The best part about being a book rep at the LPG is getting free books from our publishers. Reps often read a few chapters here and there, but we don’t always get a chance to finish all of the books that we’re selling. From time to time though, I do manage to get through an entire book. My next few blog posts will put the spotlight on titles that I’ve been fortunate enough to complete.

Torn From Troy, by Patrick Bowman, Ronsdale Press

As part of my professional and personal development, I just completed a 2-part course on business plans: how to write one, how to gather and analyze  the necessary information, and how to incorporate it into your work – either for your own business, or as a guideline for how you see your role in an industry moving forward.

When asked to talk about where in the product/service life cycle books fall, I looked at the components that determine the sale of any product and  decided that books fall into the mature and (hate this word) declining phase of the cycle. But then, as I talked about what it meant to work with a product that sits at that point on the curve, I realized that books truly ride the complete rollercoaster of product life. As one aspect of the industry or product declines, a new format, a new audience, new designs and product, and a new way of doing business opens up the cycle once again.

I just returned from my annual visit to the OLA Super Conference – and every year I am amazed at the sheer number of energetic and enthusiastic librarians, library staffers, and students who flood the Toronto Metro Convention Centre and the surrounding hotels and coffee shops.

The publishing industry can sometimes feel so small, so inwardly focused, and so familiar in that we all seem to know each other – but to be part of a conference attended by more than 4,500 people interested in reading, literacy, and the delivery of information, is a quick way to remind one of the  far-reaching impact we can have with our work.

I was half asleep at around 8 am this morning when I received a text message from a friend. It said: “Shot of Black Label in his honour is in order.” I guessed instantly what the radio confirmed minutes later. Christopher Hitchens, author, contrarian, provocateur extraordinaire had died. I consider myself fortunate to have twice heard him speak live and to have shook his hand. I even told him a bad joke at which he graciously smiled as though he hadn’t heard it before. Hitch was best known for his God-bashing best seller God is Not Great. I’ve read it cover to cover more than once, but on that issue he was preaching to the choir in my case. I had no need of further argumentation on those matters.

I was listening to a feature interview on Q this week about the "fall" of customer service and the move toward all of us as consumers having to take
on so many of the tasks that used to be conducted for us, and forcing us to become "experts" at things we really have little knowledge of. The shadow jobs and knowledge that goes along with them are disappearing.

The argument was that sooner or later, we'll just do everything ourselves, with no one to help or advise us as we carry out everyday duties. This got
me thinking about how important it is for those shadow roles (although they are anything but unimportant) not to disappear -- and how this relates to
selling books and providing information to readers, booksellers, library patrons, corporate clients -- the list could go on. I think it's become even

The book salesman should be honored because he brings to our attention, as a rule, the very books we need most and neglect most. 
--Confucius
 
A book is a gift you can open again and again.
--Garrison Keillor
 
The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think.
--Harper Lee
 
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. 
--Groucho Marx
 

It’s no secret: independent bookstores everywhere are struggling to stay in business. This is in part an (arguably) inevitable result of the rising popularity of the e-book. But most people would still agree that printed books will always be around. It’s also a result of the challenge of staying competitive with national chains.

Everyone knows that shopping at a locally owned store is a good idea. It keeps dollars in your community and creates higher paying jobs for your friends and family. It’s also great for your relationships: local business owners are your friends and neighbours. Supporting each other makes for strong community spirit. Remember that your local business owners are twice as likely to support local charities, events, and teams than national chains. We all love the personality that is infused into the local bookshop. 

We're all in the business of knowledge, imagination, and information -- providing it, consuming it, editing it, curating it, and promoting it. And to do our jobs well, we are constantly on the lookout for new sources of information and ideas about the world of books and how to get them to the people who need and want them.

In Canada, October means colder temperatures; trees reddening as if blushing in advance of their foliage falling off, leaving them naked; an Indian summer that will give us a last warm embrace before another long winter; but mostly, October means that hockey is back. This year is even more special with the rebirth of a Canadian team, the Winnipeg Jets.

I’ll come back to the Jets in a moment. Right now, I want to mention that the season of the turkey, of the pumpkin and of little monsters eating candies, is also an excellent time to read a few good books. It is, in our industry, the big season when thousands of books are published—many of them by independent publishers who are scattered everywhere A Mari Usque Ad Mare.

I think of a poem as the blood in a blood transfusion, given from the heart of the poet to the heart of the reader. Seek after poems that live inside you, poems that move through your veins.
—Ralph Fletcher
 
I’m no meteorologist, but I can safely say that Vancouver just had the worst summer since dinosaurs roamed the earth. I mean, it was just ... short. My vitamin D values have not yet been restored to their optimum level, and neither have anyone’s else’s.

Thankfully this autumn is gearing up to be the artsy-fartsiest on record, which is making me feel better already. 2011 is the city of Vancouver's 125th birthday, and Mayor Gregor Robertson and his gang of cultural planners have got so much going on that they are effectively making it fun to be inside this fall. Very clever.