Personalized Catalogs

If you’ve bought a book from me before you’ve probably received one of my nifty zombies-attacking-a-bookstore bookmarks.

Sadly if you received said bookmark it’s 99.999991% likely that you didn’t see (or were unmotivated by) the coupon code stamped on the back which gets you 15% off your next order and reduced or free shipping. Even customers who’ve purchased from me 5-6 times ignore this substantial boon. I’m at a loss…

Anyway, to hi-light my Gates-level generosity I decided to start printing up short personalized catalogs to include with select orders listing other material the buyer might enjoy and emphasizing the discount.

I use the free version of Bookhound as my database which allows you to easily create customized pick lists. Here’s how I do it:

  • Search Bookhound by catalog, keyword or description (with quantity set to “>0” so you only get current inventory).
  • Once you have results, click in the empty space at the far right of each record (beneath the “+” sign) to add select books to a new list.
  • Do several searches–and add titles that are interesting and appropriate–until you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-50.
  • Click on the “+” in the upper right corner and Bookhound will display all the titles you just selected.
  • Review your list. Does it feel logical and appealing? If you find something doesn’t belong, click “omit” and then the “+” again to get the revised list. Add more titles as necessary.
  • Sort your list by author or title by clicking on the column head.
  • Click “Save list” and name it something appropriate.
  • Click “email list” (not “print list”) and Bookhound will copy your list (with full publication details, descriptions, price, etc) to the clipboard.
  • Paste your list into a word doc. I use a template with my logo, contact info, list name, date, page number, and a short explanatory paragraph.

That’s it! Print the list and include it with your order. I also save the list as a dated doc so I can reprint if necessary and track its effectiveness. If you receive a similar order down the road you can call the list up in Bookhound from the “saved lists” pull-down on the search screen and freshen it up by adding new acquisitions and deleting sold items .

I find this is a great way to bring some of the hand-sell magic back to online bookselling. It’s fun to try and laser in on a customer’s reading and collecting needs, it keeps me aware of my older inventory and it gives the customer something to peruse when they step away from the computer.

I’ve done two so far. Fingers crossed that it wins me some loyal repeat customers.

NOTE: If you staple the list/catalog make sure you fold and place it in such a way that the staple doesn’t mar the book. Also if it’s more than 2 pages thick, don’t place it inside the book or you could damage the binding.

Stoop Sale Report


My haul from the last two weeks of stoop-saling (click on the image to view in Flickr w/ thrift-o-vision annotations). These are part of the “Junk in Your Trunk” pool devoted to documenting yard sale and thrift hauls.

Not one but TWO Bang & O turntables, a great selection of LPs and DVDs, a book on cock-fighting, Aleister Crowley’s Thoth tarot and more.

Not too shabby considering I’ve been coughing my lungs out for two weeks straight from some disgusting lung affliction.

Favorite sale moments: The guy selling the first B+O table said he was clearing stuff out due to anxiety induced by cable hoarding shows (I heart A+E). We discussed the finer points of collect-o-mania and I gave him my informed opinion that you are only a hoarder when you stop inviting people into your home and “stuff” starts to displace your sleeping/eating/showering space. Until then you’re a connoisseur.

Other favorite moment was trying out a compound bow outfit and talking jazz at a sale held by a chatty ex-cop, private investigator.

Very excited that the season has begun.

Magic Ephemera

I finally listed the collection of stage magic books and ephemera that’s been collecting magic dust next to my desk for months. I kept waving the bone folder over the pile and chanting “librum catalogum!”, but no dice. I’m a muggle of a bookseller.

Thought I’d share some of the great graphics and hand lettering (click on images for larger versions):

First this 1922 ad for Houdini’s Magical Rope Ties & Escapes from Practical Patter for Practical Magicians by Oswald Rae (1922)

Next the cover to Stage Illusions, compiled and edited by Will Goldston, Magician Ltd., c 1920. Signed by (it looks like) “F. Velhsco”


The cover to Magical Mentalia by G. E. Arrowsmith, Max Andrews, London, 1942. Cover design by Max Andrews (wish I could make the silver highlights pop a bit more in the scan).


