New York City

The newsletter was distributed in and around New York City at the places listed below in mid March, and redistributed a week and two weeks later. 

Kim's Video, East Village, NYC

Kim's Video has moved. The famed video store that for years has been on Bleeker Street just off Bowery has now moved to 1st Avenue between 7th Street and 8th Street. It's a much smaller store now. I hope they do well in their new location. 

Paperbacknovel.com printed edition was distributed to Kim's Video, now on 1st Avenue.

Other Music, in the Village, NYC

Other Music is still kicking and seemingly doing well, now over two years after Tower Records, which had been across the street and brought Other Music's foot traffic, closed down. Other Music now features in-store music performances, like this one.

Shakespeare Books, in the Village, NYC

Shakespeare Books in the Village is part of a chain; there was one in lower Manhattan but it closed late in 2007. I am not sure if Shakespeare Books in the US is affiliated with Shakespeare Books in Paris. I am not sure if Shakespeare wrote all that he supposedly wrote anymore; in fact I've been convinced that he didn't.

Paperbacknovel.com printed edition at front of Shakespeare Books.

Bleecker Bob's in the Village, in NYC

We were proud to distribute paperbacknovel.com to Bleeker Bob's in the Village, one of the venerable record shops in NYC, which has been in business since the seventies. Bleeker Bob's is not your typical record shop; to walk into his shop is to walk back in time 30 years; the history of the place is well worn; Bob has found a niche selling lots of old vinyl records and posters, and also cd's of non-conformist music. For other thoughts on Bleeker Bob's, click here.

Bleeker Bob's in the Village.

Generation Records in the Village, in NYC

As mentioned in our last distribution report, besides CD's, Generation offers on the floor at the front of the store the widest assortment of independent newspapers and magazines in the Village.

As usual, we came out of Generation Records with our bag heavier than it was on the way in, dropping off 50 or so copies of paperbacknovel.com, but picking up copies of NY Waste, Arthur, and a bunch of other papers and heavy color magazines.

Grocery Store Next to CBGB's Store, St. Mark's Place, NYC

Still don't know if this is a Gristeedes, or a D'Agostino's, or a Walbaums, but it's been around forever and is the grocery store/supermarket on St. Marks. Paperbacknovel.com's were distributed to the large flat area at the front of the store offering huge amount of flyers and postcards.  

Broome Street Bar, SoHo, NYC

The front of the Broome Street Bar, one of the best neighborhood bars in SoHo, is very tight. There are a hoard of different papers to the left of the door, but when the place is full, which it often is, an additional two-person table is placed there. So you have to squeeze in through the front door, and squeeze past or over the people sitting there to distribute; this time the guy and gal engaged in conversation graciously stopped with the gal even taking my load and placing it in the paper-distribution corner, without spilling her boyfriend's beer. I didn't push it by asking her to grab a SoHo Journal for me while she was at it.

St. Marks Sounds on St. Marks Place, NYC

Asked and received amiable permission to distribute to the literature table at the front of the store, which sits beneath the shrine of posters just inside the massive 9-foot-tall, heavy wooden door.

CBGB's Store, St. Marks Place, NYC

Paperbacknovel.com can be found at the CBGB's store on St. Mark's Place, selling CBGB's t-shirts and

Kenny's Castaways, Bleeker Street, NYC

Kenny's Castaways is a music pub which features some convenient racks in the front vestible. 

The West Village, NYC

Paperbacknovel.com was also distributed to several video shops in the West Village, whose names weren't written down. 

Paperbacknovel.com Redistribution in NYC

Late March, 2008 -- Redistribution of Paperbacknovel.com newsletter to all of the places in NYC listed in coverage above.

Paperbacknovel.com Newletter in New Orleans

Late April, 2009 found paperbacknovel.com correspondant in New Orleans, distributing the newsletter to bookstores and anyplace else that displayed free papers.

The best bookshop that we visited was Beckman's Bookshop on Decatur in the old French Quarter. An eclectic bookstore of two stories, that features books, books, and more books -- not neatly squared away like most bookstore chains, but rather laid about here and there, many squared away in the aisles of bookshelves; some out on trays in the process of being categorized and placed on the shelves -- it was like walking into someone's house without notice, with books kind of laid out everywhere. The friendly, venerable southern gentleman at the front cashier looked up over his reading glasses positioned at the tip of his nose, and asked if I needed help. I asked if there were more books upstairs, and he said yes and there were some big windows which offered a great view of the street up there too. And he was right. Upstairs had more and more books; it was hot and humid the way it gets in an attic on a 90 degree day. A book reader could have spent a day in this bookstore, soaking up the laid back, southern bookstore vibe. Unfortunately, there were no places to distribute free literature or newspapers, so we didn't distribute there. I asked the gentleman if there were any music shops around; he asked what kind of music -- classic, jazz...? I said folk; he told me that just down the street there was a shop that offered the best selection in New Orleans; one that I would be proud to have visited. The Music Factory.

The Music Factory has a great collection of music of the blues, and folk, and rock and all kinds of other types. Lots of great t-shirts too, hanging from the ceilings of the first and the second floor. I picked up one as a souvenir.

Paperbacknovel.com (center of picture) distributed to the front of the Music Factory on Decatur Street in New Orleans.

We distributed paperbacknovel.com to several other places in the French Quarter, including an internet cafe called Cafe Internet. Could have done with some good coffee at that point, but the gal managing the shop said they only had regular coffee; no espresso's or anything fancy. I took a quick look at the pots; paper-filter coffee makers and who knows how often they make the coffee or how strong it was; I took a pass.

Cafe Internet on a Friday afternoon, May 1st, 2009.

The inside of Cafe Internet; paperbacknovel.com is in second tray from the left, over the waiting couch.

The French Quarter is a place predicated on drinking, partying, live music, and having fun. There are tourist shops, voodoo tourist shops, and also many art galleries. It is a place that takes on two different personalities -- one by day (sun-drenched tourism, artists, free spirits, cafe's, Creole and Cajun eateries), one by night (girls-gone-wild partying). But it doesn't have very many places to pick up or distribute free literature. It could to with a few more.   

A woman pencils in the birthdays for May 1st in a Voodoo tourist shop.