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The views expressed by writers for The Standard do not necessarily reflect the views of The IOBA. |
Michael Watson, editor
A perfectly rational question would be "where have we been?" After the last issue the long-time Editor felt like she had been running the race for too long and handed off the baton to another runner who would edit and assemble the IOBA Standard. Even the best runners stumble, on occasion, and this was the occasion when the new Editor encountered some life issues that got in the way of editing duties. The Standard stumbled, fell, and stayed down.
We're Running Again
We're in training and not running at full speed, though. You are reading the Fall Preview edition of the Standard. It's just a short "teaser" of the type and quality of information that we'll present in future editions. Those editions will be quarterly and seasonal, which the astute observer in a temperate climate will note to be Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.
We're Delivering
Regular, seasonal editions will be full-length and devoted to delivery of information that benefits the bookseller. You can expect lengthy, detailed feature articles and reference material from topic experts of experience and strong opinion. Shorter articles will inform you of the doings of online services, reports from book fairs, bookselling "tools," etc.
This preview edition contains Penny Selling, Part2 by Stuart Manley, Collecting the Modern Library: A Gentle Introduction by Scot Kamins, Ephemeral Assays-Fire Keepers by Shawn Purcell, and The Book Trade and its Markets by Charles Vilnis: all lengthy, detailed articles.
Making Money from Book Care, by Bern Marcowitz, makes it's first appearance and will be an ongoing feature. Robin Gutterman notes the latest features of BookTrakker software and the closing of MyOwnBookshop.com. Included is the history and status of ChrisLands.com by Lance Christen.
Subscribe to our announcement list to be notified by e-mail when a new Standard is published. The announcement will include the highlight topics of the new edition, and we promise not to bug you with any other e-mails. If you find the Standard useful in your bookselling efforts, pass it along to those who haven't seen it yet: others will benefit, too.
I look forward to delivering new editions and benefiting the IOBA and our many friends in the trade. Don't hesitate to contact me at editor@ioba.org with ideas for articles or comments on the current edition. Your input and assistance will be reflected in our progress.
Best regards. -Michael Watson, Editor, editor@ioba.org
Stuart Manley
As anyone who read my first article on this theme will know, what I have to say has little to do with Penny Selling.
Indeed, the Penny Sellers were dismissed within the first few paragraphs, so anyone who has not read the first article please do so now - here is the link: http://www.ioba.org/newsletter/V12/IOBANL-PennySellingB-8-03.php
The rest of this article is written on the assumption that you have read Part 1 and that you accept the basic points being made.
Therefore, you accept that there is no point in selling your books unless you can make a proper profit - anything less than that means that you never had a real business in the first place. And that any so-called profit that you made that did not take into account the points made in Part 1 is self-delusion.
Secondly, you accept that anything you list at under $10 is losing you money, in real terms, rather than making it - indeed a base price of around $20 should be your aim. (There are special exceptions to this, but I will come to them later.)
So, having taken on board everything I said in Part 1, how do you set about changing your whole business ethos?
Well, there is no magic wand, but there is a set of concepts that I am going to attempt to demonstrate. But it is no good just cherry picking the ones that suit you, you have to take the whole set. Otherwise you might as well stop reading now and get back to Penny Selling, or $1 selling, or $5 selling, whichever is your bag.
For common and inexpensive books - get those prices up
If you have come to realise that, in general (exceptions later), selling books at under $10 loses you money, stop doing it. If you can't list it at $10, don't list it at all (our bottom line for one-off listings is $20).
But be aware that you can get $10 for many books that others are listing for much less provided you follow the ensuing guidelines. Simply ignore the fools who do not understand what you now understand - they may well sell numerically more books than you do, but they will not get anywhere near your $ turnover and profitability. Indeed, shed a tear for them as they wrap up ten books for less reward than you make for wrapping up one.
We have never experimented with selling books for a penny, but we have experimented with selling common books for as low as $2 and what we found was that we got no significant extra sales. What we did get, though, was a whole load of trouble. A tiresome proportion of the people who shop at this level seem to like to make a meal of the sale and engage you in lengthy (therefore expensive) e-mail correspondence - "Is your $2 copy of Huckleberry Finn signed by Mark Twain?" is well within the scope of the kind of questions that they are capable of asking.
For general books, don't attempt to be the cheapest
If the 'range' of the book you are about to list is, say, $50 - $200, don't even think of making yours $45.
All you would be doing is contributing to the downward spiral and there are plenty of idiots already doing that without you joining in.
First, make an honest assessment of the state of your copy and see where it fits within the mainstream of the prices on offer. If your copy is ex-lib or has other major flaws, yes, go to the lower end, but if it is VG price it well upwards. Once again, others may well sell their underpriced copies before you sell yours, but remember, they only have one copy and when that is gone yours comes into play. And some buyers may prefer to buy your copy ahead of the cheaper one (we have had many instances of this) if you follow the rest of the instructions within this essay.
For unusual books (and ephemera), don't be afraid to charge a proper price
For this kind of book we use what we call the 'might as well not sell at' philosophy, as in "It might as well not sell at $30 as not sell at $2."
The example I will give, from real life, is a book entitled 'A Study of Sheep Scab in the Outer Hebrides in 1922'. Hardly a riveting read and anyone not interested wouldn't give you a dollar for it. But the person who actually wants it (and you only need one) will be only too pleased to have traced it and will part with any reasonable sum to buy it. (The book sold for $56.)
Such books will not sell fast and you may only ever sell two or three out of every ten you list, but the profit from those sales will more than cover your effort. And the point is that you will not sell significantly greater quantities of such books by cutting their prices - all you will succeed in doing is making much less profit.
For genuinely rare and substantial books - go for it!
You probably had to pay a fair amount to get such a book in the first place, but make sure you have a proper profit margin when you sell it. If it cost you $200 charge at least $400 for it, more if you feel the market will bear it. Don't attempt to be the cheapest on the web for a 'quick sale' - if you think buying at $200 and selling for $280 to make $80 quick bucks is good business, you haven't been paying attention.
If you have a marvelous book, with super plates, on an interesting subject, in nice condition, and there is nothing else like it currently available, the world's your oyster - YOU can create the market price, so make sure it's a good one - the book will not come your way again, so don't undersell it.
Exceptions? There are some books that can be listed below your normal base-line and still be reasonably profitable, but be careful! It is all too easy to sink back into the penny selling mire, so always keep your eye on your true overall costs and don't be seduced by pseudo-profits.
Multiple copies
Where you have several copies of an identical book, the one entry covers several sales, so there is a saving in catalogue entry time. But be aware that most of the other costs so painstakingly covered in these two articles still apply.
Series
When a series of books or journals are identical apart from detail points such as issue number or title, etc., so that the copy/paste technique can be employed in cataloguing them.
But beware of the kinds of books where the real costs lie in the nature of the books rather than the cataloguing costs - cheap children's annuals, for instance, where the kind of customer they attract seem to have time and cost wasting techniques that others haven't even thought of: "Is there a ballet dancer with a pink tutu on page 13?"; "Is there a story about three girls finding a secret well on an island in this book?", etc.
Also beware of the kinds of books where the shipping or packing costs are unusually high - they simply cannot be sold cheaply at a profit.
