Village Books Blog

She May Be Twisted But...

I've written about Chelsea Cain before in this blog and I've opined to many that her thrillers, based on a female serial killer and an emotionally and physically damaged cop, are smart and extremely well-written.  Now I've been joined by an expert on the subject of thrillers, Stephen King.  Writing for Entertainment Weekly, King puts Heartsick and Sweetheart in the number six position on his list of "10 Best Books of 2008."  And, it's a list that includes Koontz, Wambaugh, Kate Atkinson and Ande Dubus III.  Not bad for a girl from Bellingham.  Here's what King had to say about Chelsea's books:  "We've been down Hannibal Lecter Avenue many times, and these two books shouldn't work...but they do. Chalk it up to excellent writing and Cain's ferocious sense of humor. The Portland (Ore.) setting is refreshing too."  Chelsea's "ferocious sense of humor" was even evident in the dedication of Sweetheart:

For Village Books in Bellingham, Washington,
for taking me in as a kid,
and letting me sit for hours reading books
on all those cold winter evenings.
You are to blame for this.

And, if you need more evidence of her dark humor, join the Facebook group Chelsea Cain is more TWISTED than I am.  You can learn more about Chelsea and her books on her website.

Lists

I've always loved lists.  Numbered best-ofs make me giddy.  And, book lists just send me over the top.  So, when I saw my friend Dan Cullen at the American Bookseller's Association had linked to two very interestingly titled book lists I was intrigued.  Right away I clicked on 75 Books Every Man Should Read.  The first title, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver, took me back to a small hotel room in old town Puerto Vallarta in the  early eighties.  Suffering a bout of tourista, I spent the day reading the stories one by one, exhaling deeply as I finished each.  While the list seems to me a bit macho, I have to admit loving many of the titles.

The second list, 75 Books Every Woman Should Read, was just as intriguing.  And, there are as many books on that list that I love as on the men's list.  I found myself wondering whether that says more about me or the list maker.

Holiday Colors: Green to be Re(a)d

Our friend Christian Martin of North Cascades Institute and a frequent contributor to the Cascadia Weekly offered his gift selections in "A Gift Guide for the Greens on Your List" which was posted today on Crosscut.com.  Read it here.  And, Village Books has all of these books and more.

Elegant Variation on Another Village Books

The Elegant Variation is an exceptional literary blog and you don't have to accept my word for that.  The Guardian lists it in its top ten, Forbes includes it in its Best of the Web and Los Angeles Magazine considers it a top L.A. blog.  In a recent post there's mention of a namesake bookstore--Village Books in Pacific Palisades.  The store, like many indie bookstores, is struggling. Read the TEV post.

Blount Gets Blunt About Shopping at Indie Bookstores

You may know Roy Blount Jr. as a Southern humorist.  He's also the current president of the Author's Guild.  This past week he issued the following about shopping at independent book stores.

Subject: Holiday Message from Roy Blount

I've been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are 
hard. And local booksellers aren't known for vast reserves of capital, 
so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don't lose 
enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A 
government bailout isn't in the cards.

We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do 
neighborhoods. So let's mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends 
together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy 
the rest of your Christmas presents, but that's just for starters. 
Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science 
fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the 
university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten 
up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; 
they're easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any 
books looking raggedy on your shelves.  Stockpile children's books as 
gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold 
off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they'll be cheaper after 
Christmas) and buy many, many books. Then tell the grateful 
booksellers, who by this time will be hanging onto your legs begging 
you to stay and live with their cat in the stockroom: "Got to move on, 
folks. Got some books to write now. You see...we're the Authors Guild."

Enjoy the holidays.

Roy Blount Jr.
President
Authors Guild

Buy Local Week

With this being the beginning of Buy Local Week here in Bellingham I thought it appropriate that I post a response I sent to a very good question from one of our customers.  He had just received our holiday catalog and was curious why the prices on some of our books were considerably higher than those of online retailer, Amazon.  Here is the answer I sent to him. I'd love to have your comments.

Thanks for your note and the chance to let you know a bit about book pricing.  The publisher sets the suggested retail price of a book and bookstores and other resellers buy the books for a discount off of that price.  Our discount is in the range of 40 - 45% off the retail price.  Regular discounts that we give, such as our frequent buyer program, school discounts, our birthday card discounts, etc. pare that margin down to below 40%.  The costs of operating a bricks-and-mortar retail establishment--occupancy, personnel, etc. eat up most of what remains.  In the most profitable days of retail bookstores bottom-line profits were about 2%.  Stores have struggled for several years to get back to that point in spite of low compensation (including that of owners--Dee and I make less than we would if we had stayed in education) and controlling every possible expense. 

Amazon and other online retailers have created a very low-cost delivery system, though it's still unclear whether they really make money on the book part of their business, given all of the other products they sell.  We simply cannot compete with those vendors on price.  What we believe we do deliver is a contribution to the quality of life in the community that remote mail order businesses cannot and will not provide.  Each reader will make his or her choice on the basis of what is most important to them.  Retail bookstores may well be the buggy whip stores of a previous century.  In 1992, when I was president of the American Booksellers Association there were about 4500 independent bookstores.  Today there are fewer than 1500.

Village Books has had a good run, coming up on thirty years.  It may be that "the times they are a changing."  And, we too, may go the way of the dodo bird and dinosaur.  But, it's not going to happen soon.  Many folks understand the difference between price (what one pays for an item) and true cost (what one gets and/or sacrifices for it).  Many believe that what we, and other independent businesses, contribute to the life of the community makes the cost of buying from us lower than buying from Amazon or WalMart or...

We hope you see the value of what we, and other independent businesses, contribute to the quality of life in our community.  We truly appreciate your business and will continue to strive to provide great value.  Thanks again for your note.