Howdy Pardners,
Scott Cox, your Sponsor Liaison, here. A few things you should know. . . First, it finally feels like summer here in San Francisco and Alan is not happy about it. Second, just when you thought our assortment couldn't get any better, we've tweaked the layout of the store a bit to allow more room for hardcover and trade paperback books. Third, we're also featuring our bestselling books for each month in their own bookcase. The last and best news is all of the upcoming sponsor events we have planned both near and far!
Short
1) Game Night at the Cafe. September's Sponsor event is inspired by the rollicking good time our gamers had at the last social. So, we're going full tilt game night. On Sunday, September 25th, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, we'll be hosting our very first Game Night at the Cafe! Many games and game masters will be on hand, but if you have a favorite game you want to share, please feel free to bring it along (please limit the games to those that can be completed in 2-3 hours or less). As always feel free to bring any drinks or snacks you would care to share.
2) Open Mic Night. Join us Friday, October 21st, for the next Sponsors' Open Mic Night.
3) Picnic in Golden Gate Park. October's Sponsor event is enjoying the great outdoors and San Francisco's actual summer time. We have reserved our own section of Golden Gate Park for food and fun on Saturday, October 22nd from noon to 4pm. Look for Table 17 in Lindley Meadow on the South side of JFK Drive.
4) World Fantasy Convention. We will be hosting our first-ever out of town event to celebrate Borderlands' continued existence at the World Fantasy Convention. We will be hosting an intimate get-together in our hospitality suite in the afternoon on Saturday, October 29th. We'll have more details as we get closer to the event. We'll also be hosting an open party on Friday night. Look for details here and in the store newsletter.
5) Sponsor Social. Our next Sponsor Social (and last one of 2016) will be Saturday, the 12th of November, from 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm.
6) Mary Robinette Kowal's Whiskey Tasting will be a few days earlier or later than the Social. No need to reserve yet as we are still firming up plans.
7) We'll be touring the offices of the Long Now Foundation at the Presidio in early December. Look for more details to come.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Sponsor Letter, August 11th 2016
Hi Everyone,
I hope you've been enjoying your summer. We've been having a bit of fun around here (rearranging the rare book section, moving some shelves around and so on) and I've been getting a chance to do some work around the house. For me it's mostly been paint prep, which I don't enjoy very much. My place hasn't been very much maintained since it was built in 1923 and so there has been a lot of work to do. But, it's not at all as bad as the store was when we moved in (not to mention, my place is much smaller than the shop), so I should not be complaining.
We're getting ready to swing into the Fall and the start of the school year. That doesn't affect things at the bookstore much but, in the cafe, it means a complete schedule overhaul. Thankfully that's more Z'ev's problem than mine. I'm very lucky in the folks who work with me.
Going over the schedule at the cafe has made it clear that we need some more staff there. We've two staffers leaving for college and so, we're hiring. If any of you know anyone who might be interested in an exciting (or, at the very least, interesting) job at the cafe, please ask them to get in touch. Scheduling is pretty well suited to someone in school. That includes high-school students, who we're quite happy to work with. Plus, no experience is needed.
The final advantage of working in the cafe -- the cafe staff are the first people we turn to when we're looking for bookstore staff. So it's a great way to get into working at the bookstore. Interested parties should send me a cover letter and resume to abeatts@borderlands-books.com.
Other than that, we're getting ready for the Fall and we've got some very neat events planned for the later part of the year. We're also working on the event schedule for next year. I know it might be a little premature but, based on what I've been hearing from you all and how well things went this year, I feel pretty confident that we'll make our sponsorship goals for 2017. So, we might as well start the planning now for the fun and games -- right now here are some of the things we're thinking about: a scavenger hunt at the store (including the creepy, creepy basement), tours of both the SF Center for the Book <https://www.sfcb.org> and The Arion Press <http://www.arionpress.com>, a sing-along showing of Buffy, The Musical, a roller skating trip to The Church of Eight Wheels <http://www.churchof8wheels.com>, and much more interesting stuff.
Have a good August and I'll look forward to seeing you around the shop!
All Best,
Alan
Upcoming Events:
The Sgian Dubh Version
1) Don Herron is offering our sponsors a mashup of his famous literary Dashiell Hammett and Fritz Leiber walking tours for the reduced rate of $10 per person on Sunday, August 28th at 1:00pm. Guests are welcome and pre-payment will be necessary; please RSVP as soon as you can. http://www.donherron.com/the-tour/
2) Game Night at the Cafe, Sunday, September 25th from 7 pm to 10 pm - Join fellow sponsors & "game" staff for chess, Cards Against Humanity, Scrabble, Pictionary, or whatever other board games you'd like to bring to play! Guests are very welcome.
3) We're having a BBQ potluck at Golden Gate Park on Saturday, October 22nd from Noon to 4 pm. This is at table #17, Lindley Meadow. Guests are welcome and, per Rec and Parks, no glass bottles please.
4) Whisky Tasting with Mary Robinette Kowal, November, day and time to be determined. We unfortunately cannot allow guests for this event. This was delayed a bit because Mary Robinette's book and tour were delayed by the publisher.
5) The Fall Sponsor Social, last one for the year, will take place on November 12th from 7 pm to 11 pm.
