WordWacky

[Picture via MAKE:Blog]

My love affair with crosswords began in high school. See, when you’re cutting classes, it helps to have something to do to pass the time. I would do the Daily News or New York Times crossword, sometimes with my friend Denise. She would put two letters in a box to fit words that she wanted to place. It was infuriating.

That love affair revived a couple of years ago, and I dragged my wife in for a threesome. We’d trade the crossword back and forth when we were stuck, and sometimes — but not always — we’d get it all done.

It is my ambition to one day complete (solo, sorry honey) a Saturday New York Times crossword. Everyone thinks Sundays are the hardest, but that’s not true. It’s just the largest. From the Amazon listing for the Saturday book:

The Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle is the most challenging puzzle of the week, which is why it has gained such an eager following. The most serious solvers know that actually finishing the puzzle is no small feat.

No small feat, indeed. When I get any of the words in that puzzle, it’s a triumph. A girl can dream….

In the midst of all the closures, some brave people are choosing to open new bookstores. How will they do it? Here are some of the strategies I’ve seen from the newbies.

Test

A group of entrepreneurs is opening a bookstore in Fitchburg, MA. The Rabbit Hole was preceded by a “test store” in Alberta, Canada, opened nearly four years ago.

They have used that store to learn what works and doesn’t work, but realize that the Fitchburg store will be its own niche, dependant on what the customers want.

“Helping everyone feel welcome is important,” said [co-owner] Hugendubler.

One thing the group hopes to do is team up with the library in hopes of offering some of the programming the library cut back in July.

In a downtown area that is being revitalized, this group hopes their store will become a community staple.

Organize a Movement Around Your Store

From the New York Observer:

Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo, the events coordinator at the Nolita bookstore McNally Jackson, has been public about her intention to open a new independent bookstore in Brooklyn since at least January, when she won a $15,000 grant for the project from the Brooklyn Public Library. Since then, she seems to have zeroed in on Fort Greene as her neighborhood of choice, and the Fort Greene Association, which administered a survey to 380 locals and found that 74% of them wanted a bookstore in the neighborhood, is trying to help her make it happen.

Called the Fort Greene Bookstore Initiative, the group met for the first time last week to discuss making this bookstore a reality.

Says Stockton-Bagnulo on her blog:

…This level of commitment to a local bookstore before it has even opened is unique, I believe, in the contemporary book industry, and reinforces my love for Brooklyn as a place where community is a powerful force.

I have no doubt that a community-built bookstore will have a great chance of survival. It takes a village.

Diversify and Caffeinate

At Inner Chapters, a new bookstore in the South Lake Union neighborhood in Seattle, they opened their café before the bookstore. The café had time to build some clientele and hear the kudos from neighbors who were excited to have a new bookstore in their midst. Especially one in which they are encouraged to sip and linger. From The Stranger: 

…according to owner Kristina Barnes, Inner Chapters is going to be primarily a used bookstore, although it will carry as many new books as customers seem interested in—but it’s a space intended for reading and leisurely time spent among books: a good selection of magazines, a cafe counter, a couch and other comfortable seats, and a large room lined with bookshelves lit by natural light from a skylight.

Good Business Move or Foolish Pipe Dream?

Returning to last Sunday’s Seattle Times story: 

Seattle is an exceptional reading town, but national trends are not encouraging — even in cities with highly educated populations like Seattle’s. Miller, who runs the “Most Literate Cities” survey, recently reviewed five years of survey results, and found what he called a “disturbing” trend: “While Americans are becoming more and more educated in terms of their time spent in school and their education level accomplished,” Miller wrote, “they are decreasing in terms of literate behaviors. This is particularly obvious in our lack of support of bookstores and the constantly diminishing circulation of newspapers.”

In his five-year review, Miller noted that 43 out of 59 of the cities studied had a higher percentage of high-school graduates than they did five years ago, and 46 of the cities a higher percentage of college graduates. But “not a single city in our survey has more independent bookstores now than five years ago,” Miller writes. “Fifty-seven out of 60 cities reported fewer retail booksellers in 2007 than in 2003; in several, the number of booksellers per capita dropped by half of what was reported in 2003.

The statistics are not encouraging. What hope does a newcomer have to build their business and keep it thriving when older, more established businesses are forced to make hard choices and/or close?

Perhaps location, strategy, and community will create the opportunity these booksellers are looking for. I count myself among those rooting for them.