Having poured scorn on Penny Sellers, I must save a little bit of my ire for Penny Buyers: My experience is that they are the worst book buyers in the world! There are many honorable exceptions, of course, but time and again, they are the ones who pay for cheapest shipping, then complain that it does not arrive instantly. Or complain that the book never arrived and you find that they gave the wrong address. Or ask silly time-wasting questions. Or nit pick to a degree out of all proportion to the kind of book they are buying.
You fail to take this factor into account when pricing cheaper books at your commercial peril!
But it is not simply a matter of putting your prices up, you have to smarten up the rest of your act too.
You have to give the customer reasons to pay you $10 for a book that others may be offering at $1.
You do this by sheer professionalism and the key factors are as follows:
High quality professional catalogue entries.
This does not mean lengthy descriptions (which, in reality, are often off-putting to many buyers). Or using many of the more obscure bookselling terms. Or entering into flights of fancy to show what an interesting/erudite/offbeat person you are. (Alright, I am guilty of once entering the author of a bible we were selling as 'God', but that was a single lapse!).
But you do need to make clear, accurate, and complete entries: author, title, publisher, date, edition, cover description including colour, number of pages, size, plates, and dust jacket. Then a clear and honest condition report - not too long (you can always add more detail if the customer enquires) but enough to give the customer an accurate picture of the overall condition of the book.
Don't go down the ISBN route - the saving in time will soon be lost in ISBN errors and ISBN blandness which creeps into all such entries - if a book is worth cataloguing, it is worth cataloguing properly.
High quality presentation of your business
I appreciate that not everyone can have all of these features, but the more you have, the more likely the customer will have the confidence to deal with you and leave their credit card details with you.
High quality service
Well, that's it - all I can think of to help you move away from the morass of the thousands of bottom end sellers who paddle like fury but get nowhere.
As I said earlier - it's no good cherry-picking the bits of this advice that suit you - you have to go for the whole package for it to be effective.
Bookselling is interesting and fun, but bookselling at a genuine profit is more than that - it's exhilarating!
Stuart Manley is co-owner of Barter Books, Alnwick, Northumberland, England, also online at http://www.barterbooks.co.uk
Copyright Ó 2004 Stuart Manley
Bern Marcowitz, Bookseller
My books, new and old, are my inventory, and the better they look and smell, the more satisfied my customers will be.
Most booksellers know about the content of books, but how many know basic, simple steps to protect, clean, repair, and store books? Books are made of paper, glue, cotton, and sometimes leather: all organic materials. Booksellers, books, dogs, trees…we all have that crucial carbon molecule and need care. But when we sell or receive books, do we ever receive or give care instructions? Those that do gain a commercial advantage over their competitors. To begin, let's review the basics.
The enemies of books are dirt, moisture, mold, sun, insects, poor shelving, and poor handling. The first step is physical protection and I put plastic book covers on all expensive dust jackets, for both old and new books. The plastic protects against water, dirt, spillage, and the fading effects of ultraviolet light, be that from sun or fluorescent lighting. It is far easier to clean plastic than paper. A popular household cleaner is rubbing alcohol. Put a dab on a clean, soft cloth and wipe gently in one direction. Rubbing alcohol is also good for laminates and has a bonus advantage of killing some germs.
I think everyone should have a "medicine chest for books" composed of basic household and commercial products. Basic cleaning tools are the document cleaning pad and the Absorene Book Cleaner and Dirt Eraser (or dry sponge). The first is a crumbled art gum eraser in a cloth web and acts as a gentle abrasive. The dry sponge, so called because it is only used when dry, is an even gentler and safer way to clean all books and ephemera. A word on the eraser: it is the best all-round cleaning tool, but only the art gum eraser should be used. For protecting books without dust jackets I use rolls of plastic (Mylar) and cut them to size. Instructions for using all the above items are included when you buy them.
Book supply companies have thick printed catalogs and web sites listing many thousands of products and these can be confusing, at first. Start with a few products, use them, and then go on to others. It is somewhat like learning a new language, but you will probably enjoy book care.
My favorite tips? Here are two. For older books, without dust jackets, I have had great success with Clean Cover Gel. This is a petroleum-based "glop" that gets ingrained dirt out of boards. Every dealer of old books should have a jar. Many an old book has been purchased for a few dollars, wiped with this glop, and resold for a good profit. For paper tears, I could use Magic Tape, or a premium tape like Filmplast P Repair Tape that is the thinnest I know of, or I could make a "tear-in-a-waxed paper sandwich". Apply a thin layer of an acid-free adhesive to the tear using a toothpick, cotton swab, or your fingers. Put waxed paper on either side of the page tear, then close the book and put weight on it for several hours. Another way to apply pressure is to wrap several rubber bands around the book. This repair method is also effective for gluing pages and illustrations that have fallen out. These suggestions, and book care in general, should always be practiced on an old book,
first.
Another suggestion is to buy commercial book care products for your own use and for resale to your customers. It is increasingly popular for a bookseller to tell a client that for an additional $1 to $3 a plastic book cover can be added. As you learn, you become an information source for your customers: a true "full-service bookseller."
Bern Marcowitz, co-owner of Dog Lovers Bookshop at http://www.dogbooks.com/, is co-author of "Care and Feeding of Books Old and New - A Simple Repair Manual for Book Lovers", and a co-consultant to the Supplies Division of The Brodart Company.
Copyright Ó 2004 Bern Marcowitz
Scot Kamins
In recent years more and more people have been collecting Modern Library books. And it's no wonder -- all but the most prized copies are still affordable, they look great on the shelf, there are a myriad of ways to collect them, and you get to build a wonderful library of books you can actually read in the process!
 A Plethora of Collecting Options
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A Little History
The series was created by publishers Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as the first major venture of their fledgling publishing house Boni and Liveright, Inc. in 1917. At first an imitation of the highly successful British Everyman series but including more current works as well, the idea was to provide well-made reprints of the classics (and some not-so classics) for the common person at very low prices. Original books in their series cost 60 cents while other publishers were charging $1.00 or more for the same titles.
After World War II, when paperbacks became popular, "Hardback books at paperback prices" became the motto for the series. The quality of the books remained consistently high and the price consistently low through 1970 when the series was discontinued. New titles were added to the series again in around 1980, but at higher prices and in perfect-bound rather than sewn editions. This article is about the sewn volumes.
Modern Library trivia
Here's something you can wow your friends with at the next meeting of your neighborhood literary salon: Random House was originally a subsidiary of Modern Library. Bennett Cerf originally worked for Boni-Liveright as a vice-president (actually a travelling salesman for the New York area); in 1925 he and his partner Donald Klopfer bought the Modern Library line from Horace Liveright and founded the Modern Library Company. In the late 20's Cerf and Klopfer decided to publish an occasional work beyond the charter of the Modern Library line, and formed the Random House imprint (Get it? Publish random works -- hence the name). Random House became so successful that in the early 30's it became the controlling imprint. True story.
Collecting Areas
One of the reasons the Modern Library is so much fun to collect is the variety of foci you can have -- a direct result of the series' longevity and the willingness of its management to experiment with the format. Here are a few suggested areas -- many more are possible.