6) Tour of The Long Now Foundation, early December, day and time to be determined. We'll take a visit to their office / cafe and hear about their current projects and long, long, long term plans. http://longnow.org/
I hope you've been enjoying your summer. We've been having a bit of fun around here (rearranging the rare book section, moving some shelves around and so on) and I've been getting a chance to do some work around the house. For me it's mostly been paint prep, which I don't enjoy very much. My place hasn't been very much maintained since it was built in 1923 and so there has been a lot of work to do. But, it's not at all as bad as the store was when we moved in (not to mention, my place is much smaller than the shop), so I should not be complaining.
We're getting ready to swing into the Fall and the start of the school year. That doesn't affect things at the bookstore much but, in the cafe, it means a complete schedule overhaul. Thankfully that's more Z'ev's problem than mine. I'm very lucky in the folks who work with me.
Going over the schedule at the cafe has made it clear that we need some more staff there. We've two staffers leaving for college and so, we're hiring. If any of you know anyone who might be interested in an exciting (or, at the very least, interesting) job at the cafe, please ask them to get in touch. Scheduling is pretty well suited to someone in school. That includes high-school students, who we're quite happy to work with. Plus, no experience is needed.
The final advantage of working in the cafe -- the cafe staff are the first people we turn to when we're looking for bookstore staff. So it's a great way to get into working at the bookstore. Interested parties should send me a cover letter and resume to abeatts@borderlands-books.com.
Other than that, we're getting ready for the Fall and we've got some very neat events planned for the later part of the year. We're also working on the event schedule for next year. I know it might be a little premature but, based on what I've been hearing from you all and how well things went this year, I feel pretty confident that we'll make our sponsorship goals for 2017. So, we might as well start the planning now for the fun and games -- right now here are some of the things we're thinking about: a scavenger hunt at the store (including the creepy, creepy basement), tours of both the SF Center for the Book <https://www.sfcb.org> and The Arion Press <http://www.arionpress.com>, a sing-along showing of Buffy, The Musical, a roller skating trip to The Church of Eight Wheels <http://www.churchof8wheels.com>, and much more interesting stuff.
Have a good August and I'll look forward to seeing you around the shop!
All Best,
Alan
Upcoming Events:
The Sgian Dubh Version
1) Don Herron is offering our sponsors a mashup of his famous literary Dashiell Hammett and Fritz Leiber walking tours for the reduced rate of $10 per person on Sunday, August 28th at 1:00pm. Guests are welcome and pre-payment will be necessary; please RSVP as soon as you can. http://www.donherron.com/the-tour/
2) Game Night at the Cafe, Sunday, September 25th from 7 pm to 10 pm - Join fellow sponsors & "game" staff for chess, Cards Against Humanity, Scrabble, Pictionary, or whatever other board games you'd like to bring to play! Guests are very welcome.
3) We're having a BBQ potluck at Golden Gate Park on Saturday, October 22nd from Noon to 4 pm. This is at table #17, Lindley Meadow. Guests are welcome and, per Rec and Parks, no glass bottles please.
4) Whisky Tasting with Mary Robinette Kowal, November, day and time to be determined. We unfortunately cannot allow guests for this event. This was delayed a bit because Mary Robinette's book and tour were delayed by the publisher.
5) The Fall Sponsor Social, last one for the year, will take place on November 12th from 7 pm to 11 pm.
6) Tour of The Long Now Foundation, early December, day and time to be determined. We'll take a visit to their office / cafe and hear about their current projects and long, long, long term plans. http://longnow.org/
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Sponsor Letter, July 7th 2016
Hi Everyone,
I hope you're all enjoying your summer -- it's a traditional San Francisco July here: gray and cloudy which is confusing the tourists and recent arrivals while giving old-timers a sense of comfort and consistency. I've been focusing on some family stuff and getting details around the shop ironed out (the former with much success and the latter with . . . some . . . success). But, it's pretty much the usual summer status quo -- business is slow at the cafe, busy at the bookstore, and I'm playing catch-up. I hope to see many of you next week at the social, which will be the usual low-key summer one -- no big announcements, no fire-dancers, but plenty of food, drink and chatting.
All Best,
Alan
The Eddard Stark version:
1) We'll be hosting a private reception for a small group of sponsors with Charlie Stross, THIS SUNDAY, June 10th, at 6 pm after his public event at the store. If you would like to be in the drawing to attend the private event, please reply to this email and say so (and, do look at the details below).
2) The locked room event at the PanIQ Room was a blast. Fortunately, all of the groups managed to escape their rooms, so we didn't have to leave anyone behind. We may hold another Sponsor event there in the future, for those of you who weren't able to attend.
3) The next Sponsor Social is scheduled for Thursday, July 14th from 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm. As usual, one guest per sponsor, RSVP's appreciated, and we hope to see you there! It's BYOB and pot-luck so feel free to bring some drink or food or both. But don't worry if you don't have time or spine for that -- we don't usually run short on either.
4) We have a new intern at the store! You may have met her at the locked room event last Thursday. Her name is Miranda Phaal, she's very friendly and mostly doesn't bite, so feel free to say hi and introduce yourself if you see her around.
The Tyrion Lannister version:
1) We're going to be hosting an event at the store with Charles Stross, brilliant author of The Laundry Files series as well as many other fantastic titles, this Sunday at 3 pm. As a special treat for some of our sponsors, Charlie will be going for drinks with a small group of you after the public event. To make this an intimate gathering, rather than just a smaller version of the signing at the store, the number of people attending is sharply limited. If you would like to come, please reply to this email and let me know. The deadline to express interest is 8 pm Friday, July 8th.
