solitarysoul's review against another edition
3.0
I read it very quickly and it answered my questions on the topic.
lindacbugg's review against another edition
5.0
Number five book for 2011
I loved this book!! I have been a bookseller for 22+ years and it is not just a job to me, it is my career! I remember when Big&Nasty came to our town & killed our wonderful indie store. People had no idea what they had lost until it was gone. I remember when I worked for Borders after this(I know I know-but you have to make choices sometimes-work for a chain store or don't work at a bookstore at all. My soul couldn't handle being away from books) and people would come in asking for donations for various things like Boy Scouts or other non-profits. Well, Border's branch stores have no control over this and I would tell them to contact corporate to see if they would be willing to help them out knowing damn well they wouldn't. What I really wanted to do was scream at them that if they hadn't stopped shopping at the wonderful indie store we used to have who did all kinds of things for the community there would have been a source for their donations. We lost a store that did story times,book clubs,fund raisers, local authors and many other things for the community. The money came from the community and stayed in the community.
Shop local-Support your indie stores-keep your tax dollars in your community.
I loved this book!! I have been a bookseller for 22+ years and it is not just a job to me, it is my career! I remember when Big&Nasty came to our town & killed our wonderful indie store. People had no idea what they had lost until it was gone. I remember when I worked for Borders after this(I know I know-but you have to make choices sometimes-work for a chain store or don't work at a bookstore at all. My soul couldn't handle being away from books) and people would come in asking for donations for various things like Boy Scouts or other non-profits. Well, Border's branch stores have no control over this and I would tell them to contact corporate to see if they would be willing to help them out knowing damn well they wouldn't. What I really wanted to do was scream at them that if they hadn't stopped shopping at the wonderful indie store we used to have who did all kinds of things for the community there would have been a source for their donations. We lost a store that did story times,book clubs,fund raisers, local authors and many other things for the community. The money came from the community and stayed in the community.
Shop local-Support your indie stores-keep your tax dollars in your community.
scorpstar77's review against another edition
3.0
This book is well-written and interesting...if you want to open an independent bookstore or other retail space. I did not find the first 4 chapters to be difficult at all - not a slog, fairly interesting - but after that point, I felt I could give the VA Festival of the Book Program Director the information she needed to decide whether or not to invite the author to the festival. Any slight inclination I may ever have had to open a bookstore (which have never been serious dreams, by the way) would have been squashed by this book, which makes it extremely evident that you must be insane, wealthy, and tirelessly devoted to your job to make a success of an independent retail business. I am none of those things. If you seriously want to open a bookstore or other retail store, though, I'd encourage you to spend some quality time with this book.
corpuslibris's review
3.0
This book had some really interesting history and analysis and outside-the-box thinking about indie bookstores and the landscape that we now inhabit and how it got that way.
It helped me to articulate the reason I am a bookseller: "to help make life more bearable for as many people as possible through books and community." Whether it's depressing fiction that makes life feel rich or makes you feel less alone, or humor that makes you laugh, or self help or health or finance books that provide practical assistance, or nonfiction that helps you know more about the world. And Laties brought home the idea that, in this movement, our INTERDEPENDENCE is as important as our independence.
My critiques are that it felt a little insider baseball (even for this insider), and while I found it interesting, I'm curious whether those not involved with bookselling crave the detailed history he provides. Furthermore, I think the subtitle is misleading. I wanted more about those aspects of being involved in the community, and it really felt more about his specific stores and about specific events in the 80s and 90s. I think it might have more appeal for general readers if it was true to the subtitle and looked at stories of the ways that indie booksellers have been on the frontlines of THOSE struggles (free speech, buying local, building community) as well. That's what I want to see in Rebel Bookseller 3.0!
It helped me to articulate the reason I am a bookseller: "to help make life more bearable for as many people as possible through books and community." Whether it's depressing fiction that makes life feel rich or makes you feel less alone, or humor that makes you laugh, or self help or health or finance books that provide practical assistance, or nonfiction that helps you know more about the world. And Laties brought home the idea that, in this movement, our INTERDEPENDENCE is as important as our independence.
My critiques are that it felt a little insider baseball (even for this insider), and while I found it interesting, I'm curious whether those not involved with bookselling crave the detailed history he provides. Furthermore, I think the subtitle is misleading. I wanted more about those aspects of being involved in the community, and it really felt more about his specific stores and about specific events in the 80s and 90s. I think it might have more appeal for general readers if it was true to the subtitle and looked at stories of the ways that indie booksellers have been on the frontlines of THOSE struggles (free speech, buying local, building community) as well. That's what I want to see in Rebel Bookseller 3.0!
for_esme_with_love's review
4.0
Rebel Bookseller was given to me when I started working at an indie bookstore. It packs in a lot of great information about the book industry, and is engagingly written.
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