More Wednesday widdles.

Me, watching Linda carry bag after bag of stuff to the car for a single day of work:

"I've heard shopping carts work really well for that...."

***********

I swear, when you own a business, you see weird patterns in human behavior.

For instance, all this month, I've been doing the majority of my business in the first two hours of the day. But I can remember times when I'd do the majority of business in the last two hours.

Or I get the same types of people in on the same day. (All teenagers, or all middle-aged women or men, or all young families. But even weirder. All tall people. All blond, whatever.)

Or I sell a lot of one product line, and none of the others, and there is no apparent reason. Or three people request the same product after it having sat unloved for years. I'll ask, "Did you see or read something about this?" and they'll say no....

I may have three or four gifts certificates I've sold over the last few months, and they all come in within a few hours.

And so on....

It's like there is some psychic transfer of information, I tell you.

**********

I'm starting to read like a writer again. I find I'm paying attention to the mechanics of plots more, again. Phrasing. Dialogue.

"Oh, look how he did that." "Could I do something like that?"

When I first started writing, this tendency was so distracting, I could hardly read. I went through a rough couple of years. Then I started incorporating my critical reading and my pleasure reading.

Eventually, the more nuts and bolts awareness fell away.

Now it's back.

**********

I figure everyone wants to write a book. Own a bookstore. Live in Bend, Oregon.

But....maybe that's just me.

And write a blog.

Insufferably smug little bugger, aren't I?

Hey, it can be a scary world out there. You can allow me some of my illusions, can't you?
I need all the ego boost I can get.

**********

Thing about writing is that you don't get any respect unless you do it.
Then you don't get any respect unless you finish.
Then you don't get any respect until you send it off.
Then you don't get any respect until you sell it.
Then you don't get any respect until you are a best-seller.
Then you don't get any respect until you are a best-seller -- and a critical success.
Then you don't get any respect because you're a total sell-out.
Then you don't get any respect unless you starting writing another book.
Then you don't get any respect until you finish.
Then.....

**********

Getting a full dose of New York Times fashion magazine, and my reaction is:

This stuff is perverse and creepy.

I may be a provincial boob, and Anna Wintour would destroy me with her wit.

But....I don't think so. I think those models and those clothes are -- just perverse and creepy.

..............

"Best Zero Wage Job a Middle Aged Guy Ever Had."

Notice I'm not talking about my Barnes and Noble stock?

***********

I noticed some folks are getting annoyed by all my book related postings.

Hey, some people don't like my business blogs.

Some don't like my Bend Bubble blogs.

Some don't like my personal blogs.

I figure they get the gist right away, and move on....

Buster (I think) accuses me of writing for Ego not Money. But I write for Ego AND the hope of money....like anyone else.

OHGD suggests I change the name of the blog to: "best zero wage job a middle aged guy ever had", which is clever and maybe true, but no writer is paid until a writer is paid and if that stops him from writing he'll never be paid.

***********

It might be time to take my three published books, Star Axe, Snowcastles and Icetowers back in hand. There are a lot of bit torrented pirate issues out there.

Anyway, if I do, it would also be time to combine Snowcastles and Icetowers (Snowtowers?) since they naturally make one larger book. And rebrand them as heroic fantasy.

The publisher, Tower Books, was looking for Sword and Sorcery, and that's how they branded it, with the barbarian on the cover. I didn't mind too much, because I LIKE Sword and Sorcery, and the cover art was great.

But, really, the book was written for the 14 year old, Lord of the Rings obsessed, Duncan McGeary, who at the time he was that age couldn't find a heroic fantasy to like.

(Unfairest criticism in a review: the word "STAR" because of Star Wars. I had the title in hand years before the movie, dammit.)

***********

I'm beginning to realize how much time and work it will be to type the Sometimes a Dragon and The Devil Tree online. But if I think of it as One Chapter per Week, it shouldn't be hard. And I know myself -- once I get started, I probably won't be able to stop.

Hard to imagine doing these on a typewriter, but that was the way of the world....

**********

Was telling friend Damian about my plans, and he started showing me a multitude of sites that are doing what I'm talking about, and well beyond....

So I'm behind all those folks.

Then again, I'm ahead of all the folks who haven't started doing it. (Much less all the people who haven't finished a book at all....)

**********
A separate book?

Interesting thing happening on the way to finishing Sometimes a Dragon.

Tales of Pox is starting to turn into a book.

I have the six chapters that originally prefaced the Tenly and Toller story. I had a seventh chapter that I wrote later, but hadn't included.

I have at least two other chapters I'd like to write.

1.) Mother Patch and the Old Man meeting, the Orsage flower, and his discovery of the Master's name and journey to the Silent Cathedral.

2.) Armazn's meeting the Purple Lady, falling in love, and them vowing to bring an end to the Eclipse.

So, suddenly, there are nine separate chapters, or probably 80 pages or more. I can easily see where more can be added at any time.

If Sometimes a Dragon was ever published, Tales of Pox would be a middle book. A Dune Messiah, if you will. A little short, a little odd, a sidetrack, but valid in it's own right.

I have a standard sort of sci-fi fantasy in mind for the first book. (The kid (The Master) seeing a unicorn, story....)

Wednesday Widdles.

I was telling a high school classmate that there was no bloody way I was going to my 40th reunion. He said, "Ah, Dunc. Make a scene -- by making the scene."

