If you've ever been in my store, you know what my focus is on -- inventory, inventory, inventory.

To me the inventory dictates the looks of my store, the policies, just about everything. It is the one area of my store where I can exert total quality control. Service comes and goes; I'm depending on employees and experience and whether I or they are happy or sad, tired or peppy, and so on. Sure, I try. I always try to provide the best service I can. But good service -- being based on personality and emotion -- is something I always try for, but can't always guarantee.

Looks and ambiance? Again, I try. In fact, it's one of the more enjoyable aspects of being the boss. But decor depends on availability and cost and age of fixtures and space and landlords and so on.

Prices and margins? Somewhat at the mercy of suppliers and competitors.

Overhead? Completely at the mercy of utilities and landlords.

Of course, location is hugely important. But after 28 years for Pegasus, that's a bit of a given. (We often say, when people ask about advertising at the BookMark, that our location and the expense is our advertising....)

But what I carry, and how much? Totally under my control, baby. Just the way I like it. I've found the more good stuff I carry the better it sells. So it's up to me to find out what's good, and to keep it in stock.

Good inventory dictates the look and layout, the labor allocation, and in some ways is my advertising. My pricing policies of charging full S.R.P are dictated by the quality of my inventory. I want the regular price if I'm going to carry this much stuff.

So Inventory, inventory, inventory.

Everything else is window-dressing.

So for me, having a used bookstore has been a continually interesting, but frustrating, experience. Books come in, willy nilly, and I never know what I'm going to get. There are always surprises, always neat books I didn't know existed.

But one of the frustrating things about a used bookstore is that I can't control the inventory -- what comes in is what comes in. (To my wife's store, by the way, which is where I get my books from....)

So part of my thinking about carrying new books is that I CAN carry that book that everyone is looking for. I CAN carry that favorite book that I want to recommend. I CAN carry that cult classic that has dropped out of everyone else's stores.

For instance, on Friday, I had customer ask me, "I don't suppose you have any Hunter S. Thompson, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm trying to carry his whole oeuvre."

So he ends up buying two books, and saying that Barnes and Noble is only carrying one H.S.T's books.

I get the same sort of feedback on authors like H.P. Lovecraft, or Philip K. Dick, or Vonnegut or Kerouac and many others.

I'm not sure why that is. I can think of a couple of reasons. One, is that the other stores are indeed carrying these books, and the customer just couldn't find them or clerk was unable to find them. Or the customer just didn't know how to ask. This is sadly common; I nearly beg people to ask for what they want, and sometimes, almost half-heartedly, they'll finally say, "Oh, I wanted this book, but I doubt you'll have it...no one has it."

And of course, I do. But that person nearly walked off with the impression I didn't.

Anyway, the other theory is that these books are long in the tooth in the publishing cycle. That is, when they were first reprinted, all the chain stores carried them, but as time went on, other books supplanted them. Maybe on a scale of 1 - 10, they were still selling in the 7 range, but dropped off the current list in favor of a book that had the potential to be an 8 or 9.

Well, a 7 is good enough for me. If it means doing a little work, finding a copy that isn't current but still in stock, maybe filling in all the author's works instead of the just the latest or greatest, so be it. Looking for authors that have a following, but don't currently have a best-seller, would seem to be obvious.

Unless the book is completely out of print (and I am COMPLETELY ASTOUNDED by how many great books are out of print) I can exert real control by getting it in. There is a creativity in what I order, and how much, and how I stock them.

I'll have much more to say about how I intend to order new books over the next few days.