Why does IOBA offer scholarships to seminars and classes for our members? Because IOBA wants all its member booksellers to be the best booksellers they can be. Their perspective on bookselling will have widened, they will have met a faculty whose bookselling knowledge is deep and varied, and they will have made friends with fellow seminarians who include librarians and book collectors, along with other booksellers. These are good relationships to forge! An application that wi

The IOBA Scholarship Committee reviewed a number of worthy applications this year, and we have two very deserving winners. Before getting to that, though, just a few words about the scholarships. As those who have been keeping up with announcements on the IOBA lists know, our organization offers two scholarships each year. The first is for the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar, held in Colorado Springs in August each year. The second is an open scholarship which can be used

The Colorado Book School, as it is informally known, offers a wonderful opportunity for those seeking to improve their knowledge of the profession. Attending this famous seminar involves a serious commitment of time and money, but all reports indicate that it is well worth the investment. Please note that IOBA’s own Chris Volk is their newest faculty member. Perhaps Chris can give us a nice report on this experience in a future issue. An official announcement follows THE COLO

by 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.

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 compan

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 uploa

BookWriter Professional is a new application created by Tom Sawyer, co-founder of Interloc and Alibris, serving as Chief Software Engineer from 1993-2001. His past creations include BookMaster, Record Manager, BookMate, Book Prices Realized, and the UIEE data exchange format. Last year, Tom produced the unique BookWriter Web composer, which effectively positions bookseller’s books in search engines. This exclusive IOBA article offers the first public disclosure of BookWriter

The Independent Online Booksellers Association is pleased to announce the launch of IOBAbooks.com, a website where IOBA members will offer their books for purchase online. Book buyers can be assured that all IOBA member booksellers will provide professional and reliable service, as provided by the IOBA Code of Ethics. IOBA members can participate in IOBAbooks.com at very favorable rates. The site is operated for IOBA by Choosebooks.com and is based on their full-featured, hig

(Editor’s Note: I apologize. Since this issue of The Standard is so late in going live, this event was held this last weekend. Hopefully Ken Fermoyle can report on it in the next Standard issue. I’m sure it went very well indeed, as always.) As if the location wasn’t enough, Left Coast Crime 2004 organizers report that the February 19-22 event in Monterey, CA will feature Walter Mosley and Sharan Newman as Guests of Honor. Toastmistress will be Gillian Roberts (Judy Greber) a

One of the most pernicious knids in the last several hundred years of bookselling has been odoriferous books. As all booksellers know, most books stink, but some of them go so far as to smell. It breaks the heart to tear into a lovely milk crate of potentially mortgage- paying volumes only to discover that they have been stored in the back of a disused lavatory along with the owners’ collection of rare molds & spores. There are many makeshift methods to drive odors out of boo

By: Robin Gutterman robin@titlesdirect.com Database URLs: http://www.MyOwnBookshop.com and http://www.BookTrakker.com TitlesDirect.com, Inc., the parent company of MyOwnBookshop.com and the developer of BookTrakker Pro, is pleased to report a number of site changes and recent developments. In the forefront is an announcement concerning SmartSearch, new technology that produces accurate booksearch results. Introducing SmartSearch Technology TitlesDirect.com has developed new

Awards for mystery novels and their authors abound! Probably the best known, and most coveted, of those given in the United States are the Edgar All Poe Awards. Chosen by members of the Mystery Writers of America since 1945, they are more commonly known as the “Edgars,” The Macavity Awards differ from most mystery novel honors in two important respects. First, readers select the nominees and winners, not a committee or professionals in the field. Each year, members of Mystery