What every small town local bookstore should do April 1, 2008
Posted by Ryan in : Markteting, HowTo, Video, Film, Shopping, Trends, Books, Travel, Contributors, OrlandoScene, Teaching, open source, Branding, Storytelling, Love , 2 commentsI jsut finished reading Rent Girl
However Michelle Tea and this book are not the subject of this blog. At least, not directly.
I picked up this indy book at an indy book shop - I was on vacation, visiting Tempe, Arizona, walking to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, hiking the Grand Canyon, getting yummy sandwiches from the co-op and drinking local beer. And next to the Trader Joe’s in the adobe-colored shopping center (really, they all were) was this little book store, Changing Hands.
Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe Arizona, corner of McClintock and Guadalupe. There was a café, I think, and there was a section up front with fun games - the kinds of stuff you’d see on the bookshelves of Barnes and Noble next year once they hit critical mass. Like all indy book shops, there was a table near the customer service desk with eye-catching books, new arrivals, and the ever-present signed-or-to-be-signed books. And here was Rent Girl
I only read a few pages on the plane, it was too naughty. I actually couldn’t wrap my head around this book until recently, somehow I feel that by absorbing some women’s media I can try to understand the industry a bit better - things aimed at guys are too easy to understand, low hanging fruit - women’s music, film and books are another beast.
But I digress. I want to plant a seed at Changing Hands in Tempe and Urban Think in Orlando and the Bookmine in Jacksonville, and all the other places where you feel proud buying a naughty graphic novel. This advice isn’t exactly ground-shaking, but I think it makes sense:
Every small town book shop should:
- Print their own books.
- Teach classes about how to print your own books.
- Sell said hand-made and self-published books.
- Sell books by local authors on the internet.
- Show and sell art on the walls.
- Have free and open wi-fi.
- Record video/audio podcasts with visiting authors.
- Have a space in-store and online for customers to have a conversation, either about books or what happened on last night’s LOST.
- Be a place where you want to come to read a book.
- Be a place where you would hang out with your friends.
- Be the first place you want to visit when you get off of work.
- Have space for local groups to hold meetings.
In London I saw a store that only sells Chess and Bridge supplies. They’ve got the largest selection of that stuff you’ve ever seen - no big box store could compete. And on the same block is a store that only sells Flutes. I’m told there’s a store on the other side of the river that only sells French Horns. Granted, in a big city there is a need for places that specialized, but I think even a small town book store can take some tips from these places.
I saw another place that was a grocery, bookstore, gift shop and restaurant all in one. They wouldn’t let me take pictures in there, it was so unique. They press their own olive oil.
In a certain way, Stardust Video & Coffee here in Orlando has achieved so much of what’s on my list, but the utility of the store, renting movies, was not lucrative enough for them, so they opened up to being more cafe-and-performance-space than video rental space. They’ve recently added a second stage with a strict “no dry-humping” policy, and they also sell hard liquor in addition to their amazing selection of beers, decent wine, tea, coffee, baked goods and original food.
I suppose if there was a local printer, they could achieve something similar without needing to do the actual printing themselves, but I guess that’s part of the point of the bookstore, yes?
As a “video and coffee” establishment, I don’t see where Stardust is the last word on video other than the selection, but I always felt like I wasn’t smart enough to rent there, that the right to rent a film was reserved for someone with a more cultured taste than I. However, the Thursday night Broken Speech Poetry Slam or the local rock shows they have are completely accessible, and I’ve played drums on stage at Stardust many times. Maybe that’s just partly attributed to my training as a musician, but why do I feel I’m below the film?
I guess I’m trying to encourage these book shops to become the Third Place that we are all craving here in Orlando right now. In the land of corporate coffee, the local coffee shop has evolved, mostly in order to survive. I think the local bookstore has a few more steps to take before they’re all grown up.
Which bookstores have you noticed fitting into their niche?
…continued…
This is an old meme I found via Tara Hunt and Pinko Marketing. I’ve been trying to describe local media (or at least the goals of the media I’ve been trying to produce) and what’s supposed to be for sale at Petentials and similar sites. The point isn’t to sell 24,000 of an item priced $1 but 1,000 of an item priced $24, let’s say.
Boutique (from my mac dictionary): French, literally ‘small shop,’ via Latin from Greek apothēkē ‘storehouse.’ Compare with bodega .
