Rocket Bomber - commentary

So.

Hm.

Let me start by saying I am an angry man. Bitter. Single, with very few close friends (and those from my college days – we have all moved on, some quite literally to other cities) and even with my close friends: we’re not that close.

I am far from a workaholic — in fact, I’ve settled [to an extent] in my career, in as much as I voluntarily work retail.

But I work retail because I love books, and a long-standing dream of mine has been to work in a bookstore, and eventually own one. I’m living the dream; the customers are a necessary evil to be endured.

It might be different if I were a “people person”, the gregarious sort who loves to talk and meet people and ask what they’ve read and what they’re reading, who has a beaming smile to great each and every customer.

I am an introvert, almost violently so, and while I don’t hate people, I much prefer to watch them than interact with them. I can spend hours (days) alone, in my apartment, with my books, and my comics, and cartoons on DVD.

And I’m happy.

It’s not that I need to get out and meet people. I don’t need to ‘try this single’s group, I think you might be surprised’ or ‘just go to a couple of these events, what can you lose’ or ‘just meet people’.

I am not unhappy because I’m alone — I wasn’t unhappy at all, but now I’m unhappy because I’m being forced out of my comfortable nest, I’m being forced to meet people, being forced to make small talk.

I hate small talk.

I’m not just unhappy, I’m annoyed. And I’m getting angrier.

##

How does an introvert and borderline hikikomori cope in a retail job, interacting with people for 8 or 9 hours at a time?

It’s an act. I’m faking it.

You know that one clerk at the bookstore, who always smiles and is polite, with just the right guiding questions, who seems to have read everything? The one you hope is working whenever you go into the store, the one you seek out because he always knows the book even when you can’t remember the title or author? He seems so interesting — if only you could get him to talk a bit more, he surely knows all sorts of things, and must have dozens of good recommendations…

Yeah. That might be me.

I’m polite, but I don’t mean it. Smiling makes my face hurt. And when I walk away after handing you the exactly right book it’s not just because I’m busy (…but I am busy) — I walk away because I don’t like people. Not You; not especially or particularly you, anyway: I don’t like everyone.

…and I know so much about books because I compulsively research everything — I crave data and information like some folks crave chocolate, I might even go so far as to say I need it. I love the internet, it’s chock full of information, it’s a godsend for people like me.

Between the undiagnosed Auspergers, an odd-but-nearly-photographic memory, and a lifetime spent reading: I am perfectly suited to answer stupid book questions; uniquely qualified, in fact. That’s part of the package deal: I’m an introvert, I’m a booklover, I collect and synthesize data as easily as breathing – while retaining enough social skills to be able to hold a job, and to deal with customers.

It doesn’t mean I like it, it just means I _can_.

It is exhausting to act for 9 hours straight. And to do it well enough that no one guesses you’re playing a role, that you’d much rather be at home, alone, reading and not the sunny smile and bright light who lives for customer service.

It doesn’t take much to get on my bad side at work, because I’m already way outside my comfort zone. And it certainly doesn’t help that I’m the manager, so after one of my booksellers makes an honest mistake, or just rubs a customer the wrong way, I’m the one who has to step in and ‘make things right’.

So after a long day at work I’m exhausted from Acting Like An Extrovert, and likely annoyed because of stupid questions, and occasionally grumpy because quite a few customers just suck and there’s no human way possible to make some people happy.

##

I’m not as smart as I wish I were, likely not even as smart as I think I am. (The internet can be humbling; there is always someone smarter than you on the ‘net.) I’m certainly not as witty a writer as I think I am, though I can’t help writing.

And while I don’t enjoy personal interaction, it seems I crave attention on the internet. Maybe it’s the fact that people are removed from the equation: you’re a handle, a nickname, an 100×100 pic and 140-character description. I see URLs and IP addresses in a hit log, not readers. So many hits per day, per month; Google Analytics even gives me graphs.

I did mention I love data. The internet is a game I can play, not a community to be engaged, not a relationship.

##

So here’s the problem:

I’m not a great wit for the ages; I might not even have much to contribute. But I want to play this game — and I can do it from my cave, alone, with beer: It’s Great!

But I have to wonder, even given my dim awareness of societal norms, if I’m doing it right.

I’m sure there are times I’ve just been annoying. Like a little kid wanting in on the grown up conversation, and with as much earnestness and enthusiasm, but also not knowing the rules.

That, and I’m an alcoholic — which is unrelated (even sober I’d still be an introvert) but which occasionally leads to bad judgement.

AND I’m angry. Work makes me angry, bitter, and tired — and being tired also occasionally leads to bad judgement.

I’m thinking it would be best to stop playing the ‘internet game’, at least when it comes to social media. Stick to writing, and data analysis, and my own little projects. Respond when asked questions directly, but give up my attempts to be followed, to be read, to be noticed. Because even on the internet, these new tools still represent personal relationships. Because especially on the internet, it’s far too easy to be a newb, or a troll, or a spammer, or just plain annoying.

In other words, on the ‘net I fear I’ve become much too much like the customers I hate in the store.

##

I will still be on twitter, as it is an excellent way to broadcast links to a self-selected audience, and maybe on Google+ [though Google+ seems too much like Facebook to be of use to me]. But I don’t know that I will ‘be on twitter’ quite as much. Not in the ‘having an online conversation’ sense.

It’s not that I don’t like you anymore, or that I’ve come down with a dread disease and can’t be online. I just don’t think it’s working for me, and it wastes a lot of time.

Even online, it seems, I am an introvert.

##

I don’t need feedback on this; I wasn’t looking for sympathy or asking to be argued out of this. I recognize behaviours I don’t like, and which I’d like to stop. I know some will see me withdrawing and will interpret that as something different, me saying I don’t like them.

