Comments for John Teehan -- More Than You Wish You Knew

Comment on Once more on Borders, then I’ll shut up (probably) by John Teehan

John Teehan — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:58:15 +0000

BookScan has a lot to answer for. And both Borders and B&N were/are guilty of selling preferential positioning and marketing to publishers for certain titles, despite what the reading public actually may have wanted. One example that pops almost immediately into mind are the books of Tobias Buckell. He’s, I firmly believe, one of the best science fiction writers to come out of the current generation, yet his original science fiction titles are nowhere to be found in either store despite being published by Tor. Know where you’ll find him? His one Halo tie-in novel.

Comment on Once more on Borders, then I’ll shut up (probably) by K Stoddard Hayes

K Stoddard Hayes — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:34:09 +0000

Personal experience confirms your observations about the disconnect between what Borders was selling and what their customers wanted. I used to frequent the Waldenbooks in Wakefield and in the Warwick Mall, and every time I asked why their selection in this or that genre was so limited, or why they didn’t stock a classic title or a local specialty, the staff explained that Borders would not let them customize their inventory at all. They had to accept whatever the Borders buyers sent them, then, of course, got chastised for failing to sell it.
When Borders finally let Walden die, the Wakefield store’s owners gleefully rebirthed their store as the independent Wakefield Books. And it’s a whole new bird, with a much better selection, a lot less novelty crap and, apparently, better sales. I’ll take an indie over a chain, any day!
Karen

Comment on Universal Truths by Lorna Steele

Lorna Steele — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:47:08 +0000

I love this! Keep track of them. They are the basis for the little book you will put together that everyone will buy at Barnes and Noble checkouts as an impulse gift during the holidays. Including me. Hahaha

Comment on Did You Know…? The Westerly, RI edition by John Teehan

John Teehan — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:20:47 +0000

I assume you saw the one about you taking over the Fringe panel at ComicCon. Got the name of the character you were impersonating wrong, but ah well. Gave me an excuse to use that scary picture of you.

Comment on Did You Know…? The Westerly, RI edition by John Teehan

John Teehan — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:19:29 +0000

They can’t all be winners. I write these things while the coffee is still brewing.

Comment on Did You Know…? The Westerly, RI edition by Chris Reilly

Chris Reilly — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:38:08 +0000

John,

You had me going right up until “Did you know…? North Quarry, a popular illicit swimming hole, is said to be one of the possible burial sites for Blackbeard’s treasure.”

That is one of your worst list of fake facts, and I am a big fan of the JDT Fake Fact Report.

Comment on Helpful John answers your questions. by Frank Petrone

Frank Petrone — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Are werewolves and vampires real?If so how can I find one?

Comment on Facebook Doesn’t Forget For You by Prepare Thyself for the Coming Singularity | John Teehan — More Than You Wish You Knew

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:48:02 +0000

[...] the feature in Facebook in which one can download their entire Facebook history–”Facebook Doesn’t Forget for You” and followed it up with “More Digging Through My Internet History.” The point, I [...]

Comment on Contact by Noel Siswick

Noel Siswick — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:36:30 +0000

HI John, Chris and I were looking for you!!

Wow, have we come a long way from playing D+D!!

Comment on My “too sense” regarding Borders and the book biz by Brian Taves

Brian Taves — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:48:21 +0000

You expressed it all perfectly, John. B&N has such a pitiful selection and categories that I simply don’t bother. And they don’t carry the film magazines that interest me, which was always an incentive to check out Borders, and they were conveniently located back when I lived in downtown DC for 17 yrs. On the other hand, since my job moved me to a small town four years ago, I’ve simply not been able to get to Borders. As well, when I know I want a book, I simply order it on amazon; it is the books I might want that Borders helped, for instance with a nice couple of shelves on Egyptology (try finding that in B&N!)

It is the ability to browse that physical bookstores offer that online ones simply cannot. I’d like to say that in an ideal world that independents combined with second hand are the way to go, and when I come across them in recent years they are what I’ve most enjoyed and bought at; for instance there’s a thriving one in Solvang, a bunch in Charlottesville—tho the one in Fredericksburg expired, so it may be location and clientele.

Still, one of the fondest memories over forty years of my life (visiting hundreds of times since I was a kid) was the bookstore aptly called Acres of Books in Long Beach—a landmark of the 20th century that sadly couldn’t endure in the 21st’s real estate climate, despite a huge clientele.