Some people are getting my reference to boutique mixed up with luxury brands. Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead with Louis Vuitton bag and I’m sure most Boutiquers wouldn’t be either. The difference, as the diagram suggests (and there are many more differences than I quickly plotted in this image) is the motivations for buying. I said, “Bought for connection” because, as Sanford commented in the previous posts comment section:
“People go out of their way to purchase certain goods - like moleskine notebooks - or buy cheese from specific vendors because it broadcasts something about who they are. This statement can be personal/internal, shared with a small audience…”
The “small shop” concept is the feeling I got at Villandry in London - it was right in the heart of downtown, near the international embassy district, but instead of being generic, they were hyper-specialized. It was the kind of place you’d bring your aunts and uncles who were visiting town, to show off the awesome places that can grown up in your backyard, and they’d sit back and go “I would never buy anything in here, but I’m in awe of the place.” That’s how I feel at Stardust, that’s likely how some folks feel in the front room at Dandelion Communitea, or the co-op area at Infusion Tea in College Park. What does it all mean? How did these people come to create this art, or this custom stationery, or eco-friendly teacups, or press their own olive oil? Why are there hundreds of movies I’ve never heard of, and how in the hell can they organize them by country and director instead of genre? Who does that?
Boutiques do that. The perfect local bookstore would do that.
Take a look at people who use open source software, you’ll find the same aesthetic. Hand-made, personalized, specific, and powerful in the hands of a well-informed user, but you don’t need to be the guy who wrote it to use it or change it. You think there should be a French translation? That’s up to you. A sixth checkbox? Hack it in, contribute it to the repository. Make this the best tool for you, and therefore the best tool for folks who know where to look.
I could go on all night. Maybe I’ll go on this weekend at BarCamp. But I don’t title it “indy bookstore”. What is it?
Chris Pirillo’s iPhone Rant, plus Why no Flash July 3, 2007
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, News, Markteting, Blogging, Podcasts, Links, Quotes, Video, Mac OS, Reviews, Shopping, Trends, Standards, Web Sites , 2 commentsI started this morning with “The iPhone doesn’t have video”. That is Chris’ reason #17 of 20 reasons why he didn’t buy an iPhone on day 1. I agree with several of his points. This video is about 20 minutes long - I found it very easy to watch the whole thing, despite the fact that Chris gets a little agitated at times during the video.
The iPhone Rant ~ The Chris Pirillo Show
Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes
I also saw a fantastic post on RoughlyDrafted.com called The iPhone Threat to Adobe, Microsoft, Sun, Real, BREW, Symbian. The gist of the article is this:
If Apple’s purposeful omission of Flash on the iPhone is giving you déjà vu, it’s probably because Apple did the very same thing to rid the world of Microsoft’s domination of the online music, media, and DRM industry.
Three years ago, Apple refused to include support for Windows Media on the iPod. That resulted in the online music market being opened up and pushed toward the vendor agnostic MPEG AAC format.
The exclusion of flash makes sense. Embed a multimedia object that can be played by your local player - in this case, Quicktime, but the files (MP4, MP3, AAC) are open standards so any environment with a native player should support them. I think Zune plays AAC… I know PSP does. Everyone plays MP4 - everyone.
As for video recording, this tweet by Scott points to a PDF that supposedly says iPhone includes an h.263/h.264 encoder as well as decoder - meaning it should be able to do videoconferencing (that’s h.263) and recording. When that comes and the price drops about $250, I’ll consider iPhone again.
MacBook Pro Optical SuperDrive Rejects 1 in 4 Discs February 23, 2007
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Links, Mac OS, Reviews, Shopping , 1 comment so farI am ready to visit a Mac Genius and make them replace this piece of shit drive. Every 4th disc, CD/DVD, gets rejected from the drive - sometimes trying again works, other times, I can try 10 times with no positive result. The first time I noticed this was Harry Potter on DVD.
At first I thought it was Warner Brothers trying to protect themselves from piracy, but then I tried a bunch of (good) burned discs, all with the same effect. Also, my volume 2 of Firefly is rejected, but the others work fine. Sure, these discs might have a tiny abnormality, but the thing just spins and spins and then spits the disc out! There is no way to mount the disc or override this function as far as I know. This is what I consider broken and I want a new one.
Support for my claim: MacBook Pro: Optical Drive
Update: The AppleCare disc was rejected the other day - that is my closing argument for when I go get someone to replace this thing.
Update: About a month later I took my MacBook in to the Apple store for repairs as I was going on vacation - the Millenia sroe was closed for renovations, so I went to the Florida Mall store, and the Mac Genius was very helpful. I proved the drive was busted, gave them my administrator password and went out of town, lugging my old PC laptop. When I came back, my MacBook Pro was as good as new and I haven’t had any problems burning since. I wish I could have upgraded to a dual-layer drive, but I guess you get what you get.