For that: I’m sorry, it’s not your fault.

To those I’ve drunkenly tweeted at 1am: I’m sorry, that was my fault.

To those I’ve inadvertently spammed: I’m sorry, but that link/site/story/video seemed really funny at the time.

To those who followed me for the reviews, or analysis, or insightful essays, and who then had to follow me through drunken rants and long asides, and personal digressions: I’m not really sorry, as that is *me* and I’m a package deal, I can’t (or won’t) set up separate channels for everything.

I already have a separate site for reviews, booknom.net, which gets criminally ignored most weeks [I’m working on that] and I have one other site launching before the end of summer [something completely different] — but Rocket Bomber is _me_, with the lumps and the books and beer and the comics and the graphs all inclusive. I can’t figure out how to parse that, and won’t unless someone pays me to do so.

[if you would like to pay me to produce content you can specify whatever you’d like]

So, Summary:

I am an angry man, and a drunk, and I do far too much sharing on the internet.
I apologize for past transgressions, but not really, and can only provide the barest placative: that I know I’ve been annoying and am attempting to not — I can’t correct the behaviour, but I can stop.

And if you see less of me on twitter, now you know why.

I’m not going to bother with rumor-launching headlines or search-engine grabbing keywords or stock symbols & name-dropping, and all that tech blog buzz that clogs up most talk of ebooks and devices. This is just a quiet little post — a shared secret between me and my regular readers. You know, I don’t think I’ll even publicize this, past posting it to the blog.

##

It’s rather amazing what one can find on the internet, if you know where to look. I rather enjoy looking at the want ads.

no, not for Atlanta. [Have a job; kinda love it actually — I get to spend 40 hours a week with books. Even the bad stuff is “good” after a fashion as it is continual fodder for blog posts.]

Instead of looking for a new job, I like to look at jobs available in Palo Alto, CA. Did you know Barnes & Noble Digital is based in Palo Alto? [of course you do, I told you myself like a year ago. How quickly we forget…]

So what’s up in Palo Alto?
[note: links below valid as of 9PM EST 17 May 2011 – but these are job listings, and not permanent web pages.]

They’re looking for the usual, scarce talent (in fact, they’re also hiring headhunters…) and in the usual flavours — Android, Flash, Webkit, Bug fixes & OS optimization — past the usual, though, it starts to get really interesting.

Senior Services Delivery Engineer

“The B&N Cloud Services team in Palo Alto has built a brand new set of services which the NOOKcolor device is using for several functions including eBook browsing, searching, and purchasing, as well as social networking features. Bring your skills and experience in data center automation to minimize downtime, improve the code deployment process, and expand automation in all areas.”

Why, I had no idea B&N had a Cloud Services team. What else are we going to find?

Senior Java Cloud Services Developer

“if you are a Java Software Engineer with back end development experience or a Java Senior Server Engineer who has solved complex scalability, performance, and or optimization issues, then this position should interest you! We are working on designing and operating a highly optimized mobile services platform and we are looking for Java server engineers that have a strong background in core platform server development to join the team.”

So Java engineers to work on the servers — but for what?

Business Development Manager, 3rd Party Apps & Services

just wait until you read the job description:

“The primary objective in this role is to manage and grow key business partnerships, especially in the areas of music and video…” and “Contribute to the development and refinement of Barnes & Noble’s strategy around media & digital content.”

And then there’s this listing:

Product Manager, Mobile Clients

“The Product Manager for Mobile Clients is responsible for the product planning and execution throughout the product lifecycle for Barnes & Noble Nook eReader mobile client software. This includes gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with the content acquisition teams, product marketing, engineering and customer service to ensure that revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. The Product Manager’s job also includes ensuring that the product supports the company’s overall strategy and goals.” [emphasis mine]

and

iOS Developer (iphone, objecitve C)

“Join the eReading and eCommerce eVolution. Simply put, building great software is the most important thing we do at BN.com. Whether it’s our eBookstore, our fastest growing product line, offering content on multiple mobile platforms, or continuing to grow our award-winning eCommerce shopping platform, you will personally have the opportunity to build software solutions used by millions of customers. In our NYC and Palo Alto offices, we’re making significant investments to create a world-class team of Software Engineers, Architects, and Technical Leads who will thrive in our solution-focused, collaborative culture.

***We are looking to hire multiple iOS consultants and employees for a major initiative***” [emphasis in original listing]

Oh my, that does sound exciting. That was first posted 13 days ago. [4 May 2011]
edit: or *reposted* at that point in time. Here’s the thing: I can’t find confirmation of the above job posting at the official corporate site so I’m thinking this is an undeleted artefact from at least 30 months ago, before the original B&N iPhone app launched. Note the different tone used, and the reference to “significant investment” rather than to the currently-up-and-running B&N Digital division. Still, the cloud stuff and video content could be cool, even without a new iPad app. [/endnote]

##

The Nook Color won’t be standing still:

Hardware Design Engineer

“Candidate will be responsible for architecture and design of current and next generation B&N e-readers. Engineer will be responsible for schematic of design and choice of key components in conjunction with JDM manufacturer in Asia. Responsible for supervision of pcb layout as well as board level BOM. Definition of all testing and analysis of prototype systems. Work with JDM to bring up and debug system level boards. Work with mechanical designers to define form factor and clearances. Manage JDM regarding support in the areas of layout and signal integrity testing. Work as a team lead or senior designer in a team of 2-3 EE’s per project”

Platform Multimedia Engineer

“Barnes and Noble are searching for world-class software engineers to join the Android platform development team. In your role you will be responsible for the design, implement, and optimize multimedia system software for Barnes and Noble’s NOOKcolor product line leveraging its hardware acceleration and enabling cutting edge digital media use cases in the areas of audio, video, and image playback and capture. Advanced use cases include HD content delivery and playback leveraging streaming video and encryption, video telephony, etc.” [awkward grammar in original listing. Ooo, not so professional — hope they fix that, or fill this position (these positions) soon.]

tantalizing hardware and features aside, I also like the fact that B&N will be paying to make it look good:

Art Director

“The Art Director is responsible for driving the creative vision, direction and development of all visual design assets for Barnes & Noble, Digital Products. This person is responsible for conceptualizing the visual identity of our digital products, as well as ensuring visual and brand consistency across all experiences. The Art Director also manages the Design Team, providing creative direction and hands on support to digital artists, ensuring their workload is manageable and the output is high quality and on brand.”

