Over on Tom's Book Publishing Blog, he has a link to an interesting article from the L.A. Times on Powell's Books.

Turns out that his internet sales are flat, because of Amazon and because 'anyone' can sell used books online.

Linda and I have taken a different approach to used books, one that I'm convinced works, and which in talking to other used bookstore owners, isn't being fully utilized by others.

I wrote a long and involved explanation of our policy, and read it outloud to Linda. She wasn't upset, but she did say, "You've given away the whole thing. Maybe you should rethink that."

And she was right. It was like a formula that I was simply giving away.

So, I deleted the message.

I'm at the point in this blog where I have to figure out where to go. I can't delve too deeply into the real numbers, because those are trade secrets. There are things I know about business that I can't really discuss too deeply, because I'd be giving away competitive advantages. I can't really complain about customers, because that never looks good. I'm tired of the whole housing bubble thing, because it's like Noah complaining about the rain about 25 days in.

Rats.