| Our First Computer and Business Services (CCC) Location in Suttons Bay Developing Filemaker&trade Database Solutions in Danbury Antiques; another glimpse of Suttons Bay History | Michigan author Chris Zimmerman and his three northern Michigan based novels The Secret-Keeper, Intentional Acts and The Covenant Field! | Sleeping Bear Press Books, 'The Legend of' Series of Books, and Northern Michigan Related Books. |
 | Looking for the grocery store in Suttons Bay? Hansen Foods, the Good Cook's Store is the place! (you can also buy the current bestsellers from Known Books in Hansen Foods too!) |
| New Links! crankymen.com tipups.com Ice Fishing Accessories Leelanau Lifestyle Known Books Down by the Bay New and Used Books in Suttons Bay Voted Best Bookstore in Leelanau County for Four Years by Express Readers |
 |
Read about living in space on the Russian Space Station Mir for five months!(When was the last time you tried that? :) )
About Known Books About Suttons Bay About Leelanau County
After ten years on the main downtown street Known Books has moved to our new location across the street, and down by Suttons Bay in the lower level of the Millside Building. The building address is 101 Dame Street. Finding the building is easy! Turn onto the street between the BP Oil gas station and Roman Wheel Pizza (Dame Street) and head towards the bay. We will be on your left. We are the last building closest to the water. You can't get any closer to the water without being in a boat! Our neighbor on the other side of Dame Street is Inland Seas Education Association, home of the SchoolShip. Tom Kelly, the director of the school was telling me the other day that they have a great display and gift shop inside. (He's correct, I spent some time wandering inside their huge building - it used to house Northern Lumber!) Suttons Bay is located about 15 miles (about 20 minutes if traveling the speed limit!) north of Traverse City on M-22. Suttons Bay is a lovely year 'round village surrounded to the east by the bay, and snuggged in under the hills along the shore. Our downtown main street business district is lined with shops, boutiques, galleries, restaurants, a movie theatre and a few antique and resale shops. |
|
Read, Read, Read!
Thanks to an email I received this morning from Bill Burns of Long Island, New York, I was directed to a recorded broadcast of National Public Radio's "On the Media" segment which today featured books: "From Oprah's Book Club to the Google Library Project, the way we buy, search, read and even discuss books is changing. And so we begin with a look at some of the forces now tugging at the industry." Listen to the whole show or individual segments at: http://www.onthemedia.org Some interesting insights also gleaned by Nick Cvetkovic included these statistics: 11 percent of ALL book sales in the US come from Amazon and a mere 40 percent from brick and mortar book stores. These statisitics help shed light on the fabric of many communities and the demise of local independent booksellers. A community's obvious lack of support is reflected by their buying habits. As an independent it is truly hard to compete with chains and online selling venues in most markets. However, knowing, understanding, and embracing that dynamic selling opportunity makes all the sense in the world for a business owner to put their inventory in front of the buying public, whether they be online or physically in your store. One terrific point made was how the above trend will actually turn around and put the independent bookseller back into a coveted position because of their abilities to know and understand the books (inventory items) they are selling on the front tables when you enter their stores. Those books are placed there because the bookseller has a personal knowledge of the contents - and they were not paid to put those items in front of the public. I'll let you in on a little bookselling secret, people do not find books, books actually find people. The next time you have the chance be sure to read The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. Morley's protagonist describes perfectly the prescriptive nature of books and readers. 
The realization that only 30% of the buying public ever ventures into a bookstore was one of determining reasons as to why, after nine years, I moved Known Books out of the high-rent retail blocks of the resort community of Suttons Bay and decreased most retail hours of operation. Known Books' customers, and any book lover looking for a good book will always find a location where they are comfortable buying books. This is another reason why I decided to stock our local grocery store in Suttons Bay, Hansen Foods, with new releases, the bestsellers and local and topical books - also, because this is the store which gets all the traffic in town, seven days a week. I am a firm believer that books need to be made available, always. The down side of course, as a bookseller, is not always being available to help customers with their selections, to talk about what is new, what the story line is about, to share the excitement which can only come when you find those literary nuggets. The bookseller is the crucial element which can never be replaced by online buying and selling. It is the one thing that the whole internet community cannot take away from you, the book lover! 