After the deadline, I'll draw names out of a "hat" to determine who will be attending. The private event is at 6 pm on Sunday, June 10th, will run about two hours, and is seven block walk from Borderlands. Food and drinks will be available to purchase at the site. Regrettably, it will not be possible to bring any guests. I will be notifying the winners on Saturday afternoon and giving them further details.
Of course, the event at the store is open to the public and, as a sponsor, you can reserve a seat for yourself and one guest, if you like. Just email sponsors@borderlands-books.com to reserve a seat.
2) Sponsors (and staff) had a lot of fun at the PanIQ Room locked room event last Thursday. All three groups managed to escape from their rooms, two of them in around 30 minutes, and the third in just over 50 minutes (they had the hardest room). It was such a fun event that we may look into holding another Sponsor event there for those of you that couldn't make it this time, or who want to try to beat your record from last time.
3) The next Sponsor Social is scheduled for Thursday, July 14th from 7:00 - 11:00 pm. As usual, it will be a potluck, so bring your specialty dish to show off, or a bottle of something to share. We will have some excellent beer, courtesy of the generous folks at local Speakeasy Ales and Lagers < http://www.goodbeer.com >, who were our beverage guests at the last social. It has been dry enough that we may even be able to resume the "backstage" tours! And as usual, there will be much merriment, weird & fabulous raffle prizes, (including a special little something courtesy of the fabulous Joe Hill!) and probably an embarrassing story or two about the history of Borderlands, as they always seem to come up. You can bring one non-sponsor guest with you, and RSVPs are appreciated but not required. I hope to see all of you there.
4) We have a new Publicity and Marketing intern at the store! Some of you met her last Thursday at the locked room event. Her name is Miranda Phaal, she's going to school at Tufts University (located just outside of Boston), but she's a local San Franciscan and a Borderlands Sponsor. She'll be writing some promotional materials for the store, helping out with Sponsor and author events, and possibly working to get more stuff up on our Youtube channel. Other than at events, she'll be back in the office most of the time, but if you see her around, feel free to say hi and introduce yourself. She's friendly, we promise.
--------------------------
Borderlands Books and Cafe
866 Valencia St.
San Francisco CA 94110 USA
415 824-8203
888 893-4008
http://www.borderlands-books.com
I hope you're all enjoying your summer -- it's a traditional San Francisco July here: gray and cloudy which is confusing the tourists and recent arrivals while giving old-timers a sense of comfort and consistency. I've been focusing on some family stuff and getting details around the shop ironed out (the former with much success and the latter with . . . some . . . success). But, it's pretty much the usual summer status quo -- business is slow at the cafe, busy at the bookstore, and I'm playing catch-up. I hope to see many of you next week at the social, which will be the usual low-key summer one -- no big announcements, no fire-dancers, but plenty of food, drink and chatting.
All Best,
Alan
The Eddard Stark version:
1) We'll be hosting a private reception for a small group of sponsors with Charlie Stross, THIS SUNDAY, June 10th, at 6 pm after his public event at the store. If you would like to be in the drawing to attend the private event, please reply to this email and say so (and, do look at the details below).
2) The locked room event at the PanIQ Room was a blast. Fortunately, all of the groups managed to escape their rooms, so we didn't have to leave anyone behind. We may hold another Sponsor event there in the future, for those of you who weren't able to attend.
3) The next Sponsor Social is scheduled for Thursday, July 14th from 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm. As usual, one guest per sponsor, RSVP's appreciated, and we hope to see you there! It's BYOB and pot-luck so feel free to bring some drink or food or both. But don't worry if you don't have time or spine for that -- we don't usually run short on either.
4) We have a new intern at the store! You may have met her at the locked room event last Thursday. Her name is Miranda Phaal, she's very friendly and mostly doesn't bite, so feel free to say hi and introduce yourself if you see her around.
The Tyrion Lannister version:
1) We're going to be hosting an event at the store with Charles Stross, brilliant author of The Laundry Files series as well as many other fantastic titles, this Sunday at 3 pm. As a special treat for some of our sponsors, Charlie will be going for drinks with a small group of you after the public event. To make this an intimate gathering, rather than just a smaller version of the signing at the store, the number of people attending is sharply limited. If you would like to come, please reply to this email and let me know. The deadline to express interest is 8 pm Friday, July 8th.
After the deadline, I'll draw names out of a "hat" to determine who will be attending. The private event is at 6 pm on Sunday, June 10th, will run about two hours, and is seven block walk from Borderlands. Food and drinks will be available to purchase at the site. Regrettably, it will not be possible to bring any guests. I will be notifying the winners on Saturday afternoon and giving them further details.
Of course, the event at the store is open to the public and, as a sponsor, you can reserve a seat for yourself and one guest, if you like. Just email sponsors@borderlands-books.com to reserve a seat.
2) Sponsors (and staff) had a lot of fun at the PanIQ Room locked room event last Thursday. All three groups managed to escape from their rooms, two of them in around 30 minutes, and the third in just over 50 minutes (they had the hardest room). It was such a fun event that we may look into holding another Sponsor event there for those of you that couldn't make it this time, or who want to try to beat your record from last time.
3) The next Sponsor Social is scheduled for Thursday, July 14th from 7:00 - 11:00 pm. As usual, it will be a potluck, so bring your specialty dish to show off, or a bottle of something to share. We will have some excellent beer, courtesy of the generous folks at local Speakeasy Ales and Lagers < http://www.goodbeer.com >, who were our beverage guests at the last social. It has been dry enough that we may even be able to resume the "backstage" tours! And as usual, there will be much merriment, weird & fabulous raffle prizes, (including a special little something courtesy of the fabulous Joe Hill!) and probably an embarrassing story or two about the history of Borderlands, as they always seem to come up. You can bring one non-sponsor guest with you, and RSVPs are appreciated but not required. I hope to see all of you there.
