The Penang Bookshelf
Yet Another Newsletter
|
|
|
|
| From The Penang Bookshelf |
Dear Friend
8-8 - The New Normal
Why the long silence? Retired? If I were so lucky lah!
On a whim,
masquerading as a carefully considered judgement, I pulled down the
shutters on my pseudo street presence in Penang in May 
to retire to the supposed serenity of my Bati Ferringhi flat. Ha ha.
Since then I've sold more books to visitors at the flat than I ever sold
in any shop, the internet side of the business has gone beserk (50
books sold this week is now normal), and all sorts of people are making
all sorts of proposals, mainly decent, to The Penang Bookshelf.
When
we bought the flat I stupidly hadn't paid attention to my wife's
warning about the significance of the address - the eigth unit on the
eight floor. Go take a crash course in Chinese numerology, if you don't
understand what that means.
Wake Up Writing Workshop
Obviously too many people now get to read this newsletter and think I could do with a few tips on style. 
I presume this is what prompted the Lincoln Resource Center of the US
Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to ask The Penang Bookshelf to help host a mini writing workshop in Penang at 9.30 am this Monday 15th October. The experienced writer Paul Sochaczewski
will be on hand to give tips on how to make your writing sparkle. I'll
just be attending to try to find out how he manages to be bald and
handsome at the same time. Join the scramble for a place by contacting me,
Come back, Singapore! All is Forgiven!As
I've said before, I come from a family which looked down on 'trade,' so
learning to be a blood sucking capitalist hasn't been easy. My customers occasionally prod me into action.
A
new Singaporean customer, of which there are an increasing number,
tried a clever trick in bargaining. Would I send his books post free?
When I investigated it, I discovered that posting over 2kg of books to
Singapore was significantly cheaper than posting a lighter parcel. So
from now onwards The Penang Bookshelf posts free to Singapore for all
orders over 2kg.
Attraction, Rather Than Promotion
Of
course, while I'm getting rid of so many books, I'm always fretting on
how I'll replace them. Fortunately increased sales have also attracted
people who either want to sell their books to The Penang Bookshelf or
want The Penang Bookshelf to sell books on their behalf. 
They now come in at such a rate that I struggle to get them up onto my
website in time. As an intermediary measure I list new acquisitions on
The Penang Bookshelf Blog. You'll find a couple of examples, on a
comprehensive range of books on Orchids and Chinese Ceramics
have been added in the last few months. As you'll see customers have
been buying straight from the Blog too. Other similar posts include this one and yet another both of which were the result of my August raids on UK bookshops.
Emergence of the Musties
Not
that there's much that there's very musty in the Malaysian book
business. There hasn't been too much that's been in print for all that
long. However as The Penang Bookshelf becomes better known a few more
will arrive on its virtual shelves. There have been a couple just
recently. Both are 'unique masterpieces'. OK enough of the puff. If
you're not fed up with the blog, have a look at this collection
associated with the late Dr Wu Lien-Teh. And just to prove that The Penang Bookshelf caters for all tastes, we have probably the first Arabic-Jawi Dictionary for sale too.
Of course I could write more, but this really is enough.
Thanks for reading this far.
William Knox
The Penang Bookshelf
|
|
News Snippets
The Penang Bookshelf Becomes A Team
Of
course The Penang Bookshelf's sudden expansion couldn't continue to be
handled by one grumpy pensioner. So grudgingly he's roped in a few part
time companions - Angus in Edinburgh, Craig in Park Ridge, Illinois and,
the least part-time of them all, Teresa, here in Penang. What they all
do's as much a mystery to them as it is to me, but they haven't started
complaining - yet.
Linkage the Antidote to Shrinkage?
The Penang Bookshelf's been associated for a while with Spyral Synergy, the people who make it happen in Penang. A couple of weeks ago  they made it happen again when we brought Dennis De Witt the author of History of the Dutch in Malaysia to give a talk to what appeared to be a very satisfied group of guests at Clove Hall, one of Penang's lovelier boutique hotels.
Which
reminds me...I've discovered a brilliant substitute for sitting in a
shop - get others to do it for you. The Penang Bookshelf's in the middle
of talks with hotels and tour companies to place its incomprable (sic)
range of books with others who are more adept at sweet talking
customers than I am.
Basically bookselling's quite easy - buy, sell, bullsh*t, buy, sell
etc. However there's one Penang Bookshelf customer who's far more
crazily energetic. He runs a travel website, Malaysia Traveller,
and actually tests all the amazingly strenuous places he recommends.
However he does have moments of sanity too, the webiste recommends The
Penang Bookshelf's books.
Even though I narrowly missed being trampled by a British police horse at an Anti-Vietnam War Rally in 1968, my pink tendencies haven't dimmed. So I was very honoured when The Penang Bookshelf was approched by  Gerakbudaya,
publishers and distributors of most of the sensible stuff that's
written about Malaysia, to work with them in promoting their catalogue.
In future The Penang Bookshelf will be carrying much more of their
stock online.
website. Also in KK we met up with the people who run, Borneo Books,
another niche bookseller in Malaysia. We swapped trading experiences
and tips and looked at ways of working together. One of our first joint
ventures is likely to be the purchase of a large Malaysian library in
the UK next month.
Wh  ereas
I thought people only wrote about this country in Malay, Chinese, Tamil
or English, I recently met a Frenchman who has an amazing webiste
where he proves that there has been plenty written in French as well.
Of course one of the best known novels written by an expatriate about
Malaysia was written by Henri Fauconnier. Pierre Boulle wrote one or two as well. The Penang Bookshelf does have two or three books in French which have yet to appear on the website.
It suddenly dawned on me in amidst all this frazzle that The Penang Bookshelf's second internet anniversary is  almost upon us, so why not be generous for a change? Although The Penang Sketchbook
is out of print and being sold for an exhorbitant price at The Penang
Bookshelf, its publisher, Editions Didier Millet, produces masses of
other worthwhile books about Malaysia and Southeast Asia. They've teamed
up with The Penang Bookshelf to offer massive discounts on their entire catalogue.
 I'm still reading some of the books I sell and still writing random reviews,
although there haven't been any published recently. There are about
four either half written or waiting to be written which I'll try and get
out before the next newsletter. In the meantime a kind customer has
come to the rescue with his own review of an obsure, but worthwhile book which, of course, is part of The Penang Bookshelf's inventory.
|
|
|
|
About The Penang Bookshelf
Category Pages - Asian Fiction, Asian History, Asian Religions, Borneo Chinese Ceramics Malaysian Architecture Malaysian Agriculture Malaysian Arts and Culture Malaysia: Cartoons, Malaysian Chinese Community Malaysian Cooking and Food Malaysia: Colonial Biography, Malaysia: Modern Biography, Malaysia - Fiction Malaysia: Journalism， Malaysia: Language & Linguistics, Malaysia: Literature, Malaysia: Malay Community Malaysia & Singapore: 19th Century History, Malaysia: Post-Independence History, Malaysia: Miscellaneous, Malaysian Nature and Wildlife Orang Asli (Indigenous People) Malaysian Poetry Malaysian Politics Malaysia: Religion Malaysia & Singapore: World War II Perak Singapore: Anthropology & Sociology Singapore Fiction
Email: penangbookshelf@gmail.com
Telephone: +60-12-972-6485
Business Address: Aquarius, 4-8-8 Jalan Low Yat,
Batu Ferringhi, 11100, Penang. (The Penang Bookshelf's entire inventory
is available for browsing. Please call to fix an appointment.)
Mailing Address: 36, Cheeseman Road, 11600 Penang, Malaysia
Registered Business No: PG0282219-D
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.