I thought that was really clever. I'd never heard that before, and I Googled it and couldn't find it.

Has anyone else heard this before?

**********

I like to sneak up and pounce on my wife and cat. I rarely succeed. They always hear me coming. For one thing, my ankles crack.

"That's what happens to old tigers. Makes it hard to pounce when your ankles crack..."

**********

To the drivers on HWY 20 to the Forum. The speed limit is 45 mph, not 35 mph.
To the drivers on Neff Rd. to the hospital. The speed limit is 35 mph, not 45 mph.

Clear?

**********

So much for the revival of nuclear energy....

**********

So...I may actually use the east side library. I can't believe proximity makes that much difference, but apparently it does...

**********

My sleeping habits are so regular nowadays, that Daylight Savings time really throws me. I simply can't go to bed before midnight, and my body doesn't think it's midnight until 1:00.
Eventually work hours and habits get me back into the swing, but in the meantime....

Had an hour less time before work, the paper came soaked, and I was out of sorts all day.

Poor baby.

**********

"Charlie Sheen's Live Show Sells Out In Minutes," USA TODAY, 3/15/11.

What the hell is wrong with people?

**********

Handed the Sometimes a Dragon manuscript to Jerad yesterday. I couldn't believe how nervous that made me. I didn't know I was nervous until I did it.

It was a typewritten manuscript. My God. You know, on a typewriter, without spell check or easy correction.

"Can't you just put it online and let me deal with there?" he asked.

"No...."I said, a little severely. "The way I work is to mark up a hardcopy and rewrite as I enter it...."

".....oh......O.K."

**********

"Potassium iodide selling fast...." Bulletin, 3/16/11.

If you're really worried, don't drink milk. Ninnies....

**********

"Real Estate Market Turns Corner" Cascades Business News.

Boy, this market has more corners than an M.C. Escher drawing.

**********

My Blanche Dubois moment.

This is going to sound strange to say, but most of my writing career has been validated by strangers.

That is, I send the manuscript off and the 'stranger' judges the quality of it without knowing me.

In other words, there is no personal baggage involved. There is no swaying the book one way or the other because they know me, or like me or don't like me or respect me or don't respect me.

At least, that's the way it's usually happened for my most of my creative efforts. No one thinks much of what I'm doing , sometimes I'm not even noticed or I'm dismissed-- and then I go off to unknown territory, and the people there give me my creds.

Sometimes, in the course of writing or creating something, I've actually gotten a fair amount of negative feedback, from friends, family, and acquaintances.

I've learned that a third party -- an unknown party -- often has a completely different estimation of the work.

You'd think people would be overly nice about your creative efforts if they know you, but often it's the opposite. Not sure why. I make the joke: "If I know you, you can't be any good." There's a strange mix of over-expectation and under-appreciation.

Anyway, it makes me nervous about making this whole writing project personal. I'm afraid I'm overpromising, that people will be disappointed. So much so, that I'm thinking of dropping it from the conversation for the time being, and just let the project do what the project will do.

**********

If nothing else, this reworking of Sometimes a Dragon has reassured me that I do know how to construct a novel in a readable form. How good it is, that's up to the readers. But it's good to know it hangs together.

I've just had too many false starts over the last few years. I'd get to the point where it really becomes hard work -- usually about 50 to 80 pages in, and I'd kind of let it go. Like I said, unless I'm really going to be serious about it, it's better not to pursue it any further.

That initial creative surge is great. It's fun. I enjoy it.

But it probably only gets me 65% of the way there.

To improve it by another 10% is twice as hard. And to improve THAT by 10% is twice as hard AGAIN.

And so on, into infinity.

Oh, Brave New E-World.

About a year (two?) ago, Jared Folkins came into the store with a story he had started writing about a sloppy, drunken, over-the-hill space captain named: Duncan McGeary.

It was grand space opera, and I liked it quite a bit.

"Except the name," I told him. "No one would believe a name that outlandish."

Anyway, I told him he should send those three chapters to an agent, and that I bet if he finished the book at the same quality, he'd get published.

"Oh, no," he says. "That's not the way I'd do it. I would do it myself, I have it all figured out."

He told me all the technical ways he thought it would work, and how he'd go about it, and it all sounded rather cool and got me thinking....maybe so.

You know? Maybe so....

But at the time, I was still wedded to the old fashioned publishing world.

Stuck even though, at the same time, I was completely disenchanted by it.

Well, to me, the last six months have turned me completely around. I'm a believer in the online world, the connectedness. There is a community of creativity that exploding out there, while publishers are still trying to figure it out. My blog, for instance, has kept up readership.

I think Jared's right -- the old fashioned way is not the way to go.

There are going to be a whole lot of professional writers who are going to hesitate. There are going to be even more writers who won't hesitate, but don't really have the chops to pull it off. I think the time to write in the e-book world is NOW.

So when Jared offered to do for me, what he'd planned on doing for himself, I agreed.

So, if nothing else, it will be an adventure.

(And yes, I'm fully aware of the irony of owning a bookstore, and making plenty of blog entries on the importance of physical books and physical bookstores. Let's just say, I wear two hats....)

First step toward reality.

Besides, you know, actually finishing Sometimes A Dragon.

Here we go!