4) We have a new Publicity and Marketing intern at the store! Some of you met her last Thursday at the locked room event. Her name is Miranda Phaal, she's going to school at Tufts University (located just outside of Boston), but she's a local San Franciscan and a Borderlands Sponsor. She'll be writing some promotional materials for the store, helping out with Sponsor and author events, and possibly working to get more stuff up on our Youtube channel. Other than at events, she'll be back in the office most of the time, but if you see her around, feel free to say hi and introduce yourself. She's friendly, we promise.
--------------------------
Borderlands Books and Cafe
866 Valencia St.
San Francisco CA 94110 USA
415 824-8203
888 893-4008
http://www.borderlands-books.com
Monday, June 6, 2016
Sponsor Letter, June 6th 2016
Hi All,
First, I want to thank all the sponsors who took time to talk with me about the various schemes that might allow us to purchase a building. As I expected, they were a lovely group of people and I had a really nice time talking with them. Beyond the pleasant conversation, there were also a bunch of great ideas that came out of those meetings. That's the good news.
I subsequently spent a couple of hours discussing those ideas with the attorney who has been volunteering his time on this. As a result of that conversation, it seems that most of the ideas aren't really viable. The core problem is that we're in a unique position as a for-profit business. It's common that people will want to donate financially to non-profit projects, but that doesn't really come up for businesses like Borderlands. As a result, there doesn't seem to be any simple, safe and legal way to make it work.
Which brings up the question of making Borderlands a non-profit. I'm still working on running that to ground and I'll be meeting with an attorney who specializes in non-profits in a couple of weeks. But, the sense that I have at this point is that a non-profit structure isn't likely to be an option. The basic reason is this -- creating a non-profit with a primary goal of running a bookstore that sells products at a profit is not likely to fly with the IRS. It's possible that we could create a non-profit that did enough other things that the bookstore could be considered secondary to the overall operations of the non-profit. But, in that case, I'd be running a pretty big non-profit and not doing very much bookselling. Which is not something I want to do.
There's also the secondary problem that, to create a non-profit out of Borderlands, I'd either have to donate the whole business to the non-profit (which is unattractive because Borderlands is probably the most valuable thing I own) or the non-profit would need to buy the business from me (which is a transaction that would be looked at very, very carefully by both the IRS and the California Attorney General and, possibly / probably not approved).
So, as of now I'm working on one long-shot idea which, for legal reasons, I cannot discuss right now. There probably won't be much progress on that 'til much later this year (perhaps around November) but I'll let you know as much as I can, as I know it. Beyond that, I've come to a point where I need to back off from the idea of buying a building and let it percolate in the back of my mind for a couple of months.
But, really, that's fine. It means I'll be able to put my attention back on smaller scale projects, both for the store and the sponsorship program. You can expect to hear some noise around the shop as I work to finish off some construction projects. And, I hope to get some of the other things I've talked about for you going (like videos of events on YouTube and so forth).
If you're wondering about the obstacles I ran into on the building project, I'd be happy to go into more detail. Just drop me a line. But, I'm going to be out of town for a week starting this Friday and my internet access will be limited, so please be patient if I'm not as fast as usual with my replies.
Before going on to our upcoming sponsor events, I've got one last thought about the question of our lease and a long-term home for Borderlands. As of now, we have five years and three months remaining on our lease. After that expires, we can move the bookstore into the cafe for another four years. That's nine years altogether. All sorts of things can happen in nine years and, like everything else in life, we'll just have to play it as it goes (I might work something out so we can buy a building . . . the landlord might give me a decent lease . . . there's no way of knowing what will happen). But I know that we've got those nine years because of you all -- so, I think we're doing just great. I also know that what we're doing is easier than teaching a horse to sing < http://borderlands-sponsors.blogspot.com/p/teaching-horses-to-sing.html >.
The Robert E. Howard Version
1) Locked Room Puzzle. Our sponsor event for the month of June is a locked-room mystery puzzle with the folks at PanIQ Room < https://paniqroom.com/sanfrancisco >, and it will take place on Thursday, June 30th, at 8:30 pm. Space is very limited (only 18 people can participate) and the fee will be $25 per person. You're welcome to bring a guest. If you're interested, please RSVP to sponsors@borderlands-books.com.
2) The next sponsor social is coming up on Thursday, July 14th. You can RSVP now if you wish or wait 'til next month. As usual, you're welcome to bring a guest.
3) In August our special event will be a Scotch Whisky tasting with noted author, Mary Robinette Kowal. The exact date is TBA.
4) The 2016 list of sponsors has (finally) been posted at the store.
First, I want to thank all the sponsors who took time to talk with me about the various schemes that might allow us to purchase a building. As I expected, they were a lovely group of people and I had a really nice time talking with them. Beyond the pleasant conversation, there were also a bunch of great ideas that came out of those meetings. That's the good news.
I subsequently spent a couple of hours discussing those ideas with the attorney who has been volunteering his time on this. As a result of that conversation, it seems that most of the ideas aren't really viable. The core problem is that we're in a unique position as a for-profit business. It's common that people will want to donate financially to non-profit projects, but that doesn't really come up for businesses like Borderlands. As a result, there doesn't seem to be any simple, safe and legal way to make it work.
