Saturday, January 08, 2011

Business -- GONE!

Okay, the title is definitely a cheap shot, but I hope it got your attention. My business is not gone, thank heavens,  but my business SECTION is. As I mentioned a few posts ago, the time has come (the walrus said) to shed old, dead listings in as vast a quantity as fuzz from a cheap  sweater. The first place I headed was the remnants of what in the early days used to be a strong, viable category for us, but is now as stagnant as muddy water. I have not added titles to this section in years, so why on earth did I allow it and its three hundred-odd books to remain active? The easy answer is inertia, which though viable, is not as compelling as the second answer which is that I had no need to think of it. Books cascaded in here so fast and in such incredible volume that for several YEARS I went to maybe three sales a year, no auctions, and virtually no estate sales. Over a period of two years we bought the contents of a store in La Porte, Indiana, two massive estates (40,000-plus books), an extremely nice collection from an Akron estate and acquired the picker we lost this year due to his sudden interest in agriculture. Even as I write this it becomes painfully obvious what ails us these days  – we got too comfortable.

Well, we’re not comfortable now  that’s for sure. Take last night for example. We found an auction that advertised a “a large book collection, many first editions, including Dante’s Inferno with Gustave Dore illustrations.” I had spent the day with my new/old friend Cheryl exploring the changes to Westfield Center, the picture postcard village in which we met back in the early 70’s. Cheryl still lives there, so she knows everything about everything and gave me the cook’s tour. Much fun and lunch out, so I was in a happy mood when Eric and I  braved a snowstorm that got increasingly worse the closer we got to the auction. The second we walked in my “bookdar” took such a precipitous nosedive it’s a wonder it still functions. When you can’ t spot the “the large collection” upon entry you don’t even NEED “bookdar” to tell you you don’t have a winner.

The “large collection” consisted of twenty-odd books, all of which sported badly broken bindings and smelled like a wet basement. The Inferno was a cheap edition to begin with and had not improved an iota with age. So we turned on our heels, headed straight out the door without registering, and crept back in the snow to Medina. My mood by this time was a tad grizzly, but Eric made his trademark spaghetti for dinner which cheered me up immensely. (Never underestimate the curative powers of one’s husband’s cooking.) Anyway, the take-away message from the whole wretched experience, we agreed, is that we have been spoiled. The hideous waste of time we had just endured  is the real world  -- stark naked. There’s no choice but to accept the fact that in the real world  sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. So, we concurred, we need to get over ourselves and just get on with it.

Which is exactly what I am doing with the current Great Book Purge. I had always hated seeing my book count drop, but not anymore. Suddenly it feels good to me to clear out the old in an attitude of expectancy of the new. I saved one banker’s box of titles that are viable enough to give to our local literacy program, Project Learn, for their used bookstore which should reopen in a couple weeks following a recent leak in the roof which caused enough damage to shut them down temporarily. The rest – three enormous garbage bags full – are so obsolete they’re scheduled for the recycling center. As much as I hate to see books buried in a mass grave, it can’t be helped. Not even a miracle could save this bunch.

Interestingly enough, the first thing I did this morning was open my email copy of Craig Stark’s wonderful Bookthink newsletter (www.bookthink.com)  which arrived a couple days ago. The first couple sentences made the  timely suggestion that it would be smart to get rid of low-end duds! Not only did this resonate, but it was also supported by a learned article by Kristian Strom, a smart guy who  upon occasion has been known to turn up in the comments section here. Kristian writes about how to turn duds into cash via various book buying sites including Amazon, Powell’s, Better World and a plethora of smaller places. Between the antiques mall and our own store (and the recycling center) we probably won’t need to do it, but it’s good to keep in mind and may be really helpful to some of you. You can find these places at www.bookscouter.com . As a crucial adjunct I would also suggest you take a look at BookThink though. Even if you’ve been around a long time, or a relatively long time as we have, there’s always new info that may pay off. It has for me many times.

So then, here I am with three pristine empty shelves, each 43” long. What will they end up holding? That’s the burning question. But also the beginning of a grand new adventure!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the mention Tess:)

I know all to well the sense of self-defeat that comes along with investigating a "Large Collection of Books!" found via Craigslist. I always try to keep my expectations as low as possible (and do a bunch of pre-screening in the phone call- looking for reasons not to go, as Craig calls it), but I can't help but get excited.

I am glad to hear that you are getting rid of duds. I am just about to do some purging myself; purging of all the books still listed from early in my bookselling career, even the ones with higher values, which I either deem irrelevant or not in significant demand.

I always enjoy your posts, keep em' coming!

tess said...

Thanks,Kristian. That was an excellent article and amaziningly apropos to where I am in my own thinking. Next time I end up in the decidedly unmagical real world I'll think of you! Misery does loves company.