Hiya bookies, just a quick entry to introduce a new blog the Misses and I are writing about our latest business adventure. The link is: http://webbventures.blogspot.com/
And yes, I know the entries here have been pretty thin lately. I'm getting ready for the Countrywood Garage Sale next weekend and it's a massive task. If you're in Memphis and are going, email me for my address. Once that's done, I have huge plans for this blog, so don't change the channel.
Showing posts with label Billthebookguy's Personal Stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billthebookguy's Personal Stuff. Show all posts
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
An unexpected treasure
Morning bookies, this short entry is a little different. Today is a one-year anniversary, and it all started with a book sale. But first, a preface. On Dec. 28th, 2009, we lost our 12 year old German Shepherd, Missy. Then, in late July, 2010, our 12 year old mix, Keisha, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This meant our only dog was going to be our five year old, Daffney. That's kind of an empty house, for us.
I was on my way to an annual book sale last Sept. 9th, 2010, the same sale where the year before I had found a pristine signed first edition of Walter Mosley's 'Devil in a Blue Dress', when my phone rang. My wife and daughter had been watching this puppy on Facebook at the Memphis Animal Shelter, and the poor little thing was within three hours of being euthanized. So I was directed to head to the shelter forthwith and retrieve said dog. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Being the independent sort, I did what I was told.
This little stray was about six months old. At some point her right foreleg had been broken and healed wrong, so her leg was twisted and she limped. She was emaciated, covered with fleas and mange, and had kennel cough. She was scared to death. But soon, she was ours. We named her Sadie.
I took her to my wife's office, and the next day to the vet. She weighed all of 26 lbs. We had never had a dog with kennel cough before, so within a few days we were at the emergency room, but soon enough she was well. Daffney hated her in the beginning. Within three weeks, as poor Keisha faded, the puppy was Daffney's protege and they were fast friends.
We were intrigued by what type of dog she was and to this day I think she had some Pharaoh Hound in her, but it doesn't really matter. She's a sweetie and I didn't even object w
hen she was invited to sleep in the bed. Naturally, with this being her anniversary of joining our family, she doesn't feel well, but hopefully it's just an upset stomach and she will be better later.Yesterday was the annual book sale, and I told the people running it this story, which they liked. As I said then, they didn't have a better surprise than the one I got.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Let's get going again
Hiya bookies, long time and all that. So, school is over, I'm just waiting for my grades. Life is getting back to normal, which is to say chaotic and sleep deprived. It's been one hell of a weird winter, that's for sure.
*** Book news- Nevada Barr was hammered for lying in court during her divorce proceedings. Link below, but let me say this about her: I've been to one Barr book signing, at Davis Kidd in Memphis many years ago. The book signing area is right in the middle of the store, and I remember it was crowded that night. And the passage she selected had the F word in about every other sentence. Little kids were walking by and looking and their parents were hurrying them along, probably out of the store.
The F word doesn't bother me, but bleating it in a crowded store catering to parents and kids was really uncouth. I still remember thinking how arrogant she must be to use that kind of language in that king of setting. The story below, therefore, does not surprise me.
Nevada Barr hammered for lying in court
*** Did I tell you we have 4 dogs now? 3 of whom are puppies? See, it's like this: in late 2009 into 2010 we lost 2 of our 3 beloved dogs, first Missy, our German Shepherd, and then Keisha, a mixed breed rescue. Both were 12+. We were left with Daffney, our 5 year old mixed breed therapy dog. So in Sept., as Keisha was in her last weeks, I was on my way to a book sale when I got a call from Mrs. Billthebookguy, telling me this little girl she and my daughter had been following at the Memphis Animal Shelter was within hours of checking out for good. She had been picked up as a stray who had, at some point, broken her left front leg. It did not heal right and was at a weird angle and they thought nobody would adopt her. So I veered to the shelter and swept her up. She was covered in fleas, had sarcoptic mange and kennel cough, and was very under-weight.
Well, now she is over
a year old, has gained about 20 pounds and is named Sadie, perhaps the sweetest dog we've ever had. And we're pretty sure she is part Pharaoh Hound, as she looks almost exactly like one. And while her leg is at a funny angle, it doesn't bother her at all. This photo was taken a few months after we got her.
So then we had two dogs, Daffney and Sadie, and they got along great. On December 11, however, the wife and daughter headed to the Olive Branch shelter to rescue a little girl who was scheduled to be put down. She was about 6 months old and had been at the shelter for two-three months, just a puppy who had never known anything but a cage. So she came home and we named her Gracie. She is our fireball. Good grief does this dog have energy. Sweet as she can be, but can't sit still.
This picture was taken early this year, soon after we got her. She's at about 45 lbs now and we figure she's right at 11 months old. After exploring doggie downers I found a formula using valerian root that seems to help when she is really wound up. She and Sadie fight constantly, but in a good way. The wife calls them the twins.
And so we were back to 3 dogs, and done.
Err...well, no. Not exactly. We did not take into account Christmas presents. In the next blog we will follow this saga with the story of Kona the German Shepherd.
*** Book news- Nevada Barr was hammered for lying in court during her divorce proceedings. Link below, but let me say this about her: I've been to one Barr book signing, at Davis Kidd in Memphis many years ago. The book signing area is right in the middle of the store, and I remember it was crowded that night. And the passage she selected had the F word in about every other sentence. Little kids were walking by and looking and their parents were hurrying them along, probably out of the store.
The F word doesn't bother me, but bleating it in a crowded store catering to parents and kids was really uncouth. I still remember thinking how arrogant she must be to use that kind of language in that king of setting. The story below, therefore, does not surprise me.
Nevada Barr hammered for lying in court
*** Did I tell you we have 4 dogs now? 3 of whom are puppies? See, it's like this: in late 2009 into 2010 we lost 2 of our 3 beloved dogs, first Missy, our German Shepherd, and then Keisha, a mixed breed rescue. Both were 12+. We were left with Daffney, our 5 year old mixed breed therapy dog. So in Sept., as Keisha was in her last weeks, I was on my way to a book sale when I got a call from Mrs. Billthebookguy, telling me this little girl she and my daughter had been following at the Memphis Animal Shelter was within hours of checking out for good. She had been picked up as a stray who had, at some point, broken her left front leg. It did not heal right and was at a weird angle and they thought nobody would adopt her. So I veered to the shelter and swept her up. She was covered in fleas, had sarcoptic mange and kennel cough, and was very under-weight.