Jared has posted the following:

Hi All,

My name is Jared Folkins and I represent author Duncan McGeary. We will be releasing his next book, Sometimes A Dragon on a customized/stylized blog over the period of 6-9 months posting one or two chapters a week. This book will later be released on all major eBook platforms as a .99 cent download.

We are looking at purchasing art for the blog, and then using one of the pieces for the cover art. Ideally, we would purchase piece(s) of existing art from whomever we select from the talent pool this post generates.

If you are interested, here are the requirements.

Requirements:

1) Post a link to your current work.
2) You must own the rights to any work submitted
3) You must be willing to sell rights for both physical and digital publication

Benefits:

1) Cash [transferred via paypal]
2) Use the book or blog in your portfolio
3) Your name will be featured in the "thank you" section of the book
4) Brag at your local RPG meetup that you did art for a sweet fantasy novel, the GM will be impressed and will then reward you with some sweet D&D *swag* for your character (<== total speculation)

Anyway, we are trying to be fair about the art buying process and the rate of pay, but we are also just two independents. Please keep in mind, should things go well, we will keep the list current and look at purchasing further art for Duncan's next release The Devil Tree.

Thanks for your time.

-peace
Jared

Responses thus far -

http://grzegorzpedryczart.daportfolio.com/

http://www.vajrapancharia.com/

A writer in the family.

Imagine being a relative to a full time writer.

He asks you to read his manuscript. You're glad to.

Six months later, he wants you to do it again.

Hmmmm....you agree, not knowing how to refuse. It's the same story, rewritten but, really, was it necessary to read it again?

A year later, he's got a new work, and then another, and then another. You start to avoid him.


The only way I know how to write is to be completely obsessive. Otherwise it's just too hard to do. I have to feel that really strong urge, or it doesn't get done. But it's hell on other people. And on the work life, and the social life, and home life.

Which is why, unless I am really serious about writing, I don't start.


Anyway, I quit asking my family and friends to read my works in progress. I didn't think it was fair to them. Linda has always been good about it, but I'm careful to pick my shots. I'm more likely, these days, to read her what I think is a particularly good passage than to ask her to read the whole thing. At least, until it is completely finished.

In fact, I'm careful to pick my shots when I ask anyone to read -- so as not wear out my welcome, but -- hopefully -- still have them as a resource.

Anyway, I learned to read the signs and portents when people read my manuscripts.

Where do they leave off reading? That was a big one. Could if be that the story slackens there, or the writing becomes weak and confusing?

I learned to even watch my own behavior: Why did I choose to stop reading there?

It may be coincidence, but I would find, more often than not, that --subconsciously, just below the surface -- the story did indeed often lose its power where people quit reading.

That's why I made such a big deal out of the fact that I read the whole manuscript last night. Why I was so glad not to hit the "Oh, Shit" moment, and the story carried me all the way through.

And that's also why I was so completely reassured when Linda sat down this afternoon to read a chapter or two, and was still reading six hours later.

Before I had finished writing Sometimes a Dragon the first time, she had started to rewrite the beginning because she didn't like it. "It has loppy corners, " she said. Whatever that means. Actually I kind of felt what she meant.

So I asked her today if cutting the first six chapters had answered her concerns. "Is it still loppy?"

"No....." she said, upon consideration. "I think it was those first chapters..."

She's still reading as I type this, even though at one point she had put it down to go to bed. After talking a few minutes, she picked it back up again. "It's a feel good book," she said. Cool.


Woke up this morning, and she's back to reading it. Obviously, she's going to read the whole thing. Double cool.

The problems so far.

So the problems I see so far --(there may be others that Linda or Jared catch) --with Sometimes A Dragon:

1.) Set aside the first 50 pages, split them into six separate short stories, called The Tales of Pox) They can be back story for those interested -- like the appendixes in Lord of the Rings.
2.) The first few pages of the new beginning need to be rewritten.
3.) A bit of menace (that was in those original first 50 pages) needs to be seeded into the new first 50 pages -- foreshadowing, and such, but I don't want to overdo it.
4.) A couple of continuity glitches that will require some new short scenes.
5.)A choice of how I want to use the proper nouns. Is it too Portentous to keep using in capital letters The Master, The Silent Cathedral, The Purple Lady and so on, or do I need to replace them with their names, where possible, or alternatives (the edifice, the building, etc. for Silent Cathedral.)

Those are the things I see so far.

Doubt:Writing's Companion.

I don't know if this is true of other writers -- I've met some pretty cocksure ones -- but I constantly question my choices when I write.

Of course, there is the ever present doubt about the quality of writing.

But the more I write, the more I realized that isn't the only question. I make stylistic choices, narrative choices. Perhaps no one will want to read what I'm writing because it doesn't match the present zeitgeist.

This is a huge problem with publishers, as far as I'm concerned. I've known writers whose changed what they were naturally good at to chase the current market. For instance, I knew a natural gothic writer who bent her style to try to fit the current romance market, including explicit sex scenes and such that she didn't feel comfortable doing.

So publishing online is going to avoid that bottleneck. It may be that no one will read what I put out there, but at least I have a chance for find out. The history of writing is full of examples of people breaking barriers...

Anyway, as I've said, I really like Sometimes A Dragon. It's of a piece -- it's what I set out to do.

