The smell of the North Texas plains is the dusty scent of dried grass, mesquite bushes and ancient live oaks towering over red brick courthouses of the county seats. Archer City, however, also offers the complex, rich odor of aging paper and musty bindings peculiar to used bookstores. Five buildings in this oasis south of Wichita Falls house a myriad of offerings from two businesses, Booked Up and Three Dogs Bookstore. Famed author, collectible book dealer, and local son, Larry McMurtry, returned to his hometown and inspiration for his book, The Last Picture Show, to open a branch of his successful Washington D.C. antiquarian book business, Booked Up. He invited the Wichita Falls firm of Three Dog Books to join him in Archer City as he worked towards a vision of an authentic American book town. For a weekend in August, Book Seminars International will be joining hundreds of thousands of used and out-of-print books to be found in this prairie town. David Gregor will present his daylong multi-media programs, Book Collecting for Fun & Profit and Strategic Bookselling Workshop on August 23rd and 24th. Over a recent lunch, I quizzed the 17-year bookselling veteran about his own enterprises. TF: Why Archer City Texas? DG: It is the premier book town in America and it’s in a region that has a strong literary heritage. Many people know about McMurtry’s book town and I thought the programs would be an added advantage for book people to travel there. Scouting through five buildings, you really have to work at not finding something you or your shop needs. TF: But August in Texas? DG: (laughing) Well the venue [site of the original Last Picture Show] is air conditioned, but this was the best time to fit in with my class offerings which include extensive traveling across the country and my duties as co-producer of the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair. TF: Why have you developed these programs? DG: Because there is a growing body of book enthusiasts who want a basic education on collecting and library-building that is not offered any place else in the world. I developed the bookseller program as a crash course in business fundamentals for people in the trade and those interested in coming in to it-so as to give them every opportunity to succeed. TF: How do your book seminar programs compare with the Denver Book Seminar? DG: They’re two different, but our students who have taken both say, compatible programs. I understand the Denver weeklong program is primarily aimed at advanced education for the antiquarian bookseller and collection-building librarian. My collecting program is designed as an introduction to the fundamentals of library-building for the fledgling collector, but we see again and again that the in-class exercises for identifying first printings and condition description help buyers and sellers. The Bookseller Workshop is relevant to both beginning and experienced booksellers. It shows blow-by-blow what your options are for your business if you apply the principals and tactics used by all profitable retail operations-regardless of size or product. TF: What do you think is the biggest obstacle to the future of the used bookselling trade? DG: I would say the fragmentary nature of the old school of bookselling. That school is slowly dying away because technology increases competition even though the marketplace has expanded beyond the local and regional customer base of even the general used bookseller. TF: Define “fragmentary nature of the old school”? DG: A lack of cooperative cohesion within the bookselling community and between that community and the population they wish to serve. This situation exists despite professional organizations. There is a small body of professional business people within the trade and a much larger number of hobbyists or owners who refuse to adjust to the changing retail paradigm of the used, rare and out-of-print book business. We are no different from any other retail business today-we all have to make adjustments. My goal for the programs is to provide a direction in transitioning from the old school to the 21st Century marketplace. TF: Do the classes generate a lot of sales for your store, Gregor Books, in Seattle? DG: Not really. I wish it were so. This is a service I choose to provide the book world. I create informed buyers, regardless of their interests. And we all want informed buyers-they better understand both the price of the item and the importance of establishing relationships with reputable dealers. TF: What are your plans for 2004? DG: We are still finalizing our schedule. By September I will know which three cities I will be traveling to for the programs. And of course, people can join me in Seattle for the programs. I do them right at the store, which makes it easy for them to browse the stacks during the breaks! Web links: http://www.BookSeminarsInternational.com http://www.bookedupinc.com http://www.threedogbooks.com http://www.seattlebookfair.com http://www.GregorBooks.com