Ryan Price vs. Skype, PayPal, Gizmo, Verizon February 3, 2007
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Reviews, Shopping, Trends, Web Sites, VOIP , 1 comment so farI have a girlfriend who lives in England. I have a Skype account. Hell, I even have a Skype phone in my Sony Mylo, and I got it mostly because I wanted a more telephone-like experience when talking to my girlfriend. I have, however, not been having a fun time with Skype today, nor my Verizon Wireless phone, nor option number 3, the Gizmo Project. I’m not even going to qualify any of these services with a link.
First off, Skype’s online store is down. WTF Skype? Did your developers fall asleep at the wheel? I’m sure you’re getting ready for some fun pre-Superbowl beefing-up because you’ll be running ads or something, but I need to buy more credits! The site has looked like this all day:
skype Hosted on ZooomrSecond, I figure I’ll just dial my damn cell phone, it can’t cost that much, right? Well Verizon seems to think that there’s no reason you’d want to make an international call unless you authorized it! Sure, your phone might get stolen or the kids might get a hold of it, but when I’m in a situation where my mobile is my only phone this starts to get very frustrating. Thank you Wendy at customer service for being so nice, but why don’t you people want to take my money? BTW my account is under the control of my business partner and his wife, I can’t add the international “Hoo-Ha” to my phone.
Lastly, I remember reading about a number of new VOIP services over on Techcrunch, so I check out the Gizmo Project. OMG they have a Mac version. Create an account, I want to buy some credit, hooray for PayPal, and then my transaction is immediately cancelled!
gizmo Hosted on ZooomrI have decided against leaving the house for a phone card because I’m afraid that if they don’t have any more cards at the store I will throw things at the nice service industry workers.
Update: About 10 minutes after posting this, the Skype store was functioning again and I got my credit. In the interim, I was talking to my friend Emily and she offered to try and get her Verizon international calling turned on. Turns out this will take until sometime on Monday.
The prologue to all of this is a major annoyance with Skype: their international calling rates are some of the cheapest around. To call England is supposedly just 2.1 cents/minute. Apparently this rate doesn’t apply to international mobile calls. My calls end up costing more like 22 or 23 cents/minute instead. Why Skype, why? Luckily Kait is getting a landline this week.
It’s OurLando, let’s create it together! December 31, 2006
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, News, Site News, Career, Markteting, Orlando, Links, Drupal, Events, Shopping, Trends, Earth , 1 comment so farI was just reading a post on the Dandelion website about the Homemade for the Holidays craft market they had this month, and I saw a word I noticed on a button at said store:
One might say this is a marketing attempt on Dandelion’s behalf, but after looking into it, I noticed that this was a concept originally developed by Frankie Messina of Apartment E, which is a local networking group that currently meets Wednesdays at Austin’s Coffee (I think).
I guess the idea is very similar to that of Florida Creatives. There is a community aspect, a crafting thing, and of course buttons. I’m not sure about it all yet, but I’ll have to get them on a podcast soon and ask them all about it.
I also came across another local networking group, Orlando Dorkbot. This one appears to be show-and-tell driven as opposed to just a networking event.
Thinking of Mylo November 27, 2006
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Blogging, Music, Links, Video, Reviews, Shopping, Browsers, Trends , add a comment
Day after Thanksgiving I went down to the Millenia Mall to prove that I’m not afraid of Black Friday shopping (but I must say the perpetual line around the corner at Starbuck’s was a bit unsettling). In the tech wing (seriously, there is an import gadget store, a Sharper Image and SonyStyle all in a row) I came across the awesome Nokia N93 for $999 and something I didn’t think I would like: the Sony Mylo. I haven’t bought one yet, but it is on my Christmas list.
The Mylo is a personal communicator, meaning it does a lot of stuff hip phones do without actually being a phone. Using WiFi for connectivity, you can surf the web with a real Opera web browser, IM with Yahoo or Google, and the big sell in my eyes — Skype. Since I know people who live in England, I want to call them without paying international calling rates. I can also see this as a cell phone replacement in the home or office on top of the on-the-go abilities. Considering Skype WiFi handsets retail between $189 and $299, the Mylo at $349 is not bad when you think about all the extra functionality it has, and the big surprise…
OK, here’s the skinny: until the end of the year, Mylo units bought from Sony include a free year of T-Mobile HotSpot access! I mean, that’s a $30-a-month service if you agree to a year, so this unit pays for itself even after you consider taxes. Did I mention this thing plays movies and music off of memory sticks too? It comes with 1GB of flash, and you can add a memory stick up to 8GB, meaning 9GB of space. That is plenty for video podcasts and a couple of TV shows, which is what I would use it for.
