WordWacky

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...]