It’s that time again, and we have a varied—and I hope interesting bag of goodies for you. We’re a bit late this time, as we wanted to get IOBA’s election results in.
We have a lot of practical hands-on advice on everything from shelving, maintaining inventory online and in an open store, online customer newsletters, women’s literature links, Q&A on book matters, to ethical considerations in the book business. There are announcements of upcoming book-related events, coverage of past book fairs/events, word about new and existing online services, a rave about SIC magazine, and an article about a new book-related print magazine, OP.
We also have an in-depth interview with Robert Westbrook, author of the Howard Moon Deer mystery series and of Intimate Lies, and an interesting account by anthropologist and author Carol Laderman about her research into shamanism in Malaysia. There’s information about an award-winning publisher of Jewish children’s books, a raving by Godsey (which particularly hits home with me since I just went through something similar), a piece on books at auction, and an article about the spectacular and the not-so-great about movie and TV casting of mystery book characters.
There is also coverage about a most incredible mural at a bookshop in the U.K., an article from the perspective of a book collector, information on a booksellers’ ring site, the next in our series on ephemera, and an update on the bookselling business from Book Hunter Press.
We also have the IOBA election results in a note from our re-elected president, Julie Fauble, and more information about IOBA’s classified ads program.
In addition, I would like to introduce you to two Regional Reporters I’ve acquired (yea!). I’d also like to solicit additional help, perhaps from Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, New Zealand, or the middle part of the U.S.—we would like The Standard to be truly international in flavor. Please contact me ateditor@ioba.org or aaabooks@azalea.net if you’re interested in working on the newsletter. Yes, it is volunteer, and no, you don’t get paid. But it is fun, and you get to deal with our own charming computer guru, Deanna Ramsay and with Yours Truly (who is not so charming).
Our first Regional Reporter is Ken Fermoyle, who will be covering book-related matters on the West Coast of the U.S. Here’s a brief bio of Ken, who also has some articles in this issue:
“I fell in love with books and reading as a youngster in the ’30s. I suffered from severe asthma attacks and missed a lot of school. No TV in those days so I amused myself and made up for lost days in the classroom by reading. By age 11 or 12 I knew I wanted to be a writer. I got my first weekly newspaper job while a college freshman (courtesy of the GI Bill) in Oct. 1947. Then came succession of weeklies, a daily, freelancing, magazines, (Petersen Publishing, auto editor of Popular Science). a stint in advertising/PR. Etc. I moved to California in 1966 to be editor of Petersen’s Wheels Afield magazine. So I’ve been a wordsmith all my adult life and always had the dream of owning a bookstore. I took up book collecting when the kids were grown. That led to book scouting for local bookstores. I started my online bookstore several years ago, realizing that it was as close as this septuagenarian could get to his dream. I’ve enjoyed it and have made friends in cyberspace with many other book aficionados. I still write every day, working on a Vietnam book, my first fiction effort (a bookstore-related mystery) and articles for various publications, including The IOBA Standard. My wife Liz (an artist) and I live in Woodland Hills, an L.A. suburb.”
Our other Regional Reporter, for the East Coast of the U.S., is Terry Gibbs, who has just started working with us, and here is his brief bio:
“I have a small private shop, open only to dealer trade books and art. I specialize in photographic art / art, with an on line sitehttp://www.gibbsbooks.com. I started selling books professionally 15 years ago, but I have been a collector and dealer of photography for almost 30 years. It all started with looking for research books on the works that I was buying/selling, next thing I had was too many books and not the space for them–my personal library on photography and art is about 1500 books plus our reference library. I am a member of the Daguerreian Society and other photographic groups. I’ve been an on line dealer from about late 1995 and have seen some of the changes in book selling on and off line. My back ground with publishing and editing is: about five years with a magazine called Thunderbird Scoop, a bi-monthy hobby magazine for the members of the V. T. C. I. (Vintage Thunderbird Club International), 1400 members. I sat on the board of directors as the Publication Director and editor, winning the top award for the best publication in the automotive hobby for five years running. I live in Western New York, outside of beautiful Buffalo, New York. And no, it’s not snowing here all the time, and I don’t like chicken wings. My wife is a professional photographer and writer, and I have one son and a cat.”
I feel extremely lucky to have two such exceptional people working with me!
I hope you all enjoy this issue, and that it gives you some respite from our troubled world.
Peace to all!
Shirley Bryant, Editor
Comments