We are starting a new feature in this issue — a book related, hopefully educational, Question and Answer column. We will publish three Questions and answers in each issue. Your questions are welcome, and can be directed to: Jean McKenna, Chairman ofThe Educational Committee at Booksone@mediaone.net or to my attention: ioba_education@egroups.com We will try to answer your questions to the best of our ability, and welcome your comments as well. (Q) …What different size shipping boxes, bags, etc. do you use? (A).Our ‘standard” shipping box is 12″X9″X3″, this is used for 90+ % of our shipments. It works well for normal hardbound & larger trade paperback books. We also stock: 13″X10″X3-3/4″ boxes for larger format books 12″X9″X6″ boxes, for multiple book orders 14″X10″X10″ boxes, for larger multi book orders #5 Jiffy Padded Envelopes, for mass market paperbacks & smaller trade paperbacks. We order the “standard” sized box in 250 box quantities, the “Jiffy” envelopes in 100 ct cases. The other three box sizes we order in 25 box bundles. This keeps our storage requirements minimal. We are able to pickup orders at a local box manufacturer in Dallas, so there is no real need to keep more on hand. (Q). I have a book (First Edition) with an ISBN number that includes an X as the last digit. I don’t see an explanation in your “Terminology” or “Definitions” space. What does it mean? (A).Treat it as just another digit. The last digit of an ISBN is the check digit. ISBN check digits are based on a moduluseleven numbering system, with “x” used instead of “10”. If you would like more information about ISBN’s, and the significance of each digit in the number, you can review the ISBN User’s Manual online at: http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/international/isbnmanual.html (Q). Has anyone had experience with this title or can you recommend a reference… I have what I think is a first edition of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, William Morrow & Company, Inc… 1974, the number line (1 2 3 4 5 78 77 76 75 74) is there. There are NO book club markings whatsoever, but somehow this just doesn’t look right to me. The covers are paper covered, not cloth. It just doesn’t feel like a first edition to me. The size is 5.75 X 8.5 inches. 412 pages. DJ has reviews on the back. Is it a first? (A). It’s a first — just a poorly constructed book which in part explains its price. It has been a while since I’ve had a first of this, so I am relying on memory, but as I recall, one of the problems with this book (even in the trade edition) was that it was cheaply produced. The 78, etc. in the number line isn’t too mysterious – basically, those are the years, so if the 2nd printing is in 74, the 1 will be removed but not the 74, if the 3rd printing is in 1975, then the 2 and the 74 will be removed etc. Thanks to Rae Benedetto, Jonathan Grobe, and Patricia Bishop for their questions, and Jim Hart, Chris Volk, and Don Gallagher for supplying the answers. Jean S. McKenna, Chairman Education Committee

Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, and your writing career? And what books of yours have been published? A: I’ve been writing ever since I was in the third grade, when I began writing for my elementary school newspaper. I wrote (and starred in) the sixth-grade play, a comedy. I wrote for, and edited, my high school college newspapers, and wrote for the college magazine. Writing has always been a large part of my life! I intended to be a journalist, and during college I worked on a big-city newspaper and in the advertising department of a large department story. But after college I was sidetracked into teaching, so at first my main publications came in the field of education. I wrote many articles for teachers. In 1965, while I was using a new instructional system to teaching reading to first graders, I realized I needed to have much more practice material for the children, to accompany the books and workbooks furnished to me, so I wrote some stories that I knew would help the pupils practice on their own. The publisher of the new instructional system published these stories, paying me a minimal flat fee for each, and I used them in my own classroom. They helped the pupils gain reading independence. Almost immediately, a large New York publisher bought the rights to those books from the instructional system and, without paying me any royalties, published the books by the thousands. I saw them sold in department stores and even supermarkets. Soon I was burned out as a teacher and, after a year of study at the doctoral level, went into publishing, becoming a supervising editor for a large Boston publishing house that specialized in instructional material. While working there I continued publishing articles, mostly for teachers but some general enough to be reprinted in books, along with a couple of children’s books and stories. When I left full-time editorial work for free-lancing, I continued both editing and writing, mostly textbooks but also articles for general magazines and newspapers. With Paul Keene I published Fear Not to Sow Because of the Birds , a book of essays on country living (Globe Pequot, 1976) and with Dr. Patrick Groff I published Word Recognition; The Why and the How (Charles C. Thomas, 1987). I also published an instructional book for primary teachers called Toad Charts, Paper Faces, and Other Ideas for Visual Comprehension (Scott, Foresman, 1988). For some instructional publishers I revised or edited workbooks or textbooks, many of them written by college professors. Most of my writing was, however, contributed to the work of my late husband, Dr. Harold Seymour, the historian of baseball. Dr. Seymour’s three-volume study of the national pastime for Oxford University Press is still the classic work on the subject. He was the first academic to write baseball history. I was his collaborator, taking over all the research and organization, and gradually taking over the writing, too, as his health declined. He passed away in 1992, and I completed his third book for him. Meanwhile, I