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| Revolution Books |
I order a used copy of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, a Russian. I ordered it cause it was banned by the Soviet government back in the 1920's and I'm thinking anything banned by the Soviets might be worth reading. Anyway it shows up a couple of days ago and it included a little note thanking me for supporting 'a small, independent bookseller'. Really? I thought all these used book dealers who list their stuff on Amazon were like giant warehouse kind of operations. They sell their books for next to nothing, often less that a dollar, but the standard Amazon shipping fee is four bucks. You're not going to make any money selling a handful of books a day at those prices, but if you can sell a thousand books a day, you might be able to make a living. However, to sell a thousand books a day you are going to need a warehouse with a zillion volumes and a well trained staff who can snatch that book off the shelf, wrap it and have it out the door in under two minutes.
So, 'a small, independent bookseller'? Let's take a look, shall we. There is a return address on the shipping label: 437 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York NY. Feed that to Google Maps and, lo and behold: Revolution Books. Wow, this place is like a visit to the 1960's when Revolution filled the air.
If you see a bookstore in the neighborhood, or in your normal travels, you make a mental note to look there when you want a book or stop to see if they have a deal you can’t resist. But their survival depends on foot traffic, lots of it. The more successful ones could afford a little niche in a mall but malls seem to be going the way of the Dodo.
ReplyDeleteAmazon market place gives these folks a larger audience for their wares.
This may not apply to books, but I always look to see if what I want is shipped from Amazon or from the vendor because the first is quick, as where I live there’s an Amazon delivery truck going by virtually ever day of the year. Shipped from the vendor can be much longer, especially if it’s coming from Asia or Europe.
Hope you're mending quickly and it turns out to be all you hoped.
Foot traffic depends on being able to walk.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha, damn straight, or at least a place to park close.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather buy online because I don't want to deal with people.
Most of them are as disagreeable as I am.