##

These are just job listings, and reflect expectations & required skill sets: not actual job responsibilities or finished products. I’d be reading a lot into these if I were to extrapolate future hardware or applications just from a handful of classified ads that are likely going to disappear soon anyway.

Oh, but it’s fun to guess.

Here’s one I should probably apply for

Executive Assistant

“Be a part of the digital reading evolution! Since its debut, NOOK and the Barnes & Noble.com eBookstore have received accolade upon accolade from the most well-respected technology and consumer electronic pubs in the industry. We’ve assembled a team of the top thought leaders in Software Architecture, Product Management, Consumer Electronics, Supply Chain and Mobile technology. At NOOK’s epicenter… our growing Palo Alto office has an opportunity for an Executive Administrative Assistant with a track record of success supporting Engineering Executives. In this individual contributor role, based in Palo Alto, CA, you’ll be responsible for supporting the success of 2 engineering executives and their teams.”

—except I’m a book seller, have been for 10 years. I’m probably not qualified ;)

Now, I’m all for author rights — I’m an author myself — but my personal take is that folks like J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer would make out just fine even if their rights to their respective works were limited to just, say, the first 40 years after publication [2037 for Potter, 2045 for Twilight] — not only is that a great run for any book, any directly licensed derivative works [AKA movies, TV; AKA *ka-CHING*] will have all been out on DVD, Blu-ray, DataCrystal, Holochip, and direct neural memory download by that point, and if anyone still gives a rats-ass about sparkly vampires in 2045, then the works themselves are likely significant enough that they deserve academic notice and as such should reside in the public domain — and by extension, should also be fodder for popular re-mixing.

But That’s Me. And say you’ve spent decades building a fictional universe through dozens of books, and all of a sudden the characters and locations of the first book are now ‘public domain’, because the copyright laws of 1909 [since superceeded by the 1976 law, and extended again in 1998, but go with me on this] say you only get 56 years (a term of 28 years, renewable once) — not only did you get 56 years from which to profit from a work, which for most of us will be our entire working career from college graduation until retirement or death – but you are also the Author/Creator of a work so profound that your fans and readers are so invested they want to write their own stories and adventures set in the world you created.

A work you created 56 years ago. And if there is money to be made from the public domain stuff six decades on, how much do you think you can make selling Officially Licensed Sequels, to say nothing of New Books “By The Original Creator”?

And if you’re dead, well, I don’t think you should care at all. Your great-great-grand-niece is a nice person, I’m sure, but I also personally strongly feel that creator rights should not be inheritable. Set up a company to sell the ‘official’ crap, let your descendants run that onto the seventh and eighth generations [and into the ground] but any work of Art or Culture really should belong to us all.

##

Image by Eric J. Heels, originally posted to erikjheels.com, “Drawing That Explains Copyright Law” – reproduced here under Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/.

Disney built what is now (by some measures) the largest media company EVER — one that currently earns $38 Billion a year — largely on adaptations of 18th century folk tales already in the public domain.

That’s fine too — I won’t fault Diz for doing business, and adding to the many complex versions of those stories, and to the collective corpus and canon of human arts. It takes work to bring a story like that to the screen, and in ways that apparently millions [the majority of us?] enjoy. Praise of the creative output of the company kind of sticks in my throat, though, when I consider all their business practices (including but not limited to the incessant marketing to kids who should be too young to be consumers quite honestly) and of course, their unremitting assault on the Public Domain. [please reference the major legacy of Rep. Sono Bono, a law which guarantees any work produced in my lifetime will never enter the public domain, or at least not until I am very dead, very very cold, and long long forgotten]

The goal of current copyright law and corporate efforts is basically to keep another Disney from ever developing. Also, there are a number of movements afoot to use a mix of regulations, law, law enforcement, and international treaties to keep anything like YouTube or iTunes [or Facebook, or Twitter, or many aspects of Google not including YouTube] from ever rising up again. These things disrupt the status quo, and as such obviously should be illegal — from the corporate point of view. Business is more important than piffling things like freedom, expression, or shared culture. [ref. not only the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, DMCA, ACTA, and likely something else in the works that’s even worse and very, very secret]

This is great for corporations, and for the heirs of dead authors. The rest of us don’t usually think about copyright, as there is a hell of a lot of media out there (more than one person could consume in a single lifetime) and so we don’t necessarily feel the lack.

For the vast majority of authors, the risk is not somehow being cheated of earnings decades after publication, but in being lost (lost in a vast sea of what’s available) or cheated out of legitimate earnings from the onset by some big company. In the case of ‘work for hire’ the 1998 Act extends copyright for up to 120 years from date of creation. Somehow, corporations get (at a minimum) an extra 25 years — 25 at a minimum if they screw over the original creator of any work and can claim ‘corporate authorship’. That is to say, I get 70 years, as an individual, but Disney gets 95 years from date of publication (or 120 years from date of creation, whichever is less — so there is no penalty if a corporation dusts off even a 25 year old property to publish today; all rights still reserved and they get the full term)

If you want to write great fiction, skip novels and write copyright laws. This stuff is high fantasy.

