suddenly erupt all around us (which they won’t).

Without being silly about it, my MAIN advice to any online seller with an eye fixed on the future would be to join a group such as the WBM and stick with it, since such a group as ours already offers and will be offering a wide range of tools designed to maximise one’s future selling power on the Internet generally, not just at its own “sales site”.

After that, I would expand the number of sites I listed at, making a strategic choice of sites covering a range of different markets.

I would set a Budget Level for what I considered a good spread of sites, and then fit as many as I could within that pre-set cost cap, paying wherever possible the up-front annual or monthly fee as opposed to “commission only” deals.

I would favour sites which provided passage and traffic to my private website, which latter is the “node” around which I would be looking to slowly build my real Internet bookselling future.

In my case, I set $2500 p.a. (all numbers in $AUD) as my “spending limit” for Internet exposure, and have allocated that allowance as follows:

ABE ($650); WBM/private website ($450); Biblio ($140 monthly rent $US 10); Antiqbook ($$500 annual fee, no commission thereafter); Booksandcollectibles.com.au ($500 annual fee, no commission threafter); Alibris ($500); Choosebooks ($0, commission only site); Biblioz ($0, on-seller, no commission charged); Bookshops.com.au ($200 annual fee, no commission thereafter).

I get sales on all those sites, pretty regularly. My minimum price online is $AUD 34 ($US28) and my average list price is $74 across my 5300 listings.

At ABE I pay 8% + c/c fees, at Biblio 7.5% less discounts for fulfillment, at Alibris 15%. At ALL the other sites above I pay no commission whatsoever on sales under this strategy.

Now $2500 ($US 2100) is really a small price to pay for the coverage gained from listing at the TEN sites above-listed - average of just $US 200 or so for each, per annum. Peanuts.

The combo of sites leads to many books which will NEVER sell at ABE still being picked up at the smaller sites at my higher prices, because they are less-well represented there.

So that would be my advice point 2, to someone not already there - plan a set of strategically-chosen sites and then list at them all along the above lines. The WBM onload tools are obviously a huge help here.

Advice point 3 would be to make much more of a cosy, one-to-one customer relationship out of one’s on-line selling.

Keep a database of customers who ask in their orders/enquiries if you have other such stuff, or by the same author, and service this database regularly.

Ask ALL your customers when you despatch an order if they would like to get future catalogues from you in this general area - around 10% or more of them will say “Yes” and you can thus build fairly quickly a database of customers to whom you can send regular email catalogues. (WBM will help here by automating that Send Catalogue process - our WBM-BB database already has it automated for individual customers).

With libraries, other trusted booksellers and some regular ordering clients, offer them an Invoice-based system of payment - you will get many new orders this way, and only the occasional bad debt.

In other words, the raw materials for building the “next step” are those already flowing through one’s existing systems - many of us let many, many future market and sales opportunities simply slip by down the river, simply because we have not spread our nets across its width.

The seeds of our future market growth are actually buried already in our garden, and just need watering.

We do not necessarily need to go out and purchase new paddocks in which to sow them.

Well - you DID ask! [LOL!]

Cheers,
_________________
Guy Weller (Mr Pickwick)

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Hi there! Enrique Mochales, a writer friend of mine- lend me a story in order to illustrate it: The writer that laid a novel.

Enrique says that a writer is like a chicken that lays novels. One night the writer in the story worked a lot in order to write a very good novel but after he did it, he felt asleep over the table. After that, he dreamed that a giant hand lifted the ceiling and took the novel off. In the morning the novel was gone.

I worked slowly during three weeks in this illo, and I think it is my very first illo, for real. I'm thinking about made some more for create a portfolio and searching for a rep. What do you think? I need your sincere opinion :)

Hi there! Enrique Mochales, a writer friend of mine- lend me a story in order to illustrate it: The writer that laid a novel.

Enrique says that a writer is like a chicken that lays novels. One night the writer in the story worked a lot in order to write a very good novel but after he did it, he felt asleep over the table. After that, he dreamed that a giant hand lifted the ceiling and took the novel off. In the morning the novel was gone.

I worked slowly during three weeks in this illo, and I think it is my very first illo, for real. I'm thinking about made some more for create a portfolio and searching for a rep. What do you think? I need your sincere opinion :)

Here are some thoughts on Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader from Tony Leblanc of Cover to Cover Books.

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I’m not sure if the purchase of a printed book includes an electronic copy - my interest is more how many printed book sales Kindle will replace. For someone who doesn’t mind reading on it, paying $9.99 for a new release instead of $26+ for the hardcover is pretty attractive.

