OMG OMG OMG!

I realize I have not been very consistent recently. For anyone who checks the blog, I apologize.

I am about six weeks into a massive project to reduce my 43,000 book on-line sales inventory of physical, paper, pre-owned books to somewhere in the 3-6,000 range. Or maybe zero.

For the last 11 years I have been selling books. Nothing fancy, not collectible or old or worth hundreds of dollars. Regular books for people who like to read. Books that are no longer in print, because the publication status doesn't change the contents. Books of all genres. It was a dream of mine since I was very young and found that I could live vicariously in the books and travel to places fantastic and mundane by simply opening them up.

Yes, I have a Kindle and yes, it is very convenient. But there is something about the weight and the physical process of flipping a page that I can't shake; I like to read and hold paper books. But it has become clear I am in the decided minority.

When I started a paperback would routinely fetch $5 and the shipping was only $2.13. Now I have a hard time selling that same paperback for $3.50 and the shipping is $2.69. The websites on which I sell are more expensive to use and the shipping materials more expensive, etc.

So I am getting out. I can't afford to do it because I like it. I don't have the time to do it for a few pennies a sale. Maybe I'll keep a few and keep a toe in, like a hobby, but I'll give up my storage space and stop donating to charities. We'll see when the first 80% are gone.

There will be a few "last hurrahs". I do a church fair in November. 6,000 will go there. I'm having sales on the sites where I sell; maybe a few more will sell. I'll hand over another thousand to Head Start. Then there will be just the few I want to keep; my best inanimate friends.