Do you know what I hate most?
[this week, in this particular instance]

- Business press reporting the stock price of a company like it has anything to do with the business. Are you kidding me? – in a world where one well-placed skeevy slimeball can manipulate the generally-misplaced-but-widespread faith in ‘stocks’ to scam $65 Billion out of intelligent, conservative investors – OK, you tell me, is the stock market little more than a lottery? And a bet that’s fixed in favor of the house?

##

Sure, if you want to invest in a company, invest. Please do so, our economy needs it.

But buying stock is not an investment. A share in a company is just a token, a marker: the actual investment was years ago, with the IPO (or before) and now you’re just paying someone else for their stake – you don’t actually put money into the company, you’re just covering someone else’s bet.

All of the gains made in stocks [capital gains which are for some reason not taxable as regular income — even though capital losses are fully deductable] are little more than lottery winnings, pure gravy – & do nothing for the economy (the money made exchanging stocks do not go back the companies represented by them)

— and smart investments, long term capital investments that build infrastructure and create jobs, take decades to pay off, so the so-called ‘capital gains’ exception is meaningless and only encourage short-term, short-sighted investment.

I don’t understand the ‘capital gains’ exemption. I really, really don’t — and not from a political position, I can’t wrap my brain around it logically. Indeed, investment is never taxed. If you take money and pour it into research and facilities and payroll and product development and efficiencies in manufacturing and the supply-chain: you won’t be taxed for a single dollar of money you put into the business. Indeed, if you lose money, your tax burden goes down

Investors and Businesess are only taxed when they take money out, instead of reinvesting it.

Profits are taxed, not investment.

Large portions of certain politcal arguments about taxation and the economy are based on false premises: if corporations re-invested and hired new staff and created new product lines and put large sums into research and development: there would be no profits to tax.

We only tax the money individuals and corporations attempt to take out of the economy. There are no laws or rules saying you can’t cash out – but after taking advantage of the system for years you can’t suddenly complain that there’s an exit fee when you want to stop playing the game.

You object to my characterization of business as a game?

So:

• Did you use dollars, or another globally accepted currency, in you business? The alternative is barter; theoretically possible buy unlikely. Money is a fiction.
• Were you incorporated? Corporations are a fiction, a handy fiction that provides legal cover for owners, investors, and employees alike. Corporations are not people, even though they are treated as such under the law [notably in a Supreme Court decision I hope gets overturned someday — someday soon]
• Did you sell stock? Are you publically traded? More fiction: there is no way for a stockholder to go to the company and get a payment. You can only sell your share to someone else in a predetermined, closed market. Your share is worthless, unless you can sell it on the same exchange where you bought it — an exchange which is privately owned and has no obligation to the public whatsoever. If Nasdaq or the NYSE folded tomorrow, then your stocks go with them. …Unless you hold an actual stock certificate. When was the last time you even saw a stock certificate, let alone owned one?

The stock market is no more legitimate than the keno game at a casino – valid so long as the house plays along, but not a bedrock on which we should found our economy. It’s not money that is invested, it’s the ghost of old money traded back and forth and back and forth for decades. It might seem important, but stocks and stock prices are the least important thing we could talk about when it comes to business

Stock prices are just an opinion poll – kind of like using the votes for homecoming king/queen as a means of determining GPA, or using the ‘most likely etc’ polls posted in a yearbook to determine college placement.

Serious analysis [and serious analysts] should ignore the stock price.

The company stands or fails on it’s own merits; the stock price is nice bit of trivia but has nothing to do with how the company is run, or what it’s actual profit potential might be.

Please reference:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora
related: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_(Roman)
related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza
related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza
related: Public Square

— check that last link for synonyms: city square, civic center, commons, open market, French place, platz, praça, public square, town green, or Maidan…

like the Midan Tahrir — you might have heard of Tahrir Square. Seems something happened there last month.

##

Open spaces have, from time immemorial, had to serve two purposes: commerce, and communication.

When two people meet, they can exchange goods. Depends on how good the price it is, though; if I don’t want your proffered wares (or if you ask too much in exchange) then we’re not going to make a deal.

However, when two people meet: they always exchange ideas. Even if you just sit there and refuse to talk, refuse to make eye contact even — well, I’ve certainly learned something about you, if nothing else. What you chose to share combined with the questions you refuse to answer — I can learn quite a bit about you no matter what other commerce or exchange takes place.

This is the Public Square, this is the Commons. We interact, we share [or not], we buy and sell [or not], and we negotiate. We debate. We conflict. We talk.

Compare the Agora to the Marketplace:

Since the earliest public spaces naturally attracted commerce, over time the nature of the word changed to the point that commerce became the only meaning of the word: the old senses of ‘public assembly’ and discussion and debate and meetings and comings and goings were subsumed into the larger and more ‘important’ economic aspects.

It’s not uncommon to hear the modern turn of phrase “marketplace of ideas” — which to me is kind of funny as the “markets” and marketplaces have always been about exchange, and these public spaces at their origins were primarily about ideas — meeting and talking.

The internet has become the new Agora: the gathering place.

To think of Digital Distribution and Downloads and eBooks and Amazon as the new market place, and as the internet as merely being a function of these [or just the underlying foundation, like a new public utilty] is myopic at best and willfully ignorant at the very least and downright stupid at worst:

It’s about more than just digital. It’s more than just commerce. The internet is the new conversation, a global conversation, and sure: that means we buy and sell stuff.

But the internet is so much more.

Like the Greek citizen-farmer-solider of Athens back in 500BCE we’re just going to have to work things out by trial and error: the rules and institutions of the internet as they currently stand are well-thought-out and they seem to address the needs of today—and seem to do so well enough—but the potential of the Agora was so much more, and so is the internet’s.

