Monthly Archives: November 2015

November 8, 2015 · 2:29 am

Amazon Killed the Bookstore. So It’s Opening a Bookstore

Store opening in University Village in Seattle, WA. Twenty years after Amazon started selling books online.


by Issie Lapowsky

Source: http://www.wired.com/2015/11/amazon-killed-the-bookstore-so-its-opening-a-bookstore/

amazon logoBookstore owners already loathe Amazon for gutting the cost of books online and driving so many brick and mortar shops out of business. Now, the online retailer is both beating them and joining them, with the opening of its first physical bookstore today in Seattle.

Amazon Books, as the new store is called, will be like any other Main Street bookstore (remember those?), except that Amazon will use the troves of data it collects from its online customers to stock the shelves. That means its book displays will feature real Amazon book reviews, and the store will showcase books that have amassed the most pre-orders online. The books will also come with Amazon’s trademark low price tags.

It can afford those cut-rate prices, of course, because Amazon Books is as much a bookstore as it is a billboard. Amazon’s not suddenly betting big on the bookstore business, and it certainly doesn’t need the store to be a success in order for Amazon to succeed. It’s better to think of Amazon Books as a giant advertisement. If it makes a little extra money for a $294.7 billion company, all the better.

The one silver lining for the book enthusiasts forced to watch their industry turn into a gimmick is that, according to the Seattle Times, Amazon is hiring from other retail stores and libraries that may be struggling. Well, silver lining for those hoping for Seattle-area book store jobs. For Seattle-area book store employers, it’s probably not pleasant watching their employees get poached.

For now, Amazon says the store won’t be serving double duty as a warehouse or pickup center, and the vice president of Amazon Books, Jennifer Cast, tells the Seattle Times the company doesn’t yet have plans to open a second location. “We’re completely focused on this bookstore,” Cast said. “We hope this is not our only one. But we’ll see.”

Additional article: http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-opens-first-bricks-and-mortar-bookstore-at-u-village/

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November 6, 2015 · 7:06 am

Photo finish Friday: “Mugged”

Out of the darkness it stared at him, mocking his every desire.

Out of the darkness it stared at him, mocking his every desire.

Bob. That’s what we’ll call him now: Bob. He doesn’t remember his name and he doesn’t remember much else — except for that sock monkey mug. He said it was a gift, but he doesn’t remember who gave it to him, only that one day he found in among his — well, you know — socks.

He said he tried giving it away. First to friends, though he can’t remember any of their names or where they live or what they do for a living. He then tried to sell it to a collectibles shops, but nobody wanted it. They didn’t even want to take it for free. If you could have seen how matted and grimy and foul-breathed Bob was when the police picked him standing on a corner of Central Street trying to give the mug away, you’d know why nobody wanted to take it from him. And the harder he tried to give it away, the less anybody wanted it.

Only when the officer agreed to take the mug from Bob, did Bob willingly, even politely, climb into the officer’s patrol car and the officer took him to the special intake center. And that’s how we wound up with Bob and his mug.

We tried on several occasions to get rid of the mug. All attempts failed. Either the mug mysteriously (magically?) reappeared, or when Bob noticed it was missing, he refused doing anything until it was returned. This despite him saying he wants rid of it. He says, “If I could, I would never see it again.”

But somehow Bob is linked to the mug and the mug to him. He says in the middle of the night it tells him things, such as the two handles aren’t handles and they aren’t ears either. They are arms the sock monkey controls and uses to strangle people.

We have asked him how he knows this and he says since the mug doesn’t really have any ears, it talks a lot without knowing what it is saying.

We asked Bob if the mug has told him the names of those it has killed and where the bodies might be found. Bob says not yet, but he is listening for any hint or clue the sock monkey might give him.

So, we all sit and wait. There aren’t as many of us now as there once were. We’re not sure where the others went. Bored and quit we think. Tired of waiting.

Did you hear that?

That low….

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November 5, 2015 · 7:05 am

Haiku to you Thursday: “Journal”

Too long, no entry: /

bad, bad writer, no doughnut. /

Sprinkles word this page.

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November 4, 2015 · 7:04 am

Writing Tip Wednesday: “NaNoWriMo”

National Novel Writing Month Rules 2015: 10 Tips For A Successful NaNoWriMo

Started in 1999 in San Francisco Bay area by Chris Baty. It’s not too late for you to start.

by Christina Silva

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/national-novel-writing-month-rules-2015-10-tips-successful-nanowrimo-2164339

That novel you’ve been talking about writing for years? It’s time to just do it. November is National Novel Writing Month, an annual challenge where writers put together 50,000-word novels between Nov. 1 and midnight on Nov. 30.

