Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

When I was a kid I used to read a columnist whose column was called “once around the barber pole”. It referred to the days when the barber shop served as a kind of community gathering spot where guys would sit around and swap adventure stories; discuss politics, current events, sports, the weather and other timely subjects. Well those days are gone but this week I’m going write this column like he did; a little adventure story if you will, I’m sure you’ve had your fill of current events and political stories without going to a barber shop!

So as we go “once around the barber pole” it will be the little adventure I took today after I logged my morning emails. As I’ve mentioned before I just released a book; When Movie Was A Band, and today I ventured out of Yachats and headed north through Waldport, Seal Rock, South Beach, Newport, and Depoe Bay on my way to Lincoln City. I had ventured south to Florence and Mapleton the day before. The reason? To put the book into the local book stores.

Now this is normally done by a distribution company when you are a major author with an established publishing company. However this is a grass roots operation done the old fashioned way. A box of books in the trunk, a list of stores and a smile on your face. The first book stores to stock the book were in Yachats but once out of the friendly confines of the village it becomes more of a challenge and Florence, Newport, and Lincoln City are definitely bigger. Since Yachats has no traffic lights or one way streets a little updating of driving skills is required before leaving but since the tourist season is pretty much over I managed to navigate my way around these larger metropolises safely. Then came the part that requires a bit more attention; finding the stores and introducing myself to the proprietor!

There are a couple ways to place books in a store. The best, but most unlikely for an unknown author, is to sell copies to the store at a discount so they can turn around and sell the book for a small profit. The other way is to leave the book on consignment and split the price with the store.

Well I found the stores on my list and negotiated terms with them and in fact got suggestions from a couple stores on which were the best ones to visit. It was an interesting adventure; the book store proprietors all were great, helpful, fair and enthusiastic that is all but two of them who shall remain nameless. Those two were the owners of stores that do not handle new books. They only deal with used books and the look of distain on their faces when looking at a new book was clear. In their world new represents something that might not sell, however, what they stock has worked once before and now they are trying to sell it again.

They kind of reminded me of the customers that walked into the barber shop when the talk was at an energetic level with tales flying about, and as soon as they walked in the talk screeched to a halt! They just didn’t have the spirit of adventure about them!

Needless to say I enjoyed a fun adventure with good results, even with the economic chaos getting all the attention these days it was great to talk to people about books, new or used, in Yachats and the many other fine towns and cities. Apparently regardless of what’s going on around us, it’s still a great time to read!!

So the next time I visit Robin the Barber in Waldport, this will be my contribution to “once around the barber pole”.

To reach Rick Schultze email yarick@pioneer.net