Speaking of changes, H went out to Rocky View a few days ago to retrieve my paintings. Sadly, they've closed their doors, at least temporarily. On the bright side, H came home with fewer paintings than expected. A number of them had sold. What a boost! These paintings are among my most recent watercolour landscapes and represent quite a shift in style, a shift that I'd been worrying about ever since we took the paintings out there. Perhaps now I can let some of that worry go and get back to the easel.
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Out of the ever changing bookseller-distributor-publisher-customer relationship comes this noteworthy post from Biblioasis, a small literary press who puts out lovely books that have been receiving attention nationwide. The points he raises concern me. Here's what Zach Wells has to say about it. As you might recall, I had problems with my last order from Amazon. Living where I do, I rely heavily on online shopping. Since the enormous number of books being published in this country and elsewhere are conveniently listed in online catalogues, I can add the books I want to my shopping cart with a simple click. And I do. And I always order enough to qualify for free shipping. That's never a problem. Unfortunately, I've let that little shopping cart run over my common sense. For whatever reason, I expect the delivery to be just as quick and easy and I get frustrated when it isn't. I expect great savings. Really. It's time I rethink my expectations and the way I go about buying books.
Update:
October 25 - Today Biblioasis posted an interesting follow-up.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting this. After a couple of bad experiences, I absolutely refuse to purchase books on-line from Amazon. Sure, they have a great, comprehensive list of books that have been printed, but when it come times to hit the "checkout" button, they can't always com up with the goods.
Leeann
I wonder what percentage of shoppers have had bad experiences with them?
I should say I've made a few changes already. For one, I joined The Brick Book Club. Someone suggested it earlier this year. Makes sense for me, since I buy the majority of their list anyway. This way I can keep right on top of things.
Also, since we're on the road a lot, we often contact McNally Robinson well ahead of time with our order of books so they can bring them in if need be. The books are waiting at the desk when we get there. A quick stop and we're away.
you know I never use amazon.ca. my experiences with them have been uniformly negative. I use .com if they have what I need.
I also use Abebooks a lot. I know this doesn't do anything for lit presses, but for mmpb's I don't care. And abebooks does help independent book stores.
I of course have a luxury you don't brenda: i shop at mcnally's. I believe they have an online service but I've never used it.
cheers
Ya, you lucky Saskatooners! We have used McNally's online service and the service was great.
Incidentally, yesterday H ordered a book directly from a publisher in the US. It's the only place he could find it. The book is $40. Shipping is $17.30. There will be a handling fee of about $5.00 at the border. Of course then there's GST and the 2.5 % charge for using the credit card on an international order.Yikes. I hope it's a good book.
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