I have a confession to make.

I almost went back to bookselling last year.

Hell, that’s not totally true – I actually almost went back to bookselling the year before that.

Not because I wanted to increase public literacy. Not because my icy heart melted a little when a customer celebrated a new author find. Not even due to my subversive need to get people hooked on new genres by introducing them to a gateway drug, er, book.

Nope, I almost went back to bookselling because I missed the perks – specifically my discount, my ability to check out new releases and the ARCs.

Actually, that’s also a bit of a lie. I don’t really miss the ARCs we’d get at my store because we weren’t really on the radar for the titles I thought I wanted.

But the discount? The ability to use the store as my own personal library? Those things I miss, almost enough to try and pick up a shift shelving, lugging and greeting to get it back.

I know this doesn’t exactly come as a newsflash to the greater reading population,* but books are expensive, and as a single income household who would eventually like to use that single income own her own home, that cost is oftentimes prohibitive. I can’t afford to drop a lot on books I may or may not like, and even if I could, I don’t have that much room in my house. The majority of my current book buying is done digitally as it allows me to expand my reading without expanding my bookcases, and allows me to indulge in the appearance of impulse shopping.

I say appearance because 90% of the books I buy digitally are by authors I’ve read and liked previously. The other 10% I bought based on very strong recommendations and my ability to access free content (excerpts, first five chapters, etc).

When I was a bookseller, I was willing to take a chance on the new to me author with the pretty cover because I had the option to check out the title to read, or buy it at discount even if I was on the fence/wanted to be encouraging. If I was feeling a little wishy-washy I could always take it to the backroom and read a little on my lunch break. In ye ol’ bookselling days, there were several books I purchased simply because I knew other people would like them.** With my discount, this kind of expense wasn’t as much of a barrier, but now any book I buy in paper has to go through the checklist:
• Do I like this author?
• Will I read this again?
• Is there a digital version that is less expensive or do I have a coupon?
• Will I want to loan this out?
• Can I get this from the library soon?

Before I even walk into a bookstore I have answered most of these questions, and this pre-shopping (if you will) has resulted in a decrease in my actual aisle browsing. Because I go knowing what I want, where it’s located, and how much I have to spend, I don’t wander like I used to. I don’t discover in the same way. And that’s pretty sad, for someone whose job used to be telling people about the greatest, newest thing.

So, once, or twice, or even three times a year, I think about going back to bookselling and taking on a fifty hour work week. I consider taking on the stress of customer service to get that old thrill of opening boxes full of new stock. I long for the ability to be the first to know.

And right about the time I get to filling out the application I realize, if I went back, if I really committed to taking on a second job, I wouldn’t have the time to read those new books anyway.

Sometimes it’s better to just see what the library has instead.

*Someone told me recently that the first thing all financial planning books tell you is to stop buying books, and use the library. I love my library and make great use of it, but this just made me cry.

**Sure, I might get around to reading them o

I just spent the evening trying to clean up/update all the sidebar links, which resulted in a lot of deleted dead links. I know that in some cases people have started up somewhere else, so if you've got an update that I missed, please let me know. In meantime, here are some links new and old that are good for passing the time:

According to Flavorwire, Moleskine is launching a new product line; something that fills with me glee because I love Moleskine. The collections will be for Writing, Reading and Travelling, and "will include bags, pencils, pens, reading glasses, computer cases, a USB rechargeable reading light, and an e-reader stand." I'm very excited to see what the Travelling line will be.

The Fug Girls will now be fugging it up literary style! Heather and Jessica have written a YA novel, Spoiled, that will be out June 1st, 2011.

“The closest sixteen-year old Molly Dix has gotten to the red carpet is watching it on E!; gorgeous, spoiled Brooke Berlin was practically born on one in Beverly Hills. Their worlds couldn’t be farther apart, until Molly discovers the long-kept secret that sends her spinning into Brooke’s orbit: They share a father, Brick Berlin, world-famous movie star and tabloid regular. Intrigued (and a little bit terrified) by her Hollywood lineage, Molly dives into the deep end of celebrity life by moving to Southern California — where Brooke is waiting, armed with a smothering dose of ‘sisterly love’… and a plan.”

No, it’s the resurrection the blog of (a former) Bookseller (who’s still a) Chick!

I know, I know. You’re not exactly blown away. You might not have even remembered subscribing to this blog once upon a time and now that it’s popping up, you’re like, “Oh, Honey, no. We haven’t so become desperate as to resurrect the early 00s yet. We’ve barely even touched the 90s.”

Yeah, well, then adjust your flannel because I’m bring this Chick back anyway (and life is just made better if you put a bird on it right?)*

A lot has been happening in the book world lately—the flood of great Young Adult books, the rise of the self-publishing success, the increased sales of ebooks, Borders’ bankruptcy, HarperCollins’ new electronic policy for libraries, and Apple’s new reading app requirements—and these things are really starting to make fundamental changes in publishing.

Regardless of whether Old School wants it to or not, publish or perish has taken on a whole new meaning.

