Book Links

Finding Hugh

Posted by hughlh

My new home on the internet is hughlh.com. You can read my blog, contact me or whatever. There is also a comprehensive list of the various social networking sites I am on, such as FaceBook, MySpace and so on.

Since I write for a number of blogs, you can read a collected feed of them all in one place at my ‘nerve center’.

If you make it over that way, make sure you stop in and say hi, would you?

Used Bookstore To Open In Midtown Memphis

Posted by hughlh

As you no doubt know, my shop closed some time ago when I moved out of town. However, a friend of mine has decided to give my friends at Burke’s a run for their money and open a used bookstore in the heart of Midtown, Memphis.

Her name is Karin, and the name of the shop will be The English Major Bookstore. She is an awesome person, kind to dogs and knows a little about books, although she will no doubt get better at it over time. I know I did.

Anyway, if you are looking for used books in Midtown, Memphis, I urge you to check out her website to get the latest update about when she is opening.

Book Conservation Links

Posted by hughlh

A quick post today, as I am  still trying to recover from my moving across the country last month, sell some books and post on about 6 blogs, but this one was too good to pass up.

The unstoppable Joyce Godsey over at the bullpen shared some very cool conservation links on her blog yesterday. There are instructions for encapsulation enclosures,  false spines, full blown recasing and more. Highly recomended you check them out.

(Tell her Hugh said hi while you are over there!)

As Seen On The Internet 9-20-07

Posted by hughlh

Fellow blogger and all around good guy Steve has a post on his blog from his wife, Christine who is an online bookseller. She sells new and remaindered books but is on track to gross $120,000 this year. The post has some great pictures of her workspace and shipping area ( I love seeing other peoples work space!). She blogged about her business before and promises to again. If you would, leave a comment or two over there so she knows we want more articles like this.

On my newest blog, Small Business Owner Insights, I talk about a free site to compare shipping options and print postage.

My favorite blogger Wendy at eMomsatHome has added a new blog to her portfolio about eBay selling for work at home Moms and Dads. It is authored by Megan Jordan of Velveteen Mind fame. I highly recommend you subscribe.

Over on The Politically Incorrect Entrepreneur, I am writing an ongoing series about how traditional businesses can use eBay… might be worth a look.

Also, a note of thanks to all of you who subscribe to book-links; as you can see from the little button on the right, we are hovering just under 100 subscribers. You can subscribe by email (just put your email address in that form and hit subscribe me and follow the directions) or by RSS. I would really like us to break 100 soon..

Book Hunter’s Holiday Sacramento Book Fair Report

Posted by hughlh

The awesome and exuberant Chris Lowenstein “did” her first fair over the wekend and she tells you all about it with two posts on her blog; First with a colorful metaphor and then with brilliant pictures of her very impressive booth.

Go over to her blog and say hi. It is hard to believe she has been at this less than a year. I remember her tenative questions on my old blog. It does me good to see I did not scare her off!

I tell you, if she does not burn herself out, we will hear big things from this lady.

Handy Tool Helps You Find Offline Auctions

Posted by hughlh

Buying at auctions has consistently been one of my better sources. There are several reasons for this, among them a big one is lack of competition. In a thrift store, say, you are competing against not only all the other dealers who stop by, but also the general public, the lady who puts the books out and who knows who else. At most traditional auctions, you might have 3-4 people who are interested in the same lot you are (at most), you usually can get a list of the items in advance so you can do your research in advance and you can schedule your buying time in advance and know the “good books” will not sell before you get there.

One problem with most traditional houses (barring the biggies like Swanns and Pacific Book Auctions) is finding out about them. Some of the better ones are almost in-house secrets.

Enter Auction Zip. Just enter your zip code, drill down through some parameters and you are set. You can even have them send you updates based on the criteria you select. Oh; and it is FREE (free is good).

Baltimore Antique Show - A Collector’s Report

Posted by hughlh

Jed Birmingham, a Burroughs collector of some note, gave a stirring write up on his blog of the Baltimore Antique Show. He mentioned several booksellers of note, including Between The Covers, Lux Mentis and Royal Books.

