Green book of the week: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting (and a giveaway!)

Today we have a book about one of the most significant and easy actions you can take to reduce your (food) carbon footprint.

Our book is:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting

Author: Chris McLaughlin

Chris McLaughlin is a master gardener and garden writer whose work has appeared in magazines such as Urban Farm Magazine and The Herb Companion. She also writes for several gardening websites, including Vegetable Gardener.com. She's the feature writer for Vegetable Gardens at Suite 101, and is the San Francisco Gardening Examiner at Examiner.com. Between garden writing assignments, Chris, teaches children gardening and plant science.

Publisher: Alpha

Published on: May 2010

What this book is about?
Waste not, want not.

The Complete Idiot's Guide(r) to Composting takes readers step by step through the process of selecting the right compost container, filling it with the right "ingredients," maintaining the mix at the right temperature and humidity, and using the end product.

- A concise format, simplified approach, and thrift-conscious price Chris McLaughlin

- Author is a Master Gardener and an expert on all forms of composting

- Gardening has risen greatly in popularity in the last few years, with an added boost from first lady Michelle Obama, and so has composting, which is cheap, effective, and environmentally friendly

- Thousands of state, regional, and municipal programs have been developed to encourage composting and thus reduce landfill waste

What we think about it?

Following the controversial piece of Stephen Budiansky on the New York Times , entitled 'Math Lessons For Locavores', Kerry Trueman wrote an interesting reply on Huffington Post, where she quotes the New Scientist as followed:

"More energy is wasted in the perfectly edible food discarded by people in the US each year than is extracted annually from the oil and gas reserves off the nation's coastlines."

So food waste is definitely an issue, and if solution no. 1 is to look for ways to reduce this waste from the first place, solution no. 2 is to compost, which as "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting" explains reduces "the amount of waste that would otherwise end up in landfills or dumps". As Chris McLaughin writes in the introduction to this book, "the truth is that composting is about as simple as it gets." So if you're looking for meaningful yet easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint, composting can definitely be the thing for you.

Composting has so many advantages that you're just wondering how is it that not everyone is doing it. I believe that part of it is convenience, as people find it less convenient than throw their food leftovers to the trash, and part of it is just lack of awareness of the process and how easy and fun it is. Now, the first group who looks for convenience, probably needs more than just a guide and I guess only a sort of incentives program such as RecycleBank can get them into action. The second group on the other hand will find this book very valuable.

The book itself is well-organized, written in an easy to understand language and is full of details of every related issue, including my favorite one - warms (did you know you need about 1000 warms on average to start a compost bin?). It helps to figure out step by step how to start composting and you learn everything you need to know all the way from selecting a container to using the final product. The book even gives you an idea how to use the compost as a platform to help your community. I can tell you from experience that personal composting is nice, but sharing a compost bin with your neighbors is really fun!

Bottom Line: If you ever wondered what composting is all about and if it's for you, get this book!

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away our review copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher.

How you can win? Very simple. All you have to do is to add a comment with an answer to the following question: What you like most about composting (or if you're not there yet, what do you think you'll like most when you'll start)? We will have a raffle on Monday, August 30, 5:00PM EST between all the readers that will add their reply. The winner will be announced the following day.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Dear Jeff Bezos - Part 2: I get a disappointing answer and try again!

Couple of days ago I wrote to Jeff Bezos, explaining to him that I'm considering to buy the Kindle but I first want to know more about the Kindle's environmental and social impacts.

I wrote Jeff Bezos that my request is very simple: Please make sure the Kindle is as environmentally and socially friendly as possible and share the information about your efforts with me and other interested stakeholders. You can read the whole letter here.

Couple of days went by and I received a reply. Well, not from Jeff, but on his behalf. Here it is:

Hi Raz,

I'm Valari Parmenter of Amazon.com's Executive Customer Relations. Jeff Bezos received your e-mail and asked me to respond on his behalf.

We’ve carefully reviewed your concerns and understand you feel strongly about this issue. We require our suppliers to be in compliance with all applicable manufacturing laws to sell on Amazon.com.

I'm happy you're also concerned about properly recycling Kindle. Amazon.com recognizes the importance of recycling electronic equipment at the end of its useful life so we’ve created a recycling program for Kindles and Kindle batteries. All Kindles sent in for recycling will undergo material reclamation by a licensed recycling facility and Amazon covers all the costs associated with shipping and recycling. For more information about this program, please visit the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200197550&qid=1282087346&sr=1-1

We value all feedback from our customers, and I thank you for taking the time to send us your comments about this issue. Although we won't be able to comment further on this topic, we hope you'll allow us to continue to serve you.