If public buses or subways had wifi, this device would be great for commuters. A little chat, some music, some light blogging, maybe the morning news, and if the bandwidth is good, a Skype call or two, all without paying a greddy cell phone company. Amazing!
The downsides: No camera, which I think is a major lacking feature from this unit and the PSP (and just about any other device). I don’t have a camera that uses memory stick, so my next camera will need to be a Sony, which I guess is a long term buy-in on my part. Also, the device is designed to work with Windows, not Mac, but I’m not that worried. We have Smart Folders and a healthy community of developers working hard on all the little things that make it more fun to own a Mac.
I can’t stress enough the value of the free year of wifi at every Starbuck’s, Borders, countless hotels, and most of the airports in Florida. The T-Mobile HotSpot deal is the the last straw for me. I just hope this device still exists in a year, and the next version comes with a camera. Please?
eMusic’s Catalog Is Impressive, Easy, DRM-Free October 27, 2006
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Music, Links, Reviews, Shopping , add a commentA few months ago I purchased a subscription to eMusic, a DRM-free MP3 site that has been around for quite some time. I started out with the basic 40-song plan (about $10/month), but after browsing the site I quickly upgraded to the 90-song plan (more like $20/month) because I wanted to get more than 3 albums in a month. If you do the simple math, songs are $0.25 a piece - 1/4 of iTunes’ price, and still beating a $10 CD on sale by at least half, depending on the number of songs. Unlike iTunes, there is no album discount. You get a certain number of songs every month, and once you reach your limit, you either have to upgrade your plan or wait until next month.
I have to say that they make the barrier to entry VERY attractive. Default plans include a free MP3 player (in progressively larger sizes for each plan). If you already have a music player or don’t like what they’re giving out, you can opt for a plan that saves you 20%, making your song downloads more like $0.20 each at the lowest level. Now that’s a 12-song album for less than $2.50 — not even used record stores or most flea markets can beat that price. You know the quality of the songs you’re getting (184kbps, vbr), you know the songs are the full album versions with no DJ speak on top, and now I can also say that they have some really good “indie rock” groups as well, which makes a lot of sense to me.
Oh, did I mention that this is 100% legal?
Just before I cancelled my subscription today (because I lost my paying gig), I noticed some of my favorite artists and labels as part of the eMusic catalog. Some of the more notable examples include the catalogs of some very reputable indie labels like 4AD (formerly Axis Records, The Pixies, The Mountain Goats), Matador (Cornelius, Belle and Sebastian) and ATO (Ben Kweller, Gomez). In the past I have also downloaded records by Eels, The Lemonheads, Joe Jackson, Katherine Whalen and Andrew Bird. It appears the list of albums and artists is changing on fairly consistent basis, so it pays to check back fairly regularly. They send a semi-weekly email telling you about new artists and labels joining the club too.
Just because I cancelled my subscription doesn’t mean you will want to. This would make an EXCELLENT stocking stuffer (Christmas is just around the corner) for any music lover. eMusic also has an entire classical section which I never even peeked in to, but I’m sure it has a decent coverage of at least 1/3 of anything a classical buff might desire. In truth, I don’t think any download sites (especially torrent sites and P2P communities) can claim a reliable, persistently available, comprehensive and easy to use catalog of ANY music selection WITHOUT DRM.
eMusic is a company I feel comfortable spending my money with.
Did I mention it’s very easy to use? Did I mention this will work on every MP3 player? Did I mention it’s legal? Did I mention the great catalog? I’m not saying they have everything. The music industry sucks too much to actually have something that great happen.
Update: I just read this post on Boing Boing that says eMusic will be downgrading plans on November 21st. Current subscriptions won’t be affected. Here is the breakdown:
| Plan | Current | Downgrade |
|---|---|---|
| Basic - $9.99 | 40 songs | 30 songs |
| Plus - $14.99 | 65 songs | 50 songs |
| Premium - $19.99 | 90 songs | 75 songs |
Judy’s Book: SlickDeals + Digg + Local October 13, 2006
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Orlando, Links, Reviews, Shopping , add a comment
Judy’s Book has relaunched as “The place for smart shoppers”. What originally started as a site for reviewing local restaurants and businesses has grown over time to be a corkboard for deals both locally and online. Users can leave comments on deals much like they could with reviews, and a digg-style voting is now a prominent feature.
They said they made the change because of user feedback, so I guess they are doing a good job. I just wonder if the deal-finding space really needs much more competition.
OH YES! December 30, 2005
Posted by Ryan in : ryanprice.org, Reviews, Shopping , add a commentnuff said.
End of Line.