Well, now she is over
a year old, has gained about 20 pounds and is named Sadie, perhaps the sweetest dog we've ever had. And we're pretty sure she is part Pharaoh Hound, as she looks almost exactly like one. And while her leg is at a funny angle, it doesn't bother her at all. This photo was taken a few months after we got her.So then we had two dogs, Daffney and Sadie, and they got along great. On December 11, however, the wife and daughter headed to the Olive Branch shelter to rescue a little girl who was scheduled to be put down. She was about 6 months old and had been at the shelter for two-three months, just a puppy who had never known anything but a cage. So she came home and we named her Gracie. She is our fireball. Good grief does this dog have energy. Sweet as she can be, but can't sit still.
This picture was taken early this year, soon after we got her. She's at about 45 lbs now and we figure she's right at 11 months old. After exploring doggie downers I found a formula using valerian root that seems to help when she is really wound up. She and Sadie fight constantly, but in a good way. The wife calls them the twins.And so we were back to 3 dogs, and done.
Err...well, no. Not exactly. We did not take into account Christmas presents. In the next blog we will follow this saga with the story of Kona the German Shepherd.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Automotive reincarnation
Hiya bookies! Tomorrow became Day-After-Tomorrow, I know. Lots of running round yesterday, meeting with teachers, renewing library books (I didn't tell you that story, either. Jeez, so much excitement I can't keep track of it all), trying to set up this nifty new computer (see, yet another great story untold!), and on and on. But let's focus on the Focus.
As we last left our intrepid hero, me, my car was totaled and dead, smelling moldy after a week in the hot summer sun as dirty rainwater dried out inside. My mechanic kept telling me it was hopeless, that you would never know when some rusted out circuit would fail and I finally, reluctantly, had to believe him. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. Not only that, I was down to our family's emergency car. The insurance company paid, and then I discovered that the payment wouldn't come close to buying me a comparable car. Figures, right?
In 1990 we bought a new (well, a low-mileage demo car) Volvo 740, which every member of the household has driven at one time or another as their primary car. Both my kids learned to drive in that car. It's pretty beat up now, the seats are split out, the dashboard and door panels cracked, the trunk jammed shut...we have often been encouraged to get rid of it. The question is: why? It's the perfect emergency car, and after 20 years it qualifies as an antique. So that was my choice, drive the Volvo. Except the A/C didn't work. Fortunately, two shots of freon and the air was so cold I used it to hang meat.
No, not really, but I probably could have. Nice and frosty, the way I like it when the heat index in Memphis tops 120, which it did for like three weeks straight this year. That old Volvo remains one of the most stable cars ever built and if they really wanted to sell a lot of new ones, they would take that old car, duplicate it as much as possible and call it something brand new. Which, given its quality, it probably would be.
Anyway, I had wheels, but the Volvo doesn't have a CD player, just cassette. I don't listen to radio when driving, I listen to audiobooks, but mine are all on CD now and I was really depressed. Indeed, on that fateful day when my Focus was drowned I had begun listening to the Teaching Company production of History of Ancient Rome, a series of 48 college lectures by Professor Garrett Fagan. (By the way, if you aren't familiar with The Teaching Company, you may want to check them out. They have lecture courses on every conceivable subject. And if Ann in Nashville is still reading this blog, I am reliably informed that your library system carries many, if not most, of them).
Not having a CD player, however, I listened to ESPN sports radio and realized just how utterly dreadful those hosts really are. I'm a sports guy, too, but come on! I'm glad most of the people on ESPN radio work there, because I can't imagine what else they could do for a living. And for one brief afternoon I listened to local sports-talk radio. Amazingly bad. Intelligence-insultingly bad. Stunningly wretched, even. It wasn't fun.
Then, about two weeks ago on the Memphis Tigers message board, an ad popped up from one of the long-time posters. He was selling a car. What kind of car? I kid you not, a 2001 ZX3 Ford Focus. Blue, no less. I PMed him immediately and he agreed to meet me at my mechanic's place one afternoon. The car was virtually identical to my dead one. The hood was wrinkled from an accident, it didn't have power-door locks and had 88,000 miles vs. my old one's 27,000, but it was cheap and my mechanic gave it a thumbs up. I wrote the check. I did have to put some money into it, but I expected to. I may even have to put a little more, who knows? But the happy ending is that I am once again driving a nifty little 2001 Ford Focus hatchback, and at a fraction of the cost that I might have had to pay to get something I liked.
One small footnote that shows how foolish manufacturers can be. Ford no longer makes a Focus hatchback. If they did, I would have gone out and bought a brand-new one, even though car notes are anathema to me. I loved the car. But in their infinite wisdom, the big-wigs at Ford discontinued the Focus 2 door hatchback and replace it with the Fiesta hatchback.
Sorry, Ford, no sale on that one.
And so, your friendly neighborhood bookseller is once again wheeled up and ready to ferret out the best books for his bookies to buy. Thanks to you all for sticking with me!
As we last left our intrepid hero, me, my car was totaled and dead, smelling moldy after a week in the hot summer sun as dirty rainwater dried out inside. My mechanic kept telling me it was hopeless, that you would never know when some rusted out circuit would fail and I finally, reluctantly, had to believe him. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. Not only that, I was down to our family's emergency car. The insurance company paid, and then I discovered that the payment wouldn't come close to buying me a comparable car. Figures, right?
In 1990 we bought a new (well, a low-mileage demo car) Volvo 740, which every member of the household has driven at one time or another as their primary car. Both my kids learned to drive in that car. It's pretty beat up now, the seats are split out, the dashboard and door panels cracked, the trunk jammed shut...we have often been encouraged to get rid of it. The question is: why? It's the perfect emergency car, and after 20 years it qualifies as an antique. So that was my choice, drive the Volvo. Except the A/C didn't work. Fortunately, two shots of freon and the air was so cold I used it to hang meat.
No, not really, but I probably could have. Nice and frosty, the way I like it when the heat index in Memphis tops 120, which it did for like three weeks straight this year. That old Volvo remains one of the most stable cars ever built and if they really wanted to sell a lot of new ones, they would take that old car, duplicate it as much as possible and call it something brand new. Which, given its quality, it probably would be.