If one looks at the music industry as a comparison, the prevalence of MP3 players and downloading music has had a huge impact on sales of CDs, etc., to the point where, here in Canada, many (if not most) independent music stores have closed their doors. Is the arrival of Kindle a sign of the same changes in the book industry in the years to come? I suspect that, as the current 20-something population ages, electronic copies of books will become more and more common. If I owned a bookstore selling primarily new books, I’d be concerned about the long-term viability of a store.

I checked some Kindle titles on Amazon, and currently there is no real savings for a Kindle version of a title available in MMPB. For new hardcover releases, however, there is quite a difference in price. I’d not generally pay $25-30 for a hardcover fiction new release, but I might be willing to pay $10 to have it downloaded to my Kindle and read it there. However, I would expect the price of both the Kindle units and the titles will drop over the next few years.

With used books, I see some other factors involved. One is availability - it remains to be seen how many older titles will be made available on electronic media in the future. I suspect that books released within the last 20 years, for example, can be readily converted to electronic format, because they were printed using computerized means in the first place. The fate of older books is more uncertain - depending on whether publishers can justify the costs involved in scanning or otherwise turning text on paper into an electronic format, versus the revenue they could expect to generate from sales of that title.

I also think the concept of paperback exchanges will continue to be popular - you can’t buy a “used” title for your Kindle, and can’t trade in titles that you’ve already read for trade credit towards new titles. At our store, a shopper using trade credit would pay 25% of cover price cash for their books, so until and unless an older title can be purchased for the Kindle for a comparable price, I think there will be a market for used books. In the long-term, I believe the market will shrink, although I believe there will always be a need for a low-cost book that a person doesn’t mind taking to the beach, reading in the tub, etc., places where I wouldn’t want to take my Kindle.

(Mind you, if Kindle DOES introduce something like that in the future, where an electronic title could be “traded-in”, and removed from your unit, with a credit towards another sale, that could change my current thinking!).

Definitely something to watch………..

related story… The new Kindle

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I have a question for you seasoned sellers, those that have a thriving shop (or maybe two).
Have any of you made one single change, after having been open a few years, that threw your business up a level - kicked it into gear.

I find that as our own business nears the three year mark the growth is not as robust as I would have hoped for. In our case our slow growth (8% - 10% yearly) is mainly a result of our small floor space. We decided to keep the risk to a minimum when we opened and rented a little 600 ft. hole in the wall. We have just added a new room, an additional 150 feet and reconfigured the look of the place enabling us to add 2 000 more titles. Business has been improving and I’m pleased that we are at least heading in a postitve direction but…
I keep wrestling with a few ideas that may or may not help us. One thought is to give my employee more hours while I spend more time in the field hunting for books to list online. We all know the drawbacks of this; employees are a huge expense and books listed online may not sell for a year or more. Another thought is to break out into a serious location of 2500+ feet. This is something I am sure we will do within the next two years but for today it would be too expensive an investment. So my question to you all, have any of you made a drastic change that drove your business to the next level or has it always been a case of slow but steady growth? You can answer by hitting the comment button beside the title of the post, thanks.

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Another post from William Smith at Hang Fire Books

William has a terrific blog himself, definitely one worth bookmarking!

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When I attend sales by private owners, I’m often faced with the question of how to present myself and explain what I do. If the seller contacts you through your shop or a directory listing, a simple business card will suffice. But when you show up at an estate/garage/stoop sale and start amassing a huge pile of books, some potentially awkward questions will come up–usually politely phrased versions of “Who in their right mind would want ALL of those books?”.

I’ve found that the most unvarnished answer, “I sell books online” is usually interpreted as “I’m taking advantage of you”, and the book prices will suddenly triple.

A better response is: “I’m buying stock for my bookstore” or “I own/run an online bookshop”. These sound much more legitimate and can lead to some fruitful follow-up questions that may win you new customers or contacts.

But sometimes–when I’m cranky or just want to move it along–I use these:

Q: “Oh, are you a teacher/scuba diver/home brewer/judo master?”
A: “No, but I have a friend who is.” (often true)

Q: “You sure do like to read’”
A: “Yup.” (also true)

How do other booksellers handle all the questions?

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One of the comments left in response to our posting of Guy Weller’s talk about bookseller’s empowerment was by Chris Hartmann. Chris mentioned that Tom Folio has been doing what Guy is talking about for years now. I replied with an invitation to anyone in the know at Tom Folio to share with us what they are all about. Lee Kirk from The Prints & Paper offers us this…

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Hi – Chris Hartman passed along an invitation for a Tomfolio member to
indicate what the cooperative has to offer. Having read the discussion, I
submit that the opportunity for bookseller independence has been at hand for
the last eight years.

As the dot-com fantasy began to escalate, AbookCoOp, with a website dubbed
Tomfolio, was created precisely in response to the awareness that
corporations would be taking over the major bookselling sites and that
corporations would, of necessity, have to impose more and more on their
source of income – their booksellers.