Which brings up the question of making Borderlands a non-profit. I'm still working on running that to ground and I'll be meeting with an attorney who specializes in non-profits in a couple of weeks. But, the sense that I have at this point is that a non-profit structure isn't likely to be an option. The basic reason is this -- creating a non-profit with a primary goal of running a bookstore that sells products at a profit is not likely to fly with the IRS. It's possible that we could create a non-profit that did enough other things that the bookstore could be considered secondary to the overall operations of the non-profit. But, in that case, I'd be running a pretty big non-profit and not doing very much bookselling. Which is not something I want to do.
There's also the secondary problem that, to create a non-profit out of Borderlands, I'd either have to donate the whole business to the non-profit (which is unattractive because Borderlands is probably the most valuable thing I own) or the non-profit would need to buy the business from me (which is a transaction that would be looked at very, very carefully by both the IRS and the California Attorney General and, possibly / probably not approved).
So, as of now I'm working on one long-shot idea which, for legal reasons, I cannot discuss right now. There probably won't be much progress on that 'til much later this year (perhaps around November) but I'll let you know as much as I can, as I know it. Beyond that, I've come to a point where I need to back off from the idea of buying a building and let it percolate in the back of my mind for a couple of months.
But, really, that's fine. It means I'll be able to put my attention back on smaller scale projects, both for the store and the sponsorship program. You can expect to hear some noise around the shop as I work to finish off some construction projects. And, I hope to get some of the other things I've talked about for you going (like videos of events on YouTube and so forth).
If you're wondering about the obstacles I ran into on the building project, I'd be happy to go into more detail. Just drop me a line. But, I'm going to be out of town for a week starting this Friday and my internet access will be limited, so please be patient if I'm not as fast as usual with my replies.
Before going on to our upcoming sponsor events, I've got one last thought about the question of our lease and a long-term home for Borderlands. As of now, we have five years and three months remaining on our lease. After that expires, we can move the bookstore into the cafe for another four years. That's nine years altogether. All sorts of things can happen in nine years and, like everything else in life, we'll just have to play it as it goes (I might work something out so we can buy a building . . . the landlord might give me a decent lease . . . there's no way of knowing what will happen). But I know that we've got those nine years because of you all -- so, I think we're doing just great. I also know that what we're doing is easier than teaching a horse to sing < http://borderlands-sponsors.blogspot.com/p/teaching-horses-to-sing.html >.
The Robert E. Howard Version
1) Locked Room Puzzle. Our sponsor event for the month of June is a locked-room mystery puzzle with the folks at PanIQ Room < https://paniqroom.com/sanfrancisco >, and it will take place on Thursday, June 30th, at 8:30 pm. Space is very limited (only 18 people can participate) and the fee will be $25 per person. You're welcome to bring a guest. If you're interested, please RSVP to sponsors@borderlands-books.com.
2) The next sponsor social is coming up on Thursday, July 14th. You can RSVP now if you wish or wait 'til next month. As usual, you're welcome to bring a guest.
3) In August our special event will be a Scotch Whisky tasting with noted author, Mary Robinette Kowal. The exact date is TBA.
4) The 2016 list of sponsors has (finally) been posted at the store.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Sponsor Letter, May 6th 2016
Hi Everyone,
Check it out -- Sponsor Note pretty much on time. Things are looking up. This note is going to be on the short side since I'm still working out the ramifications of my recent realization that we might be able to start fund-raising for a building sooner than I expected. I still have a few conversations to have with specialists (my accountant and the realtor I've been working with, specifically) and I need to do a bit more planning before I've got a detailed proposal to run past you.
In service of putting all that together, I've a sort of odd request; I'd like to meet with a group of sponsors who do not know me very well. I'm very lucky that many of you are people I call friends or, at the very least, you're folks I've known for years and love chatting with when our paths cross. However, if we're going to raise the kind of cash we're going to need, I'll be presenting our plan to the world at large. I'd like to get a preview of what the reaction might be, and talking with some folks who haven't known me for years is a good place to start.
So, if you don't know me very well or haven't been a customer at the store for long, I'd appreciate an hour or two of your time somewhere around the end of this month. If you're willing, drop me an email. Once I hear back from people, I'll come up with some days and times to meet. I'd like to do this in a group, so scheduling might be a little tricky, but I think we can manage it.
In closing, thanks to all the people who took the time to give me their thoughts about the questions I raised last month. The result is that it looks like we're going to let the idea of live streaming events go, but we will be recording them and getting them up on You Tube. If it's easy (which I think it should be) we'll also see about setting them up in audio-only, podcast style.
Oh, and one last thing -- I'm about to leave town for a bit of a vacation. Scott will be taking care of usual sponsor business and I'll be keeping an eye on email as well. Critical items will get the usual fast reply from me as needed but less critical stuff might be on a back-burner for the next week or so.
The "Bullet" version:
1) Huge thanks to Joe Thomas and John Plevyar for hosting and supplying the wine tasting last week! More than a dozen sponsors came, enjoyed much wine (8 different vintages), and talked each other's ears off.
2) On Saturday, May 14th, at 8 pm we will host a perfumery demonstration at the bookstore with Megan E. O'Keefe, author of Steal The Sky. As usual, there will be limited space so RSVP now (you are welcome to bring one guest, if you wish).
