Bookstore Profiles

Is your shop profiled here? Send us a blurb or two and some photos or a video, we’d love to give you some free exposure.

Brick and Mortar Thoughts

Some tips and suggestions from the Pros and how to operate a successful shop.

Elsewhere on the Net...

Some links to our fellow bookstore owners blog posts, web sites and any book related newsworthy items.

Opening a Bookstore

Some stories & shared knowledge on opening a bookstore. Learn all the ins and outs of getting your bookstore open.

Recommended Reading

Some good books both to help you operate more effectively and some just to enjoy, always with bookselling in mind.

Home » Archive by Author

Articles by Nora O'Neill

Handling offensive titles without causing offense
Saturday, 27 Feb, 2010 – 19:39 | 10 Comments
Handling offensive titles without causing offense

Handling historical material that contains racist material is difficult but worth doing. To forget the bad parts of history increases the odds of repeating them. WARNING: this post contains photos of books from the 19th and early 20th centuries that will likely offend some readers!

Old books and old buildings make for “interesting” remodeling projects
Wednesday, 24 Feb, 2010 – 18:53 | One Comment
Old books and old buildings make for “interesting” remodeling projects

A remodeling project at a bookstore goes awry when the owner discovers a boarded over door in the wall. It sounds like the set up for a horror novel, but this sort of thing is common if you’re remodeling an old bookstore.

The wonderful, wacky world of fanfic
Saturday, 16 Jan, 2010 – 18:19 | 3 Comments
The wonderful, wacky world of fanfic

Fan fiction isn’t just an internet phenomenon. It’s been around since before the printing press. Hard copies of early twentieth century (or earlier) examples may be quite lucrative for rare book dealers.

The books of the future will be made of sugar, wheat, and weed!
Thursday, 31 Dec, 2009 – 18:35 | 2 Comments
The books of the future will be made of sugar, wheat, and weed!

Dead trees are so last century. Books of the future will be made of sugar, wheat, or even elephant dung!

The NYT bestsellers aren’t my bestsellers
Saturday, 12 Dec, 2009 – 16:55 | 3 Comments

The bestsellers on the used market aren’t necessarily the best sellers you see on the New York Times list or on Amazon’s hot list.  Often they bear no relation to each other.  However, statistics on …

Love the computer, hate the power bill
Saturday, 5 Dec, 2009 – 17:40 | One Comment
Love the computer, hate the power bill

It’s the rare bookseller now a days that doesn’t use a computer for at least part of their operation.  There’s still a few die hards that won’t touch them, but the majority have a computer …

Books in plain brown wrappers
Saturday, 7 Nov, 2009 – 18:23 | No Comment
Books in plain brown wrappers

Once upon a time, if you wanted a “certain kind of book” you had to go to a certain kind of shop or order from a catalog and wait for a package in a plain …