In April 2002, I tried spreading word about the Open Mic Poetry Night at Books on First for through sending a packet of information including a poster to the heads of all area high school English Departments (or Language Arts Departments, as the case may be).
Actively recruited by myself or regular customers who are really self-motivated poetry lovers (one who took the time off from his night job stocking at a retail store) came, but overall, participation was thin that early Friday evening. One might respond, well, what would you expect, it's poetry, after all, in Dixon! There was one high schooler -- from Amboy, a town some 13 miles to the southeast of Dixon -- in attendance. And, she wrote really good verse, groups of lines with an edge, a twist and a burst of colour and light that made one stop and think, this is really good.
I asked how she came to hear about the Open Mic Poetry Night. She said she had discovered it by accident. She read it upside down as it lay on the desk as she waited to speak to the teacher one day after class. Did the poster ever go up on a bulletin board? Not that she saw.
I am happy to say that poetry thrives, but not with the help of English/Language Arts departments.
It takes a lot of work to put something together and sustain it. Jim Ferolo had a great turnout for our inaugural Sunday afternoon poetry salon in May here in the West Wing of Books on First. It was carry-over momentum from April is Poetry Month Open Mic. Larry and I unfortunately were out of town at the BookExpo in NYC. Lots of enthusiasm and support. And, then, summer arrives, people go on vacation. And then, school starts again. And then, the holidays are upon us. Jim has not been able to re-start such a promising program.
There is, however, a younger and more energetic movement on, begun by Nick Novak, one of our poetry lovers whose poem he read so moved Clarence Mitchell in attendance at his last April is Poetry Month night before his death at 102, that he said, "I thought I was a fairly good writer until I heard truly brilliant poetry."
Check out Open Poetry Night at Spurgeon's Bay every Tuesday beginning at 9:30pm, right here in Downtown Dixon. If you think there's a typo in here, you're not a long-time Dixonite. Currently the site of a cavernous casual dining/bar/stage venue, Spurgeon's was once a department store, one of at least two in this city. The play on that name is fun, and I think they started out attempting a tropical touch. Drink specials, too, for poetry lovers all night on Tuesdays. Dixon has come a long way. Kudos, Nick, and we wish you the best of luck in keeping the torch going.
Books on First continues to have our Open Mic Poetry Night during April (April is Poetry Month). Stay tuned.
Speaking of Spurgeon's Bay and Books on First in the same breath, tonight we have live entertainment from Acoustic Circus which includes bass guitarist and mandolin & banjo player Steve Catron, beginning at 7pm. We close at 9pm and that's when he hightails it across the street to Spurgeon's Bay to join Robbie LeBlanc (also a veteran act at Books on First). He says they've rented a sound system there, so it's plug and play for his bass.
Visiting our fair city and store today for his annual Christmas shopping splurge was Lou Frosch, who used to live and work in Dixon and come into Books on First each weekday afternoon. He became known as "Afternoon Lou" to distinguish him from another Lou who came each weekday at 7am. What a storehouse of knowledge. And, he has recently finished a play in two acts, Nothing to Conceal. This is a play of history and it is interesting to learn about British Field Marshall John Dill, so much admired by his American counterparts that he was interred at Arlington National Cemetary with full military honors upon his death in November 1944, "the only foreign general to be accorded that honor." We are in the acknowledgments for having been able to supply him with the books for his research needed to write the play. Our pleasure, Lou!
28 November 2009
27 November 2009
Stephen King, Say It Ain't So
Playing one side against the other, Stephen King's newest book, Under the Dome appears both on the cover of IndieBound's December Indie Next List and at Wal-mart's around the country for book-signing events.
What happened to love of indies, Mr King? I guess we just wouldn't have been able to handle the crowds.
What still confuses me is how Wal-mart, a self-professed, self-censoring establishment which refuses to sell certain books, music recordings and other items the management deems not "family-oriented" or demands changes in lyrics or special editions to meet its exacting criteria can reconcile this policy to the promotion and sale of horror, which does not seem to me to be within that criteria.