3) The next Sponsors' Open Mic is coming up on Friday, May 20th at 7 pm. Please email Greg Roensch at gregroensch@gmail.com if you would like to participate.
4) Our Sponsors' event for June will be a "Locked Room Mystery" event. Space will be very limited so be ready to RSVP when we announce the date and time in the June sponsor note.
4) The next Sponsors' Social will be on Thursday, July 14th and will run from 7 pm to 11 pm. We're lining up some neat "guests" for this one so check next month's note for more details.
The "Arrow" version:
1) Thank you to Joe Thomas and John Plevyar for hosting and supplying the wine tasting last week. More than a dozen sponsors came, enjoyed much wine, and talked each other's ears off. For those of you who couldn't make it, the vintages were:
Casey Flat Ranch Red Wine 2012
Mike and Molly Hendry, RW Moore Vineyard, Napa Valley Zinfandel 2012
Mark Herold Flux California Red Wine 2011
Centopassi Rosso Sicilia 2011
Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel 2013
Worlds End, Little Sister Napa Valley Merlot 2010
Copolla, Directors Cut Merlot, Napa 2012
Les Darons Languedoc 2014
Overall, the favorites were the Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel and the Copolla, Directors Cut Merlot. We're certainly going to do this again, perhaps this year, so don't miss it next time.
2) May's sponsor event will be a demonstration about perfume-making with Megan E. O'Keefe. It will take place at the bookstore on Saturday, May 14th, starting at 8 pm. Megan, the author of Steal The Sky, isn't just a great writer and wonderful speaker. She's also a expert on blending perfume. Last year she offered to host a participatory demonstration about perfume-making for our sponsors. I'm very pleased that I'm finally able to take her up on that offer. As usual, there are a limited number of spaces, so please do RSVP (you are welcome to bring one guest, if you wish).
3) The Sponsors' Open Mic is becoming a tradition, and so we're doing it again on Friday, May 20th at 7:00 pm in the Cafe. If you just want to attend, you don't need to do anything except show up (although you might want to take advantage of your seat reservation privilege because it might be crowded).
However, if you want to read, you should get in touch with fellow sponsor Greg Roensch at gregroensch@gmail.com. He suggested the idea and he has been kind enough to take care of organizing the event. Participation will be open to writers of all levels (as long as they are sponsors), and also open to any type of writing, in any genre. All we ask is that you keep the reading short -- five minutes max. So, if you want to read, get in touch with Greg and he'll take care of the scheduling and so forth.
4) Locked Room Mystery event - A few months ago, Scott participated in a live puzzle game and had a great time. He suggested that our sponsors might like it and, after reading about it, I think he's right. http://www.paniqentertainment.com/sanfrancisco . As you can see from the write-up, space will be quite limited (though we'll try to fit as many people as possible) so be ready to RSVP next month we when announce the date and time.
5) The Sponsors' Social is the best party we ever hold and it happens four times a year. Don't miss the next one on Thursday, July 14th from 7 pm to 11 pm. You are welcome to bring a guest.
Check it out -- Sponsor Note pretty much on time. Things are looking up. This note is going to be on the short side since I'm still working out the ramifications of my recent realization that we might be able to start fund-raising for a building sooner than I expected. I still have a few conversations to have with specialists (my accountant and the realtor I've been working with, specifically) and I need to do a bit more planning before I've got a detailed proposal to run past you.
In service of putting all that together, I've a sort of odd request; I'd like to meet with a group of sponsors who do not know me very well. I'm very lucky that many of you are people I call friends or, at the very least, you're folks I've known for years and love chatting with when our paths cross. However, if we're going to raise the kind of cash we're going to need, I'll be presenting our plan to the world at large. I'd like to get a preview of what the reaction might be, and talking with some folks who haven't known me for years is a good place to start.
So, if you don't know me very well or haven't been a customer at the store for long, I'd appreciate an hour or two of your time somewhere around the end of this month. If you're willing, drop me an email. Once I hear back from people, I'll come up with some days and times to meet. I'd like to do this in a group, so scheduling might be a little tricky, but I think we can manage it.
In closing, thanks to all the people who took the time to give me their thoughts about the questions I raised last month. The result is that it looks like we're going to let the idea of live streaming events go, but we will be recording them and getting them up on You Tube. If it's easy (which I think it should be) we'll also see about setting them up in audio-only, podcast style.
Oh, and one last thing -- I'm about to leave town for a bit of a vacation. Scott will be taking care of usual sponsor business and I'll be keeping an eye on email as well. Critical items will get the usual fast reply from me as needed but less critical stuff might be on a back-burner for the next week or so.
The "Bullet" version:
1) Huge thanks to Joe Thomas and John Plevyar for hosting and supplying the wine tasting last week! More than a dozen sponsors came, enjoyed much wine (8 different vintages), and talked each other's ears off.
2) On Saturday, May 14th, at 8 pm we will host a perfumery demonstration at the bookstore with Megan E. O'Keefe, author of Steal The Sky. As usual, there will be limited space so RSVP now (you are welcome to bring one guest, if you wish).
3) The next Sponsors' Open Mic is coming up on Friday, May 20th at 7 pm. Please email Greg Roensch at gregroensch@gmail.com if you would like to participate.
4) Our Sponsors' event for June will be a "Locked Room Mystery" event. Space will be very limited so be ready to RSVP when we announce the date and time in the June sponsor note.
4) The next Sponsors' Social will be on Thursday, July 14th and will run from 7 pm to 11 pm. We're lining up some neat "guests" for this one so check next month's note for more details.