Every title with or without a dust jacket
Collecting one of each title in the Modern Library even without dust jackets and without consideration to new editions, fresh translations, or added or changed introductions would be a fine challenge. This would be the least expensive way to go, and by the time you achieved your goal (if you ever did) you'd have a tremendous library of (mostly) western world literature.
 Collecting by the Numbers
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Except for a couple of highly-prized exceptions, Modern Library titles issued from 1919 through 1970 all came with numbers on the dust jacket spines, a unique number for each title currently available. In its largest catalog Modern Library had 396 uniquely numbered titles in the standard edition plus 102 Giant titles. (It's arguable whether they really had every title stocked in its warehouses, but you could find every title if you looked hard enough.) You'd end up with 498 books, each with a different number on its spine.
By the year
From time to time a book was dropped from the series and the number reassigned to a new book, or numbers were shuffled around for one reason or another. For example, the number 16 was assigned to four different titles over the years:
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So you can restrict your "by the numbers" collecting to the titles available in a given year. In you chose 1968, your number 16 would have to be the Henry James title. If you chose 1937, you'd have to have the scarcer Hart title-but then again, you'd have fewer titles to collect since only 260 titles existed that year, as opposed to about 450 titles (including giants) in 1968.
 Five Modern Library Giants in Different Jacket Styles
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Modern Library created the giant editions so it could publish titles with too many pages to fit in the standard binding. Giants typically have over 1,000 pages and stand 8 1/4 inches tall by 5 1/2 inches wide with colored tops (until 1963) and cloth coverings. Starting with Tolstoy's War and Peace in 1931, there are about 135 collectable numbered issues.
Just Buckrams
Buckram editions were created in the late 1920's (briefly) and then more successfully throughout the 1960's for libraries and other situations where large numbers of people were expected to handle them. They are much more sturdy than the standard Modern Library books, and were the only Modern Libraries issued without either a dust jacket, acetate covering, or cardboard case. The buckrams of the 60's have a pebbly finish with an impressed label at the base of the spine saying "BUCKRAM REINFORCED" in gold ink followed by the title number. There are 376 known numbered buckram titles in the regular series and 71 in the giants, and look great on the shelf. My current collecting interest is in assembling a complete set of these puppies without library markings - a tough task!
 1960s Buckram Editions
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By a binding
In this collecting variation, you'd try to assemble all the titles that came in a particular binding type. The Modern Library used 15 distinct bindings between 1917 and 1970 for its standard issue books (not to mention two for standard buckram issues, one for the illustrated series - two if you include an extra type for those that came in slipcases, seven for the giant issues plus one for the very scarce giant buckrams, and a couple more for special gift editions for a total of nearly 30 binding types).
Several were used for just a few months, a couple for about a year, one was used for about eight years (standard type 7) while another was used for nearly 24 years (standard type 8).
There's no catalog that lists which titles were printed in the shorter-lived bindings, making collecting in those areas especially challenging; you won't know if you're done!
By dust jacket type
Modern Libraries came in three dust jacket types: text-only, pictorial and typographical with design elements. The longer-lived titles had all three types, and some had additional variations. Dostoyevsky's The Brothers
Karamazov had at least five (one text-only and four pictorial).
Combining dust jacket types with binding types, you could limit your collecting to just the pictorial jackets in the type 7 standard bindings - a particularly alluring challenge because the pictorials of that period (1931 to 1939) were especially beautiful.
 Nine Modern Library Pictorials
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Only first printings with matching dust jackets
This is the toughest area to collect and not for the faint of heart. Enough information exists in the few available reference sources to identify almost all Modern Library first editions along with the characteristics of their appropriately matching dust jackets, but these copies are generally more expensive and less common (and therefore more difficult to come by) than non-first printings.
Even if you have lots of money to spend on first printings, whether you'll ever successfully complete your collection is problematic. This is because no examples of firsts of some of the titles in dust jacket are known to exist. Indeed, finding decent quality dust jackets for any printings before 1925 is extremely difficult, first edition or not. The dust jackets of that era were made of the most ephemeral of papers, and almost all of them have crumbled to dust. (There's a philosophical Truth in there somewhere.)
How much will it cost you?
You can begin collecting Modern Library titles at less than $8.00 for copies without dust jackets.
Typical prices for non-first common standard edition titles with dust jackets in VG/VG condition (the lowest generally acceptable collecting condition) depend on the period you collect: Expect to pay $15 and up for 1939-1968 stiff cover printings, $18 and up for 1969-1970 printings in the short-lived 7 1/2" format, $30 and up for 1928-1938 copies in flexible bindings, $60 and up for 1925-1928 flexi's, but $100 or more for the earliest period in Boni-Liveright bindings.(Someone recently paid over $300 for a non-first Boni-Liveright copy of #1 Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray and considered himself lucky.)
Giant editions tend to cost less than comparable standard editions because fewer people collect them.
Expect to pay a substantial premium -- as much as 100% -- for first editions.
Buckram editions, which are never genuine firsts and are never issued with dust jackets, are worth $18 or more a pop in Near Fine condition.
Modern Library Illustrated editions in acetate dust jackets or slipcases command anywhere from $15 for
common titles (usually more for acetates than slipcases) to $150 for a Dali-illustrated Don Quixote to at least $400 for Alice in Wonderland.
 Don Quixote Spine and Front
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How I got started
One day in late November of 1993 I walked into a bookshop on San Francisco's Castro Street looking for a copy of William James' Varieties of Religious Experience. The proprietor, a scholarly looking middle-aged man, told me in a British accent that he had a copy in the Modern Library edition.
"Modern Library? What's that?" I asked skeptically, expecting him to steer me to some absurdly expensive leather-bound tome, when a Penguin paperback would do me nicely. I had just rejected a new copy I found in the Crown Books chain a few doors down that would have set me back $13.95 - for a bloody PAPERBACK, for Gawd's sake, plus San Francisco's ruinous 8.5% sales tax. I'd be damned if I'd pay even more in a USED bookstore. (Up to this time I had rejected the concept of buying used books, not wanting who-knows-whose eyetracks cootieing up my books. But I just wanted the James for a quick-and-dirty research project, and $13.95 for a PAPERBACK, well, that just was over the top!)
He pointed to a wall opposite his checkout desk. "About the middle of the wall," he qualified," next to his brother," indicating the neighboring six titles by Henry James. He went back to his paperwork.
The wall was his Modern Library section. It held several hundred copies of books 6 1/2 to 8 inches tall, most with some variation of a running torchbearer on their spines. There was something familiar about these things, something nostalgic and friendly and strangely attractive.
I took down the James. About seven inches tall and five wide, it fit comfortably in my hands. "This is a nice book," I thought as I leafed through it, noticing the readable type and -- well -- the substantial nature of the thing. It felt like it could last a while -- not something I usually notice or care about.
The price printed on the front flap was $1.65, but written in light pencil on the half-title page was $7.95. "Hrumph," I muttered. "Quite a markup, and it's used at that. Damned booksellers. Worse than coin dealers. It's cheaper than that ripoff paperback, though."
I started to bring the James to the counter when it struck me. These books that were so familiar -- I remembered them from school! I turned back to look at the shelves and was struck by the variety. Novels, short stories, poetry, drama, biography, philosophy, history, politics, essays, art, music, sociology, psychology, religion, and more--nearly the entire gamut of human knowledge.