Today’s Shelf Awareness had a couple of interesting ideas from a thriving new/used bookstore in Stoneham, MA, Book Oasis – one of which is to give money away!

The biggest key to our success this summer was the huge amount of early preparation we did for the school summer reading programs. We have developed good relationships with the librarians and English departments of more than 15 schools. By the time the kids got their lists, we had already created an 8′ by 7′ high summer reading section. Each school had its own shelf with books organized by grade. This made it easy for the parents to find their school and get in and out, and made it much easier for our two-person staff to assist the crowd without having to run all over the store. Happy parents are a good thing.
 
Second, we took a page from another local bookstore and decided to offer The Tales of Beedle the Bard at full cover price and then donate $3 from each book to the local food pantry. If customers bring in a non-perishable item when they purchase their books, we are giving them another $1 off. The pre-Christmas timing made the food pantry a logical choice, and they couldn’t be more excited. Our customers are thrilled with the idea. This has kept our August sales strong.

I wasn’t intending a Part 1.5 originally, but these ideas were great ones, and didn’t involve major changes like relocation or selling. They simply represented more investment in their community, and the community responded!

This Sunday’s Seattle Times had a sad tale about my city’s bookstores:

Seattle has more bookstores per capita than any other city in the country, according to the “America’s Most Literate Cities” survey conducted by Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University — 174 at last count. But running a bookstore has always been an occupation for dreamers, and area independent stores have had to confront the realities of wresting a living from a low-margin business in an increasingly expensive town.

M Coy Books, on Pine Street between First and Second avenues in the Pike Place Market neighborhood, could not survive a major rent increase. All for Kids Books in the University Village area, a treasured children’s bookstore, closed down this summer. Jackson Street Books at the corner of Jackson Street and 23rd Avenue, specializing in African-American literature, science fiction and other genres, shuttered its Seattle operation this spring. In Kirkland, Parkplace Books resorted to a campaign for donations from its fans and customers to avoid closing its doors.

I refuse to surrender the neighborhood bookstore as another idea whose day has passed. Here are some success stories from bookstores who have recently fought to stay alive, despite the “business is down, rent’s up” story that seems all too common these days.

Fundraise

You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. This old truism may be cliché, but it’s also true. Faced with seeing their beloved neighborhood bookshop close, many residents are willing to put a few dollars into the bookstore. Maybe a bookstore isn’t non-profit, but often the profits are none.

As mentioned in the Seattle Times story, Parkplace books did just that to keep their business going. So did Wordsmith Books in Decatur, Georgia – they recently led a successful fundraising campaign. From their blog:

We have reached the end of our two week campaign to save the bookstore. From August 4th through August 17th, we asked for your help. We asked for the chance to take this business and turn it forward, to get out from under the weight of immediate costs that were threatening to close our doors forever and begin the task of paying down debts that were accrued in our original location. And you responded. Our call for help hit the AJC, was broadcast on NPR, was rehashed and debated on countless blogs, commented on, emailed about and discussed in bookstores throughout the country. We received help from 18 states, Canada, and a handful of people in the U.K.

Relocate

Little Professor Bookstore in Fenton, Michigan moved downtown to avoid the rising prices in the shopping center where they made their home for 12 years.

Carpenter said she is paying significantly less rent for smaller quarters at 150 W. Shiawassee Ave. — a few doors down from the popular French Laundry restaurant.

She sees other advantages.

“There’s more foot traffic downtown,” Carpenter said. “It’s not like you can walk from Wal-Mart to my store. And where we were located, it was hard to see our signs from the road.”

Sell

Sometimes new energy can be just what a burned out bookseller needs. Just because you may be through with the never-ending race of sales versus bills and rent doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t willing to step up and take the baton.

As mentioned earlier on Wordwacky, another option when faced with imminent demise is to sell the shop. The Amazon Bookstore in Minneapolis was saved this year when someone stepped up and bought it – after the closing sale had already happened.

Then last week, Skujin’s partner ran into Barb at a concert, who told her the 38-year-old store had lowered its price but had not found a buyer, and was now in its final days. “I called Barb the next day, we met last Thursday, came to an agreement, shook on it, and I still can’t believe it, but I own a bookstore,” said Skujin.

Go Virtual

In Culpepper, Virginia, one bookseller’s decision when faced with closing up shop was to expand his web presence. The 32 year-old Corner Shelf Bookstore will close this month, to be replaced by only a website. But according to the Free Lance-Star, the bookstore won’t lose its personal touch.