A cooperative was the model chosen to insure that there could be no
corporate buy-out and no sudden changes in fee structure, business
practices, etc. The booksellers that started it wanted a site where the
owners – the booksellers themselves – could determine how the site would be
operated. Tomfolio went online in November of 2000 and has been in
uninterrupted operation since. The fee structure (clearly stated on the
website) covers operating expenses and has not changed since the site went
online. In fact, the hope has always been to lower fees, should
participation generate sufficient funds. Tomfolio is a not-for-profit
cooperative with offices held by volunteers.

Since the site and the operations were designed by booksellers, they fill
many bookseller needs that larger sites cannot. A unique category system
allows book dealers to position their wares in a system that is eagerly
visited by customers and that is readily searched by webcrawlers. Daily
uploads to Google result in many “hits” for our dealers.

In addition to a website dealer page, our book sellers are also offered a
FREE stand-alone website (for the cost of a domain name) that uses the
Tomfolio search engine and shopping cart. Book dealers can use website tools
to create their websites to their own color and organizational preferences,
and can include featured items, specialties, and other variations.

Tomfolio dealers set their own shipping terms. Many have their own credit
card merchant accounts, although the site does offer a credit card service
to those who do not. This service is charged strictly at operating cost.
Dealers who do not offer AmEx are required to process such orders through
the website. That is the only “imposition” and it ensures that customers
ordering from several dealers will not have problems when using an AmEx
card.

Tomfolio dealers are required to adhere to a basic Code of Ethics that
includes standard business practices. Otherwise, their independence is
assured.

Booksellers can participate in the listing site for a monthly listing fee.
Those truly interested in seeing this model thrive can purchase a member
share for $500 (which can be paid at $50 per month over a period of 10
months). Ownership allows participation in business decisions, annual voting
for the Board of Directors. etc. Shareholders are also encouraged to
participate in various activities, adding to site content, and other
cooperative matters.

Unfortunately, many booksellers don’t seem to want independence that they
have to work for, or they don’t understand the cooperative model. When
asked, they want free listings, automated category entry, guaranteed sales,
etc., none of which is consistent with the “independent” model. Tomfolio
allows booksellers to work for what they want, the way they want.

Regards, Lee

Lee Kirk
Cats are composed of Matter, Anti-Matter, and It Doesn’t Matter

The Prints & The Paper
PO Box 5432
Eugene OR 97405
PH: 541-683-7033
mailto:[email protected]
WEBSITE: http://www.printsandthepaper.com
See TOMFOLIO’s WIKI: http://tomfolio.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

VISA, MASTERCARD, AMEX, DISCOVER, Paypal, Checks, and Money Orders accepted.

Member Ephemera Society of America, AAPA, and ABookCoOp (Tomfolio) - an
international cooperative of independent used booksellers.
Shop Co-Op! at www.tomfolio.com

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Overheard at ABE.com  another insightful comment from OZ’s Guy Weller.

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We online booksellers need to empower ourselves.

The larger bookselling sites - Amazon, eBay, ABE and even some of the smaller sites - are dictating far too much to us as to how we should fashion our listings, and how we should list on their sites.

This we need to turn around, in our favour.

We cannot, of course, dictate to the larger sites as to how they should carry our listings, nor even to the relatively minor sites, like ABE, or even the tinier ones.

But we can, and must, empower ourselves as independent on-line booksellers.

We must build our own private websites, or our Chrislands ones, into as powerful a selling tool as we can. Real work is needed here, for many of us.

We must seek out independent, smaller listing sites, and throw our support behind them, so as to enlarge the overall online selling picture, and guard against any hegemony in this regard.

We must particularly seek out those sites (Antiqubook, Booksandcollectibles.com.au, et. al.) which offer us direct links to our private websites, and which provide a commission-free selling platform (in exchange for a simple annual fee).

If we do not, as a group, actively do this, I am afraid we are likely to find ourselves doomed as an industry segment, small chip of a one though we might currently be.

Lazily depending upon Amazon, Abe or any other mix of the larger listing sites to deliver our bacon in unending fashion is NOT, I would propose, a very wise business choice for us.

For a whole stack of reasons.

I think the future of online bookselling is rich and sound, but ONLY if we (the constituent listers at all these larger sites) act decisively and powerfully to protect our own business interests.

We actually hold the power instruments in the game. We are (collectively) more powerful than Amazon, even, with all its $billions of “turnover”.

Let us make sure we exercise these instruments fairly aggressively, in our own interest.