I turned the James over and read the legend "The Best of the World's Best Books." These were the books I used to buy in prep school and college because they were so cheap. Hard back books at paperback prices.
 Henry Toledano
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I handed the book to the proprietor. "These are becoming quite collectable, you know." No, I didn't know, I said, but I could see how collecting them would make a nice hobby. "I think so," he said, smiling for the first time. "I've written a little book about them," and pointed down to the small pile of privately printed paperbacks in front of the cash register. The Modern Library Price Guide By Henry Toledano graced the cover.
I bought the James but passed on the Guide. A week later I bought the guide and spent an additional $75 in Henry Toledano's store on nine more Modern Library books. I was hooked for sure.
Join the party!
With most ML books selling for less than $20/copy in VG/VG condition, collecting the Modern Library series makes a satisfying and inexpensive hobby, and provides a way to build a wonderful library as well - yes, you can actually read what you collect!
For TONS more information about collecting the Modern Library series, including more detailed information on the topics covered in this article, visit my Web site at http://www.dogeared.com. I'm more than glad to answer your Modern Library questions. (It makes me feel important.) If I don't know the answer, I probably know someone who does.
Scot Kamins has been an avid Modern Library collector for ten years. He is the Webmaster of Collecting the Modern Library at www.dogeared.com, and is the founder of the popular rec.collecting.books newsgroup. In real life Scot is a real estate agent living and working in plush but not overly ostentatious surroundings in Portland, Oregon. Scot can be e-mailed at kamins@dogeared.com
Copyright Ó 2004 Scot Kamins
Charles Vilnis
It seems to me that there are two distinct markets in the booktrade. the high-end market for collectors and the used book market for folks who need information from out of print publications or used substitutes for books that are still in print. The Internet has very different implications for those very different markets.
Alibris threw ten's of millions at trying to "grow" the high-end market - the end now served by ILAB, Bibliopoly and the recently defunct WorldBookDealers. Rare, unusual, and expensive books are scattered through all the search sites, of course, but those three did try to serve the high end collector and rare book institutions.
How big is the online high-end market from the point of view of supply and demand? Just for the sake of argument, we could set the bottom of that "high-end" at $250. Even given that modest floor, high-end books are a tiny portion of the online book world and the dealers who handle them have relatively high overheads, moderate margins, a steep learning curve, and few listings. As for the books themselves, probably far fewer than 1% of all online titles and variants would qualify: (at over $250 each) with a total inventory of fewer than a million copies, but an average price at least in the high hundreds of dollars into the low 4 figures. The number of qualifying titles is so small that the "elephants" yank the average and the mean away from each other - but you get my point.
If you do the math, we might be talking about a billion dollars worth of such books available online worldwide through the good offices of fewer than 2,000 dealers. This is not to say that there are 2,000 full throttle rare book dealers who handle great rarities exclusively (after all, that hypothetical average "high-end" book in the high hundreds of dollars is not actually a great rarity to begin with) - but there are probably 2,000 of our colleagues who handle material of very high quality, knowledgeably, on an ongoing basis, dealers for whom rare books represent a good part of their livelihood. Now, a billion dollars seems like an enormous inventory of high-end material, but it really only represents a part of what is available from dealers. The online portion of the world's inventory of rare books is by no means exhaustive. In Japan, for example (a book world I am quite familiar with) the vast majority of rarities would never be posted online for sale. So, there is a large unpublished inventory out there as well, but let us just put that material aside - it is invisible from our perspective here as online merchants in any event. A billion dollars may seem huge, but compared to most other product niches, it is tiny. This "high-end" material does not include the mislabeled, fraudulent junk that appears on some online venues which should be a scandal in the trade (There will be an unfortunate reckoning some day when the folks who buy this junk find out how worthless it really is.) No, we are talking about the real stuff. The difficulty of stocking this "real stuff" is threefold:
The fraudsters get around this by manufacturing rarity and counterfeiting knowledge, but that is not a viable business model - especially as there is a move afoot to crack down in earnest on the cowboys and cowgirls who are creating value the old-fashioned way, by lying.
The potential market of collectors and institutions worldwide for the "real stuff" is tiny, but fiercely committed. Alibris couldn't reach them profitably, perhaps because they threw money at the high-end mass market and there really may be no way to use mass-marketing tools like glossy ads in the New Yorker to market such eccentric and individual fare as rare books. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here - the rare book dealer and specialist catering to a very small niche may have to think less about online mass marketing and more about using online tools to enhance good old-fashioned one-off marketing techniques crafted to a specific dealer's style and a client's collecting obsession. The high-end is really the knowledge business, so the tools have to be up to the task of creating "knowledge environments" that make a given title attractive to a buyer.
There has been a lot of thought expended on this problem. Beyond videotaped sales talks based on a select inventory and crafted for a very specific clientele, there are also such techniques as "catalogues on demand", either as bare-bones as e-mailed lists, as retro as one-off glossy mailables made for a specific client to show a specific book or group of books, or as cutting edge as a Flash- or Java-enhanced DVD all-singing, all-dancing production. There are also the day-to-day enhancements of tried and true techniques from the past: dealers can now afford to add striking color images to printed catalogues. Long distance telephone & FAX communication is easier and vastly cheaper than ever. Colleagues tramp about book fairs, cell phones in hand, getting word from back at the office or from their clients as to whether or not there is a deal to be made and a dollar turned from the books they see concentrated on the selling floor. The enhancement of communication tools accelerates and streamlines techniques as old as the bazaar.
If communications enhancement is one aspect of the new technological advantage the rare book dealer exploits, access to information is the other. There are traditional sources - formerly in book or serial form, which are now integrated and available for instantaneous reference: ABPC, OCLC, bibliographies of various flavors - all available on the 'Net or via data CD-ROMs or DVDs. But there is more... I once had a colleague ask me if there was any way to figure out where a Twain salesman's dummy might have been used - it had a long list of addresses of book dealer's visited. It took about 40 minutes to come up with the answer. There are folks who are passionate about the history of firefighting - they compile and publish the records of fire call boxes from all over the country. All the streets in the publisher's dummy appeared in one town and one town only - Brooklyn. Except..... there was one stubborn street that didn't match. Another few minutes research revealed that there had been a catastrophic fire in Brooklyn at the turn of the century which had wiped out several blocks of buildings - the street in question simply "disappeared" when the neighborhood was rebuilt. Ten years ago we simply could not have found that out at any price, in any reasonable amount of time, much less 40 minutes.
Brand new marketing approaches, enhanced knowledge and communication - technology is changing daily. The infrastructure is changing, too. For example, broadband is broadening, as well.
But, at the high end, at the end of the day, it is the books themselves which will make the marketing tools successful or not. The essence of the rare books business lies at the intersection of true scarcity and true significance. For the last decade, or so, technology has been in the driver's seat and first the librarians and then the book dealers went where technology told them to go. That may have to change if we want to get back in control here.
