This particular episode features a discussion between Daniel Medin and Scott Esposito about W.G. Sebald’s Across the Land and the Water: Selected Poems 1964-2001 and Robert Walser’s The Walk, and includes a special interview with Three Percent hero Benjamin Moser.

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On a related note, Ed Nawotka of Publishing Perspectives was praising the on the Twitter or the Facebook the other day for it’s excellent series on visiting bookstores around the world. This particular episode features reports on stores in Tunis, Buenos Aires, and Barcelona . . .

So while you’re waiting for me and Kaija to break down this year’s Eurovision Song Contest (subject of the new Three Percent podcast, which will be available Friday), you can listen to both of these. Probably not as profane/filled with hysteria and crazy Euro “songs,” but interesting nevertheless . . .

The video does a great job of showing how 192 uses its small space to its advantage—by creating a curated experience of special, interesting books, rather than trying to stock the best-sellers and titles you can get more easily online or at a box store. I’ve written this a million times before, but I honestly believe this is the real charm of an independent, local bookstore. Don’t try and compete on price and the idea of having everything, but instead focus on catering to your clientele and giving them a surprising, rewarding reading experience.

Patrick Knisley in the video: “We’re very small and so we can’t stock everything. And so we think of our collection as a little curated. So the philosophy is that we want you to be surprised with what you find here, and it happens often.”

This all circles back to a phrase that Richard Nash refers to over and again (and which, cough, I guess I do too, since it’s the underlying principle driving the class I teach to my interns):

It’s unfeasible to try and unpack that here and now, but this could easily be one of those paradigm shifts that changes how the entire industry functions. Thanks to advances in technology and distribution, we all have access to anything we want. The new challenge is helping pair us with the right book, and finding ways to connect readers, creators, and producers.