Anyway, I had wheels, but the Volvo doesn't have a CD player, just cassette. I don't listen to radio when driving, I listen to audiobooks, but mine are all on CD now and I was really depressed. Indeed, on that fateful day when my Focus was drowned I had begun listening to the Teaching Company production of History of Ancient Rome, a series of 48 college lectures by Professor Garrett Fagan. (By the way, if you aren't familiar with The Teaching Company, you may want to check them out. They have lecture courses on every conceivable subject. And if Ann in Nashville is still reading this blog, I am reliably informed that your library system carries many, if not most, of them).
Not having a CD player, however, I listened to ESPN sports radio and realized just how utterly dreadful those hosts really are. I'm a sports guy, too, but come on! I'm glad most of the people on ESPN radio work there, because I can't imagine what else they could do for a living. And for one brief afternoon I listened to local sports-talk radio. Amazingly bad. Intelligence-insultingly bad. Stunningly wretched, even. It wasn't fun.
Then, about two weeks ago on the Memphis Tigers message board, an ad popped up from one of the long-time posters. He was selling a car. What kind of car? I kid you not, a 2001 ZX3 Ford Focus. Blue, no less. I PMed him immediately and he agreed to meet me at my mechanic's place one afternoon. The car was virtually identical to my dead one. The hood was wrinkled from an accident, it didn't have power-door locks and had 88,000 miles vs. my old one's 27,000, but it was cheap and my mechanic gave it a thumbs up. I wrote the check. I did have to put some money into it, but I expected to. I may even have to put a little more, who knows? But the happy ending is that I am once again driving a nifty little 2001 Ford Focus hatchback, and at a fraction of the cost that I might have had to pay to get something I liked.
One small footnote that shows how foolish manufacturers can be. Ford no longer makes a Focus hatchback. If they did, I would have gone out and bought a brand-new one, even though car notes are anathema to me. I loved the car. But in their infinite wisdom, the big-wigs at Ford discontinued the Focus 2 door hatchback and replace it with the Fiesta hatchback.
Sorry, Ford, no sale on that one.
And so, your friendly neighborhood bookseller is once again wheeled up and ready to ferret out the best books for his bookies to buy. Thanks to you all for sticking with me!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
What I did this summer
Yes, bookies, I'm seriously going to try and keep this thing going at a regular pace, regardless of how many other distractions come down the pike. But I've gotta issue a whining warning, because, sadly, I'm gonna whine for a minute.
Finishing with the tale of summer school, neither teacher added the optional '+' to my grades. Not that it really matters from a GPA standpoint, it doesn't, but it looks better on a transcript and believe me, my transcript needs to look as much better as is possible. Not only that, a '-' after your letter grade does adversely affect your GPA. Which really stinks. And the whining involves just such a designation, that little minus sign after what should have been a plain old A.
In most courses an 'A' grade is 90-100 percentage. A 91, for instance, is an A. In my communications class I received a 93. By itself that really angered me, it should have been at least a 95 but he didn't like my last speech. Or, rather, he didn't like that I took a subject that he assigned me, and assumed I would take a negative stance on, turned it around with a positive stance and was applauded by the class. And I did not get the grade for that speech that I deserved. Having given more than 1000 presentations and speeches in my life, it was my job for five years!, I know when I'm on and when I'm not. And that day, I was on.
Oh well, it's really a minor thing but you hate getting cheated on something you think you've earned. Whining warning is now cancelled.
Did I tell you about my car? I don't think so, but if I did pretend that I didn't. So, back in May, the 24th to be exact, I'm at that very COMM class and on my way home. I had just cracked open a new Audiobook CD. A college lecture course, actually, The History of Ancient Rome on 24 CDs from The Teaching Company. As you know, I'm a real Roman history buff and was pretty pumped to listen to this on the way home.
Early afternoon, hot, the air wet with coming rain. Three miles from home the clouds started dumping water, harder and faster than I had ever seen in my life. Ever. Hail the size of golf balls. Waves building on the street. Surrounded by traffic with water a foot deep on the road I was trapped. Then, before I knew it, my car was floating and water was pouring in the doors. A warm sunny day had become like a Bible lesson with me as Noah and my car the ark. Except my car wasn't waterproof.
Long story short, my nifty little 2001 Ford Focus ZX-3 with 27,000 actual miles was dead. Totaled. I begged my trusted mechanic to lie to me, to tell me he could bring it back to life, but to no avail. The insurance paid a reasonable amount but I didn't care. My car was dead.
Tomorrow, the exciting conclusion!
Finishing with the tale of summer school, neither teacher added the optional '+' to my grades. Not that it really matters from a GPA standpoint, it doesn't, but it looks better on a transcript and believe me, my transcript needs to look as much better as is possible. Not only that, a '-' after your letter grade does adversely affect your GPA. Which really stinks. And the whining involves just such a designation, that little minus sign after what should have been a plain old A.
In most courses an 'A' grade is 90-100 percentage. A 91, for instance, is an A. In my communications class I received a 93. By itself that really angered me, it should have been at least a 95 but he didn't like my last speech. Or, rather, he didn't like that I took a subject that he assigned me, and assumed I would take a negative stance on, turned it around with a positive stance and was applauded by the class. And I did not get the grade for that speech that I deserved. Having given more than 1000 presentations and speeches in my life, it was my job for five years!, I know when I'm on and when I'm not. And that day, I was on.
Oh well, it's really a minor thing but you hate getting cheated on something you think you've earned. Whining warning is now cancelled.
Did I tell you about my car? I don't think so, but if I did pretend that I didn't. So, back in May, the 24th to be exact, I'm at that very COMM class and on my way home. I had just cracked open a new Audiobook CD. A college lecture course, actually, The History of Ancient Rome on 24 CDs from The Teaching Company. As you know, I'm a real Roman history buff and was pretty pumped to listen to this on the way home.
Early afternoon, hot, the air wet with coming rain. Three miles from home the clouds started dumping water, harder and faster than I had ever seen in my life. Ever. Hail the size of golf balls. Waves building on the street. Surrounded by traffic with water a foot deep on the road I was trapped. Then, before I knew it, my car was floating and water was pouring in the doors. A warm sunny day had become like a Bible lesson with me as Noah and my car the ark. Except my car wasn't waterproof.
Long story short, my nifty little 2001 Ford Focus ZX-3 with 27,000 actual miles was dead. Totaled. I begged my trusted mechanic to lie to me, to tell me he could bring it back to life, but to no avail. The insurance paid a reasonable amount but I didn't care. My car was dead.
