Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:00:32 -0400, Sean O'Hara <seanohara@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
>> In the Year of the Earth Rat, the Great and Powerful Gene Ward Smith
>> declared:
>>>
>>> The Other Change of Hobbit in Berkeley screwed me over in a different
way.
>>> They had a sign up with a big explanation for why they didn't, for
social-
>>> poltical reasons, carry Gor books. This, of course, obligated me to
read
>>> the first Gor book, which turned out to be crap on cardboard. Why
couldn't
>>> they have not carried Gor because it was crap?
>> I'm curious why any bookstore would feel the need to not carry a
>> book for any reason other than "it doesn't sell," let alone have to
>> proclaim it with a sign. The bookstore exists to sell me what I want
>> to read, not to dictate what I should read.
>
> Nope, the bookstore exists at the whims of the management.
>
> It just won't exist very long if those whims are at great odds with
> the ability to sell books. Since the OCoH is in Berkeley, having a
> note up saying "We don't stock Gor because it's utter drivel" is
> probably a sales plus.
>
> Cheers - Jaimie
New book stores are usually run pretty professionally, i.e., to maximize
profit. Used book shops are a whole different thing. These are basically
the owner's library overflow. He (and they are usually run by a single
white male eccentric in his fifties+) is less anxious to sell books than
to have an excuse for more shelf space and for sitting around,
preferably undisturbed by customers, and reading. If you try to buy a
book that he doesn't like, you often get a comment like "I didn't know I
had a copy of that. Must have been in that estate sale batch..." He will
typically have one very part-time employee so he can be free to attend
occasional book sales.
A wonderful institution, soon to be done in by abebooks.com.
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