On a different yet related note, it is official: Sterling's Waldenbooks is on the list to close after the holidays. We are sorry to see it go, as often we two booksellers -- just 12 miles apart -- would in the spirit of customer service refer disappointed potential customers to the other store. I have often asked, "Have you tried Waldenbooks in Sterling yet?" I would call the store to see if they had a title in stock which we did not have. We at in the hinterlands must support each other. The parent company Borders is in a bad way, and along with fighting the general economic malaise, this turn of events is not unexpected. Of course, we invite all of Waldenbook customers to join us here in Downtown Dixon.
What happened to love of indies, Mr King? I guess we just wouldn't have been able to handle the crowds.
What still confuses me is how Wal-mart, a self-professed, self-censoring establishment which refuses to sell certain books, music recordings and other items the management deems not "family-oriented" or demands changes in lyrics or special editions to meet its exacting criteria can reconcile this policy to the promotion and sale of horror, which does not seem to me to be within that criteria.
On a different yet related note, it is official: Sterling's Waldenbooks is on the list to close after the holidays. We are sorry to see it go, as often we two booksellers -- just 12 miles apart -- would in the spirit of customer service refer disappointed potential customers to the other store. I have often asked, "Have you tried Waldenbooks in Sterling yet?" I would call the store to see if they had a title in stock which we did not have. We at in the hinterlands must support each other. The parent company Borders is in a bad way, and along with fighting the general economic malaise, this turn of events is not unexpected. Of course, we invite all of Waldenbook customers to join us here in Downtown Dixon.
24 November 2009
Newsflash!
Of course, this is only for a coming attraction, but check out this trailer for our grandson Jack Dunphy's most recent film project. He plays the title character (I think the "I" in the film is Ted Wooly). We'll let you know when we have the DVD to play in the store!
Over the River and Through the Woods
This past weekend marked the beginning of what is now called "The Thanksgiving Week."Thanksgiving has been my absolutely favorite holiday. Although it gets more and more difficult to enjoy it, because of all the rush-rush-rush and worry-worry-worry, I was able to enjoy one aspect I love a little early this year -- being with family. It came just at the right time, when I knew for sure that we, Larry and I, were not going to be able to spend time with our grandchildren -- Jack and Ruby, and the adult children and significants.
Far be it for me to complain about the holidays starting earlier and earlier. While I was enjoying an early 50th Birthday weekend with the girls on the Chin side of Family (Bridget Dunphy Barry did join us for dinner on Saturday), Larry was kept busy with visitors and sales at the store.
One of the reasons why we have been so busy is the tremendously generous response again this year for our Books for Babes program. We just want to say how much we appreciate everyone pulling together and remembering that books are toys, too, although we do have Melissa & Doug wooden toys & puzzles, plush animals, hand puppets and art supplies. These are all gifts which keep giving, bringing joy and enlightenment to children of all ages (including those about to turn 50).
We also want to remind people that Books on First has affordable little luxuries like special holiday lattes, hot chocolate and brownies which are great treats for the harried holiday organizer, shopper or volunteer.
Downtown Dixon is having its Christmas Walk on the first weekend in December. In years past, Christmas Walk was simply on the Friday evening and what a magical time that was -- stores all decorated and open for viewing, carolers and Santa Claus in Victorian-era dress, chestnuts roasting on the Weber grill, even haywagon rides. To include more elderly and younger participants, there began a movement to have Christmas Walk on Saturday afternoon. For the last couple of years, there were conflicting views of which should be the real Christmas Walk -- Friday evening or Saturday afternoon. Well, this year as always, we are definitely open for both!
18 November 2009
What Is the Goal of Social Media?
Marketing 301: One of the goals -- if the not primary goal of Walmart.com's brilliant fight-picking with amazon.com was achieved. When Walmart.com declared to the world that it would not tolerate being considered less than the go-to site online for the lowest price on surefire bestselling books, the response was, did you even know there is a Walmart.com?
amazon.com started out with its own amazing marketing story: it started by already having "dot com" as part of the Company's name. Some might have thought that was a little limiting back in 1994, but most marketers thought it was brilliant -- the name told you all you needed to know about what the Company does -- it's online. That he also named it after the world's biggest river which also kind of reminds one of the word, "amazing," has all sorts of wonderful marketing implications.