Tomorrow, the exciting conclusion!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
It's been a while...
Hi bookies! Yes, I know, it's been quite a while since I posted here. And to those thousands who have written wondering if I'm okay...well, okay, to the one misguided woman who thought I was channeling her long-lost cat, the answer is that I'm fine, but this has been one hectic summer.
Aside from all sorts of non-bookie stuff, you know, like lawn maintenance and family and the like, I have been in school. Yes, back to college. One course required me to actually show up every morning, sit in a classroom and takes notes and stuff. With people half my age (or less). Fun times. It was during pre-summer, which meant 4 hours per day in a classroom for three weeks, then homework at night. Gross. I received an A- which royally peeved me. No way it should have been less than an A+, except the teacher was a dolt.
But that was must warmup for taking two, count 'em, two, online courses during summer session. The total number of pages read for both courses combined topped 3,700! In just over 2 months. That's 9 books, 7 of them textbooks, not counting videos we had to watch, three written essays or more per week, two mid-terms each with two essays questions, a book review and a comparative book review. Holy cow! I did it, I'm not sure how, but for people who have to physically get up and go to work each day and then try to work such classes into their schedule, I have no idea who they do it. I really don't.
Grades? Out of 2,000 possible points, 1,000 for each class, I received 2,002, and maybe a few more. Enough to pass, I guess. Hopefully the teachers will add the optional '+' to the letter grade.
And school starts again in two weeks. Two more courses, God knows how many more pages to read...but I'll try to do a better job updating this one. Thanks to you all, and go enjoy the rest of summer.
Aside from all sorts of non-bookie stuff, you know, like lawn maintenance and family and the like, I have been in school. Yes, back to college. One course required me to actually show up every morning, sit in a classroom and takes notes and stuff. With people half my age (or less). Fun times. It was during pre-summer, which meant 4 hours per day in a classroom for three weeks, then homework at night. Gross. I received an A- which royally peeved me. No way it should have been less than an A+, except the teacher was a dolt.
But that was must warmup for taking two, count 'em, two, online courses during summer session. The total number of pages read for both courses combined topped 3,700! In just over 2 months. That's 9 books, 7 of them textbooks, not counting videos we had to watch, three written essays or more per week, two mid-terms each with two essays questions, a book review and a comparative book review. Holy cow! I did it, I'm not sure how, but for people who have to physically get up and go to work each day and then try to work such classes into their schedule, I have no idea who they do it. I really don't.
Grades? Out of 2,000 possible points, 1,000 for each class, I received 2,002, and maybe a few more. Enough to pass, I guess. Hopefully the teachers will add the optional '+' to the letter grade.
And school starts again in two weeks. Two more courses, God knows how many more pages to read...but I'll try to do a better job updating this one. Thanks to you all, and go enjoy the rest of summer.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I've been lax
Hi bookies!
Ya know, I haven't been doing a good job of blogging since the turn of the year. Yeah, I'm working on a book, but I've been doing that for 3 years now and the research will be years more, so that's no excuse. And, yes, I have another massive personal project going, and the usual family type stuff that everybody has. That's all true.
But still.
What I can do is start working through my rather massive backlog of Crime Fiction and SFF reviews. No need for links that may eventually go dead, just ramblings from yours truly. Oh boy, you're thinking, lucky me. Well, I'm really not so bad at the reviewing thing. My editor at ILAM seems to like some of my stuff. So we'll see.
A shout-out to my newest follower, Kim Smith, whom I'll bet I've met in my doings about town in Memphis. Hey Kim, you're a member of Sisters In Crime, aren't you?
Ya know, I haven't been doing a good job of blogging since the turn of the year. Yeah, I'm working on a book, but I've been doing that for 3 years now and the research will be years more, so that's no excuse. And, yes, I have another massive personal project going, and the usual family type stuff that everybody has. That's all true.
But still.
What I can do is start working through my rather massive backlog of Crime Fiction and SFF reviews. No need for links that may eventually go dead, just ramblings from yours truly. Oh boy, you're thinking, lucky me. Well, I'm really not so bad at the reviewing thing. My editor at ILAM seems to like some of my stuff. So we'll see.
A shout-out to my newest follower, Kim Smith, whom I'll bet I've met in my doings about town in Memphis. Hey Kim, you're a member of Sisters In Crime, aren't you?
Friday, May 1, 2009
Making headway
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
First, the ongoing drain on my time and energy may be coming to an end. Let's hope so. At the least I'm making headway. If anyone ever asks you to be executor for an estate, think twice before you say yes. I had no idea how much time, effort and willpower it took.
*** The new issue of iloveamysterynewsletter is posted. I have a couple of reviews in it, and now a link back to this blog. also, I'm changing the descriptive header at the top to something a bit less accurate and a bit spiffier. Given the choice between content and spiffiness, I'll pick spiffiness every time.
*** The Nebula Awards were given out last weekend. For those who don't know, the Nebulas are awarded to Science Fiction writers based on the votes of fans, kind of like the People's Choice Awards, as opposed to the Hugos, which are more like the Oscars. M.Scott Edelman is a longtime SF writer/editor and here's a link to his blog from that weekend: Edelman does the Nebulas. Some great photos there, as well.
*** Sadly, it should be noted that Thomas Deitz has died. Dietz was young, 57, a well known SFF writer and by all accounts a good guy. I'm sorry I never had the chance to meet him.
Thomas Deitz
*** I find this next item fascinating. Why do people are publications spend so much time, effort and space on negative book reviews? If the book is wretched, why waste your breathe going on about it? It's a really good question.
For example, the second worst book I've ever read is The Da Vinci Code. Complete and utter rubbish, not only because of its idiotic 'research', I can stretch willing suspension of disbelief pretty far, after all, but moreso because of the hideously poor writing involved. Dan Brown has never met a cliche he can't use at least a dozen times, and the book buying public seems to crave more of this. So why do people like me feel the need to go on and on about it? I think the article makes some good points about that very thing.
Why bother bashing books?
*** Here's a book I want to read about an event I didn't know happened. Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo. It seems that after he left office, Truman and wife Bess, and nobody else, went on a 2500 mile road trip across America. Imagine such a thing! You're hanging out eating breakfast at a diner, dead tired after getting off work in the bicycle factory, and in walks the former POTUS and his wife to grab supper. Incredible. And yet, apparently, quite true. This may be one of those 'I've got to look this book up' books.