The "Arrow" version:
1) Thank you to Joe Thomas and John Plevyar for hosting and supplying the wine tasting last week. More than a dozen sponsors came, enjoyed much wine, and talked each other's ears off. For those of you who couldn't make it, the vintages were:
Casey Flat Ranch Red Wine 2012
Mike and Molly Hendry, RW Moore Vineyard, Napa Valley Zinfandel 2012
Mark Herold Flux California Red Wine 2011
Centopassi Rosso Sicilia 2011
Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel 2013
Worlds End, Little Sister Napa Valley Merlot 2010
Copolla, Directors Cut Merlot, Napa 2012
Les Darons Languedoc 2014
Overall, the favorites were the Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel and the Copolla, Directors Cut Merlot. We're certainly going to do this again, perhaps this year, so don't miss it next time.
2) May's sponsor event will be a demonstration about perfume-making with Megan E. O'Keefe. It will take place at the bookstore on Saturday, May 14th, starting at 8 pm. Megan, the author of Steal The Sky, isn't just a great writer and wonderful speaker. She's also a expert on blending perfume. Last year she offered to host a participatory demonstration about perfume-making for our sponsors. I'm very pleased that I'm finally able to take her up on that offer. As usual, there are a limited number of spaces, so please do RSVP (you are welcome to bring one guest, if you wish).
3) The Sponsors' Open Mic is becoming a tradition, and so we're doing it again on Friday, May 20th at 7:00 pm in the Cafe. If you just want to attend, you don't need to do anything except show up (although you might want to take advantage of your seat reservation privilege because it might be crowded).
However, if you want to read, you should get in touch with fellow sponsor Greg Roensch at gregroensch@gmail.com. He suggested the idea and he has been kind enough to take care of organizing the event. Participation will be open to writers of all levels (as long as they are sponsors), and also open to any type of writing, in any genre. All we ask is that you keep the reading short -- five minutes max. So, if you want to read, get in touch with Greg and he'll take care of the scheduling and so forth.
4) Locked Room Mystery event - A few months ago, Scott participated in a live puzzle game and had a great time. He suggested that our sponsors might like it and, after reading about it, I think he's right. http://www.paniqentertainment.com/sanfrancisco . As you can see from the write-up, space will be quite limited (though we'll try to fit as many people as possible) so be ready to RSVP next month we when announce the date and time.
5) The Sponsors' Social is the best party we ever hold and it happens four times a year. Don't miss the next one on Thursday, July 14th from 7 pm to 11 pm. You are welcome to bring a guest.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Sponsor Letter, April 18th 2016
Hi Dear Sponsors,
First off, I'm really sorry that this note is so late this month. April gave me, among other things, the glorious opportunity to do four tax returns for various people and entities (only one of which was for myownself). And, to add to the fun, two of them were really damn complicated. But, just today I sent off the last piece of all that and things are looking much better going into the rest of the year. Here's hoping that my May letter will be, if not on time, at least less tardy.
The Sponsors' General Meeting was quite a success. Many good questions and excellent observations were asked and made. There's more information about that further along in this note. But, even if you don't read any of the rest of this letter, I'd really appreciate it if you could answer one question that came out of the meeting for me.
We're heading towards raising the money to purchase Borderlands a building, as I've discussed here before. A question asked at the meeting was, "If you do raise a bunch of money (i.e. over $150,000 to $200,000) but it's not enough to buy a building and so Borderlands closes in five years -- what will happen to all that cash?"
The answer to that question comes in several parts, and I'll get into it in more detail over the next few months but, part of the answer is that I would donate at least a significant portion of the money to either a bookselling / literary cause (for example, the Freedom to Read Foundation - http://www.ftrf.org/?page=About) or a cause / association related to our genres (e.g. the Science Fiction Writers of America's Emergency Medical Fund - http://www.sfwa.org/about/benevolent-funds/emergency-medical-fund/).
My question to you is; if that came to pass -- we raised a bunch of money but it wasn't enough to buy a building so I closed Borderlands -- where do you think the money should go?
The inch version:
1) We'll be hosting a private reception for a small group of sponsors with Paolo Bacigalupi THIS FRIDAY, April 22nd, at 5:30 pm before his public event at the store. If you're a 2016 sponsor and you would like to be in the drawing to attend the private event, please reply to this email and say so (and, do look at the details below).
2) Thank you to everyone who attended the Sponsors' General Meeting to offer your input and your opinions. You've given me a lot to think about and I'm grateful. A full report can be found on the blog at http://borderlands-sponsors.blogspot.com/2016/04/report-on-2016-sponsors-general-meeting.html
3) April's sponsor event is a blind wine tasting with sponsor Joe Thomas on Friday, April 29th at 8pm. Attendance is limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible.
4) We had a great time at the sponsor social, and we hope you did, too! The next one is Thursday, July 14th.
5) The May sponsor event will be a perfumery demonstration with Megan E. O'Keefe, author of Steal The Sky. Date and time in the next sponsor letter.
6) A couple of questions for you -
a) Does it matter to you if we put our author events on the web live or would you be just as happy with a video on YouTube within a day or two after the event?
b) For sponsors who do not live near the shop -- Do you have any ideas what sort of things we at Borderlands can do for you, since it's hard for you to take advantage of many of the perks we can offer local sponsors?