The 2003 DIY Book Festival reports that its annual gala awards ceremony honoring independent authors and publishers will benefit the Beyond Baroque Literary Center of Venice, California. (DIY = Do It Yourself, of course.) The 35-year old landmark bookstore/performance space/publisher will be celebrated on Thursday, October 2nd at the Derby Nightclub in Hollywood with a special night of spoken word performances, music, exhibits, panels and literary readings by some of Beyond Baroque’s distinguished alumni, all capped by the 2003 DIY Book Festival Awards Ceremony. Tickets for the event are $15 and available by calling the DIY Book Festival at 323-665-8080 or may be purchased online at http://www.diybookfestival.com. Entrants to the DIY Book Festival contest are admitted free to the awards program. The Beyond Baroque Literary Center is a performance and publishing forum in the cultural heart of Southern California. Formed in 1968 by a group of writers with the publication of an avant-garde poetry magazine, the center has grown into a hub for readings, performances, special events, and ongoing educational classes, including its long-running Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop. Among its most important missions is Beyond Books, dedicated to important emerging and overlooked work that is unavailable elsewhere or out of print. Headlining the DIY Book Festival benefit will be performances by X’s John Doe; Pleasant Gehman, author of The Underground Guide To L.A.; Larry Jaffe, International Readings Coordinator for the United Nations Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry program; and Shawna Kenney, author of I Was A Teenage Dominatrix. Other performers will be announced in the coming weeks. Entries for the 2003 DIY Book Festival competition will be accepted through September 25 at http://www.diybookfestival.com. The DIY Book Festival will consider self-published or independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, children’s books, how-to, photography/art, comics, ‘zines, fan fiction and ebooks released after January 1, 2001. All entries must be in English and have been self-published or issued by an independent house that has published less than 50 works since the entry cut-off point. Competition winners receive cash, travel, software and independent book selections. The 2003 DIY Book Festival is sponsored by Soft Skull Press, Final Draft Screenplay Software, Alcasid.com, the DIYReporter.com and JM Northern Media.

Is your office like a sauna in the summer heat? Would you prefer updating your online database or answering email queries in the open air, perhaps at a nearby park? Thanks to cutting edge technology, IOBA members can, or will soon be able to, ditch their desks to make the most of the summer and work out in the sun or at a shady picnic table in your own backyard. Using a relatively new mobile technology, a team of lecturers and classroom assistants from a London college gathered at London’s famous landmark Leicester Square to demonstrate how easy, and enjoyable, it can be to work in the open air. The technology that makes this possible is called Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity. It allows you to connect to the Internet from your couch at home, a bed in a hotel room or a shady creek bank without wires. How? Wi-Fi is a wireless technology like a cell phone. Computers designed to use Wi-Fi send and receive data indoors and out, anywhere within the range of a base station. And the best thing of all, it’s fast. In fact, it’s several times faster than the fastest cable modem connection. The mobile workforce in Europe is fast growing: the Institute of Employment Services in the UK recently predicted that the number of teleworkers in Europe could reach as many as 27 million by 2010, With more people looking to achieve a better work/life balance, Wi-Fi technology seems to be the way to go. Recent research also reveals that two-thirds of the world’s 1,000 biggest companies are expected to use WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) technology by the end of 2004. Britain is already becoming more mobile. Research conducted amongst UK companies indicated recently that half of the corporations, and over a third of medium-sized companies interviewed, already have WLANs in operation or intend to do so in the next year. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11b or 802.11a to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wired networks. Wi-Fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, with an 11 Mbps (802.11b) or 54 Mbps (802.11a) data rate or with products that contain both bands (dual band), so they can provide real-world performance similar to the basic 10BaseT wired Ethernet networks used by many IOBA members, including me. Are there drawbacks? Sure there are. Your computer must be configured with a Wi-Fi certified PC Card or similar device (a radio, essentially). You must be in range of a base station, your access point or gateway, which can simply be your home or office computer. Range varies from about 500 feet to more than a mile, depending on your equipment, antennas (built-in or external) and environmental conditions. What is sure to happen, however, is that hotels, motels, resorts, and various public facilities (such as libraries, possibly) will provide gateways that you can access. Is this pie in the sky? No way! Just think back 10 years or so. Who among us would have predicted how the Internet would grow and became a major force in our lives? Or how quickly it would happen? This article is meant just to acquaint you with the term Wi-Fi and a few of the basics it involves. I will follow up with more information on the technology in future articles, and we hope to prevail on others with specialized knowledge of the subject to contribute also.

