Introduction

Welcome to the Bookman’s Son’s blog. I am brand spanking new to even the idea of writing a personal blog so if there are any readers out there (I am prepared for earth-shattering silence) please be kind, but please write me up, instruct me, or comment at will. I look forward to our conversation.First a bit about myself, my name is John Hugo and I am, as stated a bookman’s son. I grew up in New England where my father opened his first bookstore in 1965. He’s steadily been plying his trade through the many changes of the industry – from the first small New England Booksellers Trade show, through the many iterations of the American Booksellers Association, through recessions, booms, gas crisis’s, computerization, independents growth, the arrival of the big box chains, and of course the internet. Somewhere along the line he met my mother and I was the result: a Bookman’s Son. I spent my childhood growing up surrounded by books and my father's ever-present advice on how to stay fed and housed off the profits of selling the written word. A pretty good choice for a career and much more enjoyable then some other suited professions that abound – although probably not as lucrative. An as an added benefit, the people into books are just interesting. Find me another job that could be half as interesting and I’ll find you someone telling you a story better placed spine out in the Fiction section. So without too much debate, a few quick detours for college, and some skiing, I ended up right back in the business I love.