I first came into contact with Microcosm Publishing and its titles a few years ago in a dingy basement bookshop that no longer exists in Traverse City, Michigan. I couldn’t imagine that there would be so many books of interest to me in such a small store. The young man that was working there turned me on to several of Microcosm’s titles and this was one of the sparks that helped to start the fire to start Lost Telegram Press.
Countless public meetings of governments all over the world, community groups, and basically anyone that has ties to something relating to economics, information and the humanities has been discussing the integration of AI into the world. Immediately all I think of is NFTs and crypto and in a way I can see how this is a distraction from the personal relationship with books.
The Bookseller reported on Feb. 12 in an article by Heloise Wood, that a number of factors have been making it difficult for children’s bookshops in London to survive. Interestingly this is also a case where fixed book pricing (FBP), which I talked about here recently, could help.
Fixed book pricing (FBP) has been a topic only sparingly on the agenda of some politicians in Canada. Quebec’s Minister of Culture tabled a provincial law back in 2013 for a FBP. Meant to bolster the province’s book industry, it used the model from France which made it illegal to discount a book more than 5% off the cover price.