But, in thinking about it, I'm not sure it fits any other style I'm currently seeing. It's fantasy, with fairy tale elements; a love story, probably young adult. (Well, actually that sounds like lots of currently read books -- so I suppose I must be talking about the MIX of those elements that seems different.)

So there is the doubt that it doesn't quite fit the expected stylistic and narrative choices.

Oh, well. I like it, and at this point in my life, that's probably the most important thing.


I totally didn't expect to read the whole book in one sitting. That's a really good sign, because usually I can't read my own writing at all. I just see all the things wrong with it.

Some of it must be that enough time has passed, that I'd forgotten most everything. But even then, if I had started to run into too much writing that I considered -- bad or amateurish, I wouldn't have kept reading.

Anyway, once I started reading at page 50, I kept going all the way through.

It's good. At least to me. I don't know how other people may feel. I don't know if it will meet their expectations. But it more than met my expectations, and I'm very thankful for the experience, whatever else happens.


Simple fixes are so rare.

I have to thank Jared for lighting a fire under my butt, and making me pull the manuscript out and looking at it will fresh eyes -- and seeing that the first 50 pages needed to be set aside.

Other than that, I found a couple of continuity glitches, easily fixed. I'm not completely consistent in my capitalization of proper nouns. Silent Cathedral or silent cathedral, Purple Lady or purple lady.

But not much else. The tone usually seems right, which is the hardest thing to accomplish.

The simple love story between Tenly and Toller and all the cute things that happen between them may go on a little long, but....I think it should go on long. The darkness that comes later is in contrast to that.

The darkness that comes later, and some of the more elaborate language, feels perfectly fine after we've gotten to know the characters. It was hitting the reader with that tone and style right off the bat that didn't work.

I use what Ursula LeGuin calls "high" language, but it fits and doesn't seem overwhelming to me. Much talk of love, but I don't think it's too sappy. Well, maybe a little sappy, but it seems appropriate.

Having read so many young adult novels lately, it occurred to me that the style is most similar to that. I've often told Linda she should turn her stories into young adult because I think she has a knack -- and since she really influenced the style of this book at the beginning, then it makes sense that's how it would turn out.

The Oh, Shit moment.

Back when I was writing full time, I learned that there was a term that editors used when reading new manuscripts.

They pick up a book and start reading, and then something clunky happens, the story goes off the rails, and the editor says, "Oh, Shit."

I still haven't hit the Oh, Shit moment with Sometimes a Dragon.

The book is still holding together.

I like it.

I'm 100 pages in, with another 100 pages to go.

I think I'm going to ask Linda to read this version, because her influence is all over it. It's a love story, with a strong young adult tone. Really not my usual thing, which is probably why I like it so much.

It's very fresh, and at the same time familiar. I don't actually remember the plot details.

I really like some of the turns of phrases, the dialogue seems natural.

The first 50 pages had a completely different tone -- dark and foreboding, and then, like daylight, the next 200 pages are a love story. I wonder why I did it that way? (Linda thinks I was already writing the dark part when we met, and tried to mesh it with what she and I started doing. Possibly -- I can't imagine why I couldn't see it then. But...jettisoning 50 pages is pretty hard for any writer....)

It so very clear that the last two hundred pages are where the story starts.

I'm jazzed that I wrote this...surprised by the plot turns, impressed by the language. You know, this ain't bad!! (If I do say so myself...)

Last night, I dug out the two manuscripts from the cedar chest at the foot of my office couch.
I fortified myself with half a bottle of wine, and with great trepidation, started to read it.

I was disappointed, I think. Last night.

But I woke this morning, and it was like a lightning bolt. First, it occurred to me that each of the first six chapters were like a little short story. Then, I realized the change of tone at page 50, and the absolute certainty that the book begins with the two main characters, Tenly and Toller.

Even when references are made to events in the first six chapters, I think the reader will be able to make the leap, fill in the blanks. (I may need Jared's help in that....telling me where more needs to be explained.)

This is almost the same creative glow I get when I write, only with the added pleasure of having written it already!

A veritable Gordian Knot.

I am Alexander.

Cutting the first six chapters of Sometimes the Dragon was what I needed to do.

I've read the first 50 pages with Tenly and Toller, and they work. A simple love story, with threatening clouds forming in the background.

But, it works the way it should work. (And if you want more, you can read the Tales of Pox.)

This may not be as much rewriting as I thought -- barely any, so far. Of course, it will be a smaller book, but I'm not sure that should matter if the story comes together.

What fun.

A turn toward writing.

This blog is probably going to take a distinct turn toward the craft of writing.

I've decided to rewrite my last novel, Sometimes A Dragon, which in some ways was never quite finished.

I liked this book, a lot.

I started writing it after meeting my wife, Linda, in the Farewell Bend Writer's Roundtable. Yes, I met my wife in a writer's group.

We started writing it together, actually, the adventures of Tenly and Toller, but I tend to change things constantly, and Linda is more steady, and I ended up taking over the story and finishing it.

I loved the book. But it didn't work. The style, which was so much fun to write, was not as much fun to read. The main two characters don't even enter the story until 50 pages in. There is too much narrative, and not enough scenes and dialogue.

And yet the story, I believe, is fresh and different and fun.

It needs to be totally rewritten and reset.