Harry and Bess go for a drive
First, the ongoing drain on my time and energy may be coming to an end. Let's hope so. At the least I'm making headway. If anyone ever asks you to be executor for an estate, think twice before you say yes. I had no idea how much time, effort and willpower it took.
*** The new issue of iloveamysterynewsletter is posted. I have a couple of reviews in it, and now a link back to this blog. also, I'm changing the descriptive header at the top to something a bit less accurate and a bit spiffier. Given the choice between content and spiffiness, I'll pick spiffiness every time.
*** The Nebula Awards were given out last weekend. For those who don't know, the Nebulas are awarded to Science Fiction writers based on the votes of fans, kind of like the People's Choice Awards, as opposed to the Hugos, which are more like the Oscars. M.Scott Edelman is a longtime SF writer/editor and here's a link to his blog from that weekend: Edelman does the Nebulas. Some great photos there, as well.
*** Sadly, it should be noted that Thomas Deitz has died. Dietz was young, 57, a well known SFF writer and by all accounts a good guy. I'm sorry I never had the chance to meet him.
Thomas Deitz
*** I find this next item fascinating. Why do people are publications spend so much time, effort and space on negative book reviews? If the book is wretched, why waste your breathe going on about it? It's a really good question.
For example, the second worst book I've ever read is The Da Vinci Code. Complete and utter rubbish, not only because of its idiotic 'research', I can stretch willing suspension of disbelief pretty far, after all, but moreso because of the hideously poor writing involved. Dan Brown has never met a cliche he can't use at least a dozen times, and the book buying public seems to crave more of this. So why do people like me feel the need to go on and on about it? I think the article makes some good points about that very thing.
Why bother bashing books?
*** Here's a book I want to read about an event I didn't know happened. Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo. It seems that after he left office, Truman and wife Bess, and nobody else, went on a 2500 mile road trip across America. Imagine such a thing! You're hanging out eating breakfast at a diner, dead tired after getting off work in the bicycle factory, and in walks the former POTUS and his wife to grab supper. Incredible. And yet, apparently, quite true. This may be one of those 'I've got to look this book up' books.
Harry and Bess go for a drive
Friday, January 16, 2009
This, that, the other and more
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
When I said I might miss a few blogs this week, I didn't think it would mean the whole week. Sorry about that. I was in Arlington, VA., for the funeral of my uncle, a most solemn and moving experience. It's hard to express how you feel when you realize that someone you thought of as merely 'uncle so and so', a nice man who was there your whole life wearing his cherished but heavily worn jacket, his baggy pants, paying you to wrap his Christmas gifts when you were a kid, growing his own vegetables and pickling them for Christmas gifts, that seemingly ordinary man who was your uncle earned through his career the honor that brought 40-50 men and women of the United States Army to venture out into the January cold for his funeral, people he had never met but who honored him as one of their own. There was a band, an honor guard, a horse-drawn caisson, the riderless horse with the boots backward in the stirrups. There was the shooting guard firing its salute, and an honest-to-goodness bugler to blow Taps. He was buried less than 200 yards from his oldest brother, both in the shadow of the Pentagon. From five brothers born to a middle class family, two are buried at Arlington.
I guess I always knew my uncle was special, just not special in this particular way.
Now I'm back, so let's get to blogging.
*** Okay, someone has my ideal life. Or one of my ideal lives, anyway. Running a bookstore on the high seas. Yep. If we can have a ship that is a floating condo complex, why not one that is a giant bookstore? This is one of the neatest things I've ever seen, I wonder if it could navigate the Mississippi River up to Memphis? I have to assume that the books are all new, unless the public brings in their used books to sell (trade?) while the ship is in port, which would really be kind of neat. The link is to an older story about the ship, there are newer stories but this one had the best pictures.
Floating bookstore
*** During the 60's and 70's there was a flurry of activity surrounding Japanese soldiers who were left behind and forgotten on various islands scattered around the Pacific during World War II, men who didn't know the war had ended and were still fighting (or, mostly hiding from) US forces. I have read the autobiography of one such man, Onoda, who was trapped on a small Phillippine Island until 1974 but who was accused of cowardice on his return to Japan. (The Japanese of the pre-war period weren't big on forgiveness) Now here's the story of another such man who, for some inexplicable reason, lived a similar story but was NOT thought of as a coward on his return to Japan. I think to know the reason one was thought a coward and the other was not, you would need to be Japanese.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/KA17Dh01.html
*** I know, you're going into withdrawal. It's been more than a week without a story bashing ebay. Well, this is a Bonanzle story, not an ebay, exactly. Of course, without ebay's momentous choke job last year there would not BE a Bonanzle, not one growing so fast as the 2009 version, anyway, so the following story from CNN shows just how far the little-site-that-could has come. More than 20,000 members now and you can only think it will grow exponentially from his point.
*** Bonanzle gaining steam and members
*** The demise of the independent bookstore is rather an old story by now, but there is still room to mourn when a good one goes under. I never shopped at Cody's, but it seems like the sort of store that I would have liked. Our local independent small-chain seller, Davis-Kidd books, is terrific, the personnel irreplaceable, but one can only hope they are in this for the long run. Losing them would hurt very badly, so I understand the sense of loss for Cody's loyal customers.
A good one bites the dust
*** There was a time when I took historian David Irving seriously. As did many other people, I might add. He was British, he was a historian, he sounded good and had the right credentials. His opinions were a bit different than most, but so what? Mine are too. Of course, this was before he wound up in jail in Austria for denying the Holocaust. (As an American this seems bizarre, that someone could be thrown in jail for espousing a political view, even one as awful as this. But if I am ever in Austria again, and I hope that I am, you can be sure I won't be denying the Holocaust or Sieg Heil-ing down Kartnerstrasse, even if I were so inclined, which I'm not. I mean, how stupid can you be?)
Anyway, Irving lost pretty much all credibility when he went about saying the Holocaust wasn't real and didn't happen, but this has lead to a most interesting turn: Irving, it seems, was chosen by Hitler himself to be his biographer. Not that the two ever met, of course. Irving spent part of his childhood dodging bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe and was still a child when Hitler ate the end of a Walther. But, no matter. Hitler somehow knew Irving would come along one day and appointed him the task of writing his 'true' biography. How could he know such a thing? don't think about it, you'll get a headache. Instead, read the attached article, it's fascinating and eerie and you'll hope you're never sitting next to Irving on a long plane flight.