Thanks for your interest in Kindle!

Regards,

Valari C Parmenter
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

It won't surprise you that I was a little bit disappointed with this reply. Although Valerie discouraged from continuing this dialog, I decided to reply and be more clear and specific. Maybe it's my fault and the request wasn't understood. So here's my reply to Valari:

Hi Valari,

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it, but I'm not sure I received an answer to the main concerns I brought up, which were:

1. What efforts Amazon is making to ensure the Kindle is as environmentally and socially friendly as possible?

2. When will Amazon publish the Kindle's footprint and share information about it with its stakeholders?

E-waste is becoming an increasingly important issue (even the EPA is making it now a top priority - http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/08/18/epa-chief-cites-e-waste-as-a-top-priority/), so I appreciate the information on your recycling program, but I was wondering what Amazon is doing to incentivize its customers to recycle their Kindle devices besides making the recycling program available?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,
Raz

Now we need to wait. I hope to hear from Valari soon. In any case I'll keep you posted!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Eco-Libris is collaborating with Pubmission, online submission manager for publishers and writers

We are happy to announce on a new collaboration with Pubmission, a great new online service for publishers and writers. With every ream of paper that Pubmission saves, they will plant 5 trees with Eco-Libris.

Pubmission is offering a very valuable and green service, taking the submission process online and makes it more manageable and proactive for publishers and writers.

Pubmission can't guarantee publication, but they can save you time, frustration, and unnecessary slush-pile suffering. (And they spare a few trees, too, not to mention the new ones they plant with us).

Wolf Hoelscher, the founder and owner of Pubmission, has 13 years of experience in the publishing industry, most of it as a senior editor or an acquisitions editor at both print- and web-based companies. He’s also a writer well-acquainted with the challenges posed by the submission process. As he has been on both ends of the slush pile, he is well-aware of how inefficient, unfair, and frustrating manuscript submissions are for writers, agents, and editors.

For more information about Pubmission, check their website at http://www.pubmission.com. You can also follow them on twitter and facebook.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read

The future of bookstores - business as unusual, local solutions and positioning for success

Three articles I read in the last couple of days reflected three different perspectives on the present situation and the future of Independent bookstores:

1. Business as Unusual - I learned from Publishers Weekly last week that NYC indie bookseller McNally Jackson will be getting an Espresso Book Machine, which prints POD books while you wait, by 2011.

Why this is business as unusual? The New York Observer explains:

Currently McNally will order a book for a customer if a desired copy is not on hand. With the EBM, the store would be able to print one out right there. Buyer John Turner sees the machine as a way to expand inventory. It also reduces the hassle and wait time associated with ordering books by request.

The idea is very simple - adding a tool that can provide readers with the capabilities of Just In Time (JIT) inventory that is even better comparing to what they can get when buying over the Internet, as it's faster and might be also cheaper.

The Espresso Machine is not a killer app, but it's certainly an important addition to brick and mortar bookstores that want to compete in the digital age and meet the needs of readers that are shaped by the speed and the easiness of the Internet.

2. Looking for local support - Portland Tribune had an article about the challenges booksellers in the city are facing ("Booksellers face the E-challenge"). Portland is well known for its love for books and bookstores. According to a study mentioned in the article, per capita Portland had the eighth most bookstores in the nation.

Booksellers who were interviewed for the article talks about their difficulties because of "a rocky economy and the rise of E-books." The booksellers in Portland understand there's a need in change, but not sure what to do - Sellwood bookstore owner Karin Anna says for example that “I think we will have to change. How to do it is the question.”

Their direction though is very clear - looking for support of their community. Roberta Dyer, co-owner of Broadway Books in Northeast Portland, explained:

“There are certainly fewer of us (local bookstores) than there used to be. Those of us who have weathered the storm so far have found support from the community and in our little niche in the neighborhood. We have a loyal customer base.

The only problem is what you do to not only keep this base, but also to increase it. It's very clear that no matter how supportive the people in the community are, they will have increasing temptations to use other channels for their book purchasing, whether it's because they start reading e-books or they look for cheap deals online.

Prof. Charles Heying, a Portland State University professor of urban studies and planning, whose book “Brew to Bikes: Portland’s Artisan Economy” will be published in October by Ooligan Press, said in the article that "People here [in Portland] still appreciate the touch and feel of a book" – but is this enough? can bookstores in the city rely on it? I am not sure.

I believe looking for answers locally is the right way to go, but bookstores in Portland, as well as in other places, need to redefine their business model and provide more value to their customers to keep their business thriving. And by more value I don't mean more of a good feeling, but real incentives.