A comment in a recent IOBA email thread occasions an offer to all- About 1-1/2 years ago, under the auspices of the IOBA, I hosted a ‘reference book familiarity’ seminar/workshop here at my shop–an opportunity for those in attendance to learn about such references* as the BAL, Sabin, Osborne, Field, NCBEL, Wing, &c, &c as well as a day to answer questions about researching & cataloguing rare books. A past issue of the IOBA STANDARD has a column on the day (see: http://www.ioba.org/newsletter/V6/seminar.html). If there is sufficient interest, I’d be happy to do the same sometime soon, probably October, probably a weekend day. Just send me an email expressing interest, and advising when you’d be available [weekday, weekend, general dates (e.g. mid-October)]. * My reference library is closing in on 2000 volumes, & has at least the basic references in most major subject areas. — Tavistock Books vjz@tavbooks.com http://www.tavbooks.com

If the following comments sound pessimistic, they are not intended to be. The book trade will survive the present difficulties but I believe a certain measure of realism is in order. Some three years ago there were about half a dozen book sites on the net. They all operated on the basis of a monthly subscription and dealers were in direct contact with their customers. The exception to this rule was Interloc/Alibris who listed uploaded inventories in their own name and charged the booksellers a commission on any sales. The bookseller never came into contact with the end customer. At this point, two of my favourite sites, Bibliocity and Bibliofind were taken over by two of the major players, causing a chain reaction. Among others, Sue and I, working as Collectable Books, were concerned that the sites where booksellers were in contact with their customers were disappearing. With our son, Andy, we started planning the structure and design of the book site that became http://www.bibliology.com and http://www.bibliology.com/classic. As it turned out, we were not the only ones, since other small, independent sites began emerging around the same time. Nobody could have foreseen the global political and economic changes that were to hit the world during the ensuing two years. Sadly, today we all know 9/11, Worldcom, Enron, Iraq and all the rest, only too well. During the past eighteen months, many American booksellers have stopped attending European bookfairs. Similarly, European Community booksellers are apparently battening down the hatches, telling UK dealers about the poverty created by the Euro. Inseparable from the above causes, it is rumoured that some of the major London booksellers have cut down on buying because they are not selling as much as they used to. Whatever the true reason, the fact remains that the circulation of money in the used and antiquarian book trade has slowed to a relative trickle. Of course, bookfairs and book auctions are but two of the easily visible parts of the book trade. Internet book sales are more difficult to feel and quantify but every independent online bookseller feels the downturn in the number and quality of books sold on the net. All of a sudden, in the book trade, as well as in the global business world, the name of the game has become ‘survival’. If the book-buying public is worried about job security, interest rates, the value of the investment portfolio, the pension plan, the cost of raising children, etc, adding another wonderful book to the collection has become but one part of a postponed wish-list. The pages of Bookfinder Insider, have been full of problems caused by monthly dues to book sites. Bibliology, unfortunately, has also lost a few members who say that in the present circumstances they simply cannot afford the subscription costs. Some have suggested that instead of charging a regular subscription fee, Bibliology should turn itself into a commission-based site. This, of course, would fly in the face of one of the declared principles behind its setup: “Bibliology does not interfere in the relationship between booksellers and their customers. Books are listed on the basis of a monthly subscription, with the benefit of a secure ordering system. There are no further charges or commissions.” We continue to believe in this fundamental principle. Bibliology has always responded to suggestions. When site visitors and subscribers felt uncomfortable with Bibliology’s black background we created a Light version which today is the Default format. We also continue with some added-value services. We offer free cataloguing software to members. Visitors to the site can register their ‘Wants’ – as lists or as individual titles – which are then matched against new uploads. Members can have a personalised Home Page at no additional cost. Some have chosen to use the Bibliology Search panel in their existing web sites, benefiting from the site’s sophisticated search parameters and secure ordering system. Literary Genius Limited, Bibliology’s parent company, can register domain names for Bibliology members for a very modest charge. Visitors to the site can view a growing calendar of book-related Events as well as Links to many useful book-related sites. At last, “Accessibility” has become a universal requirement for internet sites requiring equal rights of