Cheers,

Guy Weller (Mr Pickwick)

Member of www.worldbookmarket.com

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One thing that independent booksellers should learn from the chain stores is that a customer wants a comfortable place to kill time almost as much as they want a selection of reading material. Of course not every independent can accommodate a café and comfy chairs–and we don’t want to encourage B+N-style abuse with people sleeping in the corners and mauling our stock. What we want is an atmosphere that’s unique and welcoming and attracts customers, even when they don’t have a particular purchase in mind.

Here are a few things that have drawn me to–and held me in–particular stores:

• readings and book groups
• a newsletter (e or print)
• zines or a local authors section
• original art on the walls
• a specialization or a few well-developed sections
• a community bulletin board
• staff hi-lights/picks
• good music
• organized/accessible shelving
• a new arrivals section (for used books)
• a discount punch card or a frequent shopper club
• special orders / OP book searches
• volunteering for store credit

Because my own store is strictly online I have a more intangible tool set but my goal is still to get people to goof off in my shop (even if they’re sitting in a cubicle on a Monday afternoon). Pursuant to this I’ve added a blog , Flickr sets and I’m planning experiments with LibraryThing, YouTube, and podcasting. So far all of these elements use free third-party webware. The benefit of this is two-fold: a) I don’t have to sink cash into a site redesign b) I’m spreading my footprint over several sites that are very actively search indexed AND have a social networking component.

So how many of these things do you do? What else have you tried to hold your customers attention and keep them coming back?

editor’s note: William is exactly right especially in regards to music, we get comments on ours all the time. The pic above is from our shop so I obviously by into Williams ideas on this topic.

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Posted by Tom Nealon of Pazzo Books

Dana’s great story about the Baum that got away reminded me of mistakes in
book selling. I traded stocks for a few years, and the most common mistake
is to get married to your screw-ups.  You bought something at 20 that you
were SURE was a winner.  It languishes, sits around for a long time, some
bad news comes out, etc., but instead of selling it and moving on with
your life, you get it into your head that you have to make something out
of it.  If it just gets back to 20, I’ll sell it and come out even…

It’s easy to let a similar thing happen in book selling - it’s not just
the ones that got away, it’s the dogs you paid too much for and now feel
you have to come out even on.  They’re the worst too - they sit in your
inventory mocking you, a constant reminder of your error.  But don’t
worry!  You’ll make a million more if you’re lucky - book selling is just
like life that way, every day a new opportunity to humiliate yourself.
It’s what you do with those opportunities that matters.  Always remember
the opportunity cost of sitting on questionable books - they represent
money you could buy good stock with - stock you wouldn’t be able to buy
otherwise.  It easy to figure out the cost of buying books, it’s the ones
you didn’t buy that are more difficult to figure (this is also what Dana’s
post reminded me of.  Sell some dead inventory and go on a book buying
tour!)

So cut ‘em loose - drop the price, put them on Ebay - turn them into cash
that you can buy better stock with, and, hopefully, you can learn
something along the way (maybe make a few more, slightly smaller mistakes
- it’s the circle of life.).  If you don’t get rid of those dogs - if you
obsess over getting even on bad buys, you’ll end up with an inventory full
of mistakes and who wants to live like that?

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Another great post by contributing writer Dana Richardson of Windy Hill Books. We are still looking for two more contributors, if interested please contact me ([email protected]).

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Most dealers (myself included) love to talk about the rare, scarce and truly wonderful titles that we found on scouting trips; attributing the find to luck, fate, karma, or just our overall brilliance and knowledge as a bookseller. Those same dealers (myself included!) are a lot more reluctant to talk about those cosmic moments when fate, luck or karma was virtually screaming in our ears but was ignored in what can only be attributed to a massive brain fart.

My most spectacular moment of mental flatulence occurred on the third day of a 4 day book scouting trip in the mid-west. I found myself standing in the upper floor of an antiques mall with an absolutely brilliant copy of 1906 novel in my hands. The cloth was in beautiful condition, the pictorial paste down, showing a Gibsonesque bust of a young woman was spotless. In short the book was in absolutely amazing condition, especially considering that it was almost 100 years old.

I still remember standing there with book in hand and convincing myself that the $12 asking price was too high, reminding myself that I specialized in children’s books, ignoring that little voice that told me that I really should buy it, and feeling as smug as a dieter turning down the last brownie when I put the book back on the shelf.

Flash forward to about 6 months later, I’m thumbing through a copy of the PBA Rare Books auction catalog and lo and behold there is the picture of my Gibson Girl. Condition of the book in the catalog was barely Very Good, auction estimate $3,000. The book? Annabel by Suzanne Metcalf. Reilly & Britton, 1906. And oh yeah, Suzanne Metcalf was a pseudonym of L. Frank Baum.

Dana Richardson - Windy Hill Books

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