Matthew Singleton This is the first in a multi-part post through which I hope to introduce the reader’s of this blog to the idea of carrying graphic novels in their store. Space in a retail shop is limited; inventory is expensive, and there needs to be a reason why any product is carried in a store. Through these next … Read more
It’s not all doom and gloom for bookstores despite the news I woke up to Friday morning. I was awoken by CBC’s morning radio show host interviewing one of the co-owners of Flying Dragon Bookstore, an award-winning bookstore in Toronto, Canada. Saturday May 14, 2011 the Canadian Booksellers Association had named them Specialty Bookseller of … Read more
The Internet, the ebook, modern society in general, is changing the publishing industry in fundamental ways. I’m a librarian by training. Just as with every other industry touched by the publishing industry, like bookstores, the library is evolving; changing practices and methods of providing customer care. I’ve noticed an interesting trend in libraries in the past couple of … Read more
– Self Publishing, Print-on-Demand and How Bookstores Fit In Earlier today I finished an amazing book. The Best Laid Plans, by Terry Fallis, is a Canadian book about Canadian politics. Now I’m sure for most people this sounds boring, boring2, even. But it’s not, I assure you. The Best Laid Plans is an amazing book. … Read more
In recent days I have been made aware of three developments in the eBooks industry. One is a philosophical development, two are commercial. Two, in my opinion, are good news. One most definitely is not. They show that people from all aspects of the book industry are looking at eBooks; some objectively, not as something … Read more
A few months ago while reading through some random magazine (so I once again cannot find this article and what I am talking about comes from memory) I came across an article about a company that specializes in an aspect of the book trade that I never really considered: the development of custom libraries for … Read more
I am a nerd for classification schemes and standards. I’m a librarian and I have catalogued books, CDs, movies, even board games, using a variety of different classification schemes. Yesterday while reading an old issue of Library Journal I learned about a new one: BISAC. BISAC is an acronym for Book Industry Standards and Communications. … Read more
I’m going to paraphrase Spider Robinson. A long time ago I read something he wrote. I forget where it was written and I forgot when it was written, but it was about the idea that retail staff are seen as interchangeable cogs. It went something like “the man selling computers doesn’t know about computers and … Read more