First off, I'm really sorry that this note is so late this month. April gave me, among other things, the glorious opportunity to do four tax returns for various people and entities (only one of which was for myownself). And, to add to the fun, two of them were really damn complicated. But, just today I sent off the last piece of all that and things are looking much better going into the rest of the year. Here's hoping that my May letter will be, if not on time, at least less tardy.
The Sponsors' General Meeting was quite a success. Many good questions and excellent observations were asked and made. There's more information about that further along in this note. But, even if you don't read any of the rest of this letter, I'd really appreciate it if you could answer one question that came out of the meeting for me.
We're heading towards raising the money to purchase Borderlands a building, as I've discussed here before. A question asked at the meeting was, "If you do raise a bunch of money (i.e. over $150,000 to $200,000) but it's not enough to buy a building and so Borderlands closes in five years -- what will happen to all that cash?"
The answer to that question comes in several parts, and I'll get into it in more detail over the next few months but, part of the answer is that I would donate at least a significant portion of the money to either a bookselling / literary cause (for example, the Freedom to Read Foundation - http://www.ftrf.org/?page=About) or a cause / association related to our genres (e.g. the Science Fiction Writers of America's Emergency Medical Fund - http://www.sfwa.org/about/benevolent-funds/emergency-medical-fund/).
My question to you is; if that came to pass -- we raised a bunch of money but it wasn't enough to buy a building so I closed Borderlands -- where do you think the money should go?
The inch version:
1) We'll be hosting a private reception for a small group of sponsors with Paolo Bacigalupi THIS FRIDAY, April 22nd, at 5:30 pm before his public event at the store. If you're a 2016 sponsor and you would like to be in the drawing to attend the private event, please reply to this email and say so (and, do look at the details below).
2) Thank you to everyone who attended the Sponsors' General Meeting to offer your input and your opinions. You've given me a lot to think about and I'm grateful. A full report can be found on the blog at http://borderlands-sponsors.blogspot.com/2016/04/report-on-2016-sponsors-general-meeting.html
3) April's sponsor event is a blind wine tasting with sponsor Joe Thomas on Friday, April 29th at 8pm. Attendance is limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible.
4) We had a great time at the sponsor social, and we hope you did, too! The next one is Thursday, July 14th.
5) The May sponsor event will be a perfumery demonstration with Megan E. O'Keefe, author of Steal The Sky. Date and time in the next sponsor letter.
6) A couple of questions for you -
a) Does it matter to you if we put our author events on the web live or would you be just as happy with a video on YouTube within a day or two after the event?
b) For sponsors who do not live near the shop -- Do you have any ideas what sort of things we at Borderlands can do for you, since it's hard for you to take advantage of many of the perks we can offer local sponsors?
Report on 2016 Sponsors' General Meeting
The 2016 Borderlands Sponsors' General Meeting was held at 6pm on Thursday, March 31st at Borderlands Cafe (870 Valencia St. SF CA 94110). Roughly 50 people attended.
After some entertainment from Alan Beatts in the form of a cautionary tale about bookshelf building, the main topics of discussion were the future of the bookstore, a (relatively) rapid-fire Q&A, the handling of sponsor funds, political involvement on the part of Borderlands, and the creation of a book subscription program.
Alan began the meeting by giving an overview of the current financial situation of both the bookstore and cafe elements of Borderlands. In brief, both are as to be expected. The bookstore is showing a slight loss before accounting for sponsorship income. That is as expected since the minimum wage increase last July was expected to produce that result. However, factoring in sponsorship income, the bookstore is doing very well. The cafe is also showing a slight loss but that is being addressed by improvements to the menu selection this year. Like the bookstore, not a matter for concern.
Next he explained the remaining terms on both the lease for the bookstore (5 and a bit years) and the cafe (9 and a half years). His concern is not for the next few years because the sponsorship program (with 611 sponsors at this time) seems to be a sustainable model for the business. Instead the concern is what to do when the current lease on the bookstore expires. It is the expectation that, barring major ("or almost Biblical") changes in the economic situation in San Francisco, the cost of rent under a new lease would be unsustainable. At this point, Alan's plan forward is to spend the next three to four years raising money (and conserving excess sponsorship income) to have a down-payment on a building one to two years before the lease expires.
After this explanation, the discussion began about how to achieve this goal.
After some entertainment from Alan Beatts in the form of a cautionary tale about bookshelf building, the main topics of discussion were the future of the bookstore, a (relatively) rapid-fire Q&A, the handling of sponsor funds, political involvement on the part of Borderlands, and the creation of a book subscription program.
Alan began the meeting by giving an overview of the current financial situation of both the bookstore and cafe elements of Borderlands. In brief, both are as to be expected. The bookstore is showing a slight loss before accounting for sponsorship income. That is as expected since the minimum wage increase last July was expected to produce that result. However, factoring in sponsorship income, the bookstore is doing very well. The cafe is also showing a slight loss but that is being addressed by improvements to the menu selection this year. Like the bookstore, not a matter for concern.
Next he explained the remaining terms on both the lease for the bookstore (5 and a bit years) and the cafe (9 and a half years). His concern is not for the next few years because the sponsorship program (with 611 sponsors at this time) seems to be a sustainable model for the business. Instead the concern is what to do when the current lease on the bookstore expires. It is the expectation that, barring major ("or almost Biblical") changes in the economic situation in San Francisco, the cost of rent under a new lease would be unsustainable. At this point, Alan's plan forward is to spend the next three to four years raising money (and conserving excess sponsorship income) to have a down-payment on a building one to two years before the lease expires.
After this explanation, the discussion began about how to achieve this goal.
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