Update Announcements by Craig Stark 25 June 2025

By Craig Stark

This newsletter is not a test. After tossing out last week's trial newsletter, I was delighted to hear from so many of you, not a few of whom are still in the trade. Thank you all. It persuaded it me to move forward with the BookThinker.

My first inclination regarding this newsletter was to do a case study article on a book I first read when I was 11 years old. Speaking for myself, I don't always know how influential a book will prove to be after reading it for the first time, but this one was all but hidden to my view many years before I saw its powerful influence on me, and yet it fell under the category of juvenile fiction. To my knowledge, it has never been in the spotlight of high spots in bookselling circles. Still, it was popular enough in 1958 to spawn a series of books with the same protagonist - Henry Reed - and was illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner Robert McCloskey. Sadly, my copy of Henry Reed, Inc. has long since passed out of my hands. Much later, when I'd begun to grow aware of its influence (and feeling somewhat nostalgic), I purchased another copy on eBay, a first edition in a priced dust jacket for less than $10. Similar copies in comparably beautiful condition now sell for hundreds of dollars.

And - I know exactly why it so powerfully influenced me. Henry Reed was a born entrepreneur, always looking for the next moneymaking scheme, trying and failing with often comical outcomes, and he had a sort of partner in crime, a similarly aged, then tomboyish girl named Margaret, nicknamed Midge. Funny thing, I now look back on the history of my adult life, and it's been nothing if not a continuous pattern of scheming. Even BookThink, though a more global entity as schemes go, has been packed with sub-scheme after sub-scheme over its 22-year history, most of them failures, many of them comically dismal, but a few that actually worked. Funnier yet, I palled around with a girl named Margaret in my youth, lost track of her for many decades, and today, I find her in my life once again. I don't call her Midge.

But this is just my story, and not overly powerful for bookselling purposes. Today's feature article, on the other hand, features a book that exerts much more power. It's also about an 11-year-old boy who read a book that influenced his life in a major way.

A reminder:

Many thanks for those who purchased Joseph Maragloni's minor masterpiece of bookselling how-to, Basic Cataloguing and Collation Primer. Included with Basic Cataloguing is Joe's supplemental how-to on collation, at times a critical component of describing a book for sale. As much as I'd like to distribute this to you free of charge, there are those pesky expenses involved in producing printed content - materials costs, shipping charges, and in this case ever-increasing costs of server space, thus the $16.99 price. My primary motivation is to prolong the life of something that should not die. We lost Joe himself a few years ago, and this is reverently dedicated to him. His legacy.

To repeat, it was first published on BookThink many years ago, and over time not a word of it has become irrelevant. To today's bookseller, it might seem somewhat old school, but I can assure you that Joe not once purchased a Gaylord, scanned an ISBN, or otherwise drowned himself in what the technologically driven activity modern bookselling has evolved into. For him, books were alive, in fact, had feelings and deserved to be treated as such. If you're involved in bookselling, this is still the ticket to making it work for you - and work for years to come. This species of bookselling - professional level - is for the long haul and will ultimately lead to the most treasure. The species of today's bookselling has a shelf life, and the expiration date will come sooner rather than later. This, on the other hand, is the real deal.

Included with Basic Cataloguing is Joe's supplemental how-to on collation, at times a critical component of describing a book for sale. As much as I'd like to distribute this to you free of charge, there are those pesky expenses involved in producing printed content - materials costs, shipping charges, and in this case ever-increasing costs of server space, thus the $16.99 price. My primary motivation is to prolong the life of something that should not die. We lost Joe himself a few years ago, and this is reverently dedicated to him. His legacy.

Click here to putchase: Basic Cataloguing and Collation Primer

Finally,for the first time in our history, a major sale. Everything - absolutely everything - that appears on our Store page will be 50% off the regular price. This includes our special Kitchen Sink package, which in itself includes everything BookThink has ever put a price to. Example: You'll note that the Kitchen Sink is listed for $179.99. During this sale it will be reduced 50% to $89.99. Also, if you purchase $50 or more of any of our products, you will receive a free copy of Joe's book. To prevent the daunting coding effort that would be required to change every price on every product, just email me a list of whatever you're interested in purchasing. Go Click here to select items: BookThink's Store Entrance for the list. Also include your mailing address. I'll send you an invoice ASAP that will reflect the 50% discount and can be paid with PayPal or any major credit card, and your items will then be sent via PDF attachments within 24 hours of payment.

This sale will start immediately upon the receipt of this newsletter and end at midnight August 31, 2025.