And this label affixed in the back of Magic Mentalia from the “L. Davenport & Co.” (London) Magical Supply company which offers free issues of the periodical “The Demon Telegraph”.


Next this emblem/seal from Brooklyn-born magician/writer/publisher, Joseph Ovette (1885-1946) from the reverse of the chapbook Arthur LeRoy’s Futuristic Fantasies , 1931.

Lastly this great embossed devil-themed book ticket from the “Demon Series: Tricks, Jokes, Puzzles, London”


If interested you can see all the items from this collection in my “Games, Hobbies, Crafts, and Collectibles” Catalog (which I must admit is getting a bit broad) or email me for a list.

Zombie Report: The Dead Outside

I recently joined a support group for video addicts with massive piles of unwatched DVDs. The timing was perfect since–after paying-off my beast of a tax bill–staying home and watching videos I’ve already purchased is about all my budget will allow.

As I whittle down the stack, I’ve decided to blog reviews of any zombie films I watch to give you all the benefit of my decades of specialized knowledge.

Here’s the first one:

The Dead Outside (dir: Kerry Anne Mullaney, Mothcatcher Fims, 2009)

I purchased this Region 2, Pal import on the strength of the trailer:

I like the idea of a small, tense character piece set in a rural Scottish farm with only a zombie or two rattling the sheep fence. While Dead Outside delivers on that, it is heavily hampered by budget limitations and an inexperienced crew.

The setup of the film has two refugees talking their way into the barricaded farmhouse of a wary teenage girl. The characters have all done difficult (and maybe horrible) things to get to this point of relative safety and they’re weary, traumatized and potentially infected.

The zombies in the film are referred to as “The Dying”; afflicted with something like a combination of Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. It comes on slowly and it’s difficult to tell if a person is infected or just scared/wounded/irrational. Not much explanation is given for the plague and the film counts on our familiarity with other contemporary zombie films for context (the box even trumpets a quote calling this a “side tale to ’28 Days Later’”).

This is a small budget film with a micro-cast–so they were never going to do a broad canvas apocalypse—but zombie films have creatively worked around this since NOTLD. Dead Outside gives very little sense of the outside world. No radio or TV broadcasts, no cell phone conversations, no stories from survivors of population centers…. I would have appreciated this reversion to primitivism if it felt more earned, but it didn’t seem like enough time had passed since the outbreak to warrant a complete collapse of infrastructure (especially since the infected are functional in the early stages).

My real problem with the film though was the cinematography. Nearly every shot is handheld and cocked to the left at precisely 65%. Shots that could have worked framed straight (like the lonely farmhouse silhouetted on the hill) were ruined by this irritating affectation.

To be fair there was one scene where the askew camera worked well (and it was one of the best scare sequences in the film). After a car accident a character is trapped under a titling truck, they’re concussed, fading in and out of consciousness, and see only the muddied feet of the dying. If only the cinematographer had saved his arty angle for moments like this.

Also a few key sequences were so murky and poorly composed that I didn’t know what I was looking at. The culmination of these problems came in a quickly cut action sequence that repeatedly jumped to an equally action-packed flashback; all murky, poorly framed and cocked at 65%. This was an emotional climax of the film and I actually had to dip into the commentary to figure out what happened.

My other (though smaller beef) was with the soundtrack. There are numerous misleading sounds (cat purring, rifle shot, chainsaw) that you think are diagetic (and logically could be) but aren’t and are just supposed to be atmospheric. These repeatedly threw me out of the film.