So I'm going to start the story at the 50 page mark, where Tenly and Toller enter the story, and do whatever needs to be done to get the earlier scenes into the book as flashbacks, and try to pull it all together. I'm a little older, a little wiser, a little more experienced now.

The point of view characters need to be Tenly and Toller, though the narrator will probably remain the changeling, Pox.

In looking at the first 50 pages, they divide neatly into 6 chapters -- The Tales Of Pox.

1.) The Ship.
2.) The Master.
3.) The Old Man
4.) The Apprentice
5.) The Gargoyle
6.) The Owl.

Here's the cool thing. Each of these chapters can stand alone as a back short story.

Here's the big news:

I've decided to publish this book online.

Six months ago I wouldn't have considered such a thing. But now? I think it's the thing to do.
I'm not sure that I wouldn't choose this route even if I had a publisher, but I'm not going in that direction, in any case.

So the six back stories can be included online. "Oh, if you like Sometimes a Dragon, and want to get a little history of their world, here are the Tales of Pox."

Which is something I can do online, that I never could've done on paper.

I decided on this course, because my friend Jared Folkins in going in with me as a partner. He's going to do the technical and promotional parts, so that there is at least a chance the story will actually be found and read.

We'll see where it leads.

I'm also going to put my book Deviltree online, with a bit of rewriting.

And if all that works, I've three or four more books well along that way -- all I need is a bit of encouragement.

What you'll find in my talking about writing is that I'm not afraid to change my mind, to go charging off in new directions, pull back and go back to the origins and so on -- once that creative urge sets in, I just let it flow. You think I'm obsessive about business, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Downtown Comings and Goings.

So, this is getting a bit complicated.

Maryjane's is closed, but reopened elsewhere downtown, as Tryst. Wabi Sabi moved into their old space.

Donner's Flowers is leaving downtown, but opening up somewhere else. I think I'm going to add a little distinction that says ***Moved**

NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN

Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails
(Fall, 2008 or so).

BUSINESSES LEAVING

Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro
(Fall, 2008 or so.)

The Journey to a Stable Store.

This may seem like one of those self-absorbed, wonky business posts that I so like...but, actually, this is more the story of my journey to having a stable and profitable store.

In about 2002, I set a daily sales goal that I thought would accomplish everything I needed for the store: pay the overhead, get the proper inventory, pay myself a living wage, and a bit extra for retirement.

I had just finished paying off a rather massive debt, that I'd been carrying for ten years or so.

So I had, in a sense, a fresh start. (We'll ignore the first 18 years, which were a roller coaster of lows and highs and mistakes and discoveries, and -- well, let's just call it a learning experience.)

The daily sales goal I set was about 1/3rd higher than I was actually doing in 2002 and seemed like a very hard total to reach.

For the sake of discussion, I'm not going to tell you what our actual sales were and are, but I'm going to use a 10 point scale. (You could translate that into $1000.00, if it makes it easier -- but I assure you, I don't earn anywhere near that much per day...)

So on that 10 point scale, we were doing 6.5 in 2002.

As it happened, the big Bend boom started around the same time. Sales shot up, and I plowed all the money back into the store. I realized early on that it was a bubble, and knew from past bubbles that sales could easily drop in half. So my goal was to push sales as high as I could get them, and at the same time keep fixed expenses level, so that when the inevitable bust happened, I'd still be viable.

So most of the extra earnings went into inventory, instead of profits. (Inventory, IS, profits, if you want to get technical.) I probably tripled my inventory during that time.

Meanwhile, I hit my sales goal and shot well beyond it. Let's say, 13 on the 10 point scale.

The inevitable happened, and sales started dropping, and we are back to 8 on the 10 point scale.
Which is better than 6.5, but not as good a 13.

But an interesting thing had happened in the meantime.

The new inventory was in new product lines -- new books, boardgames, used books, etc.

It turned out, the mix of product lines allowed me to push the profit MARGIN to a higher level.

I'd been doing about 40% profit margins for the proceeding 18 years, sometimes a little lower (with higher sales.)

By being much more picky and choosey with the lower margin products -- anime, toys, and cards -- I was able to let them decline to a smaller piece of the overall pie, and at the same time, I was able to boost their usual 35% margins a bit higher.

I was able to find discount wholesalers for new books, and from Linda's store, I have an endless supply of free used books. (Can't have a better margin than 100%, right?)

Meanwhile, the comic industry also started offering regular deals; at first with seasonal blowout sales, and eventually weekly liquidations, and or special offers.

I found that if I consistently took up these special offers, I could save at least 10% on very viable, evergreen product -- and save much more on the mid-list product. If I do this just about every time they are offered, I start pushing my profit margin higher.

Eventually, the stuff I was buying at a higher discount, was reflected in the stuff I was selling.

So, my margins have more or less settled in at a good, solid 50%.

Which means, that doing an 8 on a 10 point scale with 50% margins, is exactly equal in profits to doing a 10 on a 10 point scale with 40% margins.

Nice.

So, in a sense, I've reached my goal, and I've been able to maintain it during the worst recession since the 1930's.

It may be a temporary resting point -- indeed, it most probably is with all the massive changes that are taking place in the retail world -- but it's still a nice place to land.

T.V. versus books.

I'm reading at a two book a week pace so far this year, which is double the number last year.