David Irving is even stranger than you thought
*** I note that Patrick McGoohan died Tuesday in L.A. 'The Prisoner' was one of those fleeting moments of remembered greatness in one's youth, so transitorily wonderful that you never forget it. During one of my two years at UT Knoxville there was a marathon of 'The Prisoner's' one and only season that I sat through until my backside ached. The series was one of those that was so uniquely English that it could never have been made anywhere else, and efforts to try would have failed miserably.
A legend has passed.
*** Not merely one legend, however. I see where sir John Mortimer has died and this is truly a loss that I will feel. For those who haven't discovered Rumpole of the Bailey, I feel sorry for you. Second only to PG Wodehouse in my estimation of the great 20th century British humorists, Mortimer could seemingly will laughs from even the most dour reader. 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' is something all husbands can relate to and none would admit to doing so. Sigh...
No more Rumpole
When I said I might miss a few blogs this week, I didn't think it would mean the whole week. Sorry about that. I was in Arlington, VA., for the funeral of my uncle, a most solemn and moving experience. It's hard to express how you feel when you realize that someone you thought of as merely 'uncle so and so', a nice man who was there your whole life wearing his cherished but heavily worn jacket, his baggy pants, paying you to wrap his Christmas gifts when you were a kid, growing his own vegetables and pickling them for Christmas gifts, that seemingly ordinary man who was your uncle earned through his career the honor that brought 40-50 men and women of the United States Army to venture out into the January cold for his funeral, people he had never met but who honored him as one of their own. There was a band, an honor guard, a horse-drawn caisson, the riderless horse with the boots backward in the stirrups. There was the shooting guard firing its salute, and an honest-to-goodness bugler to blow Taps. He was buried less than 200 yards from his oldest brother, both in the shadow of the Pentagon. From five brothers born to a middle class family, two are buried at Arlington.
I guess I always knew my uncle was special, just not special in this particular way.
Now I'm back, so let's get to blogging.
*** Okay, someone has my ideal life. Or one of my ideal lives, anyway. Running a bookstore on the high seas. Yep. If we can have a ship that is a floating condo complex, why not one that is a giant bookstore? This is one of the neatest things I've ever seen, I wonder if it could navigate the Mississippi River up to Memphis? I have to assume that the books are all new, unless the public brings in their used books to sell (trade?) while the ship is in port, which would really be kind of neat. The link is to an older story about the ship, there are newer stories but this one had the best pictures.
Floating bookstore
*** During the 60's and 70's there was a flurry of activity surrounding Japanese soldiers who were left behind and forgotten on various islands scattered around the Pacific during World War II, men who didn't know the war had ended and were still fighting (or, mostly hiding from) US forces. I have read the autobiography of one such man, Onoda, who was trapped on a small Phillippine Island until 1974 but who was accused of cowardice on his return to Japan. (The Japanese of the pre-war period weren't big on forgiveness) Now here's the story of another such man who, for some inexplicable reason, lived a similar story but was NOT thought of as a coward on his return to Japan. I think to know the reason one was thought a coward and the other was not, you would need to be Japanese.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/KA17Dh01.html
*** I know, you're going into withdrawal. It's been more than a week without a story bashing ebay. Well, this is a Bonanzle story, not an ebay, exactly. Of course, without ebay's momentous choke job last year there would not BE a Bonanzle, not one growing so fast as the 2009 version, anyway, so the following story from CNN shows just how far the little-site-that-could has come. More than 20,000 members now and you can only think it will grow exponentially from his point.
*** Bonanzle gaining steam and members
*** The demise of the independent bookstore is rather an old story by now, but there is still room to mourn when a good one goes under. I never shopped at Cody's, but it seems like the sort of store that I would have liked. Our local independent small-chain seller, Davis-Kidd books, is terrific, the personnel irreplaceable, but one can only hope they are in this for the long run. Losing them would hurt very badly, so I understand the sense of loss for Cody's loyal customers.
A good one bites the dust
*** There was a time when I took historian David Irving seriously. As did many other people, I might add. He was British, he was a historian, he sounded good and had the right credentials. His opinions were a bit different than most, but so what? Mine are too. Of course, this was before he wound up in jail in Austria for denying the Holocaust. (As an American this seems bizarre, that someone could be thrown in jail for espousing a political view, even one as awful as this. But if I am ever in Austria again, and I hope that I am, you can be sure I won't be denying the Holocaust or Sieg Heil-ing down Kartnerstrasse, even if I were so inclined, which I'm not. I mean, how stupid can you be?)
Anyway, Irving lost pretty much all credibility when he went about saying the Holocaust wasn't real and didn't happen, but this has lead to a most interesting turn: Irving, it seems, was chosen by Hitler himself to be his biographer. Not that the two ever met, of course. Irving spent part of his childhood dodging bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe and was still a child when Hitler ate the end of a Walther. But, no matter. Hitler somehow knew Irving would come along one day and appointed him the task of writing his 'true' biography. How could he know such a thing? don't think about it, you'll get a headache. Instead, read the attached article, it's fascinating and eerie and you'll hope you're never sitting next to Irving on a long plane flight.
David Irving is even stranger than you thought
*** I note that Patrick McGoohan died Tuesday in L.A. 'The Prisoner' was one of those fleeting moments of remembered greatness in one's youth, so transitorily wonderful that you never forget it. During one of my two years at UT Knoxville there was a marathon of 'The Prisoner's' one and only season that I sat through until my backside ached. The series was one of those that was so uniquely English that it could never have been made anywhere else, and efforts to try would have failed miserably.
A legend has passed.
*** Not merely one legend, however. I see where sir John Mortimer has died and this is truly a loss that I will feel. For those who haven't discovered Rumpole of the Bailey, I feel sorry for you. Second only to PG Wodehouse in my estimation of the great 20th century British humorists, Mortimer could seemingly will laughs from even the most dour reader. 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' is something all husbands can relate to and none would admit to doing so. Sigh...
No more Rumpole
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Books, books and blues
Good day, bookies! Stand by for news.
*** Ebay has not done anything robustly stupid for the last 24 hours, so let's report on this latest bit of nonsense from that dying company. I have 25 saved searches with them. That is, when someone posts something that qualifies I get an email. Great system, I have bought a lot of stuff that way over the years. Only now the dunces killing the company have eliminated prices from saved searches. You have to click on the item to see the price. And since all that's left there are the same items over and over again, there's nothing fun left to discover and a lot more trouble to discover it. So I canceled all 25 searches. Does anyone really wonder why Ebay is dying?
