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."

"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

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

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 -

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

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

"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.