Some of you have asked what it is like to be a book fox. Recently, we had an opportunity to go in search of books along Portobello Road in London UK. A posh part of London, Notting Hill regained familiarity with the release of Notting Hill starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

From Notting Hill Tube station, it is a 20 minute walk, crossing cobbled streets, and sniffing floral holiday wreaths now available for sale at local market stalls. At 2 pm on a Friday afternoon, the market is a press as mothers push strollers, their toddlers all bundled up in bright fleece toques. There are cafes and pubs with funny names, like The Fat Badger - a remarkably fitting site to stage a scene from the classic Wind in the Willows. And of course there was the obligatory sausage shop featuring all kinds of yummy edibles for our tummies.

We returned to the street to begin our quest. We weeded through one stack, only to begin another. Just where will we find this one book with that particular illustrator? Will this one book matter to one child or thousands? Moving to the next stall, one vendor was kind enough to show us his collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales that was illustrated by a spooky 20th century artist. Another offered to help us search for additional classics via estate sales. Meeting these people and unearthing chapter books and picture books in varying conditions is, for us, akin to an archeological dig at the base of the Egyptian pyramids! Despite the dirty pages and the cold November air, the process is oh so thrilling!

In the end, we found some beautifully illustrated books, courtesy of a renowned jeweller. It turns out their family had been collecting them for years. We would like to take the time to thank the jewelers Cox & Power and invite you to shop at their Marleybone High Street location. Tony, Vicci and Rachel will be more than happy to help you.

Labels: children's ebooks, Cox and Power, e-books, entrepreneurs, jewelry, Portobello market, sausages

No, I was not in heaven. I spent the day representing Sharing-Books at the Vancouver Angel Forum, where 70 potential investors heard the stories of 32 firms looking for funds to develop their business. Sharing-Books was one of the firms as we have interesting features we want to add to the site and to the services we offer to our book creators and readers.

While I enjoyed meeting potential investors, I also every much enjoyed meeting the other firms participating in the program. I always find it interesting to hear other entrepreneurs explain how they discovered the problem(s) they want to address and the business models or technologies they invented in response.

Creators of businesses are just as passionate as creators of books. Both are good crowds to hang out with.

You can read more about our presence at the 25th Angel Forum of Vancouver on techvibes.

Labels: angel forum, angel investors, entrepreneurs

Although I am a businessman, I have always considered myself an artist - a creator. I know this is a paradox but an entrepreneur creates organizations. Some artists work with a medium where they reach a completed stage, when everything is done and their work acquires permanence. On the other hand, everything an entrepreneur works with is dynamic; people, products and the economy change all the time. In addition we face competition, people who try to undo what we create. Imagine painting while someone rips your canvas or splatters paint on your work. That is what we business creators face and probably it is why we love the challenge.

When the economy goes into collective paranoia like we live right now, there is a phase of fear that induces paralysis. Many people stay paralyzed for a long time. The creators are the first ones to take the initiative and move on. If necessity is the mother of invention, we are about to see a number of initiatives by creators that will again transform the world like it was changed after each recession of the last century. The wonderful thing for artists is that for them necessity - the need to create - is fueled internally rather than by external events like a recession. Creators were conceiving and creating before the recession started. They will continue to create as the economy recovers and they will keep changing our lives for the better. They will simply be ahead of the pack.

A recession creates a vacuum that gives space for new ideas to blossom as obsolete and no longer useful ideas or businesses disappear. For example, Apple just killed Digital Rights Management for the music it sells. DRM has failed to add value to musicians and consumers alike and deserves to disappear. We believe that what is happening in the music industry is a predictor of the future of the "publishing" industry. New media require new ideas and new business models. We believe that an innovative publishing model like Sharing-Books combining social initiatives with new revenue streams for book creators is an idea whose time has come.

Every day I receive phone calls or emails from children books creators who are in the action mode, writing and illustrating new books. Their initiatives are an expression of hope that is much healthier and promising than the fear that grips the economy. We are very proud to be associated with hopeful people who put effort behind their ideas. These colleagues inspire us to do our best to provide a valuable outlet for their creative efforts to be welcome, published, read and rewarded.

Labels: children books, creators, entrepreneurs, publishing, recession