access for everyone, irrespective of any disability a user may have. Literary Genius has just completed a project to ensure that all its websites (Bibliology included) comply fully with US Federal standards of accessibility. Why US instead of UK standards? The simple answer is that at present US standards are the most demanding. Have a look at the range of services and facilities offered by other independent sites. These may easily justify the payment of a subscription. Would a commission on sales cost less? Maybe, in the short term, but in the long run, as the independent book sites gain market share, we feel the subscription method will be better value for the bookseller and, indirectly, for the customer. We all know that the same book listed on commission-based sites is often 5% to 20% dearer than on subscription only sites. At latest count there are about thirty book sites on the net, with more planned, offering an ever-growing range of choices to the bookseller. – List your books in the name of the book site, have no contact with the end customer, and pay a commission to the site on orders received. – List your books on the basis of a monthly subscription + a commission on the value of the sales, with direct contact between bookseller and the customer but where the book site may have quoted an unrealistic currency conversion rate and cost of postage. – List your books on the basis of a monthly subscription, with direct contact between bookseller and the customer but where the book site may have quoted an unrealistic currency conversion rate and cost of postage. – List your books on the basis of a monthly subscription, with direct contact between bookseller and the customer, without any interference from the book site. Some of the above book sites are searched by the major sites-of-sites while others prefer to rely on their own “customer through the door” client base. TodayBookfinder searches 40 book sites (including some new-book dealers) while AddAll searches 15 used-book sites. We feel this range of choices is vital to a healthy book-trade. One needs the diversity! We all know what can happen to a small town when a single mall opens up on the perimeter, but the final decision must be yours! I suggest we all have a think about how we would like the second hand book market to look in 3, 5 or 10 years’ time. Should we consider if it is worth taking a leap of faith and supporting one, two or more independent sites? The instant rewards may be quite depressing but the alternative may be to become a stockholder for one of the majors. Or, perhaps we should err on the side of caution and list on one or more of each. Tom Biro Director Bibliology Limited tom@bibliology.com #databases

Members of Mystery Readers International (MRI) named 19 nominees for 2003 Macavity Awards. The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year MRI members nominate and vote for their mystery-related favorites published during the previous calendar year in four categories: Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Critical/Biographical Work, Best Short Story. This year’s nominees are: Best Novel: Nine by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster) Winter and Night by S.J. Rozan (St. Martin’s Minotaur) Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews (Harper Collins) City of Bones by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) Jolie Blon’s Bounce by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster) Best First Novel; A Valley To Die For by Radine Trees Nehring (St. Kitts Press) The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King (Dutton) In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin’s Minotaur) The Distance by Eddie Muller (Scribner) Best Critical/Biographical: The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction edited by Mike Ashley (Carroll & Graf) The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir by Eddie Muller (Overlook Press) They Died In Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Forgotten Mystery Novels, edited by Jim Huang (Crum Creek Press) Intent to Sell: Marketing the Genre Novel by Jeff Marks (Deadly Alibi Press) Best Short Story: Boot Scoot by Diana Deverell (AHMM, October 2002) The Adventure of the Rara Avis by Carolyn Wheat (Murder, My Dear Watson, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Jon Lellenberg & Daniel Stashower; Carrol & Graf) Voice Mail by Janet Dawson (Scam and Eggs, Five Star) An Empire’s Reach by Brendan DuBois (AHMM, Nov 2002) Too Many Cooks by Marcia Talley (Much Ado About Murder, edited by Anne Perry, Berkley Prime Crime) Bible Belt by Toni L.P. Kelner (EQMM, June 2002)