Actually, standing the problem on its head, the ultimate utility of the Internet for the specialist rare book trade may actually lie in its value as a source for books rather than a marketing venue. Imagine... what if you wanted to start accumulating material on postwar Japanese book illustration or the history of Italian emigration to Northern California in the late 19th century? Ten years ago it would have been a long and laborious process of finding sources and amassing material. Now, new collecting fields lie wide open to anyone with bibliographic knowledge and imagination. If your interest has been written about, the 'Net will help you track down and obtain the secondary and even primary materials necessary to a collection. You, the bookdealer, can put on your collector's hat and create whole new fields of collecting interest yourself. If you know the field and your customers, you will sell what you find and you will profit.
In brief, that is why I believe that, despite all the dislocations of the high-end book market in the Internet Age, there are definitely signs that it will continue to flourish.
However, the second market - that of used and out of print books - is really a head-scratcher and may actually have no real future as it is now constituted. ABE, Alibris, and Amazon are the major venues for "stuff" - good used copies of in-print and out-of-print titles of more common currency and lesser value. There are claims that this inventory might reach 40-60million titles, but its aggregate value is falling by the day and falling fast. What needs to be borne in mind here is that the world publishing industry pours out literally millions of titles every year. Many are very attractive, both as new and used books, and others aren't - the "dogs".
Three approaches to defining a used book "dog" are:
1. A goodly proportion of published titles are utter failures from a profit perspective - at the extreme, no one buys them when they are new and no one wants them when they are used. Ouch.... I don't know what proportion of the x million titles now online fit into this category, but it is not insignificant.
2. When released, there are many titles that have a currency and popularity that is largely created by hype and buzz - a year goes by, the buzz dies and that bestseller is now crowding the online shelves, along with a gazillion other copies of the same book - ouch. Unlike Example 1, the publisher may have made a good profit initially, but without the hype the title is just so much insulation on the used-book market.
3. There are scads of short-discount scholarly and trade books which are updated regularly - the new edition is guaranteed to sell to a captive audience of professionals, or academics, or students - the old copies are just junk.
In addition, you have the inevitable consequence of Gresham's Law when applied to online book inventories. Gresham was an English economist who explained the process whereby adulterated or bad currency tends to drive good currency from the market and replace it. "Bad" books drive good, saleable books from the shelves simply because good, saleable books sell and the unsaleable (or at least yet unsold), remain. Traditionally the thinking was that the book market was so imperfect that every book was simply waiting for that special someone to buy it - hope sprang eternal. Book sources were scattered and isolated in thousands of little shops. But the Internet changed all the that - from a technical economic standpoint, a far more "perfect" market was created in which supply and demand could ruled unswayed. The result was and is a crash of prices for more common titles, a process accelerated by the price sensitive sorting of searches by the search services and the increasing use of price-reduction software like Seller Engine, Homebase's add-on price reducer or the new Alibris price reduction system. Quite simply, if you make a perfect market and create tools to make competitive price reduction automatic, or at least easy, then prices will inevitably trend down to whatever the set minimum would be. However you frame it - it is inevitable. Think of the inverse of an auction where many buyers are competing for the same item - the price goes through the roof. Here there are competing suppliers - the price goes right to the "floor".
So what stops the price at auction from going through the roof and on to infinity? - simply a lack of practical means. At some point there is only one buyer left willing to pay the freight. What we are seeing on Amazon and other venues is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of dealers who are willing to see their prices go to near zero - the inverse of "infinity" - but the reason is simple - at first it doesn't hurt so much to lose a little money selling a book. Plus there are lots of other folks selling that selfsame "junk" book, so the chances of your copy being purchased and money lost on the transaction is relatively low. Instead of the big financial blow suffered when you try to pay for the item you bought at auction at the too-high end, you are suffering a death by a thousand cuts as more and more of your inventory trends to zero and you have to lose a little bit selling copy after copy after copy....
Obviously this cannot continue forever. In theory, the costs of production provide the floor. In the case of booksellers that cost of production is overhead and opportunity cost. If you can't pay the electric bill to light the warehouse, or you find you can make more money doing something else, then the chances are that you will quit the book biz. Many people have. The problem is that this process is imperfect as well - you have many ostensible booksellers who really have quit or who don't depend on bookselling for money whose inventories of dead titles continue to haunt the Internet and keep everyone else's prices down. This "overhang" will eventually disappear, but there seems a big shaking out is on the horizon - one that might bring the number of copies online from 40-60 million to perhaps half that number very quickly. If the marketing venues changed their policies and started raising the overhead charges for posting and maintaining huge inventories of slow-moving books then the drop off would be sudden and severe. That business model change is embodied in the transition from Half.com to eBay fixed price listings... Half/Ebay may simply be a special case or it may be a trend (Though Half has been at least partially revived for now - its ability to handle large listers has been reduced and it is not signing up new customers to upload in bulk)
Also, there is the ongoing threat of "print on demand" which, if it expands and proves profitable, may end up eroding the market for saleable and scarce out of print titles, as well. What is a used book dealer to do if they want to stay in business? Especially since the online marketing sites have, ironically enough, brought many new sellers to the trade - where they provide new competition and lower aggregate prices even more.
Part Two: From Theory to Practice
More to come...
Charles Vilnis is principle of BookRouter, at www.bookrouter.com, which uploads booksellers' inventory listings to 20+online databases and listing sites. A longtime bookseller and member of the ABAA since 1980, he has been a full-time computer consultant to the bookselling community since the late 1990's. BookRouter and the other bookselling tools created by Mr. Vilnis' Allusive Information Systems www.allusys.com are aimed at reducing the drudgery of online sales and simplifying the day-to day interactions between those enduring foes: bookseller and computer.
Copyright Ó 2004 Charles Vilnis
"Long ago the earth was entirely covered by a great blanket of water. At that time the only living creatures of the world were water animals such as the beaver, muskrat, duck, and loon. There was no sun, moon, or stars and so there was no light."
Many years later, when there was light, I sat at the top of a high bank looking down into a long confluent pool of the Fox Creek, where I saw a beaver, a muskrat and a mink all plying their trade at the same time. That's a pretty rare mammalian convergence in our tamed countryside. And if I had to have a spirit animal it would be the kingfisher, always on patrol along this stream.
Fox Creek was behind one of my favorite rural auction halls, now defunct (the auction, not the creek). First it was to the east, and after we relocated it was to the west. The half hour drive out from the latter more suburban starting point is beautiful, rising through the foothills of the Helderberg Mountains in upstate New York and coinciding with a Sunday morning acoustic radio program. Highlights along the way included several herds of unusual cattle breeds, great blue herons in the mist, a large bluestone concern spread out like a flattened cemetery, a tiny hairpin turn town perched on a deep ravine which surely must have claimed some lives over the years by slippery moss or flash flood, more aloofly situated old white homesteads with lilac bushes on the lawns and clematis vines winding up the wraparound porches, and a small improbable airstrip always at the ready for planes which never landed as I passed by. The fairly-modern auction hall itself was very nicely set up, with folding chairs in front and smooth gray raised wooden platform seating in back, generous enough to pile up lot after lot all around you or to stretch out a bit with a cheeseburger and coffee. It was associated with a large summer weekend flea market housed in numerous permanent buildings, some of which used to contain the owner's extensive antique buggy collection. They held a couple of special events each summer which always seemed to feature country music, a steam engine exhibition, and great barbecue chicken. I would arrive by 9:00 or so, preview the auction, and browse the flea market back when bargains could still be had in plenty at such venues. From there I walked along the border between large field and narrow wooded ridge, seemingly without purpose to deflect attention, until the high perch above the creek was reached. What a contrast between this spot and the city I worked in, the pungent fairgrounds-type bathroom building I could now avoid, and the relative warfare of the auction set to start in ten minutes. I left my wife and small kids home most of these mornings and regret that a bit looking back, but I returned before they knew it, all restocked and recharged.