have been working on a vegetarian cookbook that is different from anything on the market. Its focus is people who want to cut back on meat but miss meat a lot. These people want to enjoy meaty-tasting entrees, so I have devised a hundred of such entrees from a popular granular soy product called textured vegetable protein that can be made to taste amazingly like meat. Through my company, Patrician Publications, I am publishing Meatless Meat with the publishing services of Xlibris Corporation. The book is now in production. It will be ready about the same time as Ann Likes Red. Q: Were you initially excited about or resistant to Jill’s idea of republishing your book? A: I was surprised! I had forgotten about Ann Likes Red and the other little books published in 1965—until I began receiving letters from women longing to read it again and desiring to share it with their own little girls. One of them directed me to the listing for Ann Likes Red on Amazon.com, where I was astounded to discover many nostalgic messages about the book from women who wanted to buy it and couldn’t find it except for occasional (and expensive) rare old copies that occasionally came on the market. Amazon.com ‘s listing stated that the book was out of print, and the women who posted there asked that it be reprinted. It was then that Jill (and another publisher) wrote me asking to sign me to a contract to reprint the book. I liked Jill’s approach—she sent me copies of her work and told me a lot about her company and how she had started it. With the help of her attorneys, Jill had searched for and found me (under my new name) through another publisher. But I didn’t own the copyright to Ann Likes Red ! I had sold it for a small flat fee in 1965, and that company had sold the rights to a New York publisher—which had since gone out of business. I worked with the U.S. Copyright office to re-establish my rights to the ten children’s books, paying them for the rights. Jill’s attorneys helped me research the history of the books’ owners. And now I own my own stories again! Q: And how do you feel about the idea now, after seeing your book(s) in print again? A: Delighted! Jill has sent me proofs of the Ann Likes Red cover and the folded-and-gathered pages. The book looks wonderful, better than the original. Jill invited me to write a short piece for the new edition, and I wrote an Afterword. Moreover, the many women who wrote me asking for the book are now writing me about how thrilled they are that they will soon get a chance to see the book once more. Before the book went into production, Jill had already received many advance orders from women all over the country. I’m still amazed to discover how much effect this simple story of an independent little girl had on so many women of their generation. Many said they read the book over and over and over, until it was memorized; checked it out of the library every week for years; and still quote the book to their friends. I have written a couple of articles about my experience with this book. One is already accepted by an e-zine, Blue Ear. It analyzes the appeal of this story to girls. Q: Without giving away any company secrets, has seeing your work in print again gotten the creative juices flowing and gotten you writing more stories (assuming that you haven’t been writing all along)? A: I’m one of those people who needs no stimulation to get creative juices flowing. I rise about 4:30 A.M. to get started, and I work about eight hours a day, even though I’m now 73 years old. Besides articles, which I produce often (especially for the internet), I’m working on several projects. Most of my time at the moment is being spent on my second web site, http://www.HaroldSeymour.com , which I plan to open this fall. It’s devoted to the work of my late husband, the historian, and the literary prize (the Harold and Dorothy Seymour Medal) named after him and me, which is given annually to the author of the best book of baseball history or biography published in the previous year. The Medal is awarded by the Society for American Baseball Research, with 7,000 members worldwide. For the new site, I am having the winning books reviewed by scholars, along with the books that have reached the finals in the Seymour competition. The site is being designed and mounted by a web designer with an interest in baseball history, Ralph Wallace of Digital Innovators in Chicago. He is contributing his work gratis. He also designed and mounted my own web site, http://www.DorothyJaneMills.com . Besides writing the new web site I’m working on the promotion for Meatless Meat ; helping with the promotion for Ann Likes Red ; and continuing promotion of The Sceptre . I have several more book presentations and autographings coming up this fall. I’m also researching the sequel to The Sceptre , called The Labyrinth. Q: What originally got you into writing children’s stories in particular? A: I think I’ve covered that above: my interest in education. Q: Do you illustrate your own stories? If not, did you get a choice about who did the illustrating? Did you take them to a publisher pre-illustrated originally? A: The original publisher, an educational company, had the books illustrated, choosing from its own stable of illustrators. Q: Was it easy for you to get that first story published, when you started out? A: Actually, my first little stories were published in children’s magazines. Yes, it was easy. Q: Okay, now I’ll put you on the spot–how is Jill to work with (big smile here)? A: Jill is special. Her attention to detail is admirable. She improved the cover art, both the front and the back covers. She realized that the new edition had to be differentiated from the first one, by means of a note from the author. She worked with her printer to get the shade of red just right—really a cardinal red, not an orangey red. And she kept me informed every step of the way. We are in constant touch via email and phone. She gives me individual attention—a method of working untypical of today’s publishers. Q: Are you helping Jill in any way to get publicity for your stories and her publishing company? A: Yes. I like the way Jill welcomed my participation in the promotion of Ann Likes Red. She knew that because I’m experienced in promoting my own work and that of others, I could help her with this. I wrote the initial press release, and she edited it. I sent it to several places. I also helped by giving her some addresses of catalogs and reviewing magazines that I had collected. Q: What advice would you give to an aspiring children’s book author? A: Write what you think is needed and desired by children. Try it out on children you know. Then look for a publisher who handles that kind of work. Also learn how to promote your own writing. Email interview by Shirley Bryant. #authors