Couple of weeks ago I suggested here a model that will provide bookstores customers with both personal monetary benefits and the feeling that they're contributing to the prosperity of their own community. This model is based on creating a collaboration with other local businesses to enable these businesses to provide customers with discounts for each other.

This is just one example, but I believe that many more models can be developed on the basis of a win-win strategy that will provide customers with more than just appreciation to their local bookstores. Appreciation and even connectivity, which Prof. Heying talks about, might be good for now, but definitely far from being enough as the customer value proposition of independent bookstores for the near and long-term future.

3. Positioning for survival and success - Jolie Bosman reported yesterday on the New York Times ("Bookstore Arrives, and Sides Are Taken") about a new bookstore, Books & Books, that recently opened its doors in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., stirring animosity in a town that already had an independent bookstore.

The article is presenting the questions whether there was a room in this little town for another bookstore, when the older one, the Open Book, is already struggling. Right now, it seems that the two indie bookstores are in sort of a fight between them, which is of course bad for both. Don't get me wrong - competition is good, but fight is bad. In this situation, it may well be that as one of the residents there, James Kramon, predicted, both stores be here a year from now.

So what's the solution? Positioning. If there's a room for two bookstores in Westhampton Beach, it will be just if both will be positioned differently. If both bookstores will offer the same products, atmosphere and buying experience than there's a good chance one or even both won't make it. But, if each of the stores will have a different feels, it can work. In times of growing challenges, both the Open Book and Books & Books should look one at another as an opportunity and not as a risk. This is their way to success.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read

Dear Jeff Bezos, please make Kindle the greenest e-reader

I started considering buying a Kindle. I'm sure many people consider it given the latest price drop. But first I must know more about the Kindle's environmental and social impacts.

So I wrote an email to Jeff Bezos and see if he can help me here. I want to share it with you because I hope many more readers who share the same concerns will write Bezos about it, so he'll know that customers and potential customers really care about these issues. So you're more than welcome to email this text to Jeff Bezos at jeff@amazon.com.

I promise to update you once I receive a reply. In the meantime here's the email:

Dear Jeff,

I'm considering to buy the Kindle and I've got a request from you.

First, let me tell you I really like you and appreciate everything you have done so far to promote book reading. In 1994 you founded Amazon.com and revolutionized online bookselling. You changed the book industry forever. Now you can do it again.

My request is very simple: Please make sure the Kindle is as environmentally and socially friendly as possible and share the information about your efforts with me and other interested stakeholders.

I know you look at the Kindle a more than just a business. You look at it as a mission. You said it yourself to Fortune Tech: "We think of it as a mission. I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you."

This is great, but could you please add a "green" dimension to your mission?

I mean, I know you care about what customers say and you want to take their feedback into consideration to make the Kindle the best e-reader. You told Charlie Rose that people want "purpose built device, where no tradeoffs have been made, where every single design decision as we walking down the process has been made to optimize for reading." That's true. But I really wish you would add the word "sustainable" just before "reading".

For me, no tradeoffs mean not just better screen, but also making sure no blood minerals are used for the Kindle, that it doesn't contain harmful and hazardous substances, and that it is made in a safe working environment, where environmentally responsible manufacturing processes are used and workers are treated with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes.

No tradeoffs also mean to me that you're doing the best you can to make sure Kindles will be recycled by users when they stop using them and that you will publish the Kindle's carbon footprint on a regular basis to show your progress.

Yes, I know you don't like to publish figures on the Kindle sales. But this is different. This is about transparency and about showing your customers that you care not just about business, but also about the environmental and social impacts of the e-reading revolution you're leading.

I don't want to sound like a paranoid, but I'm a bit more worried when I read Ron Adner's analysis on Huffington Post that you have "drawn a clear line in the sand indicating that when it comes to digital reader devices, the company will focus on low-end, dedicated products." Adner explains that margins of the Kindle expect to decrease to zero. His conclusion is that " it means the company can stop heavy investment in developing reading devices, and instead focus on its clear competitive advantage: selling books." It's definitely reasonable from a business standpoint, but does it mean that there won't be a place for environmental and social considerations in the design/manufacturing process of the Kindle?

Jeff, I hope you can prove I'm worried for nothing. I hope you can show that you are interested in making the Kindle the greenest e-reader in the market. Not just because it's important for planet earth, but because it is important to me and to a growing number of readers who want to make their reading more sustainable.I believe you can lead another revolution here, bringing the mainstream not just a device that provides the opportunity to 'buy once, read everywhere,' but also a truly sustainable way to read books.

