Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#81

Post by dmd » Sun, Nov 25, 2012, 7:46 PM UTC

eob wrote: post #35

Trying to think creatively here... Could you try to capitalize on the fact that you're right in between two enormous populations of PhD students and professors who are eager to both give talks and learn more? Maybe you could support micro-publishing of books, or collections of interesting papers, for local distribution around Kendall/Harvard. Kind of like academic blogging but on paper. Or you could host themed night…

Just another data point: I've walked by on the other side of the street a few times and assumed you were closed/out of business because of the refrigerator repairs sign.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#82

Post by samuraiforhire » Sun, Nov 25, 2012, 8:24 PM UTC

I'd like to help with this project and need, and I have experience as a former bookstore owner and small business consultant. Please contact me at samuraiforhire@gmail.com.

Tim Huggins http://timhugginsresume.wordpress.com/

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#83

Post by anjchang » Sun, Nov 25, 2012, 8:40 PM UTC

Definitely optimizing the book enjoyment experience is promising (having cafes, book signings, etc). I think one part of quality book discovery is curating really hard to find, but awesome books. How many people would pilgrimage to a store to hear Noam Chomsky speak on language, or a Kennedy talk about politics, or one of Dr. King's descendents speak on racial relations and buy books? There are a lot of really great books that could be augmented by having more conversation around them. People would definitely pay high prices for books that are rare and insightful and the stories around those books.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#84

Post by shanbady » Sun, Nov 25, 2012, 11:29 PM UTC

I am interested. I live within walking distance of the store and am an avid tech extraordinaire/hacker who would hate to see it go down. Why not open it up for hackathons and tech meetups in the area? I know there are plenty of tech groups that are constantly looking for space to host their meetups and hackathons.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#85

Post by mankins » Sun, Nov 25, 2012, 11:41 PM UTC

shanbady wrote: post #84

I am interested. I live within walking distance of the store and am an avid tech extraordinaire/hacker who would hate to see it go down. Why not open it up for hackathons and tech meetups in the area? I know there are plenty of tech groups that are constantly looking for space to host their meetups and hackathons.

We'd be into doing this. We've been trying to do this as much as possible, but have yet to find a way to actually make money from it.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#86

Post by shanbady » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 12:05 AM UTC

mankins wrote: post #85

shanbady wrote: post #84

I am interested. I live within walking distance of the store and am an avid tech extraordinaire/hacker who would hate to see it go down. Why not open it up for hackathons and tech meetups in the area? I know there are plenty of tech groups that are constantly looking for space to host their meetups and hackathons.

We'd be into doing this. We've been trying to do this as much as possible, but have yet to find a way to actually make money from it.

I will bring this up at a few meetups I will be attending through this week. I'm sure this will peak the interest of more than a few people at venture cafe as the bookstore would be a great way to connect talented developers to companies/investors; lately, the lack of finding talent in the Boston area has been a recurring conversation at tech+startup focused meetups

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#87

Post by piratebroadcast » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 12:54 AM UTC

I am a huge fan of your store. My suggestions: 1-Sell shirts and other physical things 2- My favotire thing about your store is that the cool stuff is easy to see.. Its curated. Well done. 3-Interact more with local entrepreneurs, and people like the Artisans Asylum. Maybe teach classes there. 4-Writing workshops? 5-Buy a MakerBot 3D printer and charge the public to use it? 6- That Egg machine is amazing. Someone should make a documentary about that. 7- Model after the Trident in Boston... Sell coffee, set up some wifi, and turn the store into a place where smart people want to hang out.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#88

Post by mankins » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 2:44 AM UTC

piratebroadcast wrote: post #87

I am a huge fan of your store. My suggestions: 1-Sell shirts and other physical things 2- My favotire thing about your store is that the cool stuff is easy to see.. Its curated. Well done. 3-Interact more with local entrepreneurs, and people like the Artisans Asylum. Maybe teach classes there. 4-Writing workshops? 5-Buy a MakerBot 3D printer and charge the public to use it? 6- That Egg machine is amazing. Someone sho…

Great ideas, thanks. We can't sell coffee because the landlord prohibits it, but the rest are do-able.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#89

Post by Tichy » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 10:07 AM UTC

rdrey wrote: post #66

Tichy wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe only sell ebooks. Offer good coffee and advice on books, get a referral fee for ebooks? Browsing on Amazon sucks. If you know what you want it is OK, but for discovery there is still room for improvement.

Strange that this is the only other comment mentioning referral fees.

If it helps, I upvoted your other comment :-) If I had a cafe, I'd love to try the referral thing. There has to be some solution for the future that makes it possible to go to a shop, pick a nice book and sit down with a coffee.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#90

Post by johnrgrace » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 4:41 PM UTC

mankins wrote: post #19

oofoe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible that because it's so expensive, you could make it yourself for a much better return on investment? Is it so expensive that you could burn out three cheap laser printers a month for a fraction of the cost? What if it was one moderately expensive printer every two months? What if you had a Raspberry Pi managing your print queue across multiple networked printers and you bind them with a surplus GBC machi…

Thanks for the ideas. Last I looked into this (a few years ago now) it was the binding part that I didn't know how to do. I'd love to find someone who wants to get involved and do just what you describe.

Pick up a publishing magazine, they have companies that advertize perfect bindign equipment for a few thousand dollars that only costs a few dollars per unit to use.