Soon, Suttons Bay will be enhanced with a new bookstore. Earlier this summer Peter Makin approached me about moving Known Books back on main street. He was correct with his observation that Suttons Bay truly needed to have a bookstore on main street. He wanted me to move back to my previous high-rent location next to The Silvertree Deli. I must honestly admit that the sugar plums danced viciously in my head and I got excited about doing a bookselling venture with Peter (he is actually a delightful ole chap). Imagine how deeply my heart sank when he decided that he wanted to go it alone, to build something of his own, to open his own bookstore, with his own "not Known" identity in Suttons Bay. So long story short, and much to my continuing surprise Peter will be occupying the retail location where I'd been planning for the past year or so to reopen Known Books (you know - top of the waiting list and all - I really need to find out how *that* happened!). This addition to Suttons Bay is vital. I encourage all to support this new store because a bookstore should survive, it should be healthy. The mere presence of a bookstore is a visual reminder to all to keep buying books, to keep reading. A bookstore is a wonderful symbol to a child that books matter, a terrific reminder of the validity of the printed word, of the book. A bookstore is the ultimate celebration of the book as a product; the author, the design, the paper and the way the ink displays those words as you flip through those pages. A bookstore contains the crucial element essential to our society: a bookseller, a person who cares enough to surround themselves with books for you. And that aspect alone is worth the effort, struggle, long hours, and financial risk to open the doors of an independent bookstore - especially in a small resort community like Suttons Bay! So as you go through Suttons Bay and see his sign rejoice in knowing he will be there. And don't worry, Known Books is still in Suttons Bay selling books as usual! We are still in the lower level of the Millside Building overlooking the shores of Suttons Bay, maybe not as visible as we were when we were next to The Silvertree Deli, but nonetheless, still in Suttons Bay celebrating books, and book selling. Welcome Peter to this wonderful world of book selling, to being a "book seller". Being a bookseller is the ultimate way of life and living. And regardless of how many books we move around the country via the mail from internet book sales, a bookseller is an element that even the internet cannot remove from a community - I know Peter will be "brilliant, simply brilliant!"  Known Amazon Bestsellers Historic Cottages of Glen Lake Announcing the early release of Leelanau County's and Glen Arbor's newest stunning photography coffee table book. (GLEN ARBOR, Mich) - Rarely seen interior images of 50 cozy summer cottages and narratives provide a portrait of a special place and state of mind evoked by summer cottage living on beautiful Glen Lake. These cottages are viewed against the backdrop of early summer resort life in northern Michigan the first half of the twentieth century. Dietrich Floeter's duotone photographs and author Barbara Siepker's captivating historical narratives include personal anecdotes on each cottage. The cottage is shown in its glory and reveals its importance in the lives of its owners and the broader community. In total they document the essence of these wonderful old cottages as well as life and time of bygone years. These rich cottage images have been captured with care and reverence by Traverse City photographer, Dietrich Floeter. His intention choice of a wide view camera replicates the type and style of camera that would have been used during the time period of the early resort era. Floeter has captured their essence through close attention to light and detail which he has meticulously set up and framed. Floeter has been a commercial photographer for twenty-three years, specializing in architectural, industrial and aerial work. Barbara Siepker has enjoyed learning about the local history since moving to Glen Lake. She owns The Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor and has interviewed over 75 local and summer resorters. Paging through Historic Cottages of Glen Lake is like taking a walk through a time-warp. Rich images and narratives honor resort and cottage lore and memories in a manner not previously captured in a book. This attractive hardcover book is printed in duotone and it contains over 300 photographs, illustrations and maps in its 224 pages and is priced at $50. Available locally from Known Books via this website, from The Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor or at Leelanau Books in Leland - their local phone number is 231-256-7111. Contact Information: Barbara Siepker The Cottage Book Shop Box 115 Glen Arbor, Michigan 49636 231-334-4223 800-303-6956 Siepker@aol.com Brilliant, simply brilliant! More Known Books Bestsellers I'm sure you can tell if you've been browsing around the site that we are in the middle of a transition to a new format. We are in the process of converting all pages to a dynamic database driven format utilizing Lasso from Lassosoft. We have created a new home page complete with many new links and search features, and we've added a new Known Messages feature. You know how it is, you're sitting at your computer and suddenly you get this great idea, or you have a thought and want to 'give it voice' right now. . . well, I am like that, so I created a message board to leave just those kinds of messages, plus I realized it is also a great format to feature some interesting books without having to bring down the whole system to code a page. I hope you enjoy using Known Messages as much as I do! See our new home page by clicking on this link: The New Known Books Home Page. (This page will continue to be active for a long time though!)