It's not too late to start your novel.

It’s not too late to start your novel.

Chris Baty founded NaNoWriMo in 1999 in the San Francisco Bay Area with only 21 participants. Only six of those 21 participants completed the challenge. By 2001, 5,000 people signed up for the challenge. In 2014, 175,002 people participated, with 40,325 meeting the goal.

The rules of NaNoWriMo are simple. Just write until you finish, and then if you finish early, keep going. From the website: “National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.”

Participants can earn badges on the website when they meet word counts, share their progress with the #NaNoWriMo hashtag and share the experience with other writers. Novels of 50,000 words include “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck, and “The Notebook,” by Nicholas Sparks.

Below are 10 tips to have a successful NaNoWriMo:

  1. Just focus on writing a draft, not a literary classic.
  2. Come up with a plan. Do you want to create a plot first or just write whatever comes out? It’s called plotting versus pantsing.
  3. Make the challenge a priority. Ignore Netflix. Stop hanging out with friends if need be. Just get it done.
  4. Decide on a daily writing goal. You could aim for 1,667 words a day, or write more on the weekends and take it easy during the workweek.
  5. Create a writing schedule. Will you hit your daily word count in the mornings or at night?
  6. Figure out where to keep your writing. Google Docs seems easy. Or will you email yourself a draft or use a storage site like Dropbox?
  7. Don’t worry about writing a book that will get published or that people will buy. The goal is just to get into the habit of writing.
  8. Ignore any doubt. Just keep going.
  9. Edit sober.
  10. Drink wine. Wine loves writers.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/national-novel-writing-month-rules-2015-10-tips-successful-nanowrimo-2164339

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November 3, 2015 · 7:03 am

cARtOONSdAY: “hOW-tO”

Willard also spotted one syntax and two grammar errors in the first paragraph.

Willard also spotted one syntax and two grammar errors in the first paragraph.

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November 2, 2015 · 7:02 am

Monday morning writing joke: “Keeping afloat”

Two travel writers sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your kayak and heat it too.

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November 1, 2015 · 11:26 am

“Holly’s Corner,” part 6

[Writer’s note: What began as a writing prompt — photo and first paragraph — has become at least the start of a story. I will endeavor to add short sections to it, at lest as long as there is some interest. It might be a little rough in parts, but that’s because it is coming “hot off the press,” which could be part of the fun of it. In the meantime, you are free to jump off from any part of this story thus far and write your own version. Click Holly’s Corner below to get Parts 1 – 5.]

by David E. Booker

Tricia slumped back in her booth seat. There was a slight frown on her face, which only served to make her look even more attractive. She was almost too pretty: blond hair, thin, big teeth, large blue eyes. The wrinkles made her look more human, more accessible, at least to a shlub like me.

“You’re right,” she said. She reached forward and fiddled with her paper napkin.

“Tell you what. I’ll eat the other half as is. As it was made by the chef.”

It was a cool, rainy day down at Holly's Corner.

It was a cool, rainy day down at Holly’s Corner.

She smiled, but there was no radiance in it. Something told me when she really smiled, lights dimmed in comparison. “Now you’re patronizing me.”

“I’m offering a compromise, which is what happens most often in life. Maybe not in politics.”

Her face wrinkled again. “You don’t know my family. They don’t compromise.”

“And you?”

She sighed and then shrugged. “Sometimes.”

Some things transcend genetics and even behavioral environment. They exist somewhere in between. Some habits fall from the family zeitgeist. Nature versus nurture was an old but simplistic dynamic.

“So, what do you want me for?” I asked.

“I want you to find a recipe.”

I stopped chewing on my sandwich. “The Colonel’s secret sauce?”

“That’s eleven herbs and spices. You’re mocking me.”

I guess I was. I had had a woman shake her rolling pin at me, driving me into the mud, and now I found out the woman was drunk and it was all over a recipe.

“You don’t understand….”

I hate that phrase, but let it go. Obviously, I was missing something. Or she was. I decided to spice up the second half of my sandwich. She saw what I was doing and stopped talking.

“You are obviously not the person for this case.”

“Possibly not,” I said, then took a bite of my sandwich. I didn’t have much money left and if this case didn’t pan out, I was going to have to look for 9 – 5 work, which was something I loathed. But a recipe? Had I stopped so low as I need to chase down some family heirloom the world had not heard of nor was likely even to?

She pushed up from stall seat, turned, and stomped out the door.

(To be continued.)

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