Those who don’t like to shop online will be able to call Gordon Dickerson using the same telephone number the shop has had since it opened in August 1976: 540/825-4411.

And customers will have three options for receiving their books. Dickerson says he will mail them to whatever address you want (postage will apply, of course) or you can prepay and the books will be left at the Raven’s Nest Coffee Shop on East Davis Street. Dickerson has even worked out an arrangement with the Raven’s Nest’s owner to hold author book-signings at the coffee shop.

Next time: Some ideas around opening, not closing a bookstore, even now…

As a member of the LGBT community who reads, there is often overlap between my literary life and my queer life. I tend to read contemporary lit, if perhaps not lit with a capital Literature. I don’t read many romances, though my reading material often contains romance. I don’t read many mysteries, though every good story should have a mystery or two. I don’t read much sci-fi, though magical realism/fabulism often crosses my nightstand. And when I go to the bookstore, if I’m not searching for something specific, it’s the staff picks table, or the new paperbacks table that I gravitate toward. Only rarely will you find me in the LGBT section, and then I’m usually looking for an obscure title.
 
Last week I attended the Lambda Literary Retreat. While I was there, I heard the author of  The End of the World Book, Alistair McCartney, speak on a small panel of debut authors. He talked about feeling ghettoized originally to find himself in the LGBT section. But eventually, he realized he had a niche market, and in these times of many books, few readers, this was exceptionally valuable.
 
I didn’t tell Alistair that I never would have found him in the LGBT section. I stand among those writers (if I should ever get something finished and released to the world) who does not wish to be relegated to the LGBT section, if only because I would never find nor read my own work that way.
 
I do not like the term crossover. What exactly am I crossing over to – or from, for that matter? Have I somehow become a part of a netherworld of outcasts, who have to rise above a certain high-jump marker before we can make it out of the “ghetto”? I live in the everyday straight world. Some of my best co-workers are straight. I take the bus with straight people. I read their literature. I answer their e-mails. Why when I become an author would I suddenly have to be crossing over in order to appear on the shelves and tables that I regularly choose my books from – indeed, where my inspiration lives?
 
On the American Bookseller’s Association blog, Bookselling This Week, is a recent article called “GLBT Titles: Not Just For GLBTs Anymore”. It begins:

With the success of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and just about every David Sedaris title, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender lit has long since moved from off- to center-stage at general bookstores. With so many choices for GLBT books, the tricky part for a bookseller is creating optimal GLBT section visibility, shelving titles that can span two, three, or more genres, and winnowing a rich field of contenders for shelf space.

 
And my response to the ABA: when were they ever just for GLBTs? While I’m sure that some were written expressly for the queer audience, many others were not. Who exactly determined that these books were just for GLBTs?

So at my buddy Katie’s suggestion, I joined Paperback Swap today.

It’s a pretty good deal. To start out you post ten books you can part with (they don’t really have to be paperbacks, but keep in mind that you’ll be paying postage, so paperbacks are cheaper), and you get two credits to spend. One credit = one book.

Once I was done posting my books, I immediately had five requests, so half of my books were wanted — and these were the books I knew I’d never read again. I thought for a moment that the site was that active, but it turns out that you can make a wish list, and when the book comes available, you get first dibs (assuming you’re first in line, that is). Pretty neat.

When two of the members who had wishlisted my books confirmed that they wanted them, I promptly went to the post office to mail the books, which was my biggest mistake. I didn’t like the idea of setting up a postage account with them and printing my postage — how would I know exactly how much postage I would need? That would mean that some of my money was always in their hands: add all of that extra postage up, and it’s likely a lot of money. Smells like a racket to me, and I’m careful not to give money to something that feels that way to me, no matter how little money it may be, on principle. Well, as I mentioned, that was a mistake. It turns out that had I printed the postage, they would have considered the book not just mailed, but received. And therefore my two credits would already be available.

As it is, I have to wait until the members receive the books I mailed and go online to mark them received. According to their site, that could take 15 days! Also, at the automated mailing station at the post office (it was closed), I couldn’t buy media mail, only first class or priority, so I spent more than I had to, about $5.35 to mail two books.

The site was down for maintenance when I first visited, and pretty slow moving (and relatively unattractive… just saying) once it was back up. And my wish list is far longer than the list of books I wanted to read that were available. Like me, other readers are probably only putting their least favorites up for swap.