I'm doing this mostly by avoiding junk and random T.V. I'm watching the 'scheduled' shows that Linda and I watch together, and avoiding everything else.

Mondays: House and Castle. (Sometimes Antique Roadshow).
Tuesdays: The Good Wife.
Wednesday: (Sometimes Nova.)
Thursdays: CSI. Las Vegas, The Mentalist.
Fridays: Fringe.
Saturdays:
Sundays:

We also watch Tru Blood and Dexter Boardwalk Empire and Spartacus when they're on. Linda and I are really looking forward to the Game of Thrones mini-series. (The Song of Fire and Ice series is, in my opinion, the second best fantasy series ever written...)

I'll tape the Bill Maher show, and watch the beginning and ending, and skip the 50 minutes of discussion in the middle.

Oh, and I watch Jon Stewart every night. It's how I get my T.V. news, now.

That's still a lot of T.V., but not as much as in the past. Without all the big cable series being currently on, it me quite a few extra hours to read or do other things.

(On the other hand, the Sunday New York Times takes me a couple billion extra hours to read...)

Short book reviews.

Short reviews:

Well, more like short impressions. Writing a thoughtful review is hard.

WORTH DYING FOR, Lee Child.

Kind of funny -- the previous book ended in such a way that you couldn't figure out how Jack Reacher survives.

Other than him having sore arms, this book just ignores that. Heh. That's one way of writing yourself out of a corner.

Once again, Reacher gets into trouble in his wanderings -- (it's getting to be more and more a 'reach' for him to find such trouble.) I think Child is at his best when he is writing about middle America, maybe a little stereotypical but very colorful characters, so I enjoyed this book.

SILENCE, Thomas Perry.

I've said it before, I think aPerry is the best lessor known mystery writer out there. This wasn't one of my favorites, but I enjoyed it. The guy writes a hell of a plot, and has a sneaky sense of humor.

THE MOURNER and DEADLY EDGE, Richard Stark.

These books are 200 pages long, and just the right length. Straightforward hard boiled fiction. They don't write them like this anymore.

No, really. They don't write them like this anymore.

BLACKWATER SOUND, James W. Hall.

This author is a little hit or miss for me, but this was one of his better ones. Beach bum, Thorn, is out fishing when an airliner drops out of the sky into his fishing hole. Can't completely relate to the fishing and boating ethos --

SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING, Kim Stanley Robinson.

Washington D.C. is under water, and the rest of the east coast is following.

The third book of a global warming near future science fiction trilogy. I read the second book without knowing it was the middle, and I think it would've served me just fine. Robinson tends to do a little too much soap opera for my taste.

ANANSI BOYS, Neil Gaiman.

Magic realism, American style. I'm not sure why I held off reading this book for so long, because I love Gaiman's writing. This was a bit more humorous and light hearted than I expected, but sometimes that's the best kind of fantasy. I'm still thinking his comic series, SANDMAN, is his masterpiece, no matter how successful he becomes in the book world.

WARLORDS OF REPUBLICAN ROME, Nic Fields.

Already pretty much reviewed this earlier. Spoiler -- Caesar meets a bad end. Pompey loses his head.

REQUIEM FOR AN ASSASSIN, Barry Eisler.

New author for me, about the assassin, John Rain. I liked it enough to try another one. Not as geo-politically serious as the Dan Silva books, but similar in plot mechanics.

The morality of these characters is interesting -- a for hire assassin, is -- well, a strange person to root for...

**********

PETER AND MAX, Bill Willingham.

Set in the world of the FABLES comic book series, I'd have to say this is my favorite novel so far this year. Lots of fun, very imaginative and different.

But...I have to admit, I actually listened to it, rather than read it. It took three trips to finish the book, because I can only take so much of that at a time.

I must admit I enjoyed it.

But I'm still going to read my books, instead of having them performed for me.

Promotions are like Rogaine...

...the minute you stop using them, they stop being effective.

Eventually, unless you keep spending the money and slopping the stuff on your head, you're stuck with the hair follicles you got -- weak and sparse as they may be. And you are stuck with the business you got, weak and sparse as it may be.

This may seem like an argument to keep doing promotions, but I'm saying the opposite. I'm saying, get your foundations strong and quit wasting all your time and energy on the extras.

For unlike hair, a store can strengthen it's roots, and create new ones. That is, you know, if you don't waste too much money on promotions and advertising.

I seem to spend a lot of time on this blog trying to argue with common wisdom's, at least those that contradict my own experience.

The biggest of these is the effectiveness of promotions and advertising.

This time, I think I'll approach this from a different angle. I won't deny that these things can be effective -- but I will question the "cost" effectiveness of most. By cost, I also include: Time, Energy, and Space. By the time you include all costs, I figure most promotions are more trouble than they're worth.

About the only current promotion I do, is the Free Comic Book Day on the first weekend of May. This has been, by all outward accounts, a huge success. And yet, I could make a pretty good case that it has been mostly ineffective. I get a big turn out on that day, but I'll be damned if I can see that it has created any new regular customers. In fact, as far as my subscriptions are concerned, I can't think of one.

This event costs me several hundred dollars a year (the "Free" comics aren't free for me, just much reduced in price.) I usually am paying to have an extra employee on hand, as well. You know, to hand out the free comics.

It's fun and all that.

