Past, Present, Future--Birthdays, Anniversaries, Social Media, and Handmade Books

April is a major month for milestones for me.  Two years ago my booksellers and I opened Boswell Book Company.  25 years ago I started work at the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in the Iron Block building.  And today is my 50th birthday.  Yikes.

I think about how much the business has changed in my years in book business, and how much more they might change in the future.  Today I read a feature on the possible future of book signings in the age of ebooks.  And I'm currently reading Gary Vaynerchuk's The Thank You Economy*, which posits on the speed of technological change and how not adapting can destroy a business.  No kidding!

*Our event with Gary Vaynerchuk is Tuesday, April 26, at 7 pm, cosponsored by The Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee and the American Marketing Association, Milwaukee Chapter.  The event is free but you need to register.  To do so, visit the Business Journal's website.

I also heard an interview today about the entrepreneur who manufactures handbags in San Francisco, and helps run the SF Made nonprofit.  This called to mind the new book from Trumpter, At Home with Handmade Books: 28 Extraordinary Bookbinding Projects Made from Ordinary and Repurposed Materials, by Erin Zamrzla.

Zamrzla uses traditional Japanese binding techniques, pairing them with modern materials and uses.  There are accordion books and flutter books, four-hole binding and yamato binding. There are also ledger bindings and tortoise shell bindings.

The book has lots of illustrations and complete instructions.  You can make books out of socks and pillowcases.  That would be for a dream journal, of course.

The book is Boswell's Best at the moment.  Alas, it's not made in San Francisco.