But this is only my first day, and some of my dissatisfaction was my own stupid fault. So I’ll have to keep you posted on how it goes from here on out.

Update: So another person confirmed that they wanted one of my books and I went the pre-paid postage route. It is not cheaper, and I do feel ripped off. I spent $3.50 on the postage, $.50 of which was a fee for using my credit card.

The postage cost $2.41, and I also spent $.43 on the per-book transaction fee of using the prepaid postage service. I did get instant credit, but when it costs 39% of the postage to mail it from home, that’s not a bargain.

Of course, I could have put more money into the postage account, thereby spreading the $.50 over multiple shipments, but even if I spread it over, say, 10 shipments, that would still be $.48 per shipment, or in this case, a 20% premium.

There is a second option I’m going to try next time. This feature prints the mailing label with a confirmation bar code on it — as soon as your mail is scanned in at the post office, you get credit for the trade. It costs something like $.23 (I can’t find the exact price, bad user experience, folks), and of course, since I only have $.16 in my account now, I will have to spend another $.50 to get my account balance up to the point where I can use it. Sigh.

Two more independent bookstores bite the dust. One is in the heartland, Bookstore on West 25th Street, Cleveland, OH. From The Plain Dealer:

About 18 months ago, the landmark store was in code blue and failing fast, but patrons and friends of owner Mike O’Brien held a rent party, giving the place a new life.

The revival, however, was short-lived. Now the old Mecca for suburban intellectuals and urban poor people — who for decades browsed among the high wooden shelves and the 25-cent rack — is in its final hour.

It’s not hard to imagine that independent bookstores disappear from lower income neighborhoods before richer ones. The anecdotal evidence I can provide from my own life confirms this, and it makes sense that the richer the neighborhood, the more they can support a specialty store. However, it’s tragic to imagine books as objects inaccessible to the poor.

And in Berkeley, CA, Cody’s closed its doors on June 20. From the Berkeley Blog:

I have been a longtime fan of Cody’s Books in Berkeley. It was a great independent bookstore with a big selection and very knowledgeable salespeople that supported local authors. It also brought a lot of great speakers to Berkeley, many of whom I had the privilege of hearing talk in a small, intimate space, and many of whose visits resulted in posts on this weblog. It was one of the institutions that enriched the city, kept it intellectually stimulating, and made it a great place to live.

In the good news section, a different bookstore called Amazon - not referring to the online giant, but a little feminist bookstore in Minneapolis - got saved at the last possible moment. The closing sale had already happened, but the new owner, Ruta Skujins, is thrilled to get started again. Quoting the new owner, Amy Goetzman at MinnPost.com says:

“‘I belong to several online literary groups, and I kept hearing about these great bookstores closing, in places like Iowa and Boston. When I heard that Amazon was closing, I thought, ‘No, that can’t happen,’ ‘ she said. ‘I talked with Barb Wieser [manager and most veteran employee of the cooperative] back in February about gathering a group of investors, but it just didn’t come together, so I gave up on the idea. But it bothered me.’

Then last week, Skujin’s partner ran into Barb at a concert, who told her the 38-year-old store had lowered its price but had not found a buyer, and was now in its final days. ‘I called Barb the next day, we met last Thursday, came to an agreement, shook on it, and I still can’t believe it, but I own a bookstore,’ said Skujin.”

Unconvinced that these stores are worth saving? For a great discussion on the many-pronged value of independent bookstores, visit Thoughts on Books, a blog by an employee of a publishing house.

According to a Random House funded poll conducted by Zogby, 82% of respondents favored a physical, pages-and-binding book to a digital version. A mere 3% owned an e-book reader, and 80% said they had no plans to purchase one.

The Census Bureau says sales at bookstores jumped 8% in April, and for the first four months of the year, sales were up 5.4%. [Editor's note: What the Census Bureau is doing tracking bookstore sales, I have no idea. I thought they just crawled out of the sludge every ten years to count us.]

So why are bookstores, particularly the independent ones who can’t take a loss and lean on another store to keep afloat, dying out?

From Wednesday’s Collinsville Herald, Madison County, IL:

“Piece of Mind Books has been in Edwardsville since 1991, but it is one of the last of a dying breed of independent bookstores in Madison County. The Book Nook and Faith Talk Company, both independent bookstores in Edwardsville, closed in that last few years. Main Street Books USA, in Collinsville, also closed.”

