For weeks, my brother's been talking about getting his copy of South Carolina: A History signed by the author, Walter Edgar. I told him it was easy enough, just a matter of getting in touch with the author. Just this morning, he calls to say that the folks at the Happy Bookseller went to the trouble of driving over to the university and getting the book signed for him -- and they didn't charge a thing.

Such is the business of keeping customers happy in an amazon.com world.

Today's Boston Globe has more on how real booksellers stay alive.