Bookshelf Maintenance

Recently, as I bought an eBook version of The Years of Rice and Salt to replace my paperback, I realized how little bookshelf maintenance I have to do these days. When I was younger, I lived in apartments with limited space for shelves. I also bought a lot more paperbacks than I do these days. Every so often, I'd have to organize my bookshelves. Each genre had a separate section, which was further organized by author surname and (if necessary) series. I preferred to get paperbacks because they took up the least space, but occasionally I'd find a random niche for hardcovers. Books didn't get shelved until they were read, so I'd usually have several books to place in the right locations, which would then bump other books to a different spot. Unfortunately, I'd also have to purge older books to make room for new ones.

These days, I seldom have to add books to my shelves, since it takes me much longer to make progress on my to-read stack. Instead, I tend to get rid of paperbacks once I have the eBook. While I still enjoy looking at my shelves and remembering what I've read, I'm not as attached to the physical books as I used to be. I have more space for things, but I want to declutter.

Do you keep paper books after you've read them? If so, do you have a special way of organizing your bookshelves? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Barnes and Noble to Carry (Some) Indie Books

One of the disadvantages of being an indie author is difficulty getting your paper books distributed by physical bookstores. It can be done, but it might require printing your books through a different service and paying for returns. Barnes and Noble announced yesterday plans to carry select indie books in their stores (you can currently order indie paper books on their website). Here's the original article posted on GoodeReader; you can read commentary from other indie authors on The Passive Voice. 

While this sounds like a great deal for indie authors, it's necessary to consider the details. To qualify, the eBook versions must be published through Nook Press (which means I'd have to cease using Draft2Digital to distribute to B&N--and I can't set a book to permafree unless I use the distributor) and sell at least 1000 books a year. Most of my sales are on Amazon; I have very few on Kobo, Apple or B&N. I still distribute my books there partly to give my readers as much access as possible and partly because I don't want to be 100% reliant on Amazon. Even if a book does qualify, there's no word yet about terms, such as number of books per store, how long they will be displayed, and what the return policy for unsold books will be. While I see this as a step forward for indie authors, I also have my doubts about the long-term health of Barnes & Noble. If they manage to avoid going the way of Borders, they may be forced to do that by reducing their shelf space even further and selling things other than books.

Let's take a quick poll: If you buy paper books, where do you buy them from? Please feel free to comment below.