These shifts from the past to present, be they good or bad, are things that I dreamed of being part of when I was trying to transition from bookseller to part of the publishing world. And while I never made it into the publishing stratosphere, I’m still affected as a consumer of the end product: books. Ebooks, library books, mass market, trade and hard backs, I still read across the board despite the lack of discount.

So why not talk about these things on the internet right? I mean, while I’m no longer a bookseller, I am still a chickadee who reads books. I’m sure the last thing the internet needs is another reader blog, but this one still registers daily traffic, and if nothing else I can follow up those high traffic topics with current updates. Apparently people will don’t know if they should go with Goodreads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing yet. Maybe I should figure out why.

So here’s to a new decade of publishing, bookselling, reading and blogging. I’m sure we can find something to talk about. Along the way, I hope to tradition of handselling and review some of the great books I’ve read lately, as well as link to some of the amazing people who turned me on to those books.

*


Oh, Portlandia, the hilarity of this is I truly can name four stores right now who subscribe to this policy, and the newest Pottery Barn catalog is over flowing with birds as well.

Which reminds me:

That's right, Hipster Kitty, you tell 'em.

A new comic (featuring my very windblown hair) is up at Skidmore Bluffs. The U-Store place, next to 84, definitely has some interesting photo opportunities.

I’ve had my Sony PRS-700 for over a month now, and in that time I’ve downloaded over 40 plus ebooks. In the same time, I’ve bought around eight paper books. Of those paperback books I bought, almost all were mass market and purchased for the following reasons:

• I will want to read them again and again (away from an electronic device that I may not have in the future).
• I will want to loan them to friends.
• The print version was cheaper than the e version. (Never discount the power of a coupon to push a book browser over the edge to become a book buyer, bookstores.)

Of the 40 some-odd books on my Sony, I’ve read about 46. These 46 books range from the free Harlequin downloads (60^th anniversary love,) to excerpts on authors sites (Courtney Milan,) to books that I picked up due to web discussion (Delilah Marvelle,) to authors I’ve just been interested in reading for quite some time (Naomi Novik.) As a reader I’m much more likely to give an author a chance in ebook form because if I don’t like it, well hey, I can just hit delete.

Unlike other readers I really haven’t had any compatibility issues beyond my basic ignorance of the Sony’s formats. This may be because I’ve got a PC and the Mac peeps have been getting the Sony cold shoulder until recently, or it may be because I refused to read the directions. If you don’t know what you are supposed to do, then you can’t misinterpret right?

My test download was the free pdf of Bettie Sharpe’s Ember. Originally posted in a serialized format, Ember was my first taste of Sharpe’s writing and it was why I eventually picked up her first novel from Samhain to read on my laptop oh so long ago. The pdf format transferred to my Sony no problem, but the font was incredibly tiny upon viewing. Unfortunately increasing the size only destroyed the paragraph formation. Still readable, sure, but also still hard on the eyes. It wasn’t until I downloaded a novel in Adobe ePub that I realized that this was a result of the file format, not the Sony. With the fluidity of ePub format, I was able to use the Sony’s ability to increase text size for my poor eyes without losing the formatting that makes it possible to actually read the story.

From the looks of Sony’s latest press release, it seems I’m not the only one who likes ePub. Sony announced that it will default to ePub as the format of choice for the Sony bookstore and the Sony readers. In an effort to increase market awareness they have also partnered with Independent bookstores, Booksonboard, Net Galley, Powells.com and created a program called Library Finder to hook you up with ebooks from your local library.

Of these partnerships, the ones with Library Finder and Net Galley have me the most excited. One of the worst issues I had with writing book reviews was not the actual writing the review itself, but finding the time to review a book from a publisher when I might have had other books I want to read more. With the Sony the “I don’t have it with me” excuse is gone, and I’m (at least) much more likely to flip it open and start reading when the mood strikes. As for the library partnership? Well, what better way to test drive an author before buying. In this economy I like having some idea about the person’s style before I put money down for paper or a file (…and this is why you should have excerpts on your website.)

As I mentioned in my earlier review, I’ve continued to have issues with the contrast, but I’ve compromised by either turning on more lights in my room, or just reading something in print (if I must read) before going to bed. In rare—stubborn—cases I’ve also increased the font size. I hear that the contrast improves in the 600 (and also possibly in the web connected Reader Daily Edition,) but still suffers due to the touch screen technology.

Which brings me to the reason this test drive has taken place: having tried it, would I buy a Sony?

The answer: I still don’t know. I love the convenience. I love always having a library of books with me without adding more to my already overflowing bookshelves. I love all the new and exciting things Sony is doing. That said, in this last week I maybe picked up the Sony once or twice. Since I’m currently not commuting or running a lot of errands where I’ve got sitting around time, the Sony has been relegated to a break-time or home-time device. Also a lot of books that I’ve been waiting for finally hit the bookstore shelves (in many cases, before the ebook was available.) Since I knew that I would read them again and again, I didn’t mind buying those books in paper. It should be noted that not a single book belonged in the new-to-me-author category. All were discovered via previous books and some, like G.A. Aiken, were authors whose previous books were only available online.