*** Borders financial woes continue. And while I'm no fan of chain bookstores, I have to admit that Borders is the best of the lot. Not only do they have an interesting selection, they are very pro-active in offering stuff for you to entice you into their stores. The Borders Rewards program is free and offers much more than the lousy Barnes & Noble plan does, and B&N charge you $25 for the privilege of buying from them. So I'm sad at having to post this link, and hope that Borders will find a way forward. If we have to have chain bookstores, Borders is the least objectionable of the lot.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_on_bi_ge/borders_pershing_square
*** Beaufort Books, the US publisher of The Jewel Of Medina, has moved the books' publication date up from October 15 to next Monday, the 6th. Nothing like a firebombing to get a book some attention. And in London, three men were arrested for said arson attack.
*** Wanna guess the 10 highest paid authors of the year? I post this link to the list without comment as to the worthiness of those involved...wait! This is a blog. I'm supposed to comment as to the worthiness of such people. Cool.
Okay, James Patterson. You must be kidding me. I know he's immensely popular, I know that a lot of my friends read every one of his books, but I have a real problem with authors who their publishers describe as a 'brand.' Stuart Woods has achieved this same status. Gack. JK Rowling, fine, no problem there. Dean Koontz? Okay by me. And Danielle Steel...look, I grew up reading comic books, you wanna read her, it's fine by me. And the best news? At least Patricia cCornwell isn't on the list.
http://www.forbes.com/media/2008/10/01/books-publishing-media-biz-media-cx_lr_1001authors.html
*** Dorothy Kilgallen was always on TV when I was growing up, usually as a panelist on some game show that I can't remember. And I always wondered who she was and why she was famous. A new book proposal promises to tell us why. Did you know that she landed the only interview with Jack Ruby? I didn't. And that her death might be linked to her investigations of JFK's assassination? I didn't know that, either.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117993286.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Yesterday, Thursday, I was doing that job most booksellers dread: I was writing book descriptions for new inventory being loaded into my database. It's tedious, not really much chance to be creative, but just as soon as you don't pay attention you will miss a glaring defect that you will only notice the day you are preparing to mail that book to a customer. Anyway, I was logging in a pretty nice copy of Robert Gordon's seminal Memphis music book, It Came From Memphis, when I did something else I often do: I read the first paragraph.
Weirdness enveloped me like fog in a Stephen King novel. The author begins the book talking about the blazing hot 4th of July, 1975, when the Rolling Stones played the Liberty Bowl, fronted by J. Geils Band and that quintessential American bluesman, Furry Lewis. That day is emblazoned in my mind like the symbol of a ranch on a horses' hock. The whole paragraph could have been written by me, including seeing Lewis play under much more favorable conditions. (Namely, in a smoky bar late at night)
I don't really remember whether the Stones were any good that day or not. By the time they finally took the stage I was in the middle stages of heat stroke and dehydration and might not even have been conscious. But I remember quite vividly when Furry Lewis came out, sat on his stool and showed everybody what authentic Delta Blues sounded like. If you love Memphis music and you haven't read It Came From Memphis, you really should track down a copy.
This is your friendly neighborhood bookseller signing off.
*** Ebay has not done anything robustly stupid for the last 24 hours, so let's report on this latest bit of nonsense from that dying company. I have 25 saved searches with them. That is, when someone posts something that qualifies I get an email. Great system, I have bought a lot of stuff that way over the years. Only now the dunces killing the company have eliminated prices from saved searches. You have to click on the item to see the price. And since all that's left there are the same items over and over again, there's nothing fun left to discover and a lot more trouble to discover it. So I canceled all 25 searches. Does anyone really wonder why Ebay is dying?
*** Borders financial woes continue. And while I'm no fan of chain bookstores, I have to admit that Borders is the best of the lot. Not only do they have an interesting selection, they are very pro-active in offering stuff for you to entice you into their stores. The Borders Rewards program is free and offers much more than the lousy Barnes & Noble plan does, and B&N charge you $25 for the privilege of buying from them. So I'm sad at having to post this link, and hope that Borders will find a way forward. If we have to have chain bookstores, Borders is the least objectionable of the lot.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_on_bi_ge/borders_pershing_square
*** Beaufort Books, the US publisher of The Jewel Of Medina, has moved the books' publication date up from October 15 to next Monday, the 6th. Nothing like a firebombing to get a book some attention. And in London, three men were arrested for said arson attack.
*** Wanna guess the 10 highest paid authors of the year? I post this link to the list without comment as to the worthiness of those involved...wait! This is a blog. I'm supposed to comment as to the worthiness of such people. Cool.
Okay, James Patterson. You must be kidding me. I know he's immensely popular, I know that a lot of my friends read every one of his books, but I have a real problem with authors who their publishers describe as a 'brand.' Stuart Woods has achieved this same status. Gack. JK Rowling, fine, no problem there. Dean Koontz? Okay by me. And Danielle Steel...look, I grew up reading comic books, you wanna read her, it's fine by me. And the best news? At least Patricia cCornwell isn't on the list.
http://www.forbes.com/media/2008/10/01/books-publishing-media-biz-media-cx_lr_1001authors.html
*** Dorothy Kilgallen was always on TV when I was growing up, usually as a panelist on some game show that I can't remember. And I always wondered who she was and why she was famous. A new book proposal promises to tell us why. Did you know that she landed the only interview with Jack Ruby? I didn't. And that her death might be linked to her investigations of JFK's assassination? I didn't know that, either.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117993286.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Yesterday, Thursday, I was doing that job most booksellers dread: I was writing book descriptions for new inventory being loaded into my database. It's tedious, not really much chance to be creative, but just as soon as you don't pay attention you will miss a glaring defect that you will only notice the day you are preparing to mail that book to a customer. Anyway, I was logging in a pretty nice copy of Robert Gordon's seminal Memphis music book, It Came From Memphis, when I did something else I often do: I read the first paragraph.