Deanna Ramsay deanna@ramsaybooks.com Editor’s Note: I’ve asked Deanna to provide us with a list of the services she provides since some of us are techno dummies and Deanna is, of course, a bookseller as well as a computer guru and understands our needs extremely well. Web site design: Shopping cart setup searchable MySQL database secure ordering customizable, and can be integrated into your current site design creates separate static html pages for each item in database auction payment page allows multiple payment methods (including PayPal) accepts tab-delimited data uploads (add, delete, or purge) does not currently accept UIEE (though that will be coming soon) discount coupons bestseller list optional thumbnail photo with each listing, links to larger image can be installed on any host which has the necessary features (MySQL, Perl, etc.) Web Hosting: Lots of features at reasonable cost. All my hosting fees are listed here: Hosting Fees Bw Web Setups: I will set up BwWeb templates and INI files which can be sent by email and installed locally. All you would need to do at that point is hit the start button to make the pages, then upload them to your site. $50 per setup. The initial page upload, Google submission, and a simple front page is included. In addition, I can set up Froogle upload files for you, using Bw Web. BwWeb Uploads: Will do weekly uploads of BwWeb pages. $50/month (up to 25,000 records – higher if more). Can also handle regular Froogle uploads if desired. Consulting: Help with search engine optimization, image optimization, html coding, website critiques, and miscellaneous other technical questions. An hour a month is included in any of my hosting packages. Other stuff I do: IOBA Webmaster (including setup of this newsletter) OCTRA Webmaster BooksCanada Mailing List owner Littera Scripta Host of Bibliophile and various other book-related email lists Now and then I try to sell a book And when I’m not working, I’m out riding my horse… #services

Feb. 19-22 in Monterey, CA Early registrants for Left Coast Crime 2004 not only save (cost is $150 vs. $175 after October 20) but also get first consideration for panel slots. The LCC convention for mystery authors and aficionados includes a variety of special events: Opening Reception at the Monterey Aquarium; Noir Film Night with Eddie Muller; Award and Guest of Honor special luncheon; Continental Breakfast daily; Bookbag and free books; the Dealers Book Room (where you can find great books); plus the opportunity to meet fans, writers, editors, agents, publishers in fantastic Monterey, one of the most beautiful sites in America. And, there’s more. There will be several special publications available only to registered participants: Program book; book of original short stories written for LCC by guests of honor Walter Mosley, Sharan Newman, Judy Greber (Gillian Roberts) and Richard Lupoff; Bibliography of attending authors; and pocket program. “This material alone typically is well worth the price of admission to serious mystery fans and collectors,” notes Ken Fermoyle, West Coast editor of The Standard. “The convention also offers a prime opportunity for book signings by a large and varied group of mystery authors. As for booksellers, the event is so popular that booth space typically is booked solid a year in advance, though there may be an outside chance of openings created by cancellations.” To register online or to find out more about Left Coast Crime 2004, go to: http://www.lcc2004.com or write to: Noemi Levine, 2625 Alcatraz Ave #332, Berkeley, CA 94705.

Five years ago, Sam Yeager’s family was brutally murdered. His nights since then have been a haze of whiskey, nightmares, and solitude. From the front window of his house, he watches for the return of the monster that killed his family. Heather Jones has been plagued by visions of a dark presence lurking under her bed. As her visions intensify into reality, she must find a way to unlock the hidden strength inside of her in order to make it safely through the night. Seth Joiner is battling for his life after a vicious attack. Falling in and out of consciousness, his mind supplies him with pieces of a broken puzzle that could lead him to the den of his attacker. Hidden among the shadows, a monstrosity with unimaginable powers will bind these three souls together in a desperate scramble for survival. * * * * * Wade Hunter can’t always be found working behind the pharmacy counter or writing on his computer. He enjoys reading many genres of writing and many authors, but his heart lies in horror and fantasy novels. He is a civil war enthusiast who enjoys visiting the hallowed battlegrounds of the war. He enjoys playing and watching golf in the summer, and cheering on his favorite hockey teams in the winter. He also enjoys trout fishing in mountain streams of western and central Pennsylvania. Contact Info: Aaron Buterbaugh a.k.a.Wade Hunter 320 Sixth Street McDonald, Pa 15057 zippy253@comcast.net

By: David Kent Pocket Star Books Mass Market Original Publication date: July 1, 2003 Price: $6.99 ISBN: 0-7434-6998-4 Meet Ryan Elder, a typical college student looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home with his mother and father in suburban Oklahoma City. Less than an hour after he gets home however, his parents die in a spectacular double suicide. Seven years and many relocations later Ryan receives a letter that should have reached him long ago-a letter his mother mailed to him the day before the suicide. In Department Thirty, Ryan is lured back to Oklahoma to meet a man from a mysterious government agency known as Department Thirty, a man with vital information concerning his parents. Just after meeting Ryan the man is shot by a sniper, his dying words the puzzling “Adam and Eve.” On the run for his life, Ryan is rescued by a stranger with a hidden past of her own. As the two piece together clues from Ryan’s life, it becomes