If you can't stop by personally, please search our inventory. The new database structure allows you to search the title, author or ISBN from one field. I'd also like to remind / suggest you that if we don't have what you're looking for online, and if you choose to buy from Amazon, please begin your search here, from the Known Books website, by entering the book you are looking for in the Amazon search box on this page in the upper right corner. The reason I ask is because we joined their Associate Program and when you order from them, and if you start here, we receive a referral fee. And that fee is one more amount which helps to keep the store open and available for you. And to all of you who have been entering the Amazon website from Known Books I truly appreciate that you do. Your doing so has helped tremendously. Thank you!Cheryl Also, I've created a page with photos if you want to see pictures about Known Books! We offer both new and used books in general categories. Because we are located in a small resort community we select our inventory to serve our local market, and to have available titles which might also appeal to the thousands of tourists visiting our area throughout the year. We don't specialize because we realized that a broad range of subjects increases the ability to match the right book with the right person (which also increases cash flow!). Perhaps there is a book waiting for you too! So, stop by often, and search our entire inventory via this website where all our books are listed (give or take a few based on daily sales activity). In addition to our own website, www.known.com (or www.knownbooks.com), our books are listed on Amazon.com Marketplace and with biblio.com. All books are subject to prior sale. During February, 2000 McGraw-Hill released Dr. Jerry M. Linenger's book Off the Planet and most recently Letters from MIR, An Astronaut's Letters to His Son. Dr. Linenger, US Astronaut and MIR Cosmonaut, will not be conducting a book signing tour, however, he wants signed copies of Off the Planet and Letters from Mir available to purchase. Known Books is honored to be designated by Dr. Linenger as the "exclusive headquarters for signed copies" of "Off the Planet" and "Letters from Mir". Follow the links to read more information and to order your signed copies. KNOWN SHIPPING ARRANGEMENTSMichigan residents please add 6% sales tax to the total excluding shipping. Shipping is normally via USPS Media Rate Mail - charges are $3.50 for the first book and $1.00 for each additional book. (Other shipping arrangements as requested can be arranged at cost).Click Here to Link to Books about Michigan & Books about Suttons Bay & Leelanau County and the "Leelanau Peninsula Lifestyle Mindset"! |
|
Enter the "Big Sites" through Local Websites When you buy something from Amazon when you enter through our website Known Books will receive a referral fee for your purchases Shop and Buy There Often! Romantic Suspense Thriller! 
A mystery gleaned from the shores of Hemingway's Walloon Lake . . . An adventure woven from the love notes of the dearly departed . . . A deliciously clever tale of revenge, of forgiveness, of letting go . . and of love that refuses to die. Destined to become of your favorite reads, Chris Zimmerman's second work "The Secret-Keeper" takes you on a rollercoaster of suspense. Congratulations to Suttons Bay Resident Lynne Rae Perkins (Known Books will receive a referral fee when you do!) |
|
Contact Us Questions, comments, or suggestions Please write to books@known.com Copyright©2007. All Rights Reserved. |
© 1995 - 2007 known.com All Rights Reserved
Other Trademarks, tradenames, and product names are the property of their respective holders.
known.com™ is a trademark of Known Books. All rights reserved. 2007
Other Trademarks, tradenames, and product names are the property of their respective holders.
known.com™ is a trademark of Known Books. All rights reserved. 2007