He goes into tremendous detail and waxes so nicely about Ian at Lux Mentis, you would swear he is being paid.
Thanks to Ian for pointing it out.

Our new location:

Posted by hughlh

If you came across this via Google (or any other search engine), we can now be found at

www.memphisbookshop.com

We hope to see you over there.

Reading against the clock.

Posted by hughlh

I still marvel over the joy of it all; these people trust me with the knowledge of what they read, what there interests are, what they believe in, what they aspire to. Your closest friend would probably not come up to you and say something like “?I am thinking of leaving Catholicism and am looking at several of the animalistic religions.” ? Yet, I have had similar conversations more than once with customers. Or the hot girl, who you think about asking out, until, that is, you see the stack of recovery books she buys and decide that anyone who buys 5 books with titles like living with your heroin addiction and DEALING with the aftermath of sexually transmitted disease does not need a complication like a bookseller (or at least this one) in her life.

My customers honor me by letting me have a glimpse of their personal lives, and I value that trust. Sometimes, however, it goes way beyond that.

Tom Walter came in the store last spring. For those of you in the nether parts of the world, Tom was (from 1984 to 2005) the Memphis Commercial Appeal’?s television reporter. As such, he had an eagle eye view on pop culture, for better or worse. It was always a joy when he came in, because he had a unique view on society that you may not (or may) agree with, but you loved him for the conversation and the thoughts.

Tom, as I said, came in to the store last spring. After the customary chit chat, he said he might need a job soon, and would I consider hiring him. It seems he was leaving the paper.

“?What the hell for?”? I ask.

It turned out Tom had cancer. Bad cancer. The sort from which you don’?t get better. He told me that if he only had so many days left, he was not going to spend them writing about Britney Spears. He had things to do, books to read, and he wanted to spend some time with his family. When I asked when he was leaving the paper, he said he hoped before August, because he never, ever wanted to write another word about Elvis. When he left, he was upbeat, cheerful, and had that smile that would make your whole day.

Over the next year or so, Tom would come in, bringing huge amounts of his discards, as he called them, and told me if I could use any of them, to make a credit on his account. I looked over Tom’?s account today, and he took many books out of the store, whittling away at his credit line, but then bringing more back so it never got even close to even. I would bet he took over 50 books out of the store in the last year, and has never paid a cent. Tom read good things, but not pretentious things. He felt no reason to read something like Flaubert just so he could look “?intellectual”?. You see, Tom was reading against the clock.

Tom has the distinction of having the largest line of credit ever at Midtown Books, with it once approaching $400. I once joked with him that if he brought any more books in, he was going to have to start paying some of the rent.

I was thinking about it today, and I guess the last time I saw Tom was about 3 months ago. He had lost weight, but not horribly so. He still had that smile, and when asked (but not until), he said he was doing “?OK”?. He was excited about our opening the store Downtown, and he said he could not wait to see it. I think he had been in since, but not when I was there.

Tom died Saturday morning.

Damn.

My Bookish Blog Roll

Posted by hughlh

I mentioned to someone the other day thay I read about 20 websites - forums, blogs, and online news - daily. Then they said m”I wish I could see your blog roll”. (Not being a techno-type, but being too cool to admit I had not a clue as to what they were talking about, I said maybe we could work something out, and smiled knowingly.)

After looking the term up, I decided to show some of the blogs I read often. This being a book oriented site, I have restricted myself to the book related (for the most part) blogs.

In no particular order, here goes.

http://bibliophile.blogs.com/whitlock_bookstore/

http://sarahsbooksusedrare.blogspot.com/

http://www.bigbadbookblog.com/

http://www.themillionsblog.com/

http://jdszazdibooks.blogspot.com/

http://biblioarchy.blogspot.com/

http://foggygates.blogspot.com/

http://www.tjbible.blogspot.com/

http://www.writtenroad.com/

http://www.bibliophilebullpen.com/

Enjoy!

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