clear that his parents were not the ordinary mother and father they appeared to be. Their past is catching up with Ryan in the person of a near-legendary figure in the American underground government, a shadowy figure who never speaks above a whisper. He is manipulating Ryan to revive an act of terror conceived before Ryan was born. The world of covert operations, domestic terrorism, and assassinations leads Ryan to doubt his own identity and that of everyone around him. To prevent an ultimate act of terror, Ryan must survive long enough to learn the truth about himself and his parents. Department Thirty has it all–nail-biting suspense, political intrigue, and a rich plot full of surprises–written in a smooth style that makes it almost impossible to put down. This modern-day Manchurian Candidate will leave its readers breathless and anxious for more. David Kent’s first novel is a winner!  –William Bernhardt, bestselling author of CRIMINAL INTENT and MURDER ONE David Kent is the pseudonym for Kent Anderson, a native of Madill, Oklahoma. He began his radio career at the age of fifteen, and has spent his entire adult life working as an announcer, producer, and programmer. He holds a degree in communications from the University of Central Oklahoma. Since 1992 he has been program director of KCSC-FM, Oklahoma City’s classical music station. He has also served as a press secretary and speechwriter for Congressional-level political campaigns, and has taught university courses in communications and broadcasting. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife and three young sons. Kent can often be found listening to many different kinds of music, particularly traditional and folk music. He enjoys driving aimlessly down rural back roads, walking through cemeteries, and swimming in obscure lakes during the summer months. He also works with All Children Together (ACT), Inc., an organization that sponsors activities including a summer day camp for special needs children in the Oklahoma City area. He somehow manages to find time to create homemade salsa with his wife and serve as a choir parent, sports parent, etc. for his sons’ activities.

Booksellers now have the option of: – choosing to have ChooseBooks.com process credit card or institutional IPO orders. – setting their shipping matrix so that relevant taxes [state or VAT] are automatically calculated and added during the checkout process. – issuing discount coupons for special customers or creating special sales for all customers. These discounts will be calculated automatically during check out. -using the mutual dealer discount program. Those participating in this program will find discounted prices listed when they sign in before searching for books. Mutual dealer discounts are automatically calculated and applied at check out. One of the things we are very much committed to is providing book sellers with options – allowing them to customize their participation inhttp://www.choosebooks.com to fit their business rather than requiring that every seller fit into a single mold. Technology makes such options possible but it makes programming very complex. Every option must be coordinated to fit with every other option on the site. Allowing as few as 3 options in only two areas means that there are 6 separate programs to create and co-ordinate instead of one. There were times in the last few months when we were tempted to drop a few options in favor of a simpler program. But Poney Carpenter of Innovative Technologies assured us, “It can be done. It just takes extra time to program and co-ordinate all the extra interfaces.” Poney did the job! Our booksellers have many options available in our very first year of service. In July, Michael Tokman announced a revision in our charges. Starting in September we will charge 10% of each sale until these commissions reach a Maximum Monthly Commission Cap based on the number of books you list with us. After the cap is reached the rest of the month is free regardless of how much you sell. Example. The cap for 1,000 – 10,000 books is $25.00. And yes, we still offer a special discount for those choosing to prepay for services. Details of our charges can be read at http://www.choosebooks.com/info_general_5.jsp Our new additions to ChooseBooks.com affect book buyers also. Book buyers will find an easier, more intuitive check out process. They will also be able to purchase gift certificates and use dealer discount coupons where applicable. Those who are shopping as part of our educational and non-profit outreach program can indicate their organization at check out if they do not choose to use the organizations’ special URL to access ChooseBooks.com. Our next goal is to add to and improve our preferred customer program with its frequent buyer points, etc. As always we are open to new ideas from the book community. We are serious when we say, “extra services at no extra cost” and although we know we cannot do everything immediately, we keep a list of services to be added in the future. If you have suggestions, do feel free to contact Michael Tokman in customer services and support at info@choosebooks.com or Kate Lindemann in marketing at katebooks@earthlink.net. Meantime thank you for your on-going interest and support of Choosebooks.

