Drop-Ins: Informal Bookshop Author Signings

It wasn’t until I started at the second mystery bookshop, that I learned how important a signed book is. The first store I worked in, Foul Play, although delightful, was small and predominately paperbacks. An author signing his or her book, never occurred to me. Not until a local author dropped by and asked if … Read more

Small press publications… without the printing press!

The vast majority of 20th century books and pamphlets will be printed via offset press or as letterpress.  What’s the difference?  Offset transfer the ink to a rubber blanket before its put to a surface.  It provides a more even print on less even papers.  Letterpress directly applies the plate to paper which also produces a slight indent around the lines.  It can make for slightly higher contrast in illustrations due to the faint indent.

Then there’s the tiny fraction of other things that were done using other duplication processes.  Many items that were produced in very small batches for special events , local groups, etc were produced using various other methods that may require special handling.  If you handle lots of ephemera, you may encounter alternate printing processes.  Many fanzines, chapbooks, pamphlets, and APAs may use this methods. Also, if there’s no date on the item, but you CAN ID the process used, it will give you a better idea of the date and how many copies were probably produced.

 

 

Master and print

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I Am SO Sick of Parents Dictating What Is Read in High School

Yet again!! Parents must interfere with school curriculum! Banned Books reports all instances of challenged titles throughout the world–thank goodness some one is watch dogging all the insane Puritan parental ‘watch dogs’ out there. !Another!  instance of a kid’s parents dictating to the school what is allowed, and what is forbidden to be taught has occurred in New Hampshire. The book in contention? Water for Elephants, a book chosen for an elected course, meaning, the student signs up for the course, takes home a permission slip to be signed by their parents, and if the student wants to read the book, and the parents are normal, they sign off on it and teachers then teach, and students then learn.

But not all parents seem to believe that other parents are allowed to OK their offspring to read the course selection. Some like this particular couple believe that their sensibilities are law, and anyone who disagrees should be FIRED. Yes, not only do they have the audacity to demand the book and course be pulled because of a two page description of sexual acts most teenagers have probably already experienced, but they think they have the power and right to have the teacher or administrators be fired for introducing such horrible filth into the curriculum!

I’ve asked this before, and I still can’t find an answer;  why does ANYONE outside the teachers and admins have any say over the books in school libraries and various courses? My guess, because we live in a world so afraid of its shadow, that schools no longer stand up for themselves. They cow-tow to whatever crackpot nitwits so freaked out about sex that they must publically make fools of themselves by demanding the book be banned. Do these parents not see how humiliating it must be for their child? Who wants to be known as the kid of the repressed couple who went ape over some rather tame sexual paragraphs? Oh boy, what a nightmare finishing high school that would be. What compels someone to believe something is soooooo offensive that it would damage the soft part of their teenagers brain if exposed to it? What are they seeing the rest of the world doesn’t, and again, why why why are their voices heard and acted upon, as opposed to all the silent parents who signed the permission slips for their kids to take a course with a great book that has 2 pages of lovemaking?

I realize that in centuries past, books such as these wouldn’t have seen the light of day in a school. But years ago, teenagers had sex, got pregnant, had back street abortions, were forced to marry early, contracted incurable sexual diseases and died, all without having been exposed to the horrors of sexual descriptions. Now, reading something like Water For Elephants, teenagers still have sex, get pregnant, hopefully stop having back street abortions, and probably don’t have a shotgun pointed at them, and can be cured of *most* sexually transmitted diseases. So the horrors of a couple of pages are, what, exactly????

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How my Bookshop Plans to Survive e-Books

E-books scare me.

electronic readers comparedI have shot upright out of a dead sleep no less than two times, bathed in a light sweat with the thought, “E-books are going to ruin me!” running through my head. I’ve heard the rumblings of e-books, news of hipsters riding the subway in New York all reading their kindles, but until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t actually seen the beasts in person myself and consequently, started having nightmares. It’s all just a concept until you call a customer about a request and hear, “Actually, I have an e-book now, so you can delete all my requests,” or see a 45 year old woman in a tea shop in my small town reading The Grapes of Wrath on her kindle while eating a chocolate chip cookie. Part of me wants to sidle up to her and ask how it feels to be dancing with the devil, and know that there is the danger of becoming (even more) cynical about kindles and the like if I’m not careful. I care deeply about my 14 staff members, the legacy that my father started with this bookstore 20 years ago, and my investment of time and life energy, and I will not go down without a fight! In fact, I intend to not go down at all.

I’ve tried in vain to carry kobo, to have e-books in our store in general, but to date there is no licensing for small independent Canadian booksellers to sell e-books themselves

  • they’re only too happy to have me refer customers for a piddly percentage, but I have to admit I’m not really into that idea. I’ve spent hours researching, calling, and getting rather frustrated, enjoying some comic relief watching 10 Rounds of Books vs Kindle with Green Apple books with Round 10 being my particular favourite:

Funny videos and stories of nightmares aside, the truth is that the cold reality of e-books is here. I’ve decided that instead of join ‘em, I’m going to do by best to beat ‘em. I have never given in easily to the status quo – pictures of me and my shaved head at environmental protests when I’m 15 could prove that in a heartbeat, so why start now?

How will we do this, in our small town bookstores? I believe that by diversifying, and providing an outstanding customer experience, we will continue to keep people coming through our doors and buying those antiquated old things known as….. books.

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Celebrated Author Margaret Atwood's Take on e-books

Margaret Atwood, author of such books as Lady Oracle, and The Blind Assassin gives her opinion regarding new technology vs. ‘real’ books. What I found interesting and what many aren’t talking about, is how the writer fares in the future. She brings up good points about both e-books and cloth bound ones.First found at Quill … Read more