With so many changes going on with Sony—three new ereaders and multiple new partnerships—part of me feels like I should sit back and see how it all goes. What if I buy a 600 and next year its obsolete like the 700 is now? What if I get the Daily Edition despite its high price point only to have its price drop (see: the iPhone) or for its internet access to get restricted or costly (a la Amazon?) And despite all of these great updates, the Sony store remains long to load and odd when it comes to navigation. More and more often I’ve just bypassed it completely and bought from BooksonBoard.

That said, we’ll have to see what happens after I send the Sony back to SB Sarah. I’m sure there will be horrible withdrawals because even if I’m not reading something on it, it doesn’t mean that it’s not available. It’s entirely possible that the absence will not only make my heart grow fonder, but also make me take a good, long look at my checking account balance (or at least my Christmas List.)

For Art History fans, Christopher Moore has been touring the French Art World and giving his interpretation of famous pieces. That and his other french adventures are being covered on his blog. Check it out.

The Social Media for Writers Blog has great advice on how to use Social Media for writers and for publishers (check out the story regarding Chelsea Green and twitter).
Thanks to Midge Raymond for the link.

The Story Siren has a post up regarding Blogging Etiquette. This goes well with the Dear Author column on how to get into book blogging.

Rock Reads, as Flavorwire calls them, were quite popular in our store since we had two booksellers who hand sell the hell out of them. They were all nonfiction though, so it would have been interesting to see how these went over: From Great Jones Street to Garden State: Six Essential Rock Fiction Reads

This makes me smile. I tried taking inventory of what people were reading back when I was on a MAX route, but it mostly consisted of me trying to discern some sort of pattern (a la, the next reading theme will be Asian) or whether or not the books were from my store. This takes it to a whole new (sub) level.

Eric from Pimp My Novel asks "Self-Publishing: Great Idea... or Worst Idea Ever?" I'm not sure I agree with his conclusion because I've seen people who have really made the self publishing model work. It's interesting to note that all of those people have now been picked up by major publishers, but they were also (for the most part) niche books that turned out to have a wider audience than first believed.

If you wrote Bobby McFerrin off for "Don't Worry, Be Happy," here's something to change your mind:





And by the by, how cool would it have been to go to this?

Because god forbid I actually post links when I come across them:


Oh so long ago Flavorwire posted links to book trailers of the artsy variety. Flavorwire is fast becoming one of my favorite daily reads with offbeat reviews. I still need to check out Britten & Brülightly (samples of the illustrations can be found here).

As a follow up to the BSU Tweet Camp, check out these examples of Publishing Professionals using Twitter.

The Greenlight Bookstore is almost on its way, and they're looking for a few good volunteers. If you're in the greater Brooklyn area, you should check them out.

I believe that Kirk Biglione may well be the Bob Ross of Twitter.* Not only does he have a soothing voice and easy-to-follow style that would make him perfectly suited to Scott Brick’s Share the Experience audiobook contest, but in just an hour’s worth of sessions (spread conveniently over five days) he manages to explain the ins and outs of the Twitter experience in a way that even the newest online member could follow. A good thing, too, because before participating in the beta version Booksquare University’s Tweet camp the only thing I knew about Twitter was that it had a character limit.

Oh, and that people who Twitter were not called twits (apparently some even actually find that insulting).

Broken out into short videos (averaging ten minutes), the BSU Tweet camp explains how to set up your Twitter account, the vocabulary of twitter (hashtags, retweets, and followers), and how to use your Twitter account to promote yourself. Each video, narrated by Kirk, is accompanied by various articles (often written by Booksquare herself, Kassia Krozser) with links to other helpful Twitter related sites. Despite the short length, the videos do everything but tell you when to breathe and the articles follow-up and enlarge upon the concepts related in the videos.

After completing the course, you should be a perfectly proficient tweeter, capable of following conversations and enticing followers of your own. Use it to promote you next book, your website or your business. Use it just to join the conversation. Hell, you’ll use it just to follow the conversation (although that has gotten easier now that Twitter has hyperlinked the hashtags—try #sbtd #sbtd#amazonfail).

Additionally, upon completion, you might learn that tweeting is not your thing; something that I think is just as important. It was after BSU Tweet camp I realized something that has been plaguing me for a long time—I’ve been suffering from computer fatigue. I get home from work and I don’t want to type. I don’t spend as much time on the computer as I used to, and when I am on, it’s usually to read a book. This fatigue transfers to Twitter as well, despite its short character requirements, which is not surprising as I also don’t text. I’m following some very interesting people, and I’ve definitely used my page to follow lit flair ups (Alice Hoffman et al), but beyond posting a few links I don’t have much to add at the moment. That may change now that I’ve started my Sony adventure as part of the Smart Bitches Sony test drive #sbtd

*I believe this to be a compliment, by the way, as I have very pleasant memories from my childhood of Bob teaching me to paint happy little trees.

I knew that The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan had come out, but I hadn't seen the book trailer.




Nice.

I expect this will transition well to the big screen when they get around to it.