But effective?

My feeling about most costs involved in advertising and promotions is that you would do better to get new or better product, or do an improved everyday job. (And you can ALWAYS get better or new product, or do an improved everyday job.)

Any promotion you do -- signings, events, music, whatever -- are labor intensive, and can quickly become rather stressful and time-consuming. To me, they distract from the main job I do, which to sell product on a day to day basis.

Street events? Don't get me started.

I think the benefits of most promotions and advertising are illusionary, and foisted upon us small retailers by the purveyors and the users. I believe that some small business owners get so caught up in promotions that they forget to do their job.

And any effectiveness you do get, is at the cost of time and energy and space, which is just as precious as money. Maybe more so. I'll say it again: I think as many or more businesses quit because of time and energy issues -- stress -- as money. (Though they are all inextricably linked.)

Storekeepers start to get a glimmer that it just isn't fun any more, but they don't know how to get off the promotional bandwagon. Customers have come to expect you to entertain them. Product? Oh, yeah. They might buy some of that, too. As long as you aren't being TOO entertaining....

And I'm saying this after 31 years of business, with the last five years being my most profitable, and at a point where I feel my store is solid. Good location, good inventory, longevity -- all those things count.

Balloons and clowns and music? Not so much.


O.K. O.K.

I admit. It's a bit of an overstatement. Obviously advertising works for some people; obviously having events can be beneficial to your business. I would hate to dissuade anyone from effective promotions. But I'm arguing that that should come second, not first. What I read on sites like Shelf Awareness seems to me to be strongly in the other direction.

But I think it's the wrong focus. If you want to do special events, and you can afford them or have people in your employ that want to do them and you can afford the extra hours, and you have space and time and energy, by all means...

But ... if your fundamental business isn't working, it won't save you. Bottom line, you need to sell product.

What I've discovered over the years is a brutal truth: you can't beat cheaper prices with bells and whistles (including all the free events you want). You have to find other ways. Having something the other guy doesn't have, is the best way. Being in a good location. Having face to face contact, knowledge, and enthusiasm.

Customer loyalty is gained in a number of ways -- and all of them are good. But it's better to recognize that even loyal customers will buy elsewhere, frequently, without your permission....

Yet....it seems like every interview with a bookstore that I read on Shelf Awareness, when they're asked what makes them different, what is going to help them survive; they'll rattle off:
social events, coffee shops, e-book access, and so on and so on. Books always seem to appear fairly far down the list, if they're mentioned at all. Like they're an afterthought, instead of the whole ball of wax.

What happens is all these bookstores are told that if they are public oriented; a 'third space' for people to gather, to have writer's coming to the store, or music, or reading groups or....whatever...that it will distinguish them from the big box stores, or Amazon, or the Kindle.

But it hasn't worked. Demonstrably hasn't worked. There are huge independent stores who've done all the above, plus work online, plus serve coffee and crumpets -- and they've gone out of business. Small bookstores all over America who has thought of themselves as public service arena's -- have gone out of business.

Because, they in a sense, have fooled themselves into trying to buy customer loyalty by entertaining them, by giving them free events. And they've focused on that, because that's what every other indy bookstore is doing, or telling them to do. It makes them keep late hours, and adds to their cleaning bills, and adds employees and hours, and stress and what to keep track of and.....

It's group think at it's worse.

Because, based on the number of stores that have gone out of business, it hasn't worked.

Any yet, if anything, the indies are doubling down -- proclaiming even more public services and promotions and gimmicks. Because, all the stuff they've been doing hasn't been working, so they'll do twice as much of it.

Make no mistake, bookstores are in the fight of their life. But it's as if you knew that a tiger was coming your way, and instead of running and climbing a tree, or sharpening a stick and laying in a supply of sharp rocks, that you decided to distract the tiger by blowing bubbles.

You were told this worked by the guy the next valley over (never mind he got et.)

Look, if people are buying books because of price and convenience and selection -- it doesn't matter how many concerts you have, because when it comes time to buy a book, the customers will buy from whomever is cheapest, easiest and has the mostest.

So you have to realize that, and work around it. Instead of spending all your time trying to create a warm and fuzzy 'local' resource.

Great. But what about the books?

It seems to me that most indie bookstores have mistaken the promotion for the business. Promotion is ON TOP of whatever business you're doing, but it can't make up for a lack of business. So all that time, energy and money you're spending on promotion and advertising and coffee and tea, might be money you should be using to improve your fixtures, or your in-store service, or your inventory.

You know -- books.

It's all about the books.

It's my store, and I'll do what I want.

What the Utility of Extra points to, in my opinion, is the supremacy of product.

A store works if it sells product.

I spend most of my time trying to find, to afford, and display product.

I was just reading an article online that was talking about the future of brick and mortar stores.
It advised, more or less, that stores mimic the online experience, adopt the online techniques, bring online into the store.

The article advises that store tailor their business to the future tastes of the customers.

For me, this is exactly wrong.

I call that chasing the customer.

Instead, what I prefer to do, is create the setting, fill it with what I think is neat stuff, and hope that there are enough customers who like what I have that I stay in business.

It comes from the inside out, not the other way around.

Oh, I adapt the store to the response, but ultimately, the original impulse comes from me. That's what I like about it. I could sell widgets based on some sort of foreordained plan, like say a franchise, and that would be incredibly boring. Like working for someone else.

