Love this !
 "I love this work, but can find it exasperating at times. In the store, people leave books wherever they feel like, so I will find Ulysses God knows where. And then, there are the people who argue about prices and don't understand inflation. I charge less than half price for a book, but if it cost $10 in 1980, it costs more now. I can't take you in a time machine back to when it was $10. Sometimes I feel like I have to teach these people basic economics."And then, there are the rules of the store. First, you can only get in when it is open. Second, no cell phones. This is a book store and not a phone booth. Third, there are words and phrases that you can't use in my store: like, oh my God, neat, sweet, have a good one, that's a good question, totally, whatever, perfect, Kindle or Amazon. These words give me brain damage. I'm serious. When people use them in here, I tell them to get a thesaurus and stop being so mentally lame." --Jim Toole, owner of Capitol Hill Books, Washington, D.C., in an interview with People's District. From Shelf Awareness. Do use the link to People's District to read the full piece. It is worth reading. What a character. |
Back in 1986 the oft held opinion by booksellers in NZ was that $50 was the desirable upper price of a book, "people wont want to pay any more". Adjusted for inflation that is $118 now, but it's dubious whether bookseller (and indeed public) perceptions of inflation have been properly adjusted as far as books are concerned; houses are a different matter.
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