We visited this upstate New York region when I was the small kid back in the 1970s and poked more than a little fun at it. I was rather surprised upon my return from a post-college cross-country trip some years later to be informed that we were actually moving there! Coincidentally, my good friend's grocery store manager father had transferred up a bit earlier, so we both had a continuation of employment. Mr. Hornung used to take us to this same auction hall in search of his passion¾antique corkscrews¾most of which went for a buck or three back then. His collection displayed very nicely, and has probably increased in value a hundred fold since then. On the way home we would sometimes dig for arrowheads in various cornfields along the Schoharie Creek. My sharp-eyed picker mother ran a barn sale on weekends, and all these things conspired to give me an interest in antiques, books, and, as things unfolded, paper items.
The owner of this enterprise was a trim, pleasant looking man, like a country version of Gentleman Jimmy Walker, steeped in the ways of agriculture and rural commerce. His glory days as the big dog in town were beginning to fade due to the finite supply of previously undiscovered antiques and collectibles, competition from upstart auction halls (one founded by one of his runners), rising consumer awareness, and a tendency to reallocate commissions. The more common way for auction houses to cheat is by misrepresenting the quality or provenance of the item up for bid, or to initiate or comply with bid rigging efforts of one sort or another. Not paying consignors, however, is a bit more black and white, and he lost his license more than once. A lot of folks were angry with him, the buggy collection was forfeited, and the last I heard he was making a living from the now diminished flea market and huge party tent rentals. This colleague still owes me $500.00 or so in consignment money, but I forgave the debt with no misgivings. I had lots of fun, education, and relaxation there; and I took home many prizes, like an early Palatine bible with wooden covers which sold for $1,200.00, and a classic country store mahogany showcase I still use which only went for $50.00 because nobody else had the room or good back to haul it away that day. Many will boycott him for life but I still hold out hope that he can reform and rebound one last time.
Anyway, I showed up rather late one morning and was a little startled to see about a hundred boxes of paper off toward the back. No time for creek sitting that day. Upon inquiry I was informed that these were the files of a longtime school teacher, which in the past would have been unceremoniously pitched. The auctioneer did not want to sell the whole collection as one lot, which cuts down on confusion and chicanery, so I only had time to read the teacher's folder tabs and jot down the corresponding box numbers. I put a "must win" star next to the lot that contained a large amount of Native American material. The other good thing about Sunday morning auctions is that I could get home in time to process the goodies on a couple of long outside work tables in a peaceful and secluded spot right in my round stone driveway. This is where I first came into contact with Aren Akweks, through his booklets, correspondence, and other ephemera.
I use "Aren Akweks" as that is how he signed most of his publications, but he was also known as Ray Fadden or Tehanetorens. Now it would take a full biography to impart the measure of this man, but a thumbnail sketch and some quotes will have to do. Fadden was teaching young Mohawks at the St. Regis Reservation at Akwesasne in the 1940s when he began delving deeply into the cultural past of his people. In 1954 Ray and his family founded the Six Nations Indian Museum in Onchiota, NY, a kaleidoscopically rich repository of artifacts and learning. The design for this grandfather of Indian museums, constructed from trees felled by Fadden himself, reflects the architecture of a traditional Iroquois dwelling. "The long bark house is a metaphor for the Six Nations Confederacy, symbolically stretching from East to West across ancestral territory. The Mohawks are the Keepers of the Eastern Door, the Senecas are the keepers of the Western Door, the Onondagas are the Fire Keepers and the Oneidas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras (admitted into the Confederation in the early 18th century) are the Younger Brothers." "We take pride in our existence as a living museum, embodying the values and worldview of a vibrant culture. Many museums appear to have the same goals, but in most cases, they are institutions deeply rooted in western culture, in effect presenting Native American cultures 'under glass.' Cultural perspective markedly affects the manner in which material is presented. The Six Nations Indian Museum presents its material from a Native American point of view."
"Yet, with all of the museum's awesome beauty and contents considered, the most important and profound aspect of the Six Nations Museum remains Tehanetorens himself. Visitors of his museum receive much more than a casual tour of the premises. Upon entry through the gift shop, one is cordially invited to be seated on one of the many Longhouse style benches. He proceeds to read a beaded pictograph record belt concerned with the story of the migration and trials of the Iroquois people. This is what he deems his first message. By itself, his first message is an interesting historical record, but if enough interest is apparent in his audience, Tehanetorens delivers his second message which delves into considerable depth with the Indian contributions to the world. It includes everything from popcorn to rubber, and Indian Nations from the Inca to the Mohawks. Tehanetorens delivers his messages with dramatic authority tempered by his pleasant witticisms. If the interest is great enough and the situation warranting, he will unleash his third and final message that quite frankly sometimes disturbs the more delicate and patriotic American ego. He strips away the veil of lies and half-truths that makes American history palatable to the average American conscience. He reveals the undenatured truth of the treatment that this continent's Native people received from American and Canadian Governments and its people. He emphasizes not only past history but the present as well.
His oratory is a comparative discourse that spans pre-contact Europe and North American pre-Columbian histories. Tehanetorens paints not a pretty picture. One senses from him an anger at injustice and atrocities committed against his people. Yet there is also an underlying sadness, a desperate, even fearful sorrow about him as he speaks of the ravaged forests, dead polluted waters, and whole species of life slaughtered into extinction."
From the signed correspondence in this auction lot, some of which was adorned with small grouse feathers, I learned that the school teacher in question knew Ray personally, had visited the Museum, and probably used these materials in his classroom instruction. There are a dozen or so booklets from the 1940s on. Some are listed online for an average price of about $25.00, while others don't show up at all. Most of them are on specialized topics such as The Creation, The Hermit Thrush, or histories of the individual tribes such as Migration of the Tuscaroras. Monuments to Six Indian Nations is a 68 page illustrated guide to dozens of sites throughout the state.
There were also twenty-five or so charts about the size of placemats, reproduced from large originals, which are very richly illustrated with the simple yet eloquent pictographs that were Fadden's stock in trade. These sheets are incredibly busy, with tiny lettering, strident invective, and lavish decoration. Fadden researched the early design motifs found on historic wampum belts, bark dishes, condolence canes, rock writings, bead work, and images recorded in the writings of missionaries and explorers who coexisted with the Iroquois, and he added modern pictographs to fill in any blanks. Rounding out the collection were some photos of the Reservation classrooms, and some Mohawk Indian postcards, one featuring Ray and his wife Christine and young son John Kahionhes Fadden traditionally garbed in a sunny field many moons ago.
