Aside from spending bookstore gift cards, I’ve found the best new way for me to buy books.

From now on, I’ll fill out the order form from Orca and exchange emails with the nice staff down there and pick up my book in a few days.

The process was amazingly like getting a book from the library, minus actually having to pay for the book at pick-up and a couple of emails.

Now that I think of it, the emails (and one phone call) were actually a very pleasant addition to the process. Made ordering a book a human process, rather than pulling out my credit card and punching in the numbers. I felt a lot better spending the money waiting until the book was available downtown.

I’m not too familiar with the plight of independent book stores against the giant book sellers, but I’m sure there have been some discussions on how to use the web to fight against amazon.com, B&N and Borders. While efforts like Booksense and Indiebound are commendable, it turns out (at least in my case) the best thing to do is to make it simple and pleasant to order a book for pickup.

Have nice and responsive staff and an email form that works. By making interacting with customers online a priority, Orca has secured me (again) as a loyal customer.