Nothing pleases me more than finding a really neat thing, getting it in the store, and then seeing that really neat thing discovered by the public. I can't tell you the number of times I've brought something in that no one has heard of, only to have a flurry of articles come out about that really neat thing that no one had heard of. And I have it. Already in the store.

In other words, my job is to find the really neat stuff, and then expose it and proselytize it, until other people also realize it's really neat.

I think the future of brick and mortars will be to create a unique experience -- to carry stuff no one else has, with a different focus and mixture. And that pretty much has to come from the owner. He has to seek out that material, find a way to afford it, find a way to display it.

Best-seller lists, are a great example. Everyone else has the same books. Probably at cheaper prices.

But a unique title, or author, or subject matter, or even cover -- something that isn't on the Amazon website unless you already know about it, physically present and talked about by a flesh and bone person. THAT'S the future of bookstores.

It so happens, that's the same response I had to the big chainstores. So ironically, many of the small mom and pop's are already doing what they need to survive the digital future.

Keep on being a real, physical, brick and mortar store -- don't try to copy the online experience -- go the opposite direction.

If nothing else, you'll enjoy it more.

The Utility of Extra

Time was, I would only order something for the store if I was pretty darn sure I could sell it.

Time was, I would only order in quantities that I was pretty darn sure I could sell.

Time was, I felt an item needed to have effective display space; that I didn't want it lost in the shuffle, at least on first arrival.

Time was, if an item had to be stored in the basement because it didn't sell and was getting shopworn, and was taking up space -- I considered it a failure.

Nowadays, I don't sweat it. It doesn't bother me to file a product and see it disappear into a wall of merchandise.

I don't demand absolute certainty that an item will sell.

I don't order so much on the basis of how much will sell, as price and availability.

I don't try to guess the customer's mind so much as fill the store with product I think is pretty good stuff, and maybe unique, and something that no one else is selling.


Extra -- sad to say for the landfills of America -- works.


Nowadays, I buy on an overall budget. If I'm doing a good job, selling enough, and getting a good enough margin, this budget might actually be more than I actually need to just satisfy current demand.

This is a huge, huge luxury, let me tell you, and is only possible because I already have an excess of product. The more I have, the more I sell. I throw ten items that might sell at you, instead of one or two items that I'm pretty sure will sell (which are among the ten items, by the way.)

I mean, I still use my experience and judgment and instincts to know what kind of extra I should buy, but I'm not afraid of the idea of 'extra.'

I think its basically impossible to measure the synergy of product -- the gauge the effect of one product on another. To actually accept not selling one thing, because that one thing might help sell three of another.

That said, I prefer small quantities of each item -- often, just one if I can get it. So by extra, I'm really talking about diversity. But...if I can get a good deal by buying caseloads, I'll do that too. I'm still kind of wrapping my brain around that.

This is one of those thought pieces where I'm just trying to figure something out, and not sure I'm making sense.

I just know that if you get enough 'extra' you tend to sell enough to get by; the long tail at work.

I had an interesting experience over the last two months.

In January, I decided to spend pretty much the entire 'extra' budget of the first two quarters;
that is, the portion of the budget that is beyond the basic ordering.

So I more or less ordered six months worth of games and books.

Sales did not go up.

In February, I didn't make any reorders, except to take advantage of "sale" product.

Sales did not go down.

The store is deep enough and wide enough, that sales have pretty much stabilized. Which in a way, has always been my goal. I don't miss the surges -- just like I don't miss the precipitous drops.

Tuesday tidbits.

Rango.

Charming movie, fun characters (half the fun is trying to figure out who all the flea bitten critters are), nice -- no great -- animation.

Not a huge number of laugh out loud moments, and not as deep and moving as Up! or Toy Story(s).

But a clever movie.

It's also probably the most self-aware, meta-movie I've ever seen.

It literally draws the frame of the picture twice. (And how about Clint's Oscars?)

***********

Yep. Not a good idea for the DA to go after the Bulletin.

Today's story of new Deputy DA hire Horton, who has lost property to foreclosure and still owes back property taxes.

I think the thing that bothered me the most is that he lives in Pronghorn. I'm sure he'll be looking out for the little guy.

**********

Come on, now. I'm pretty sure that Libya doesn't account for .50 worth of gas (17th largest producer).

Getting screwed again by the gas companies.

And those poor deluded Tea Partiers have been duped into going after government, instead of the real villains -- Corporations.

They own us.

**********

The freakin' Barnes and Nobel stock has dropped off the face of the earth. At this point, it's overkill. They were still earning a profit the last I heard. I suspect this is going to have to come back a bit. I'm just hanging in there, trying to avoid selling at the low.

**********

Wow. The highest selling comic title in February was Green Lantern #62, all of 71 K copies. I can't begin to tell you how bad that is. I mean, that's really down there....

**********

The writer of Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, wants to hire Charlie Sheen.

As what, head zombie?

**********

Hack Bend is asking about the status of El Jimador.

I noticed that Wabi Sabi has moved into the space that was Maryjane's and that Maryjane's now has the same address as C.C. McKenzie.... So are they sharing space? This is minus one storefront, even if they are all still in business. Not sure how to specify that on my Comings and Goings list.

Anyone know what's going on?