Bookseller Liberty Hardy (@MissLiberty) is the resident "Veloci-reader" at RiverRun Bookstore, Portsmouth, N.H. She helps customers find the "book you didn't know you had to have--delivered to your door" as part of RiverRun's Paperback to the Future program. 
For $20 per month (or $100 for six months), Hardy "will interact with you via e-mail to get a sense of your reading taste. Then, using a complex, furtive, and unscientific formula, we will send you a paperback book to read. It will be a surprise! It's 90% likely that you will have never heard of it, and 100% guaranteed that you will like it. Or your money back.... The longer this goes on, the more we'll understand what you like to read: we'll be right inside your brain!!!"
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Measuring up. RiverRun is holding a 20% off sale through Saturday to celebrate the bookshop's 10th anniversary. On its store blog, RiverRun asked, "What have we accomplished in 10 years?? Let's take a look at how we measure up against Amazon":
Local Property taxes paid--RiverRun: $85,000. Amazon: 0
Cash and Gift Card contributions to local schools and charities--RiverRun: $70,000 Amazon: 0
Cultural Events Produced--RiverRun--1000+ Amazon-- 0
Cheap Used Books--RiverRun: yes Amazon: yes
Discounts--RiverRun: discounts to schools and nonprofits, frequent buyer program, book group program Amazon: Lots
"So they beat us on straight discounts, but over the years I hope we've showed Amazon a thing or two about the importance of community building (because I know they are watching us closely!!)."