After 2500 years, we have two ultimate expressions of the Agora: the shopping mall, and the United Nations

in another 2500 years, what will the internet look like, and what will that mean for civilization?

I previously (as in, just this past January) lived in the “suburbs”, actually one of the ring cities just off the Perimeter (I-285 in Atlanta) about 12 miles or so from where I work. I took transit, which ate up about 50 minutes to an hour each way — sometimes more when you’re stuck waiting on a train or bus. Back when I drove to work on a regular basis, the same commute took about a half hour — sometimes more when stuck in traffic (with no real alternate routes) or maybe a little less if I took the toll highway and paid 50 cents. Of course, most mornings during rush hour you could count on paying the 50 cents and getting stuck in traffic.

But Sandy Springs (the incorporated city that immediately borders Atlanta on the north) was convenient: a mall five minutes away, decent connections to transit [including a direct rail line to the airport], shopping, restaurants, easy interstate highway access and everything most folks could think of: even the hospitals were close by. Seems like everything was just 5 minutes away, a short drive, maybe a little traffic…

[“5 minutes away” quickly becomes 20, with traffic, but most folks don’t think of it that way]

But making the decision to *not* drive not only made the suburbs less convenient, you start to get odd looks from people, and you notice how few roads have sidewalks, and when the transit authority decides to cut service because local governments are too short-sighted to invest in quality-of-life infrastructure, well…

So for the past few months I had been looking for a decent neighborhood to move to, where I could walk to all the necessities and grab a bus (or bike) for longer trips to department stores or a shopping mall. (I shop quite a bit online, and I own too much stuff anyway, so there isn’t much I need a store for.)

Fortunately for me, I work for a bookstore, and the real estate department did a very good job picking a neighborhood already.

[link to Google Maps]

View The Local in a larger map

Approximate distance (door-to-door)

Grocery store (1): .3mi, 480m, 10min (Trader Joe’s)
Grocery store (2): .65mi, 1080m, 20min (Kroger)
Grocery store (3): .7mi, 1170m, 20min (Publix)
Closest 24hr. convenience store that sells beer: .25mi, 390m, 5min

Local Library: .35mi, 570m, 12min
Local Comic Shop: .66mi, 1080m, 20min (Oxford Comics)
The Local: .31mi, 500m, 10min (Fado Atlanta, an Irish Pub)
Post Office: .33mi, 540m, 10min
Bike Shop: .95mi, 1520m, 30min (Peachtree Bikes)

Nearest Rail Station: .95mi, 1550m, 30min
Nearest bus stop: .3mi, 490m, 10min.
Nearest bus stop, alternate route: .3mi, 500m, 10min.

One bus goes up to the Lenox & Phipps shopping malls (or south to Downtown) while the other goes to the Lindbergh shopping center (with a Marta rail station, and a Home Depot among other retailers) or north up to yet another rail station and the Perimeter Mall. Not bad for transit options.

Work: .7 miles, 1140 metres, 20 minutes

and of course, the nearest book store is where I work.

##

This isn’t free: I went from a situation where I lived with roommates in an apartment in the suburbs, to an in-town location (in a nice neighborhood!) and on top of that, a one bedroom apt. where I have to pay rent and all utilities myself.

Ready for this? About $280 more a month.

I was spending $68 a month for a transit pass; before that I was spending about $60 a month on gas (and more for car insurance) — so I save a bit there but the rent goes up.

But I think the real differential is that I moved out on my own, no roommates. I could have moved 5 years ago, even — this apartment complex is older than that by a decade or two — so it wasn’t the money that pushed me out into the suburbs.

When I went to Georgia Tech, of course I lived in town: GT is an urban campus. Knocking around the first few years after GT I moved way out (35 miles) and also moved back in with my parents for a year, but only now does it occur to me that I’ve been slowly circling around intown living for years: moving closer to the perimeter, moving closer to transit, and finally: moving to within walking distance of where I work.

We all make decisions. But what we can “afford” is a consideration that goes way past money:

What is your time worth? How much does traffic (& stress from traffic) actually cost? Do you need a back garden, or a yard, or multiple acres of wooded landscape out you back bedroom window? Do you need a car, or is it just a matter of getting your driver’s license at 16 (or 18) and, well, the first thing is to get a car, and…

…and?

[yeah, I know, it’s a really big question.]

We can’t all live in tight, well-designed urban spaces. We can’t all live like the Dutch, or the Japanese — or in liveable, vibrant cities like Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, etc, etc, etc. You can even argue that we shouldn’t — but I feel we should. And if I can find a walkable, pleasant neighborhood with sushi bars and pubs and a library and comic shop and major chain bookstore in Atlanta (cited alongside cities like Houston and LA as poster-children of suburban and exurban sprawl) then I think many of us could.

I don’t have kids. I’m single, so I don’t have to balance the needs of a spouse or partner and the demands of their job and their priorities. I can be selfish. I can accept an older building without every latest amenity, and 20 year old kitchen cabinets and a closet of a bathroom and cracks showing even under a fresh coat of paint. I can compromise on these little things to live in a great neighborhood; others will compromise on the neighborhood in order to live in a spacious brand-new house. Neither of us is wrong.

Living “in the city” isn’t like TV dreams of New York or cinematic Paris: There’s nothing all that fancy about my new neighborhood. In many ways it resembles the town square of a much smaller city: local shopping, a few major chains, and the restaurants are nice enough but aren’t 4-star by any means. But I have a library, and a bookstore and a comic shop all within an easy 20 minute walk.