If your book description is the sign that gets the customer in the door, then your Terms of Sale make up the front desk where you complete the transaction. This is the place that can make or break the deal. Here is the opportunity to make a customer for life. Here is where you can present yourself as a professional, as someone who cares about the customer and who stands behind the merchandise, as someone the buyer can trust. Or you can present yourself as: a) a rank amateur; b) a person of questionable ethics; or c) a cheesy, rude creep who sends customers screaming. Presenting a professional image rather than a shady one is not difficult. The key is to communicate one’s integrity and demonstrate a respect for a code of ethics. Communicate respect for the customer, the product and the profession. That’s the principle. Very simple. Here are a few specifics: 1) Who are you? Provide full contact information including a personal name wherever appropriate. People like to know they’re dealing with a real person. Include a phone number (ideally a toll-free number). Not everyone likes to do business only through e-mail, and sellers who don’t provide a phone number do lose sales. The more information you provide, the more reason customers have to trust you and give you their business. Show respect for your customers by honoring the different ways they are comfortable doing business. 2) Details matter. Check your terms of sale for typos and spelling errors. No reason to undermine your credibility just because of a slip of the keyboard. 3) Politeness counts. Don’t be afraid to use the words please and thank you. The sentence “please inquire for international shipping rates” is much warmer than “international shipping rates available upon request.” 4) Payment . Accept as many forms of payment as your situation allows, including credit cards if at all possible. Accepting credit cards is not difficult, and it does increase sales as well as add legitimacy in the eyes of customers. Customers have different preferences for payment, and the more options you offer, the more customers you reach. Some will only ever pay with credit cards, some will only use checks, and others will be most comfortable with third-party options, such as PayPal, Amazon Payments or ABE.Commerce. Be flexible and respect your customers’ preferences by offering as many options as you can. 5) Shipping. Clarity and brevity are the (often conflicting) goals here. Some folks try to cover every possible contingency, resulting in long shipping terms that customers won’t like wading through. Others keep it so short it’s almost meaningless, i.e. “shipping extra.” Try to strike a balance. Let your customer know what to expect. 6) Insurance. This is the area where many reveal themselves to be either newbies or scoundrels. As a mail order bookseller, your responsibility is to get the book as described to the buyer. Any bookseller who tries to shirk responsibility once the book hits the mail is not to be trusted, and booksellers who state they will not be responsible for books lost or damaged in transit are losing sales, and deservedly so. A professional bookseller does not attempt to push his responsibilities onto the customer. If a book is lost or damaged, the professional bookseller offers a refund or replacement. This is not only the ethically correct choice; it is the law in many, if not most, parts of the world. Booksellers deal with the issue of insurance in a variety of ways. Many self-insure (i.e. accept the risk of loss themselves), while some purchase insurance on every package. Some build the cost of insurance into their set shipping rates, and others do not. The specifics are not relevant as long as the customer is assured that he either gets his book or gets his money back. 7) Returns policies. Here is another opportunity for the professional to shine. Include a returns policy that will help your customer feel comfortable buying items unseen. Specifics can vary from one bookseller to the next; terms might be 10 days or 60 days, and some may accept returns for any reasons, others only when an item is not as described. Make your returns policy as generous as you feel your situation will allow. The key is to assure your customers they won’t be stuck if they don’t get what they’re looking for. 8) Being cheap. Don’t nickel and dime your customers to death. We have witnessed dealers charging extra fees for credit card users, for insurance and even for providing mylar covers for dust jackets. Even in cases where this isn’t unethical, it’s just plain tacky, and it turns off customers. Build such anticipated costs into your asking price so that your customer can have a simple, pleasant transaction without needless distractions. 9) Being nice. Do not threaten, bully or otherwise be rude in your terms of sale. This may seem self-evident, but we have witnessed terms of sale on auctions that were downright hostile and abusive. Any policy can be expressed in ways that are factual and respectful. Again, the word “please” can be very useful. In summary, your Terms of Sale are a reflection of you and your business, so make certain they’re reflecting the image you want to present. Follow the K.I.S.S. rule wherever possible. The Golden Rule comes in handy, too. When in doubt, come down in favor of the customer; it invariably pays off in the long run.