Weirdness enveloped me like fog in a Stephen King novel. The author begins the book talking about the blazing hot 4th of July, 1975, when the Rolling Stones played the Liberty Bowl, fronted by J. Geils Band and that quintessential American bluesman, Furry Lewis. That day is emblazoned in my mind like the symbol of a ranch on a horses' hock. The whole paragraph could have been written by me, including seeing Lewis play under much more favorable conditions. (Namely, in a smoky bar late at night)
I don't really remember whether the Stones were any good that day or not. By the time they finally took the stage I was in the middle stages of heat stroke and dehydration and might not even have been conscious. But I remember quite vividly when Furry Lewis came out, sat on his stool and showed everybody what authentic Delta Blues sounded like. If you love Memphis music and you haven't read It Came From Memphis, you really should track down a copy.
This is your friendly neighborhood bookseller signing off.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Firsts
Firsts is not only the name of my favorite book-related magazine, Firsts.com and its printed sister, it's also the significance of this particular blog entry. It's the first in what I hope will be a very long running series of blogs relating not only to the book business in general, but in Memphis and Tennessee in particular. The literary heritage of the Mid-South is quite rich but little known and I hope to alleviate that somewhat. I intend for this blog to become a clearing house for book and author news throughout the region.
In the beginning this news will probably involve mostly news stories and my comments about them. Today's topic will be what I consider the future of used book selling on the internet, but let's leave that until after the introductions. As the blog develops I hope to have regular commentators and guests bringing their ideas and observations on board.
So, who am I and what qualifies me to write this blog? I'm Billthebookguy, aka BBG, your friendly neighborhood used bookseller. I have been selling used and rare books for more than 10 years now, first via the brick and mortar outlet of the Cordova Antique Market and, when that closed, totally through the internet. I sell on ABEbooks.com, Alibris.com, Amazon.com, Biblio.com and, most importantly, on WorldBookMarket.com. I have sold thousands of items on ebay.com but have quit that completely since ebay went berserk earlier this year and has begun treating sellers like criminals. (Did you know ebay had done that? If not, that's a good reason to subscribe to this blog, that's the sort of thing I'll be detailing) In ebay's place I now list at Bonanzle.com, thus the clever booth title http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/Billthebookguy. I have dabbled in a number of other sites, such as choosebooks.com and blujay.com. I've sold more than 30,000 books and bought more than that. What is most important, however, is that soon, very soon, Billthebookguy.com will finally become a reality.
This is a big deal, because while I love the idea of this blog and intend to work at it very hard, in the long run it will only be one component of a much larger site. I have the world's best webmaster slaving to make it the world's best website, so stay tuned.
And that segue brings me to the idea that will revolutionize the world of online selling: Worldbookmarket.com. How is WBM different? Unlike those other sites, who will let anyone with the requisite fees list anything they want (and if you believe those places enforce listing guidelines, you need to lay off of the animal tranquilizers), WBM is a consortium of dealers who mutually enforce a set of ethics and regulations for how to correctly sell used and rare books over the internet.
Or, put another way, if you order a hardback first edition of The Hunt For Red October in Fine condition with like dust jacket, you actually get what you expect and not an abridged audiobook on cassette, as happened to one fellow I have met. The sellers of WBM will all maintain their own websites which will be marketed under the banner of the WBM. Instead of paying ABEbooks outrageous listing fees approaching 20% in some cases, the dealers can perhaps offer discounts from their own websites, use better packing materials because the listing site isn't taking a huge skim from the shipping and discover if you have any other interests they might help with. The WBM will be the middleman that cuts out the middleman.
It's a great concept. It's in its infancy but sure to grow. Visit the site, meet some of my friends from around the world. Say hello to Mrpickwick, you might receive a reply to savor. Ask him what it's like to live in Katoomba, west of Sydney, the land of the Yowie. Or say hello to our mates in the UK, or in North Carolina. Meet the pros and love their books.
Okay, that does it for blog #1. Plenty more to come, so subscribe, let's have some fun.
In the beginning this news will probably involve mostly news stories and my comments about them. Today's topic will be what I consider the future of used book selling on the internet, but let's leave that until after the introductions. As the blog develops I hope to have regular commentators and guests bringing their ideas and observations on board.
So, who am I and what qualifies me to write this blog? I'm Billthebookguy, aka BBG, your friendly neighborhood used bookseller. I have been selling used and rare books for more than 10 years now, first via the brick and mortar outlet of the Cordova Antique Market and, when that closed, totally through the internet. I sell on ABEbooks.com, Alibris.com, Amazon.com, Biblio.com and, most importantly, on WorldBookMarket.com. I have sold thousands of items on ebay.com but have quit that completely since ebay went berserk earlier this year and has begun treating sellers like criminals. (Did you know ebay had done that? If not, that's a good reason to subscribe to this blog, that's the sort of thing I'll be detailing) In ebay's place I now list at Bonanzle.com, thus the clever booth title http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/Billthebookguy. I have dabbled in a number of other sites, such as choosebooks.com and blujay.com. I've sold more than 30,000 books and bought more than that. What is most important, however, is that soon, very soon, Billthebookguy.com will finally become a reality.
This is a big deal, because while I love the idea of this blog and intend to work at it very hard, in the long run it will only be one component of a much larger site. I have the world's best webmaster slaving to make it the world's best website, so stay tuned.
And that segue brings me to the idea that will revolutionize the world of online selling: Worldbookmarket.com. How is WBM different? Unlike those other sites, who will let anyone with the requisite fees list anything they want (and if you believe those places enforce listing guidelines, you need to lay off of the animal tranquilizers), WBM is a consortium of dealers who mutually enforce a set of ethics and regulations for how to correctly sell used and rare books over the internet.
Or, put another way, if you order a hardback first edition of The Hunt For Red October in Fine condition with like dust jacket, you actually get what you expect and not an abridged audiobook on cassette, as happened to one fellow I have met. The sellers of WBM will all maintain their own websites which will be marketed under the banner of the WBM. Instead of paying ABEbooks outrageous listing fees approaching 20% in some cases, the dealers can perhaps offer discounts from their own websites, use better packing materials because the listing site isn't taking a huge skim from the shipping and discover if you have any other interests they might help with. The WBM will be the middleman that cuts out the middleman.
It's a great concept. It's in its infancy but sure to grow. Visit the site, meet some of my friends from around the world. Say hello to Mrpickwick, you might receive a reply to savor. Ask him what it's like to live in Katoomba, west of Sydney, the land of the Yowie. Or say hello to our mates in the UK, or in North Carolina. Meet the pros and love their books.
Okay, that does it for blog #1. Plenty more to come, so subscribe, let's have some fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
