Let's Try This Again, and Again, and Again

For what feels like the umpteenth time, we are trying to set up an online store for the website; we are experiencing problems again.  The free service doesn't allow for a wide range of products, we have no way of connecting to the internet at the store, we are unfamiliar will Paypal and other online buying solutions, and we don't know what we are doing.  Literally, the staff is almost computer illiterate.  For instance, the Facebook connection on the Home page has disappeared, and we have no way of knowing what happened to it.  Even the app's button has vanished from the app store.  We even had some difficulties getting into the blog today.  Anyway, at least we can show you the latest ad in the current campaign.  Just because we are closed today doesn't mean we don't have work to do.

Hillbilly Daze

As we mentioned last week, Booknotes will be closed on Saturday, April 22, because of Hillbilly Days in Pikeville.  Don't worry though, the website, including this blog, will be updated on Saturday as regularly scheduled, just at a slightly different time.  That being said, we are not against things regional or local.  In fact, we are currently involved in two projects with high local interest.  The first is our attempts to get a very popular-selling book at our store back in print.  A Pictorial History of Eastern Kentucky was one of our biggest sellers when we first opened the store.  In fact, we sold more copies of the book then anyone else.  Too many, as the supply quickly sold out and the book went out of print.  We have been in contact with a publisher to try and gain the permission to reprint the book and possibly update it with new photos and information.  Unfortunately, there are a few problems with the current copyright holder that are still being ironed out.  We initially contacted this publisher for another reason.  The other co-owner of the store has been trying to get a pictorial history of the Wheelwright and Weeksbury area based on the old Inland Steel magazines published in the last century.  The main problem we are facing here is that no one can seem to determine who currently holds the copyright on said photos because of all the mergers that have taken place over the decades.  All of this is being done without the help of other organizations that might hold similar goals, but any assistance would be grateful.  There is much that could be done here with the right connections, so contact us if you have any clues.  That is all for this week.  See you here next week, just not at the store.

Managing the Campaign

This week featured the debut of our new as campaign in various local newspapers.  We were a little wary of starting a new campaign so soon after our last one, especially since it did not work out too well.  We never did get to place our book review pieces back in.  However, with so much happening in town for April, we thought it would be a good idea to get a lot of publicity out .  (Personal aside:  This also macks the first time I have ever allowed my image to be used in any advertising.  All previous newspaper ads/pieces have either used the other co-owner or no image at all.  I also have never been in the radio ads/call-ins or on television, save for a few quick clips in the background.)  Since so many people will be in town soon for Hillbilly Days, we thought we should get the word out.  There will be at least three more ads that will be running, each one might be different -- we aren't sure yet what they will be.  The odd thing is, we won't even be open for all of the event.  We usually close early that Friday and not re-open until the following Monday.  While we are just far away from the main action that our business isn't disrupted, we aren't close enough to benefit greatly from the extra crowds.  People just park in the lot and walk to downtown and ignore the local businesses.  Oh well, maybe this can help us out after all anyway.

When Is a Box Really a Book

When coming up for the titles for the Upcoming Releases board at the store and the Upcoming Titles page on the website, we create a list of promising books and then narrow down the field to the best candidates.  However, sometimes mistakes are made, and this isn't an April Fool's Day joke either.  When making out the list for March, we mistakenly listed the James Patterson novel The Black Book as The Black Box instead.  This probably happened because the previous title on the master list was Vicious Circle by C. J. Box and the words got transposed somehow.  For almost the entire month of March, the book was incorrectly listed on the board.  It was only corrected when we (and in this case I mean me)  saw the actual book cover.  What is worse is that the title had also been incorrectly listed on the website since it was updated last Saturday.  Well, the website was also corrected as soon as possible, but not as soon as was liked.  Sometimes mistakes like this do occur, usually when a book gets delayed after we check the on sale date lists to make our list.  We do try to correct this type of error, but they can slip through.  In fact, we have been trying to correct some other errors on the site since we changed the color pallet.  We are still finding some even after a month.  Well, that is all for today.  Goodbye until next week.