Mr. Pine’s Purple House is currently being republished in a new edition by Purple House Press. Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, and your writing career? And what books of yours have been published? A: I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, went into the Army in 1942, and was assigned to the 28 th Infantry Division as a scout and observer—meaning, since I was an artist I was trained to go behind enemy lines, make sketches of enemy positions, and return with the information for our intelligence troops. Suffice it to say that it was not the best kind of job for a young artist. I returned to Pittsburgh in 1946 and was a student at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), studying painting and design. In 1949 my wife and I, along with fellow students Philip Pearlstein and Andy Warhol, left for the Big Apple…New York. I wanted to become a painter, Pearlstein wanted to be a graphic artist, and Andy just wanted to be Andy. Well, Philip became a realist painter, Andy first was a commercial illustrator…then one of the giants of pop art (and was still Andy), and I became a writer and illustrator of books for kids. Life is a series of detours. That first year I painted, Pearlstein had made contact with a producer at one of the networks. They wanted to produce a show for young kids that would focus on art…Phil and I would devote each episode to one aspect of drawing and painting and there would be a guitar player strumming background music with just our hands on screen, drawing and painting. I wrote a TV script for the first three episodes. After six months, the network did not have the funding to produce our educational program, and an art director friend suggested I turn the script into a kid’s book. The first publisher I gave it to sent me a contract. The book was “What’s In A Line?”, published in 1951 by Young Scott Books, Wm. R. Scott Publishers. 2001…I have been making books for fifty years, and I have enjoyed every day looking for that skinny six year old kid I used to be. I’ve written and/or illustrated more than 200 books for eighteen different publishers, including the Mr. Pine series, the Old Turtle series, “Is There An (Elephant, Horse, Hippo, etc.) series, and have illustrated books for other authors, also. Mr. Pine’s Purple House was originally published by Wonder Books, and now in 2000, a new edition for Purple House Press. Q: Were you initially excited about or resistant to Jill’s idea of republishing your book? A: One day last April I had two letters forwarded to me. One was from the Author’s Guild and one from Harper Collins Publishers. They were from Jill, telling me about her work as a seller of out of print books, and how much she loved Mr. Pine as a little three year old sitting on her Dad’s lap. She wanted to start a publishing company, and told me that Mr. Pine’s Purple House was the one of the first she wanted to publish, since she had loved it so much as a child. My first reaction was to try to sell the idea to one of my two publishers, but then I decided to call Jill. I was so impressed with her sincerity and her absolute desire to be a publisher (and most important, her love for the book) and I have always made decisions quickly and decide from my gut feelings, so “Jill”, I said, “you can have the book”. Then she asked “One more favor…could I name my publishing house Purple House Press?”. “Of course”, I said, “and I will be happy to design your logo.” Thus the purple turtle reading a book was born. Q: And how do you feel about the idea now, after seeing your book(s) in print again? A: It has been a rebirth for me…for my career…although I have never really retired. How can one retire if one never had a regular nine to five job? I have always been a free lancer. When we lived in Rockland County, New York, one day little Greg (four years old) walked into the studio (always open to neighborhood kids), saw me at the drawing board and asked “Mr. Kessler, could I ask you a question…why don’t you get a job or come out and play with us?” “Greg” I said, “this is my job, I am making books.” “Oh” he says, “that is a job…but can’t you still come out and play?” And now I am back again at the drawing board, the word processor, the Mongol #2 pencil…such a joy…I can’t wait to work each day. Thank you, Jill Morgan! Q: Without giving away any company secrets, has seeing your work in print again gotten the creative juices flowing and gotten you writing more stories (assuming that you haven’t been writing all along)? A: I guess I have never stopped writing. I am always thinking about stories in my head. I have kept an idea box. Today there are still about 200 good ideas, even after my wife, Ethel, and I sift through and discard some. I figure if I do two books a year that would take me to August, 2100. Right now I have three new manuscripts in progress. Q: What originally got you into writing children’s stories in particular? A: That TV script…the educational program that never was to be. Q: Do you illustrate your own stories? If not, did you get a choice about who did the illustrating? Did you take them to a publisher pre-illustrated originally? A: I was an art major…painter. I guess I wear two hats…author and illustrator, and I love to