The Written Nerd

It's not blogging day, but these two links are too good to wait until Monday: The Litblog Co-Op has announced it's new Read This! selection, and has posts on the winner as well as the two runners-up. They're all great books, and a great conversation is starting -- check it out! And today my first column on graphic lit runs in Shelf Awareness ! I'm delighted at the opportunity to write about comics for a wider audience, and I hope it proves helpful to bookstores trying to navigate what for many is a new category. Comments welcome!

Despite the purported summer doldrums, July was a busy month as booksellers came together for pooling our collective brains and planning for the future. My own brain is a bit fuzzy today as I seem to have contracted an icky summer cold, but I'll do my best to give you the scoop on the two meetings I attended this month. Wednesday, July 11: American Booksellers Association Digital Task Force (ABA-DTF) Participants: * Beck Anderson (Anderson’s Bookshops – Naperville, IL) * Tom Campbell (Regulator Bookshop – Durham, NC) * Dan Cullen (Director Information Department – American Booksellers Assoc.) * Avin Domnitz (CEO – American Booksellers Assoc.) * Kelly Justice (Fountain Bookstore – Richmond, VA) * Russ Lawrence (Chapter One Books – Hamilton, MT) * Ricky Leung (Technical Lead – BookSense.com) * Madeline MacIntosh (Senior VP and Publisher, Random House Audio Group) * Jessica Stockon (McNally Robinson – New York, NY) * Neil Strandberg (Tattered Cover – Denver, CO) * Oren Teicher (COO –...

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday -- an early morning NAIBA board meeting. I'll have my run-down on the results of that meeting, and this month's ABA Digital Task Force, in tomorrow's post.

It's always risky to put your dreams out where people can see them. Some of the responses I've had, in comments and emails, to my posts about my "ideal Brooklyn bookstore" have caused me to rethink – or at least think through – a few of my assumptions. One of those, of course, is that adjective "Brooklyn." What do I mean by that, people want to know? It's a big place, after all – how could a bookstore possibly reflect all or any of what is meant by Brooklyn? First of all, I had to remind myself of what I already know, and have already said, in places like the Litminds interview I did a few weeks back. Brooklyn – like New York as a whole – is a city of neighborhoods, and each of them has its own distinct character. Those neighborhoods encompass an almost unfathomable range – from the Russian store signs in Bensonhurst, to the painfully hip bars of Williamsburg, to the posh baby strollers of Park Slope, to the West Indian restaurants of Crown Heig...

This is the second installation in the series I began last week , describing my vision for the bookstore I'd like to own in Brooklyn. I welcome your (constructive) criticism, praise, or additional ideas. Next week's installation will talk about sidelines, extra services, and behind-the-scenes stuff; this week is about the bar. Around the corner, down the stairs, or next door to the bookstore, depending on the space, is the bar and café. The color scheme of the bookstore is maintained here, in slightly more intense shades, but the space is separate and can be entered without passing through the bookstore, though it is also accessible from the store. (Anti-theft gates at the street entrances of both the bar and the bookstore prevent theft of books through either exit, and signs inform customers that they will be asked to pay for any books that they may accidentally damage in the bar.) At a wooden bar, a barista serves coffee, tea, espresso drinks, and juices during the day; ...

Okay, so I didn't post on Friday. Aside from domestic distractions, you might have heard of this little book that was about to be released at the stroke of midnight? The McNally Robinson Harry Party for Grownups wasn't by any means the biggest or the craziest party happening on Friday night in bookstores, but it had its share of big craziness. Read about how it turned out here in the Times ("swilling?!?"), here on the Obsolete Vernacular blog (scroll to the end - "classy" we like), here on NYT ArtsBeat ("stylish" is good too), and here on GalleyCat ("explosive" is even better). I'm sure there are more mentions out there -- would love to see them if you send the links. At the risk of giving away store secrets, I think it's safe to say we had no idea how big this event would be. The HP for Grownups party two years ago when Book 6 came out was festive, but manageable, and we sold about half our stock on the night and more th...

Could I ask you to wait until Friday for a new post? Little emergencies around the married home today taking up all the blogging time... but stay tuned.