And I’m going to be happy here, in a way I wasn’t for years, in a way I haven’t been since college. If I had kids and that set of considerations, of course I’d look at it differently. But for now: I’m home

Prior discussion, partial prior discussion, presented more or less in order:

http://comicsworthreading.com/2011/02/21/diamond-gem-awards-show-comic-market-view-of-manga/
http://geek-news.mtv.com/2011/02/22/we-chat-with-dark-horses-michael-gombos-about-their-manga-publishing-program/
http://www.mangablog.net/?p=10088
http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/02/23/is-dark-horse-really-in-the-manga-game/

Still running a week or so behind.

Anyway, the Dark Horse manga discussion [don’t think it even rises to the level of ‘debate’] incorporated parts of the larger bookstore vs. comic shop debate, which reminded me of one of the long-simmering topics I always meant to work up into a full rethinking the box post.

Bookstores will always have a place so long as there are tweens and teens with cash.

We’ve not yet reached the point where 11 and 12 year olds qualify for credit cards, or where parents transfer allowances to debit cards instead of handing out cash. The jobs most of us work prior to age 16 are all cash-under-the-table, more often than not, and even venturing into the workforce most of us deposited paychecks while taking only a little cash — if we had goals to save up for — and would just cash the whole thing out if we didn’t. Until folks hit college (and after?) the primary tender is cash-in-hand, often supplementing a gift card, but not credit or debit.

This will change, as our society changes. But even when it becomes possible, will online sales sites sell to folks under 18 without some sort of parental approval? That’s a tougher question.

BruceMcF has commented on this at least once (vague memories point to him mentioning it at least once before) in the last Unique Experiences post.

No matter what happens online or with e-books, there is still no way to capture the cash-only customer.

And teens have cash. Teens like comics. They also like movies, and junk food, and energy drinks with industrial-grade-levels of caffeine, and illicitly procured alcohol (and other diversions) and awkward social interactions and awkward sex and awkward breakups and all that crap — I almost called it “Judy Blume crap” but I don’t want to insult Judy Blume fans, and I don’t recall that she wrote sex scenes.

Anyway, teens have cash, teens like comics, and teens without cars can con Mom or Dad into giving them a ride to the bookstore [or the mall] — or will be dragged along while Moms and/or Dads [in whatever combinations] stop by the bookstore for esspresso drinks and magazines and annoying booksellers with questions.

Books, as entertainment, have to compete with video games and DVDs and movies — and the internet — but we still manage to score some small but constant fraction of that teen cash business.

Comic shops — would need to have teens coming in, before they could say the same. In the 80s? Yes. In the 90s? Yes. In 2011? Well, I think our teens have grown into 30-year-old connoisseurs of comics-as-art [or loser fanboys] and while they might have more income, they don’t spend nearly as much of it on comics.

And comics, as entertainment, have to compete with video games and TV shows and DVDs and movies and hardware purchases — and the internet, and other books — especially for the sort of customer who is still buying comics into her 30s.

[see what I did there? pronouns for the win.]

The success of manga in bookstores comes down to

• anime on TV
• the success of video games that use “Japanese-style” visuals…
• …not including but related to the parallel success of Pokemon
• the attractiveness of bookstores as ‘neutral’ destinations for teens, without parental objections

and

• the ability of bookstores to accept cash, where the internet does not.

and

• the inherent appeal of manga, over other types of comics.

[certain indy comics also have appeal — I’m thinking Scott Pilgrim here, but for it’s content, not it’s visual style]

##

One thing we’ve done at my bookstore is to start stocking actual comic books – part of this is due to local Borders in decline, part of it is due to broader customer interest with all these superhero movies recently —

but mostly it’s that 3 of 7 managers are comics fanboys [two DC, one of whom also reads a little Marvel, and of course one mangaholic] [guess who] — and also our lead bookseller in charge of the newsstand, who called someone at corporate in New York and asked: say, can we get some comics?

It is such small potatoes, about 30 titles out of a newsstand that stocks thousands (about 2500 different magazines, considering my display space) but hey: we have comics.

And they’re selling. I think Hastings also discovered the same thing.

Of Course some folks just grab a stack of comics, stake out one of our chairs and read them in store. We’re a bookstore, this is what people do. But: the comics are selling. And I think our trade paperback (and hardcover!) collections are starting to sell as well. Not as well as the manga, because, well, Naruto et al. – but they are selling.

Teens with cash. A retail space that is open, and inviting. A ‘neutral’ location that not only doesn’t turn-off parents, but is the sort of place the parents also want to visit. Offerings for all ages, from 3 to 6 to 11 to 13 to 16 to “Oh my god, would you look at what they’re doing in this comic”

Of course manga sells well out of bookstores. So does sparkly-vampire-fiction-with-barely-contained-sexual-metaphors-and-some-actual-sex. Teens love this stuff. It’s a matter of having stuff people want in a space they want to visit. I think a “comics bookstore” (focused: like a mystery bookstore or a travel bookstore) could do quite well where a “local comic shop” does not. I said as much, two years ago, though perhaps I didn’t articulate the point well.

Subtitle: A short trip through Wikipedia to investigate the many, many ways we have attempted to communicate with each other, from cave painting to ebooks.

see also: Form, content, copies, rights, & Plato

additional note: in my opinion, music predates spoken language; though sign language may predate both.

##

cave painting
voice & music
speech & language
the oral tradition
writing
musical notation
scriptoria
solfa/solfège
paper
modern musical notation
moveable type
illustration
printing press
typeface
rotary press
linotype
piano rolls
wax cylinders
offset printing
acetate
vinyl records
photo-typesetting
magnetic tape [let’s all try to forget about 8-track]
Analog to digital: word processing
Analog to digital: CDs
audio books
MP3
HTML & world wide web & web publication
ebooks

Anyone can say just about anything about the ebooks, and make it stick, and get retweets and link backs in the echo chamber because no one does their homework.