I recently watched a rather obnoxious author on Book TV pitching the theory that Native Americans were subsistence level savages who were more or less rescued by Europeans. I have no Indian blood, other than eating hundreds of big fat blueberries as a child on a tiny island graveyard in the wilds of Quebec once, but this guy made my blood boil. He makes some valid points about the myth of the Noble Savage, etc., but it was essentially a mean-spirited ahistorical justification of genocide, shortsighted environmental policies, and placing nationalism, Christianity and profits before human needs. He made much of pre-contact brutality, while ignoring little details like our Civil War and the two world wars. The Iroquois Constitution, also known as The Great Law of Peace, is probably the longest-existing international constitution in the world. When the founding fathers were working out a federal union of the colonies and no suitable European model was found, Benjamin Franklin and others borrowed liberally from Iroquoian forms of government. Women played a very important role in their society as well. It does not take much to imagine Native Americans shedding tribal warfare and improving their living standards (the ones that needed improving) while retaining their culture and significant lands without all the bloodshed and assimilation. New York State's modern copout response to the Indian question has taken the form of ensuring the sovereign tribal right of erecting huge casinos and letting them sell tax-free cigarettes. Ray Fadden's personal vision of Native American healing is a more soothing balm of lament, pride, and hope for the future. He was in the early wave of modern Native American activism, and always put his thoughts into deeds, from raising awareness to teaching woodlore to building museums. Feeding the local woodland animals was a favorite pastime right up to the end. "He cares little for fame and glory; his cares are Earth, Life, and Peace. For a time, Tehanetorens was the sole steward and fire keeper of the Eastern Door. He harboured and nurtured within his being the last embers of Peacemaker's timeless Council Fires that had all but vanished at Akwesasne. From the doors of his classrooms came leaders and men, Clan Mothers and children who beat within their breasts the spirit and blood that fueled the rebirth of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne."
In this series of articles on paper ephemera, I am not inclined to expound on large categories like sheet music or baseball cards one at a time. While this would be somewhat informative, it seems that every antiques newspaper, magazine, and Antiques Roadshow-type program is already covering this basic paper education with colorfully illustrated overviews. In my view, the strength and appeal of ephemera is in its variety and scarcity. You are generally holding something more rare than a particular book, which is the other thing (along with original writings) that physically speaks to us from the past. Unusual printed ephemera also sparks interest, as individual pieces are often small clues to some larger truth. In this case, for example, I was basically ignorant of New York State Native American activism before stumbling onto these materials. Such interest can even lead to other avenues of research or commerce, journeys, and new friends.
What to do with this particular survivor ephemera? The correspondence and photos will be donated to the museum. It includes a six page letter proposing the erection of a fitting memorial to the great Shawnee patriot Tecumseh in Ontario. The booklets will be listed online. The pictograph charts may do better right in the shop. This ramble is not about profit though. Big moneymakers are great, but I think of them as supporting the pursuit of paper rather than causing this pursuit to begin with. After one enjoys hunting for, handling, and perhaps learning from these pieces and it comes to disposition, each must be judged on its own merits. You rescue them, you add to the variety of your stock, you provide affordable historical items, and ten and twenty-five dollar sales add up to hundred dollar totals.
I would like to visit the Six Nations Indian Museum in the Adirondacks next summer. Ray Fadden's children and grandchildren run the operation now. I called to see what the hours are, as there is a little less online information than one might expect. They are open in July and August, offering a rotating series of lectures. School groups may visit in June and September. Admission is $2.00, $1.00 for children. The man on the phone asked if I would like a brochure. I found that I was speaking to John, Ray's little son in the old postcard image and a talented artist and fire keeper in his own right. I shared the story about how I came into possession of all these items, and we had a very pleasant conversation. I received the brochure and a note in short order. "Thanks for your call . . . enjoyed our brief discussion about my Dad." Aren Akweks, by the way, is in a nursing home but still with us at 93. He lived two lifetimes, said I. More like ten, replied his son. And the inspirational ephemera he produced still speaks for itself.
Shawn Purcell is the principle of Balopticon Books & Ephemera in Delmar NY, online at www.balopticon.com, and may be e-mailed at mail@balopticon.com
Copyright Ó 2004 Shawn Purcell
Robin Gutterman
TitlesDirect.com launched the latest version of its online bookselling database, BookTrakker Pro v3.0, in March 2004, followed by an update release v3.1 in August. Together, the new version and update release introduced key new features, optimizations, and fixes.
When asked to highlight key features and improvements to BookTrakker Pro, CEO Andrew Gutterman stated "Of the many benefits v3.0 and the v3.1 update release bring, two stand out. First, OneClick uploads to Amazon Marketplace and zShops enable booksellers to quickly update online listings, saving time and improving fulfillment rates. Second, the addition of Plugin capability creates future versatility to meet the ever-changing needs of online booksellers. Plugins are add-on software modules that add specific features or services to existing databases."
Other changes the new version
Upcoming new feature
Planned for release in late 2004 or early 2005 is the first Plugin for BookTrakker Pro: an ISBN lookup and pricing program, aimed specifically at the Amazon market but useful elsewhere. This Plugin will enable users to quickly fill specific data fields in BookTrakker with clean data, versus entering it in by hand.
Affiliate Commissions
There was an extreme makeover of the BookTrakker website at http://www.booktrakker.com. In conjunction with the new site and the release of version 3.0, BookTrakker started paying commissions for program sales resulting from affiliate referrals. A new sign-up page with related tools for participants is accessible from the home page. The Affiliate Marketing Program is open to both Web site owners and those without Web sites.
Robin Gutterman and Andrew Gutterman are co-owners of The Avocado Pit book shop in Charlottesville VA and market BookTrakker software at www.booktrakker.com
Copyright Ó 2004 Robin Gutterman
Lance Christen
The story of ChrisLands.com started in 1999 when Lance Christen and Jaymes Sorbel began two years of researching the online used bookselling market. Lance, with a background in business administration, focused his research on the business aspects of the online used book market and Jaymes, with computer science experience, focused his research and work on developing a web site application specifically for selling used books.
Lance found that four internet companies dominated the online used book market in 1999 and 2000; ABEbooks.com, Alibris.com, Bibliofind.com and eBay.com. Lance found that the average seller of books on eBay was different from the average seller on ABE, Bibliofind and Alibris. The average bookseller on ABE, Bibliofind, and Alibris tended to be a more "traditional" used bookseller. Additionally, booksellers on ABE, Bibliofind, and Alibris were more likely to have been selling books (off-line and on-line) as their primary source of income.
Amazon's purchase of Bibliofind.com, Amazon's opening of zStores, and Amazon's opening of Marketplace coupled with Amazon's gigantic Internet name-recognition propelled Amazon into the used book selling market in 2001. Amazon's purchase of Bibliofind coincided with Amazon allowing zStores and Marketplace to assimilate booksellers that were more "traditional" because Amazon provided bulk uploading options for Marketplace and zStores.
As Lance researched the business portion of the online used book market Jaymes researched the development of an online store that catered specifically to used booksellers. Jaymes found scores of services and software packages that offered general-purpose types of stores. The only services Jaymes found building book specific web sites were charging hundreds or thousands of dollars to build an online bookstore. In 1999-2001, two thousand dollars to develop an online used bookstore was not an exorbitant price. It could take a software programmer several weeks to build a store tailored to sell used books. Software programmers were building bookstores from scratch and each bookstore that was being built was a brand new creation.
