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bookdealer burns his books
Mo. man burns books as act of protest By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press
Writer 26 minutes ago KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Wayne amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books. His collection ranges from best sellers like Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" and Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities," to obscure titles like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910. But wanting to thin out his collection, he found he couldn't even give away books to libraries or thrift shops, which said they were full. So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books protest what he sees as society's diminishing support for the printed word. "This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books. The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne didn't have a permit to burn them. Wayne said next time he will get a permit. He said he envisions monthly bonfires until his supply - estimated at 20,000 books - is exhausted. "After slogging through the tens of thousands of books we've slogged through and to accumulate that many and to have people turn you away when you take them somewhere, it's just kind of a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "And it's a good excuse for fun." Wayne said he has seen fewer customers in recent years as people more often get their information from television or the Internet. He pointed to a 2002 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, that found that less than half of adult respondents reported reading for pleasure, down from almost 57 percent in 1982. Kansas City has seen the number of used bookstores decline in recent years and there are few independent bookstores left in town, said Will Leathem, a co-owner of Prospero's Books. "There are segments of this city where you go to an estate sale and find five TVs and three books," Leathem said. Dozens of customers took advantage of the Sunday's book-burning, searching through those waiting to go into the fire for last-minute bargains. Mike Bechtel paid $10 for a stack of books, including an antique collection of children's literature, which he said he'd save for his 4-year-old son. "I think given the fact it is a protest of people not reading books, it's the best way to do it," Bechtel said. "(Wayne has) made the point that not reading a book is as good as burning it." |
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#2
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bookdealer burns his books
"Mark R. Fletcher" wrote in message link.net... Mo. man burns books as act of protest By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/...book_burning_2 What's he protesting? His own choice in loading up on 20,000 books like overprinted firsts, romance novels, and storing them in a warehouse? Kris |
#3
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bookdealer burns his books
On May 28, 6:25 am, "Kris Baker" wrote:
"Mark R. Fletcher" wrote in s.earthlink.net... Mo. man burns books as act of protest By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/...book_burning_2 What's he protesting? His own choice in loading up on 20,000 books like overprinted firsts, romance novels, and storing them in a warehouse? This received quite a bit of media play, and I found myself wondering if the fellow's wails were not the crocodile tears of a publicity hound. Out of his "20,000 books, how many did he have which could not be ordered for less than one dollar (plus shipping, meaning for "less than $5.00") on Amazon? Well, he deserves some credit for not choosing to to become a "Shipping Charge Scrounge" and trying to turn some of his volumes into a bit of pocket change....Anyway, I somehow doubt that if his books had much market value, he would NOT have so much trouble unloading them. He may not have any concept of market values at all. Most book dealers will come out and take a look at 20,000 books someone is offering to donate. But if the books are basically worthless, they won't accept them. In fact, in my area, even the library donation store has a printed list of types of books they will NOT accept. Kris |
#4
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bookdealer burns his books
On Jun 1, 10:52 pm, wrote:
On May 28, 6:25 am, "Kris Baker" wrote: "Mark R. Fletcher" wrote in s.earthlink.net... Mo. man burns books as act of protest By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/...book_burning_2 What's he protesting? His own choice in loading up on 20,000 books like overprinted firsts, romance novels, and storing them in a warehouse? This received quite a bit of media play, and I found myself wondering if the fellow's wails were not the crocodile tears of a publicity hound. Out of his "20,000 books, how many did he have which could not be ordered for less than one dollar (plus shipping, meaning for "less than $5.00") on Amazon? Well, he deserves some credit for not choosing to to become a "Shipping Charge Scrounge" and trying to turn some of his volumes into a bit of pocket change....Anyway, I somehow feel that if his books had much market value, he would NOT have so much trouble unloading them. He may not have any concept of market values at all. Most book dealers will come out and take a look at 20,000 books someone is offering to donate. But if the books are basically worthless, they won't accept them. In fact, in my area, even the library donation store has a printed list of types of books they will NOT accept. Also, since this guy apparently owns a bookstore, this might be another good example of why people who want to have a successful used book store need to be selective. Possibly he never turned away anything broght his way. On the other hand, maybe he is more clever than he seems: Perhaps a lot of people in his region who never knew he existed will be checking out Prospero's Books. He would have to spend a lot of money to buy all the publicity he has gotten out of this. On the other hand, if his selection is -- as I suspect -- well, "crappy," then the pulicitiy won''t do him much good. Kris- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
#5
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bookdealer burns his books
On May 28, 9:25 am, "Kris Baker" wrote:
"Mark R. Fletcher" wrote in s.earthlink.net... Mo. man burns books as act of protest By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/...book_burning_2 What's he protesting? His own choice in loading up on 20,000 books like overprinted firsts, romance novels, and storing them in a warehouse? Kris He is protesting the fact that he can't even give the books away. Maybe he is losing his lease and, without a market for the books, he can't afford to move them? He seems to feel that thhe market for used books is becoming even less well-defined? David Ames |
#6
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bookdealer burns his books
On Jun 2, 12:49 am, David Ames wrote:
On May 28, 9:25 am, "Kris Baker" wrote: "Mark R. Fletcher" wrote in s.earthlink.net... Mo. man burns books as act of protest By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/...book_burning_2 What's he protesting? His own choice in loading up on 20,000 books like overprinted firsts, romance novels, and storing them in a warehouse? Kris He is protesting the fact that he can't even give the books away. Maybe he is losing his lease and, without a market for the books, he can't afford to move them? He seems to feel that thhe market for used books is becoming even less well-defined? Since he is in the business, it is his job to stay tuned to market values. It sounds like he has been indiscriminately taking all the books that come his way. That is an excellent way for a dealer to run himself out of business. Perhaps the real lesson here is that running a successful book store is not about having a lot of books -- it is about having the right books; that is, it is about being very selective about what you accept, with reference to what your customers want. You would think that out of 20,000 books there would be at least some with some actual market value, but that may not be the case. If he can't even give them to a "Shipping-Charge Scrounge" they must be a sorry lot indeed... [Memo from the upstairs office.] David Ames |
#7
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bookdealer burns his books
"David Ames" wrote in message ups.com... On May 28, 9:25 am, "Kris Baker" wrote: "Mark R. Fletcher" wrote in s.earthlink.net... Mo. man burns books as act of protest By DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/...book_burning_2 What's he protesting? His own choice in loading up on 20,000 books like overprinted firsts, romance novels, and storing them in a warehouse? Kris He is protesting the fact that he can't even give the books away. Maybe he is losing his lease and, without a market for the books, he can't afford to move them? He seems to feel that thhe market for used books is becoming even less well-defined? David Ames No, that's what he says. But this is his unsellable warehouse stock, which he chose to keep in storage. Any decent used bookseller would have known better than to keep most of that crap, in the first place. |
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