Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site topaz.RUTGERS.EDU Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!qantel!dual!lll-crg!gymble!umcp-cs!seismo!columbia!topaz!dm From: dm@BBN-VAX.ARPA Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: buying books from independents Message-ID: <3893@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> Date: Thu, 3-Oct-85 13:16:17 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.3893 Posted: Thu Oct 3 13:16:17 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 6-Oct-85 05:31:18 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 26 From: dm@BBN-VAX.ARPA I'd like to echo David Levine's suggestion that you patronize the independent booksellers. When I travel it is incredibly depressing to walk into a Waldenbooks or a B. Dalton's in a shopping center, and see how few books there are, and how many of them are ``Garfield's Tofu Diet'' books, after the wealth of independents near where I live. Something Mr. Levine didn't mention: recently publishers have begun to say they will sell ONLY to the chains. Avon books (considered a high-brow publisher) recently announced they would not accept orders for fewer thancopies of a single title, where was a fairly large number, so that now the only way independent bookstores can order from Avon is to join cooperatives which pool the orders for several independents. This is kind of a curious policy for Avon, as they publish a lot of books (e.g., their Latin-American series, with Amado, Garcia-Marquez) which are the kind of books you go to an independent to find. This is just one more example of the shopping-mallification of our society: every shopping mall in the country has a B Dalton's selling exactly the same inventory of books, right next to the teeny-bopper store with a cute name selling sleeveless sweatshirts with bright pastel geometric shapes and the fancy chocolate shop and the record store selling Aerosmith and Twisted Sister records ...