Thank you in advance for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Another reason to mooch books at BookMooch!

We wanted to remind you of our partnership with BookMooch, a great book-swapping community, with a simple and user-friendly point system, where every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch.

With more than 74,000 members from over 90 countries and about 500,000 book titles that are available, there's always a good book you can mooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. And yes, it's totally free. You only pay for mailing your books.

BookMooch and Eco-Libris are partnering to offer Green Mooching - a special bonus for bookmoochers who balance out their books: For every 10 books you balance out with Eco-Libris, you will receive one bookmooch point you can then use at BookMooch to mooch a book online for free (and If you don't have a BookMooch account yet go get one right now :)

The process is very simple – Email us your BookMooch username after you make a purchase on Eco-Libris website, or enter your BookMooch username in the comments box during the payment process. We will credit your BookMooch account accordingly.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

5 comments on "Quick Change in Strategy for a Bookseller"

There's an interesting article on the New York Times today by Julie Bosman about the problems and the unclear future of Barnes & Noble.

Here are five thoughts on the issues she brings up in the article (each comment starts with the relates quote from the article):

1. “The shift from the physical to the digital book can pick up some of the economic slack, but it can’t pick up the loss that is created when you don’t have the customers browsing the displays,” said Laurence J. Kirshbaum, a literary agent. “We need people going into stores and seeing a book they didn’t know existed and buying it.”

Laurence Kirshbaum is right regarding the importance of exposure - a survey of Zogby International for Random House from 2008 (The Reading and Book Buying Habits of Americans) shows that although most people know what they want to buy when they go to bookstores, they're still likely to buy more books that they didn't plan to buy in advance.

Here's the data from the Zogby survey:

Do you very often, somewhat often , or not at all often go into a bookstore knowing exactly what you’re looking for?
Very often 38%
Somewhat often 43
Not at all often 17
Not sure 2

When you go into a bookstore for a specific book, do you ever make additional unplanned book purchases?
Yes 77%
No 19
Not sure 4

Nevertheless, this added value is also provided today by many online channels, not to mention recommendations on books you find while searching Amazon or other online stores. I know it's not the same as browsing the displays, but still I'm not sure how much the decline of brick and mortar stores will actually hurt our ability to get exposed to new books we haven't heard about before.

2. "Whoever ends up in control of Barnes & Noble’s 720 retail stores will have to grapple with the fundamental changes in the industry — and if the shift to e-books continues, prove that Barnes & Noble can be as successful on the digital side of bookselling as it has been for print."

I believe being successful on the digital side of their business is the easier part. The real challenge for whoever runs Barnes & Noble is to find how to make their brick and mortar bookstores an asset for the company and not a liability that will drag the company down.

3. "William Lynch, the chief executive, said in an interview on Friday that the chain was retooling its stores to build up traffic, add products like educational toys and games, and emphasize its own e-reader, the Nook. “We think we’ve got the right strategy,” Mr. Lynch said. “The growth in our e-books business is about nine months ahead of our plan.""

What is exactly your strategy for the brick and mortar bookstores, Mr. Lynch? I certainly hope it's not just selling more toys and games and promoting the Nook. This won't be enough to sustain these stores.

4. “I’m in favor of anything that brings traffic in the store,” said Ms. Reidy of Simon & Schuster. “If it’s toys or games that brings a family into the bookstore, then I say fine.”

I am not sure how toys and games will bring more significant traffic to the stores, when these are already competitive markets with many established brands (Toys "R" Us for example) and a growing online market. I'm really skeptical if B&N can re-establish themselves as a games and toys preferable store that will attract enough customers to compensate for those who stopped coming because they buy books or e-books online. My suggestion to B&N? go for a green strategy!

5. "In a twist straight out of the movies, some publishers speculated that many of the independents that survived the big chains over the last 15 years might be in an unusually stable position... “Being small and privately held allows us to be more nimble,” said Chris Morrow, owner of the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt. “Our competitive advantage has been the curation aspect — knowing our customers and picking the right books"

Being small and independent has its own advantages and disadvantages. The problem is that many of B&N's fundamental problems (online sales, shift to e-books, recession) are the same problems independent bookstore are dealing with. What I'm saying is that independent bookstores also need to develop a strategy to succeed in the long term, no matter how good or bad B&N will eventually do.

My suggestion? Couple of weeks ago I suggested here a model for independent bookstores that will provide customers with both personal benefits and the feeling that they're contributing to the prosperity of their own community. This model is based on creating a collaboration with other local businesses to enable these businesses to provide customers with discounts for each other.

More articles on the future of bookstores can be found at http://www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!