wear both of them. Q: Was it easy for you to get that first story published, when you started out? A: I mentioned above that I gave the book to Young Scott Books. Here is the real story. When I took the dummy to my friend, George Hornby, he told me that the two publishers who might be interested in a concept book were Scott and Knopf. I had no knowledge of how to submit my dummy, so one warm day in May, 1950, I walked into the offices of Wm. R. Scott Publisher with my little dummy under my arm. I had a pencil attached to the jacket. I asked the receptionist if I could see the editor. “Do you have an appointment? Do you have an agent?” My answer was “What’s an agent?” I can recall the look of exasperation on the receptionist’s face. At that moment, May Garelick, the editor, came out of an editorial meeting; she looked at the dummy and was fascinated with the pencil. I told her it was my book “What’s In A Line.” She looked at the dummy, looking through the pages quickly, and said “Leave it.” “I can’t”, I said, “I have to go up to Knopf to see the editor.” May slowly took off her thick glasses, looked me in the eyes and said slowly “Young man, if you walk into Knopf without an appointment and ask to see the editor, they are on the 18 th floor and they will toss you and your dummy with the pencil out the window!!! Crash!!! Leave it here.” That summer Ethel and I were working at a children’s summer camp and on August 11 th , Ethel gave me a thick letter from Scott. “My first rejection” I thought. It was a letter from May Garelick and a contract. I will never forget that moment…that glorious day. In the past fifty years I have received more than 200 contracts…one day I got two in the mail…but nothing was sweeter and more delicious than that first one. The next best day was when Jill sent me the first copy of the new edition of Purple House…there are second acts in life. Q: Okay, now I’ll put you on the spot–how is Jill to work with (big smile here)? A: Working with Jill is smooth and professional. It has been a real pleasure. She has kept me informed on each step in the production of the book. We have kept in contact by letters…proofs…email…telephone, and we enjoy working together. The result is the lovely new edition of the intrepid Mr. Pine and his Purple House. Four stars for Jill! Q: Are you helping Jill in any way to get publicity for your stories and her publishing company? A: Mostly with ideas, but also a great story in the Sarasota Tribune, sending out email to colleagues, alumni publications, and other periodicals. Also sending an autographed poster for the book. Email and mail interview by Shirley Bryant #authors

“The behavior of hoarding”, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Hoarding Fact Sheet, “is seen in various illnesses.” Online mental-health resources class hoarding variously as a subset of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), of General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and as a Social Phobia. The latter is the most convincing, if you ask me. I and the many other victims I have met are not so much anxious to keep stuff, as they are to avoid dealing with it . Just as an aside, there is a twelve-step program for “clutterers” (Clutterers Anonymous) with a truly terrifying quiz to help you identify the disorder: Do you have more possessions or items in your life than you can handle comfortably? Do you find it difficult to dispose of many things, even those you haven’t used in years? Do you rent storage space to house items you never use? Do you spend time looking for things that are hard to find because of all the clutter? Do you find it easier to drop something than to put it away, or to wedge an object into an overcrowded drawer or closet rather than find space for it? Do you bring things into your house without establishing a place for them? Is your clutter causing problems in your relationships? Are you embarrassed to have visitors because your home is never presentable? Do you hesitate sharing about this problem because you are ashamed of your cluttering? Are you constantly doing for others while your own home is out of order? Do you miss deadlines or abandon projects because you can’t find the paperwork or material to finish the work? Do you sometimes get buried in details, making projects take much longer than is really necessary? Do you procrastinate about cleaning up because you believe you must do it perfectly or you won’t do it at all? Are you easily side-tracked, moving from one project to another without finishing any of them? Do you have problems with time management and estimating how long it takes to do things? Do you believe there is all the time in the world to clean your house, finish those projects, and read all those piles of old magazines? Do you use distractions to escape from your clutter? Have you tried to clean up from time to time but find yourself unable to stick with it? Does the problem appear to be growing? Oddly enough, though there is a specific name for the fear of fog (Homichlophobia), I have been unable to find a particular name for the quite common disinclination to part with valuable objects. I would venture to say that this fear is present in most book dealers to some degree, however small. