In the works on Spring Street
Apologies to all who checked in for daily updates over the last couple of days. Blogging is a solitary pursuit, as some of you know. But this is a great way for you to communicate with us here at the store and to participate in the wider reading community in Southeast Indiana.
On this post in particular, I want your feedback. Ann and I want to share with you first some of the plans and programs in the works. We always planned to be an event-driven bookseller - that's one of the ways we think we can best serve you. If these brief snippets of our plans include something you'd like to see, let us know. Likewise, if you're indifferent to them, speak up by clicking on the comment button below.
1. We're making good progress on our reader discussion group catalog. We want to be supportive in sustaining and creating book discussion groups and we've invested heavily in sufficient quantities of value-priced quality books in order to do that. We'll have a special open house for book groups, probably in January, and will start distributing information sheets soon.
2. We know we always tended to want more books than we could possibly afford, so we thought it would be helpful to provide our patrons with a "wish list" pad on which they can write down those books that interest them. Someday we'll offer PDA's with scanners, but soon we'll have pads at the entrances. You can write down all those books you might want to read someday but can't buy during that visit. We can keep the list here for you or you can carry it home. If you find a hardcover book that you don't want to invest in at that price, we can notify you when it's coming out in paper. We'll even let Patron Passport members know before we mark down our overstock or sell it into the secondary markets. But you can use the list any way you wish.
3. With some exceptions, we'll have events here throughout the week. Our ads mention some of them, but we won't be advertising all the time and we don't really want to inundate your e-mails with an announcement of every event. Once you become familiar with the routine, we hope you will make Destinations Booksellers' events a regular part of your entertainment schedule.
Here are some of the regular events we have in store:
A. Tuesdays will be Dessert Night. Sometimes we'll have a program or an author appearance, but with limited exceptions, you can count on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8 for a little "knosh."
B. Saturday mornings we'll have Children's Story Hour at 10 or 10:30 with at least two readings or dramatic presentations, activities for the family and refreshments for all. In deference to the museum's monthly Saturday programs, we'll probably skip those weekends, but you never know when a Children's Story Hour might break out. We're always poised to entertain the kids on Saturdays, especially those children who've signed up for the "Ticket to Adventure" program. For those weekends when we're skipping the Saturday event, we plan to hold a Friday evening story hour/pajama party early enough to get the little ones to bed.
C. Saturday nights are poetry nights. We'll have readings every other Saturday at 6, complemented by poetry and creative writing "slams" on alternate Saturdays when we become better known in the community. Help us out if you know a writer who wants to perform.
D. Friday nights from 8 to whenever are trivia nights.
4. We want to be THE store for local authors, and we've already lined up authors and other books and writing people for January and February. If you know of a local author or a book with local connections that we don't know about, let us know and we'll try to obtain it. As the weeks pass, we think you'll be able to count on an author appearance about once a week. What's not clear is whether we should have authors in MORE often than that.
5. In the spring, we plan to have a books festival with only local books and authors, where you can move from table to table and tent to tent and speak with the authors, listen to panel discussions, and otherwise be entertained.
6. Each quarter, we plan to sponsor a Public Affairs discussion. While it won't quite be a debate, we'll pick an issue and invite public comment for several weeks before we bring in opposing sides to discuss and issue of public interest. Have any ideas? Let us know.
7. We're kind of excited at some of the authors we've been invited to host later in 2005. These are some names that ALL of you have heard of who will be visiting in the summer. Right now, Ann and I think we have our hands full getting the store off the ground, but the publishers seem to be saying they believe in us and would be willing to give us a shot at some VERY big authors if we can put the events together. We'd have to sell a lot of books to justify it, but we do have it under consideration.
And just to remind you of this week's upcoming events. Tuesday is the Ken Weber presentation of "What the Captain Really Means," at 7 p.m. That's Dessert Night, too, starting at 6. Friday night is trivia night, starting at 8. Saturday is Laura Young's talk, "The Mystery of Publishing: Getting Your Novel in Print Without Actually Killing Someone," starting at 11 a.m. That follows Children's Story Hour at 10 a.m. And Saturday at 6 p.m. we'll have a poetry reading from "A Companion for Owls: Being the Commonplace Book of D. Boone Long Hunter, Back Woodsman, &c."
On this post in particular, I want your feedback. Ann and I want to share with you first some of the plans and programs in the works. We always planned to be an event-driven bookseller - that's one of the ways we think we can best serve you. If these brief snippets of our plans include something you'd like to see, let us know. Likewise, if you're indifferent to them, speak up by clicking on the comment button below.
1. We're making good progress on our reader discussion group catalog. We want to be supportive in sustaining and creating book discussion groups and we've invested heavily in sufficient quantities of value-priced quality books in order to do that. We'll have a special open house for book groups, probably in January, and will start distributing information sheets soon.
2. We know we always tended to want more books than we could possibly afford, so we thought it would be helpful to provide our patrons with a "wish list" pad on which they can write down those books that interest them. Someday we'll offer PDA's with scanners, but soon we'll have pads at the entrances. You can write down all those books you might want to read someday but can't buy during that visit. We can keep the list here for you or you can carry it home. If you find a hardcover book that you don't want to invest in at that price, we can notify you when it's coming out in paper. We'll even let Patron Passport members know before we mark down our overstock or sell it into the secondary markets. But you can use the list any way you wish.
3. With some exceptions, we'll have events here throughout the week. Our ads mention some of them, but we won't be advertising all the time and we don't really want to inundate your e-mails with an announcement of every event. Once you become familiar with the routine, we hope you will make Destinations Booksellers' events a regular part of your entertainment schedule.
Here are some of the regular events we have in store:
A. Tuesdays will be Dessert Night. Sometimes we'll have a program or an author appearance, but with limited exceptions, you can count on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8 for a little "knosh."
B. Saturday mornings we'll have Children's Story Hour at 10 or 10:30 with at least two readings or dramatic presentations, activities for the family and refreshments for all. In deference to the museum's monthly Saturday programs, we'll probably skip those weekends, but you never know when a Children's Story Hour might break out. We're always poised to entertain the kids on Saturdays, especially those children who've signed up for the "Ticket to Adventure" program. For those weekends when we're skipping the Saturday event, we plan to hold a Friday evening story hour/pajama party early enough to get the little ones to bed.
C. Saturday nights are poetry nights. We'll have readings every other Saturday at 6, complemented by poetry and creative writing "slams" on alternate Saturdays when we become better known in the community. Help us out if you know a writer who wants to perform.
D. Friday nights from 8 to whenever are trivia nights.
4. We want to be THE store for local authors, and we've already lined up authors and other books and writing people for January and February. If you know of a local author or a book with local connections that we don't know about, let us know and we'll try to obtain it. As the weeks pass, we think you'll be able to count on an author appearance about once a week. What's not clear is whether we should have authors in MORE often than that.
5. In the spring, we plan to have a books festival with only local books and authors, where you can move from table to table and tent to tent and speak with the authors, listen to panel discussions, and otherwise be entertained.
6. Each quarter, we plan to sponsor a Public Affairs discussion. While it won't quite be a debate, we'll pick an issue and invite public comment for several weeks before we bring in opposing sides to discuss and issue of public interest. Have any ideas? Let us know.
7. We're kind of excited at some of the authors we've been invited to host later in 2005. These are some names that ALL of you have heard of who will be visiting in the summer. Right now, Ann and I think we have our hands full getting the store off the ground, but the publishers seem to be saying they believe in us and would be willing to give us a shot at some VERY big authors if we can put the events together. We'd have to sell a lot of books to justify it, but we do have it under consideration.
And just to remind you of this week's upcoming events. Tuesday is the Ken Weber presentation of "What the Captain Really Means," at 7 p.m. That's Dessert Night, too, starting at 6. Friday night is trivia night, starting at 8. Saturday is Laura Young's talk, "The Mystery of Publishing: Getting Your Novel in Print Without Actually Killing Someone," starting at 11 a.m. That follows Children's Story Hour at 10 a.m. And Saturday at 6 p.m. we'll have a poetry reading from "A Companion for Owls: Being the Commonplace Book of D. Boone Long Hunter, Back Woodsman, &c."
posted by All4Word at 9:20 PM
3 Comments:
Not to mention the monthly microbrewed beer night?
Monthly microbrewed beer night? What night will that be? Will the local brewery be suppling fine ale?
The suggestion is, I'm sure, made lightly, but all should know that we had previously discussed this, although only briefly.
That is the kind of event we want to bring to Destinations Booksellers and we're certainly interested in doing it. Let's plan to work out the logistics on it over the next several weeks.
So far as scheduling goes, we could probably do a "dry run" (no pun intended) as early as the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, but I suspect the brewer in question might need a little more time to plan.
You know, Dessert Night was planned as a showcase for local caterers and independent restaurants to expose their wares to a new audience, and we'll have tastings and other food and beverage events as often as we can arrange them. For example, we'll be choosing a cookbook of the month and serving something from that cookbook or holding a contest for best execution of a recipe. You enthusiasts need to help me craft the inventory to serve the needs of people like home brewers and those people who just have an appreciation for potables.
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