H.P. Kraus

The BookThinker copyrights their articles, which of course is the right thing to do, but they are kind enough to permit republishing of their articles, as long as they're credited. Here at Greyhound's Books, we always give credit where credit is due, and damn just as freely. Kudos again to The BookThinker !
H.P. Kraus

Borders Is Dead, and Rightly So

In both Bookstore 101 and 102, I stress the need to have a smart business model for  my students' putative bookselling operation. The CNN article below tells the sad tale, and points out why we didn't "make a run for the Border(s). CNN Borders  It's quite a cautionary tale.

Completely Useless Bookseller Alert !

On August 3rd, I ordered a book from Boardman Sales in Ohio. Today, after 10 e-mails to and from the Selling Site - in this case, Biblio - I received a refund, because, although the sale had been confirmed, and the book shown as sent, the book was "out-of-stock". It was a pricey book that I ordered at a quite advantageous price. This leads me to believe several things: 1) they never had the book; 2) they realized that it had been mispriced; 3) both.  Given all the aggravation, and the fact that Biblio has no mechanism to leave feedback on this type of (non) transaction, I feel compelled to let you all know that this dealer is unreliable, and certainly justifies the label on this post.

One of The Reasons Borders Failed

Again from Publishers Weekly,  an interesting article:  More Wonderful Employees

We Don't Have Employees

Many bookstore have part-time employees, some of which are unpaid apprentices - read "Book Groupies" - who want to learn the trade. Publishers Weekly links to blogs that sometimes have interesting articles. Here's one:  Employees From Hell !

From the Current Bookthinker

I like reading the BookThinker articles, because many of them reinforce my buying policies and philosophy. Thanks to The BookThinker for permitting the reprinting of their copyright material:
 
 An ad popped up on craigslist for a professor's library priced at $32,000. I don't always respond to craigslist ads that feature interesting books because many times you almost have to call before the ad appears - if you know what I mean. But a library priced at $32,000? Seemingly, this would put many other booksellers out of the running, so I called.

Our friend and colleague Maryann the writer has several interesting posts at her blog. Check them out, and maybe even subscribe at: Maryann's Blog