Jaymes embarked on the development of software that was tailored specifically for online used bookselling but that could be easily copied and used repeatedly. It must also have the flexibility to offer booksellers the capability to edit the content, color, and character of the store making it possible for the bookseller to individualize his or her store
Jaymes' goal was to develop bookstore software somewhat akin to how automobile manufactures build specific car models. If the Chrislands bookstores were cars, then every store that Chrislands built would have the same engine (database), the same transmission (search capability), the same axles (shopping cart), the same tires (secure checkout); everything that provided the basic power for the car (store) would be the same. However, the bookseller would be able to choose the cosmetic items of the car (store); body style (logos and graphics), exterior (store colors), interior (bookseller's own categories and data), and options (featured items).
Since the "engine and drive train" for all Chrislands bookstores is the same, Chrislands could spread the developmental cost for the "engine and drive train" across hundreds of customers and thus make the cost affordable for each individual bookseller. In addition to spreading the cost, when upgrades to the software are added these updates are automatically applied to all stores. The design of the software also provides the bookseller ease of management in administration of the store. Chrislands wanted to build a store that was as easy to administer as it was to process orders through venues such as ABE.com.
In 2001 hackers vandalized the Bibliofind website. Amazon decided to close Bibliofind after the hacker vandalism and direct Bibliofind visitors to Amazon's zShops and Marketplace. Amazon's closing of Bibliofind demonstrated in a loud and clear manner that online bookselling was subject to many events beyond the individual bookseller's control.
When Amazon closed Bibliofind, Lance and Jaymes decided it was time to launch Chrislands.com and offer online booksellers the opportunity to gain some control over their online business. Lance and Jaymes chose the name ChrisLands based upon Jaymes children's names, Christina and Landry and thus ChrisLands.com was born.
In the day-to-day operation of Chrislands, Lance focuses on customer support and business administration while Jaymes focuses on continued software development, and technology. Lance's dedication to ChrisLands' customers has earned him an impeccable reputation for quick and responsive support. Jaymes provides the technical expertise to keep the server's up and running smoothly and keeping the stores operating properly.
Since launching ChrisLands.com, Lance and Jaymes have had to make many decisions concerning the business. When making these decisions they always ask themselves "how does this benefit the bookseller and how does it help the bookseller sell more books?"
Lance receives requests almost daily for additional features and modifications to the Chrislands' application and he records them all, but ChrisLands prioritizes these requests based upon what will help their clients most. A prime example is when Google.com made public their new site Froogle.com, ChrisLands placed other development on hold and began writing code to support uploading their clients' items to Froogle. Why? Because Froogle uploading could help the Chrislands' customers increase book sales.
Another decision Lance and Jaymes made early on was to use high quality computer hardware and equipment. They did not feel that it would be right for their clients to build their business on average hardware even though ChrisLands could save thousands of dollars, sometimes on each hardware item, by either building it themselves or by buying it from a local vendor. Chrislands buys their hardware from Dell.
Lance and Jaymes continue to work extremely hard, what seems like night and day, with the same dedication as always to make ChrisLands the right choice for booksellers now and far into the future.
Lance Christen is a principle of Chrislands Bookstore Service at www.chrislands.com
Copyright Ó 2004 Lance Christen
Robin Gutterman
Do you remember Jimmy Durante? He was a comedian that started in Vaudeville, worked his way into nightclubs, radio and TV, and eventually into the heart of the nation. He put his heart and soul into every performance, but at the very end of every show, beginning in the 40s, his tone became somber as he slowly walked through successive, diminishing spotlights, then turning to the audience, he would deliver what became his signature sign-off, "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash -- wherever you are!" While there are various people identified as the mysterious Mrs. Calabash, the most convincing argument is that Mrs. Calabash was his wife. Apparently, Mrs. Calabash was his affectionate nickname for his wife, and it was after her death in 1943 that be began saying "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash - wherever you are!"
Now, while I cannot even begin to compare the loss of a spouse with the closing of a Web site, shutting down MyOwnBookshop.com brought to mind the same kind of feeling of sadness and loss as when Jimmy Durante turned and headed into the first spotlight, then into the next smaller spotlight, and so on, and all the while the background lights were dimming, until there was nothing left to see and even the smallest spotlight faded to nothing.
None of us wanted to dim the lights and add MyOwnBookshop.com to an ever-growing list of defunct Web sites for used and rare booksellers. We fought a good fight, the best we could give, to keep it operational. When the stock market fell after 9/11 and we lost our second round of financing, it became a real challenge to keep the site going while trying to manage operating and development costs. All of us wish we could have found a magic solution that would have kept us afloat long enough to become a successful operation and beyond. The struggle to keep the site going was long and took its toll; it was time to dim the lights and say Good Night.
The notice that MyOwnBookshop.com was closing went out to participating booksellers the end of August thanking all those wonderful dealers who supported us through thick and thin.
In the aftermath of the closing of MyOwnBookshop.com, the parent company TitlesDirect.com, Inc. has become a more focused company, with its single focus being software for booksellers. We will continue to lend whatever support we can to the existing smaller sites, which we believe are the future for used and rare booksellers.
Robin Gutterman and Andrew Gutterman are co-owners of The Avocado Pit book shop in Charlottesville VA and market BookTrakker software at www.booktrakker.com
Copyright Ó 2004 Robin Gutterman
Michael Watson, editor
A perfectly rational question would be "where have we been?" After the last issue the long-time Editor felt like she had been running the race for too long and handed off the baton to another runner who would edit and assemble the IOBA Standard. Even the best runners stumble, on occasion, and this was the occasion when the new Editor encountered some life issues that got in the way of editing duties. The Standard stumbled, fell, and stayed down.
We're Running Again
We're in training and not running at full speed, though. You are reading the Fall Preview edition of the Standard. It's just a short "teaser" of the type and quality of information that we'll present in future editions. Those editions will be quarterly and seasonal, which the astute observer in a temperate climate will note to be Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.
We're Delivering
Regular, seasonal editions will be full-length and devoted to delivery of information that benefits the bookseller. You can expect lengthy, detailed feature articles and reference material from topic experts of experience and strong opinion. Shorter articles will inform you of the doings of online services, reports from book fairs, bookselling "tools," etc.
This preview edition contains Penny Selling, Part2 by Stuart Manley, Collecting the Modern Library: A Gentle Introduction by Scot Kamins, Ephemeral Assays-Fire Keepers by Shawn Purcell, and The Book Trade and its Markets by Charles Vilnis: all lengthy, detailed articles.
Making Money from Book Care, by Bern Marcowitz, makes it's first appearance and will be an ongoing feature. Robin Gutterman notes the latest features of BookTrakker software and the closing of MyOwnBookshop.com. Included is the history and status of ChrisLands.com by Lance Christen.
Subscribe to our announcement list to be notified by e-mail when a new Standard is published. The announcement will include the highlight topics of the new edition, and we promise not to bug you with any other e-mails. If you find the Standard useful in your bookselling efforts, pass it along to those who haven't seen it yet: others will benefit, too.
I look forward to delivering new editions and benefiting the IOBA and our many friends in the trade. Don't hesitate to contact me at editor@ioba.org with ideas for articles or comments on the current edition. Your input and assistance will be reflected in our progress.
Best regards. -Michael Watson, Editor, editor@ioba.org