I feel bad writing such a critical review of Dead Outside. Its heart is in the right place, it has some good ideas, and is definitely miles better than most first features. If you’re into a quiet and intense–though flawed–zombie evening, it’s worth a look when it makes it to Netflix

Outbreak Location: Rural Scotland
Zombification cause: Drug resistant virus
Mobility: Slow and awkward (except when they’re fast)
Rating: Two and a half shambling corpses (out of five) [cute graphic tk]

New Uses for Books: Fallout Shelter


I attended an estate sale this past weekend in one of the grottiest and most mold-ridden houses I’ve ever been inside, but it was exciting because it featured my first fallout shelter! Everything in it was rusted out and damp (looking like something out of Tarkovsky’s Stalker) but I managed to salvage this pamphlet.

Facts About Fallout Protection (Page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) Sorry for the lack of a better nav bar. I’m html challenged.

Among the useful tips I found these:
If you’re on the road “a culvert that can be blocked off at both ends will furnish protection. A trench or ditch will also protect you if it can be quickly covered with three feet of earth.”

and for those in the trade “In a pinch…stacks of books, magazines, newspapers, or filing cabinets” can be “put between yourself and the fallout”.


Try doing THAT with a Kindle.

Bookselling Tools: Goodtodo

Mark Hurst of Good Experience recently relaunched his fantastic todo list tool, Goodtodo (formerly Gootodo) . He addressed some accumulated user feedback and did a spiffy intro/tour page but it basically operates the same as before–which is just fine because it remains clean, stripped down, and dead simple to use.

Here’s his tour video:

The feature that I find particularly useful as a bookseller (and one that I believe is unique to Goodtodo) is the ability to forward emails to a particular date.

So say for instance I tell a customer that I’ll hold a book for 2 weeks; instead of staring at that email every day–and trying to remember why I kept it–I can just forward it to Goodtodo dated for the day I want to end the hold (ex, Forward to: march25@goodtodo.com – Subject Line: “End hold on Baptism in Shame”).

Voila! Unsightly email is gone until I NEED to think about it. It’s also great for tracking booksales, bill payments, customer appointments and the like. When you have any todo items scheduled for a particular day, Goodtodo will email you a list on the morning.

Goodtodo has built in logic for parsing dates so it recognizes “March25” as this coming March 25th or “Wed”/ “Wednesday” at this coming Wednesday (and many other variations) so you don’t need to overthink how you address the forward. It also stores the body of the email in a details field so you can easily keep track of the entire email exchange.

Also importantly Goodtodo also has a very clean, simple interface which loads quickly and plays well with your Iphone or smartphone.

Mark is a big proponent of inbox zero–which I like in theory but can’t quite get there–and Goodtodo is the main tool in his arsenal. If you want to join him the good fight you can purchase his manifesto, Bit Literacy.

Goodtodo is available at a free/trial level (limited to 10 todos a day) and a full version for a nominal subscription fee ($3 per month). Give it a try and I’m sure you’ll find it worth the subscription

Full disclosure: Mark is a friend whom I regularly trounce at Settlers of Cataan and Pirate’s Cove.

Vote Batman!

While listing a pile of 60s gentleman’s magazines (along the lines of Cavalcade and Bouncy Babe), I came across this “Eradicate Evil…Vote for Batman!” bumper sticker in two separate photo sets in different magazines.

(click through for full page in Even Less Work Safe Version)

The sensible side of me knows that the photographer worked for multiple magazines and reused the same props.

The fanciful side says that Batman ran a 1966, Giuliani-in-tights mayoral bid that only faltered when he engaged a Joker front company to handle his publicity.

Autobiographical Tijuana Bible

Finished up the batch of Tijuana Bibles that I’ve been pecking at for a couple of months. The last few were particularly crude and ugly (which makes them hard to date because it’s tough to figure out exactly who they’re parodying) but I made a nice discovery in one of the last I listed.

In this bible an artist with a sketch pad approaches cartoon character Dixie Dugan (I think) on a park bench and seduces her by describing her looks in high-flown aesthetic terms. In the last post-coital panel she asks to see some of his “masterpieces” and he whips out a tijuana bible saying he “creates the only art which creates a desire for sexual intercourse and which also causes me to remain in privacy.”

This bit of self-referential autobiography, in an almost entirely anonymous form, made my day.

Here’s the full bible (NOT work safe):