Target jumped into the act, simply by saying, we want in. Then, the question became, does Target sell books, too?
Attended a "MBA in a Day" session at Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Business today courtesy of Fantasy Diamond Corp, my day gig. Lots going on, but what is different in the area of marketing was the instructor's push to know the objectives. What, as a business, is achieved by being on Facebook? tweeting on Twitter? This is contrary to the dozens of advocates for social media and how we must be in in order not to be out, who say we businesses must learn to swim in order not to drown in the future. The question which Larry has asked is if we don't need it now, why do it today? This of course is very Irish. Traditionally, Irish fishermen did not know how to swim. And, when asked why not, since they were going out into open sea, they responded that since they would be going out into open sea, the odds of their learning how to swim actually helping them were quite slim and thus, a basic waste of resources -- if the reason for learning to swim was not to drown while fishing in open sea.
So, going head to head with amazon.com on the pricing of books was not the objective, but rather, Walmart.com's calculated tactic. The wisdom of amazon.com's response will be pondered some more and maybe discussed in a later posting.
I am pondering the wisdom of staying on Twitter right now. It's clearly not something I can keep up with (although one social media advocate told me there's an application out there which enables a Tweeter to set up tweets to be released in a timely manner -- ahhh, where there's a will, there's a marketing way), and I don't believe I'll be letting down "my followers." I really do wish there was a way I can update the website from any computer (I can, actually, but it's logistically a little difficult to explain to Larry and Brenda). For that reason, I will continue to write and publish posts to this blog -- gives me another marketing outlet. TTFN
amazon.com started out with its own amazing marketing story: it started by already having "dot com" as part of the Company's name. Some might have thought that was a little limiting back in 1994, but most marketers thought it was brilliant -- the name told you all you needed to know about what the Company does -- it's online. That he also named it after the world's biggest river which also kind of reminds one of the word, "amazing," has all sorts of wonderful marketing implications.
Target jumped into the act, simply by saying, we want in. Then, the question became, does Target sell books, too?
Attended a "MBA in a Day" session at Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Business today courtesy of Fantasy Diamond Corp, my day gig. Lots going on, but what is different in the area of marketing was the instructor's push to know the objectives. What, as a business, is achieved by being on Facebook? tweeting on Twitter? This is contrary to the dozens of advocates for social media and how we must be in in order not to be out, who say we businesses must learn to swim in order not to drown in the future. The question which Larry has asked is if we don't need it now, why do it today? This of course is very Irish. Traditionally, Irish fishermen did not know how to swim. And, when asked why not, since they were going out into open sea, they responded that since they would be going out into open sea, the odds of their learning how to swim actually helping them were quite slim and thus, a basic waste of resources -- if the reason for learning to swim was not to drown while fishing in open sea.
So, going head to head with amazon.com on the pricing of books was not the objective, but rather, Walmart.com's calculated tactic. The wisdom of amazon.com's response will be pondered some more and maybe discussed in a later posting.
I am pondering the wisdom of staying on Twitter right now. It's clearly not something I can keep up with (although one social media advocate told me there's an application out there which enables a Tweeter to set up tweets to be released in a timely manner -- ahhh, where there's a will, there's a marketing way), and I don't believe I'll be letting down "my followers." I really do wish there was a way I can update the website from any computer (I can, actually, but it's logistically a little difficult to explain to Larry and Brenda). For that reason, I will continue to write and publish posts to this blog -- gives me another marketing outlet. TTFN
11 November 2009
Gearing Up for the Holidays
Books on First is going strong with its catalog of recommended Holiday giving now out and our books in stock, although I still highly recommend early perusal and buying. (Sorry, we don't have the catalog online.) As in the past, we are cautious about keeping too many titles and copies on-hand as we get dinged sending them back (a restocking fee plus the freight plus a lowering of totals which calculate the preferred customer status which determines our discount level and other things which can give us a few more basis points to the gross profit line). I apologize if I'm getting into the realm of business babble. Anyhoot, that does mean, though, we can offer you 20% off list price of any title in the catalog. So, even while it's not yet Thanksgiving, keep your Holiday giving in mind.