A thread on a bookselling list this evening prompted this last minute article from me. I can’t even say I thought it through well before writing it; it is based on observations over a period of time and on just plain common business sense and gut feeling. More important, I think, than rehashing what is in this issue. I’m seeing a feeling of helplessness and despair in some fellow booksellers. Partly caused by the influx of so many people selling books online, partly caused by having to compete with non-professionals on ‘their’ terms, and partly caused by the over-all general poor economy (I’m speaking primarily of the U.S. on this-can’t judge other countries’ economies). We cannot do anything personally or immediately about the over-all U.S. economy. For the foreseeable future, we will have to compete with non-professionals, price-wise-but only to an extent. They’re not ‘out to get you’ personally. They’re selling books most likely for these reasons: 1) the internet bookselling boom of past years made it look profitable (and it was, till it became overcrowded); 2) it didn’t require a large cash outlay for non-professionals to acquire common books; 3) not all, but some of these people are displaced from other jobs and professions and this may be the only way they’re eating; and 4) maybe they’re just book lovers getting rid of their own books and don’t really care about profits. It’s not just happening with bookselling; it is happening with antiques, collectibles-anything people can find for little money and that is small enough to try to sell online, whether or not they happen to know anything about the product they’re selling. They can copy knowledgeable sellers’ listings and make themselves sound professional to an extent-but, since they don’t have the same motivation we do, they can’t match us in service. And (though I’m not sure what the outcome would be to us, personally) if we didn’t conveniently list points, issues and identification of 1st editions for them to copy but instead said contact us for information, they couldn’t even continue to sound professional (that would be a slow but very effective change). It is fine that we give knowledge to each other-to peers-but not fine that we’ve given it away freely to non-trade competitors. We did ourselves in. What you can do differently is not to compete on their terms. Not allow them to degrade your products by following their ever-downward pricing practices. Even if they copy your listings, keep up the quality and consistency in the way you list products-even if you do decide to take out pertinent information. Make it prominent that you allow returns (and under what circumstances) and that you treat buyers fairly, and easy for buyers to get information from you. Allow buyers to pay in as many ways as possible-that’s part of doing business. Get yourself a web page and put your picture somewhere on it-allow them to see you as a person and know a bit about who they’re dealing with. Play up your personal strong points, as in what is it about you that would make you want to buy from a similar seller? And finally, quit thinking of yourself as fodder for commercial book databases. Yes, they are powerful. Yes, they can attract customers you can’t individually. But, bottom-line, you own the product and you ultimately have the power because of that…if we do not play follow-the-leader and if enough of us decide to act in particular ways. We ‘could’ exist without them though it would be painful for a while until we found alternative methods of selling and buyers found us; they cannot exist without us unless they own inventory of their own. I’m sure you’re saying that it won’t make any difference if all the good booksellers leave any particular database. That is true to an extent only. It would take a while to have an effect, period (but, at the rate we’re going as a trade, in the same amount of time, we’ll reach the unprofitable bottom of the barrel anyway, so what’s the difference?). It would have to reach that important critical mass. And, perhaps the databases can stay profitable with only books listed at $1.00 and under, but it will limit their market (no, not all customers are only interested in the cheapest copy available), it will be much harder for them to attract enough buyers to keep even those $1.00 sellers, and it will certainly cut into their profits. And, the tools are being made available to us now (like static web pages) to become much more visible on search engines as individual businesses-I think this will overcome a great deal of the branding of the past IF our wares are presented in very professional ways and if we act as a recognizable trade, rather than individuals scrambling for pennies. Whatever image you project is how buyers will see you; they don’t have the means, online, to judge us any differently. We still need and should want commercial databases-they are handy, they are an easy way to be seen by large numbers of buyers regularly and immediately, and overall they don’t cost us too much. But for too long we’ve played their game instead of our own, and now the chances of our listings getting noticed are waning-unless we have that one-of-a-kind book (and how many of us have enough of those to make a living off them?). No matter where you list, if you are serious about staying in the business and being professional at it, act like a professional. Keep learning, keep improving your inventory, and quit competing with the lower 1% of our business. We can either stop the downward spiral and start the slow climb back up or we can continue on down to the bitter end. Your choice. I can hear you saying that you can’t afford to do this. How can you not afford it? Think it through to the logical end game of the way we’re heading now, and then decide whether you want to remain a bookseller making a living wage, doing something you love, or if you want to sell interchangeable penny products until the supplies run out, under whatever terms are dictated to you by various middlemen (some of whom genuinely have your interests at heart, and some of whom do not). Let’s take back some power, people! There’s not an overnight cure, but we can turn it around. Okay, now you’ve had not just a Joyce rant, but also a Shirley rant. Don’t you feel lucky?