“Oooo: ebooks are new and flash and a Game Changer™! Books will never be the same again!”

[*pfsh*]. please.

I personally think of ebooks as more of an evolutionary, transitional format, as opposed to be a total game changer and its own Whole New Thing — particularly when ebooks are compared to web pages. [psst: ebooks are nothing but gimped, DRM crippled web pages]

Go back. Read a bit; Wikipedia has its own flaws and problems, but most of the articles linked above are pretty good. Let the History of Communication soak in; try to readjust your world view — Books are not [just] physical commodities to be bought and sold: books are one way, one of many ways, we transmit culture to future generations. Obviously, I both enjoy and support the free-market-supported system we currently have, where books are bought and sold and creators get compensated for their work — but this was not the earliest model and is not guaranteed — indeed, creator compensation isn’t even guaranteed in the free-market-supported model, though more folks get paid (& more reliably) today than at any time in the past. Yes, even with digital piracy:

The biggest fear should not be getting pirated, but in being unknown, or forgotten. Piracy has been with us since the beginning; in fact ‘piracy’ was once the only distribution model. [that’s one of the points I made in this post]

Before you tell me ebooks are the “answer” I insist you do some research, and be sure you’re asking the right questions.

OK, Internet. You’ve won. No one is going to buy physical books anymore, and even if they do they’re not going to do it from a bookstore — that’s positively medieval. Nope, might as well shut everything down now.

##

How much are the books worth?

I have no experience with liquidating the inventory of a closing bookstore, and quite sincerely hope to never know exactly what that’s like. However, at Big Box Books we do run clearance sales twice a year (pre-holiday and post-holiday, effectively: making shelf space for new December titles & product – and then, in January, selling the crap that seemed like a good idea at the time but just sat there for two months during our busiest 10 weeks of retail.)

Clearance looks something like this (assuming an average unit price of $10)

• 10% of the product sells when marked down to .75 of list price ($7.50)
• 20% sells at .50 of list price ($5.00)
• 30% sells at $2
• 40% sells at $1 — or wouldn’t sell at any price.

For the sake of math, let’s say 30% sells at a dollar and I end up throwing away 10% of the merch because it quite honestly was crap.

So, um… let me grab a calculator… (.1*7.5)+(.2*5)+(.3*2)+(.3*1)+(.1*0) = 26.5%

If your average price is $10 a unit and using the clearance regime described above and assuming my assumptions are correct [heh.] one could recoup 25% of the ‘book’ value of inventory in an “everything must go!” sale — and both the percentage and dollar value could be quite a bit more, depending on the actual list price and the appeal of the merchandise.

and the rest?

Tables, chairs, bookshelves, other fixtures, registers & computers, office supplies: you’ll be lucky to get 10¢ on the dollar. If you have a coffee shop in your store, the single most valuable thing you own is your espresso machine – even used, these ain’t cheap, and there’s a market.

Still and all: 10¢ on the dollar

Leases are an expense as you are still contractually obligated to pay the rent even if you close. Bankruptcy is your option here, as [when done correctly] it will allow you to break contracts (including leases) and you can weasel out of other debts and obligations as well. In the following hypothetical-post-internet-bookstore-meltdown we’ll take bankruptcy as a given.

Property, however, assuming you own your storefront, rather than lease, is quite a bit more valuable. Even in a ‘must sell’ situation you can likely recover 50% of your investment.

##

so the year is 201X and All Books Are E- and I’m out of a job.

Sucks to be me.

But: what do we do with the $16.7 Billion book retail industry? [$16.7B in 2010; no telling what it actually is in 201X]

To rephrase the question: even if no one cares to buy the books anymore and we have to close, what is the bookstore worth?

Independents

The indy bookstores will either close quietly before the crash, or live on [potentially] forever as niche retailers of historic curiosities (“books”) — and possibly also as coffee shops/gathering places/community centers. [but that’s a different post]

Hastings

[remember the RocketBomber service mark “We reading boring corporate reports, So You Don’t Have To.”]

per SEC filings dated 2 Jun 2010

Selected Assets
Cash and cash equivalents: $4,620,000
Merchandise inventories, net: $152,804,000
Property, equipment and improvements: $45,616,000

Chief Liabilities
Trade accounts payable: $69,973,000
Accrued expenses and other liabilities: $26,177,000
Long term debt: $26,435,000

Total liabilities of $128.9 Million, negotiable in bankruptcy, post-abookalypse. Cash is cash, Merch nets 25¢ on the dollar in liquidation, and property is certainly worth quite a bit, even in a depressed real estate market. Hastings also has an advantage with their already eclectic product mix: they could drop books entirely and continue to adapt the other media sales (& which currently includes already-stocked used and rental product) and still make a go of it no matter what the retail position of books.

Say they had to make a graceful exit, however:

Hastings, 154 stores.
Book value of assets per store: $1,318,400
Liquidation value of assets per store: $426,100

Current share price/Market cap: $7.41/$68.9 Million
Liquidation value of assets per share: $7.05
Book value of assets per share: $21.83

One could say that $7.41 is a fair price, as Hastings’s property and standing inventory are worth more than that & one might hope to recoup up to 95% of the value of your stock even in a bankruptcy-and-fire-sale.