We are working on bringing back Books for Babes for the sixth year, a program in which we work with local social services agencies, like LSSI (Lutheran Social Services of Illinois), to provide client children (up to 18 years old) with a gift in the Holiday season. The gift does not need to come from our store, but if you buy an item from Books on First (book, toy, art supplies, calendar, journal, etc) for someone on the list, we use a percentage of the prices to buy mittens, hats and scarves for them, also. And, I may be biased, but what better idea than a book, which is a gift a child can open again and again?
The ball currently is in the social workers' court as they need to provide the list of youngsters along with age and some interests to help our good helping hands to pick out something appropriate. But, it'll be a close timeframe. Every year, our customers ask about it and then, some are too late to participate, because the agencies have to take them back for packing and delivering.
We are working on bringing back Books for Babes for the sixth year, a program in which we work with local social services agencies, like LSSI (Lutheran Social Services of Illinois), to provide client children (up to 18 years old) with a gift in the Holiday season. The gift does not need to come from our store, but if you buy an item from Books on First (book, toy, art supplies, calendar, journal, etc) for someone on the list, we use a percentage of the prices to buy mittens, hats and scarves for them, also. And, I may be biased, but what better idea than a book, which is a gift a child can open again and again?
The ball currently is in the social workers' court as they need to provide the list of youngsters along with age and some interests to help our good helping hands to pick out something appropriate. But, it'll be a close timeframe. Every year, our customers ask about it and then, some are too late to participate, because the agencies have to take them back for packing and delivering.
09 November 2009
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Just finished this book by French Professor of Philosophy Marian Barbery, which is a philosophy book disguised as a novel. That's okay, as we have had all sorts of books disguised as novel, not as well written, not as interesting and not as thoughtful.
This one, though, touches a nerve in many parts of the body -- brain, heart, stomach, spleen, inner eye,...
What philosophy is she espousing? Not Ayn Rand -- that's for sure, but rather, a sense of civil society that holds both the right and the left in contempt, those who want to keep the status quo as well as the self-indulged socialists. This society is underground.
The climax seemed to have been rushed, but perhaps that is intentional. Some readers can get lost in all the rich details of Parisians and Parisian living. Others can view this as a descriptive novel -- not much action, and put the book aside.
Not much action until the last third of the book, and even then, not until the last few short chapters, which translates into just a few condensed days of events. The reader who is also a character in any first person narrative which this, alternatively Paloma in her "Journal of the Movement of the World" and "Profound Thoughts" and through concierge Madame Michel's silent storytelling, as well as the characters themselves within the story must have felt the events speeding up on them. There is a sense of urgency, a change in direction that we sense but know we are helpless to master. We all simply must decide how personally momentous such a turn of events is and respond in the best way we know how. The reader, however, has the luxury of merely being philosophical about it.
07 November 2009
Indian Summer in November
What a beautiful weekend this has promised and fulfilled to be!
Downtown Dixon has just been hopping. Last night was the Opening Night Reception for Next Picture Show's newest judged show -- "Shades of Grey," which is of black & white photographs. If only we all had enough cash and wall space to honor these entries which range from the cerebrally compositional to the thought-provoking to the quirky to the soothingly familiar. Check it out! Also, Judy Dixon is showing at Crystal Cork which is now open to the public on Saturday nights. They too have live music.
Tonight, here at Books on First, we have a very special live performance from duo Maddie's Farm. All the wa
y from Muscatine, Iowa, Vicki & Marvin Plank have some great songs from the 70s and 80s to tickle the memory as well as covers of Alanis Morrissette, Sheryl Crow and other more contemporary singers.
