to house my inventory descriptions,
and I still tend to use different ones for different venues.
Not sure why that is, but it may have something to do
with past experiences losing data,
and the ease with which those venues were able
to assist me in regaining data to "ahem" start anew!
Oh, you name it, I've lost it, and more than once!
Anyway, I started out storing all documentation in simple formats
using notepad.
Yes, notepad.
Whenever a so-called friend tried to send me some excel file
I was promptly negated from opening said file,
because I didn't have the proper software.
I knew nothing of spreadsheets and what I didn't know couldn't hurt me,
so I had no desire to delve into finding out what they were,
or how they could help me.
That was probably mistake number one.
Once I learned a bit about html, I began to store my listings in wordpad.
Of course, I'd manage to format or encrypt things unintentionally,
and my data would turn into gibberish.
An omen of things to come, and par for the course!
Later, after several years of hunting, I gained an inventory of sorts
and graduated to Homebase for storing my inventory files.
I've stuck with that for a very long time,
but somehow managed to lose my entire inventory documentation,
well...because I'm an idiot.
Aside from that, I found that some venues can reverse feed you
a tab delimited or csv file and provide at least a complete record
of what books remained on their venue.
Not too bad for an individual like myself
who has Murphy following me around with his
terrible law of unintended consequences.
Bookhound become available at no cost through Biblio.com
so I created a duplicate inventory within that program in order to test it out.
I found it to be more trouble than it was worth,
and never gained much interest in trying to manipulate
all of the varying features of Bookhound.
I stuck with Homebase and the simple tools it had to offer.
A few years ago I found that Google Docs has free software,
and spreadsheets are a part of their tableau,
so I attempted to transfer some files into spreadsheet format
for a specific site (eCrater) which seemed to request this type of file.
Suffice to say that Murphy was still there hiding in my back pocket,
and I found nothing redeeming in spreadsheet manipulation.
I may have been doing it right,
but the venue was not going to take what I was trying to offer
as acceptable inventory through those spreadsheet experiments.
I did not enjoy the process, but I did learn a little about spreadsheets,
and I do find them useful for other organizing processes.
Still, I had my trusty Homebase
and diligently backed it up each time I revised anything there,
while still on the quest to find software which is relatively cheap
or free
that can do more than just hold the inventory and create simple reports.
I had been looking into scanning software, but they all seemed so expensive!
Shortly after the spreadsheet fiasco I ran across Readerware.
After a free 30 day trial I was very happy to buy a Cuecat
and scan the many thousands of modern generic paperbacks I had by now obtained
into my Readerware database.
Half the battle was fought and won by dint of a simple to use scanning device
coupled with this very versatile software program.
I can create any number of report templates
and have fully formatted webpages using any number of parameters of my choosing.
I have barely scratched the surface of what this program has to offer,
but it has helped me tremendously more than any other database software I have tried.
I would love to write more about Readerware, but I've got work to do.
If you are curious, I strongly recommend you try the free 30 day trial version.
The more I experiment with this program, the more I find to like about it.
It's rather amazing to me, especially with my past history of losing data,
or stumbling and fumbling through.
Get it.
You won't be sorry!
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