From Monday’s Republican, regarding the closure of Half Moon Books in Northampton, MA:

“At the entrance of the store, Ham has taped a New Yorker cartoon that shows a bookstore owner closing down his shop while, next door, a woman is receiving a package of books from a postal carrier. Unfortunately, he sees this as the future, which is why he is selling his inventory this month at 40-50 percent off. He decided against looking for someone to buy the business.

‘I wouldn’t feel right about selling the bookstore,’ he said. ‘I don’t think you can make enough money to live on.’”

Here’s that cartoon:

There’s the rub. It’s not the Kindle keeping people from their neighborhood cat-having, quirky-owner-presiding, local-economy-supporting bookstore, it’s the online retailers.

Also from the Zogby poll [via the P-I's Book Patrol]:

Independent bookselling did not fare so well in the survey either:
The top three retail choices for buying books were buying online (77%), buying books from a chain bookstore (76%), and buying from an independent bookstores (49%).

When asked if they “regularly” shop at an independent bookseller only 33% said yes and 64% said no!

Emphasis mine. Sigh.

I want to go on a journey across the States, documenting the independent bookstore. While it lasts. Who wants to come? I’ll need a director/videographer — and a lot of money.

Growing up in the Bronx, there was a bookstore in my neighborhood. It was exactly four long blocks away: past Stubies, the corner grocery store; past P.S. 56 and the row of private houses across from it, including my favorite, the one with the hex sign; down the hill and over to 204th St (pronounced by the neighborhood kids “two-fourth street”). Two-fourth was where the best sneaker store was, and the McDonald’s, and the Woolworths. It was also the home of a bookstore whose name I have since forgotten.

At the bookstore on two-fourth, the shelves were very sparse. Books appeared mostly cover-out, with book-sized spaces between them. I only remember visiting the young adult section, so it had to have been gone before I was a teenager. The owners weren’t particularly friendly — or particularly anything to me, and I don’t remember them at all.

This weekend a New York Times story reported on the imminent closing of the last independent, general interest bookstore in the Bronx. [via Lost City]

…because Paperbacks Plus is the only independent general interest bookstore in the Bronx, local bibliophiles will have to look elsewhere for their literature in a borough notoriously lacking in bookstores. Options include outposts of Barnes & Noble in Co-Op City, Yonkers and White Plains, each a 20-minute drive.

Drive? Did someone say drive? What does that mean? [Editor's note: Only one of those options is actually in the Bronx -- Yonkers and White Plains are both outside the City.]

To call Riverdale, where the bookstore resides, the Bronx is technically accurate, but ignores the spirit of both places. Riverdale, just over the bridge from Manhattan, is the most exclusive neighborhood in the Bronx. An even more exclusive neighborhood is tucked within the safe bosom of Riverdale: Fieldston. There are mansions in Fieldston, and it lends its name to a chi chi private school. Kids I knew from Riverdale wouldn’t write Bronx, NY on their return address — instead they created the fictional borough of Riverdale.

So if there ain’t a bookstore in Riverdale, there ain’t one in the Bronx. And despite the elitism of Riverdale, with its high rise buildings that had their own pools, the fact that the last mom-and-pop bookstore in the Bronx is gone makes me very very sad.

“So the store’s on sale for 20 percent off, huh?” Mr. Martin said, referring to the sign in the window, which bore the words “Everything on Sale — Even the Store!”

“Not quite,” Mr. Norberto replied. “But we’re hoping somebody steps up. Let me tell you something: This neighborhood, there’s a huge outcry.”

Jane Andersen, a nurse retired from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital who has lived in Riverdale for 18 years, echoed that sentiment.

“I think most Riverdalians do define themselves as being interested in reading,” Ms. Andersen said.

Riverdalians!

Riverdale is no closer to most Bronx residents than Yonkers or Co-Op City; this isn’t about access so much as it is about the death of a business model. The neighborhood bookshop is rare, and it’s dying out rapidly.

…own a bookstore located on their farm in Wisconsin. It’s not marked; it’s not centrally located. They never advertise, and their only regular hours are 9-5 on Saturday.

They have more than a million titles, which is many more than a shopping center chain store.

This inspiring couple will amaze you.

Lenore says that the most important book of all is Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes:

“If a child knows eight nursery rhymes before the child is four years old, that child will be an excellent reader when he is eight years old.”

(The video is a little slow to start, since there are a couple of intros edited in. But it’s worth it.)

[via My World... My Perspective...]