Downtown Dixon has just been hopping. Last night was the Opening Night Reception for Next Picture Show's newest judged show -- "Shades of Grey," which is of black & white photographs. If only we all had enough cash and wall space to honor these entries which range from the cerebrally compositional to the thought-provoking to the quirky to the soothingly familiar. Check it out! Also, Judy Dixon is showing at Crystal Cork which is now open to the public on Saturday nights. They too have live music.
Tonight, here at Books on First, we have a very special live performance from duo Maddie's Farm. All the wa
y from Muscatine, Iowa, Vicki & Marvin Plank have some great songs from the 70s and 80s to tickle the memory as well as covers of Alanis Morrissette, Sheryl Crow and other more contemporary singers.
04 November 2009
More on E-Books
Back in May of this year 2009 (which is quickly coming to an end), we were attending the BookExpo in NYC and duly participating in sessions by our trade group -- American Booksellers Assn/IndieBound -- whose mission was to chastise those among us who are still reluctant to go whole-hog the way of internet commerce and e-books.
Presenters showed charts overlaid upon charts indicating the steeply rising trend of e-books. They said, look, publishers have already written you bricks & mortar stores off as a channel of distribution. The future (which Larry recalls the charts saying is about 4 years from now) is people buying and downloading an electronic file at the moment they hear about a fantastic new book at a dinner party or through a blog. At worst case, they won't be able to get it directly from their wireless carrier or preferred online retailer and will walk into a kiosk at a store like Books on First which will could provide all available titles in all available formats. But at best case, www.booksonfirst.com would be their preferred online retailer (but not if they own a Kindle, because there's no reason to believe amazon.com is ever going to share that technology).
One long-time employee and basically "face" of the Association to most members held up hisiphone and announced that he does 80% of his reading from it (and, don't you want me, baby?). So, he was telling us the future is now, and gee, I'd like to support the people who pay my salary but can't but would (I promise), if I can just drag you into the here and now.
So, we're all walking around in a daze mumbling, "Time to get the e-books. Time to get the e-books."
Some participants were alert enough to push back on these panelists and saying, if not the Kindle then what? What can we offer our customers and how to we deliver it to them?
But, they didn't even have the solution in place! The time to sell us was at the moment, at that moment of guilt/shame/abashment/whatever for not having the resources (time, money, employees, talent, technology, etc, but mostly money which could solve all the rest) and proper priorities to "do the right thing" (hmm, you know, that phrase comes up a lot now also in contexts when consultants try to persuade businesses to "think green").
So, I admit, I looked up Sony's e-readers online to see if they were taking on retailers. And, do you know what outlet this Company uses to sell their e-readers? Best Buy. Like someone wanting a DVD player or a high-definition television screen or a cheap PC is also the target market for a book And, now, Best Buy really believes it can sell these e-readers as an electronic device and is partnering with someone else to develop a proprietary product of its own. Sony, which hasn't been taking this seriously, now knows the ball is in its court. Are you with us Indies, Sony, or will we continue to be two islands in the stream?
Presenters showed charts overlaid upon charts indicating the steeply rising trend of e-books. They said, look, publishers have already written you bricks & mortar stores off as a channel of distribution. The future (which Larry recalls the charts saying is about 4 years from now) is people buying and downloading an electronic file at the moment they hear about a fantastic new book at a dinner party or through a blog. At worst case, they won't be able to get it directly from their wireless carrier or preferred online retailer and will walk into a kiosk at a store like Books on First which will could provide all available titles in all available formats. But at best case, www.booksonfirst.com would be their preferred online retailer (but not if they own a Kindle, because there's no reason to believe amazon.com is ever going to share that technology).
One long-time employee and basically "face" of the Association to most members held up his
So, we're all walking around in a daze mumbling, "Time to get the e-books. Time to get the e-books."
Some participants were alert enough to push back on these panelists and saying, if not the Kindle then what? What can we offer our customers and how to we deliver it to them?
But, they didn't even have the solution in place! The time to sell us was at the moment, at that moment of guilt/shame/abashment/whatever for not having the resources (time, money, employees, talent, technology, etc, but mostly money which could solve all the rest) and proper priorities to "do the right thing" (hmm, you know, that phrase comes up a lot now also in contexts when consultants try to persuade businesses to "think green").
