http://blog.usingbooks.com A weblog about books and bookselling by Jeff Sharman, owner of online bookseller Using Books. Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:32:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Publisher hype from Paul Ford, who despite being only slightly more prolific than this nearly lapsed blogger, remains on my A-list: We thrill as she casts off her grim past to join a Wall Street investment firm, finds love, and indulges in fine sweaters. http://blog.usingbooks.com/200801/thank-you-lord-for-sending-me-the-f-train Friend-of-Using Books Spencer Sundell finds a surprising blindspot in the usually impecable selection at the University of Washington's University Book Store. Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog, another meta-library search to supplement WorldCat.org searches. The KVK link was via David Brass Rare Books, who seem to have built a fully featured website (searchable catalog, shopping ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200712/odd-links Gift cards from chain bookstores might seem like a safe bet for the book lover on your gift list. But there are also a few indy options that remain convenient even if your gift recipient lives across the country. The Book Sense Gift Card can be used at more than 300 ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200711/indy-gift-certificates Last weekend I missed the Seattle Public Library Book Sale. This weekend, I'm missing the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair. I've made it to a few Southern California Friends of the Library book sales in the last few weeks. None of them approach the size of Seattle's hangar-filling sale, but I've picked ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200710/missing-seattle My family and I will be staying in Los Angeles, in the Silver Lake neighborhood, until mid-December. My online book business is on hiatus while I'm here, but I'd like to stay in the business, see what other people are doing, and pick up a couple of paychecks. I'm looking ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200709/hire-me There's a recent post on Fine Books Blog about online booksellers requesting extra charges for shipping: A bookseller copied me today on a complaint he sent to Abebooks. The gist of the problem was this. A customer ordered a book, and the dealer requested extra charges for shipping since the ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200611/revisiting-shipping-rates Here's an oddity that I haven't seen in awhile. A copy of this 1978 poetry book passed through my hands at the Amazon warehouse years ago. I couldn't let it go without first photocopying the cover and taping it to the side of my computer monitor. The photocopy went with ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200610/come-be-with-me I've been to enough Friends of the Library sales that I'm not usually surprised by the agressive tactics some dealers use to get an edge. But I was stunned by what I saw at the Friends of the Kirkland Public Library's book sale on Saturday. I arrived half an hour before ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200610/slash-and-burn I just picked up the last issue of Comic Art Magazine and wanted to recommend it for the booklet that accompanies it, Forty Cartoon Books of Interest by Seth. Seth's selection of noteworthy books from his collection includes a few relatively well known titles, but it's largely made up of ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200610/seths-forty-cartoon-books-of-interest The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair was only a modest success for me financially. But it served as a confidence boost and reinforced notions I've had that I need to be better connected with the larger bookselling community. My booth mate was Michael Kerstetter of Tall Tales. Michael has an impressive stock ... http://blog.usingbooks.com/200610/seattle-antiquarian-book-fair-debriefing