Books-a-Million

[per the 2010 annual report]

Selected Assets
Cash and cash equivalents: $6,602,000
Merchandise inventories: $201,510,000
Property, equipment and improvements: $53,141,000

Chief Liabilities
Trade accounts payable: $88,843,000
Accrued expenses and other liabilities: $51,553,000
Long term debt: $6,360,000

Books-a-Million, 223 stores.
Book value of assets per store: $1,171,538
Liquidation value of assets per store: $374,664

Current share price/Market cap: $5.75/$90.4 Million
Liquidation value of assets per share: $5.31
Book value of assets per share: $16.61

Books-a-Million, like Hastings, is ‘worth’ much more than it’s current stock price and even with property and inventory discounted in a clearance sale, one might hope to recoup 90-93% of one’s investment.

Borders

[I won’t be mean and point out that unlike the previous two cases Borders may in fact go out of business in the next year. Except I just did.]

[per the 2009 annual report]

Selected Assets
Cash and cash equivalents: $37,000,000
Merchandise inventories: $873,800,000
Property, equipment and improvements: $392,800,000

Chief Liabilities
Trade accounts payable: $350,800,000
Accrued expenses and other liabilities: $257,400,000
Short- & Long-term debt: $282,000,000

Borders is bigger, with more stores, and with more inventory/assets to borrow against. Borders is also a hybrid, given that they operate 511 superstores and 204 smaller stores under the Waldenbooks name (among others) but I’ll ignore the extra math for now:

Borders, 715 stores.
Book value of assets per store: $1,823,200
Liquidation value of assets per store: $580,200

Current share price/Market cap: $1.10/$70.9 Million
Liquidation value of assets per share: $7.47
Book value of assets per share: $21.56

Liabilities per share: $14.72

So Borders has enough assets to borrow against (as is demonstrated by their ability to acquire credit) but if push came to shove, the liquidation value of assets wouldn’t meet their current obligations, and a share-holder (pretty low down on the ol’ bankruptcy priority list) would be, in business terms, screwed. It’s fine if the overall economy and book retail specifically recovers — in fact, you’d stand to make a fine pile of cash off of that ballsy bet — but right now, Borders is probably fairly valued at $1: You’re just as likely to lose your shirt as see gains of 800-1000%.

Barnes & Noble

Selected Assets
Cash and cash equivalents: $60,965,000
Accounts Receivable: $106,576,000
Merchandise inventories: $1,370,111,000
Property, equipment and improvements: $812,034,000

Chief Liabilities
Trade accounts payable: $868,976,000
Accrued expenses and other liabilities: $755,432,000
Long-term debt: $260,400,000

Disclaimer: B&N is the big corporate entity that signs my [non-blog] paychecks, and in fact takes up 40+ hours of my personal time each and every week. Per current FTC regulations, I have to disclose this relationship, but I can also note here that all of my blog posts are independent, and are neither vetted through, submitted to, nor approved by my employer. I’m digging my own grave here, and proud to do so. Anyway— analysis:

B&N as a company also merits one more line-item under assets: as a publisher (Owner of Sterling Publishing and SparkNotes, among others) they also sell books to other booksellers. That’s the Accounts Receivable listing above; $106 Million is a small fraction of the overall sales ($5.8 Billion if memory serves) but a significant line item in this calculation.

B&N, 1357 stores
[720 Retail superstores plus 637 B&N College bookstores]
Book value of assets per store: $1,731,530
Liquidation value of assets per store: $974,430

Current share price/Market cap: $14.66/$862.89 Million
Liquidation value of assets per share: $15.56
Book value of assets per share: $38.11

Liabilities per share: $32.02

Once again, if the company goes under, the shareholders stand to get hosed.

But: a goodly chunk of that long term debt is owed to Len Riggio (B&N Chairman of the Board) who might just be willing to extend very favorable terms, and quite a few extensions; The book value of the company is still greater than the extant debt – if the company does go under at current stock prices investors would stand to make a buck or two, and it really is the abookalypse if B&N goes out of business.

##

contextual disclaimer: all numbers as posted above are just the value of inventory on shelves and do not reflect revenue that could possibly be gained by, oh, I don’t know, actually selling those books to people.

more standard disclaimer: numeric values and conclusions as posted above are not intended to constitute, or even masquerade as, legitimate investment advice. Take all actions on your own initiative and do your own research. If you still feel I’m to blame for your mistakes, well, I invite you to claim whatever you like and I’ll be happy to show up in court drunk as a sailor on leave, for as many days in a row as it takes, to make a mockery of you, and your case, and the proceedings in general such that no judge or jury could even imagine that I’d be a credible source for my own name and birthday, let alone investment ‘guidance’. If pressed, I might even be able to produce receipts and character witnesses to prove I’ve been drunk more-or-less continuously since 1996. You do not want to call me on this — or take the numbers posted above as any more than what they are: straight, sober reporting of the financial markets in this one niche market, with no returns on investment implied, imagined, impuned, impounded, implanted, implicated, impressed, impregned, imbibed, immanentized, immortalized or imbroglio-ed.

##

So what is a big-box bookstore worth?

at least $1 million, and closer to $1.5-$2 million.

If one wants to compete with the Box, this is your scale.

And if one is looking to step into book retail after the big boxes fail, this is your target: a $1 Million Dollar Store (sales or inventory, take your pick)

##

Rethinking the Box is a collection of ruminations on retail & bookselling, with an eye towards comics (as one goal of the exercise is to guage the viability of a graphic novel superstore).

Previously:
Study your History. Recognise your Motives. Location, Location, Location. Know your Customer Base, and your Staff. Find your Niche. Consider your Product Lines, Stock Your Shelves, Set your main-aisle displays, consider Alternative display strategies, take a second look at What the Customers Want and Why Even Annoying Customers are Important. Answer for yourself whether raw dollars or customer service is more important to your store, and its future. Stare again in dismay at the Profit Margins. Try calculating your upper-limit affordable rent and affordable salaries along with revenue from inventory (with a side of coffee) and compare your numbers to average industry per-storefront sales.

Chronologically: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 23 – 24