So, I admit, I looked up Sony's e-readers online to see if they were taking on retailers. And, do you know what outlet this Company uses to sell their e-readers? Best Buy. Like someone wanting a DVD player or a high-definition television screen or a cheap PC is also the target market for a book And, now, Best Buy really believes it can sell these e-readers as an electronic device and is partnering with someone else to develop a proprietary product of its own. Sony, which hasn't been taking this seriously, now knows the ball is in its court. Are you with us Indies, Sony, or will we continue to be two islands in the stream?
03 November 2009
Is It Just The Economy, Stupid!?
We all converge on what we believe is a civil society, how we count ourselves and identify ourselves, how we believe we behave and our fellow citizens will behave within this society we call ours. Yet, we do not look at it as a lesson in sociology, but in values, in politics, in economics. I share with 
you another item on Ayn Rand from Anne Heller, author of a newly published biography of Ayn Rand. The interview on NPR puzzles me and frustrates me further. Perhaps though my gripe is with Ayn Rand and not with any interpreter of her philosophy. She has written (and this jives with Michael Sandel's writing on libertarianism, which I have already quoted in this blog), that there are basically three (3) and only three proper functions of government:
I believe there is a little "libertarianism" in all of us Americans. We are the home of the free and land of the brave, the Wild West. We don't want shackles. We don't even want anyone putting a hand on our arms and saying, "Hold on, mate."
And, we certainly don't want any of our hard-earned money on anything for which we did not personally assent. Any funds spent on anything for which we do not see immediate benefit to ourselves is being wasted.
Yet, when something horrible happens to us personally, what is the first thing someone says? "There ought to be a law." "Who was supposed to be watching this? Why isn't anyone investigating why this happened?" "Who's to blame? They should be sued." "That intersection is so dangerous; 'they' should have put up a traffic light long ago." Let's close the barn door after the horses leave, shall we? Is that the role of government, to be reactive? And who's that "they?" Isn't it "we?" Aren't we collectively the government?
As Brooksley Born had pointed out, our government needs to know what's going on so that we can police crime and enforce voluntary contracts, not to rely on an honor system which by human nature is naturally imperfect and then, react to resulting chaos. There is the debate of 'a public good' to be discussed someday.
you another item on Ayn Rand from Anne Heller, author of a newly published biography of Ayn Rand. The interview on NPR puzzles me and frustrates me further. Perhaps though my gripe is with Ayn Rand and not with any interpreter of her philosophy. She has written (and this jives with Michael Sandel's writing on libertarianism, which I have already quoted in this blog), that there are basically three (3) and only three proper functions of government:- defend against a foreign enemy (which means she believes there are discrete societies to which someone belongs which may be hostile to each other)
- police the nation for crime (what is the definition of a crime, Ms Rand? and does not the definition of "police" include oversight, monitoring, and enforcing the laws of the society?)
- enforce voluntary contacts between free parties (would involuntary contracts then be crimes or free-for-alls?)
I believe there is a little "libertarianism" in all of us Americans. We are the home of the free and land of the brave, the Wild West. We don't want shackles. We don't even want anyone putting a hand on our arms and saying, "Hold on, mate."
And, we certainly don't want any of our hard-earned money on anything for which we did not personally assent. Any funds spent on anything for which we do not see immediate benefit to ourselves is being wasted.
Yet, when something horrible happens to us personally, what is the first thing someone says? "There ought to be a law." "Who was supposed to be watching this? Why isn't anyone investigating why this happened?" "Who's to blame? They should be sued." "That intersection is so dangerous; 'they' should have put up a traffic light long ago." Let's close the barn door after the horses leave, shall we? Is that the role of government, to be reactive? And who's that "they?" Isn't it "we?" Aren't we collectively the government?
As Brooksley Born had pointed out, our government needs to know what's going on so that we can police crime and enforce voluntary contracts, not to rely on an honor system which by human nature is naturally imperfect and then, react to resulting chaos. There is the debate of 'a public good' to be discussed someday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)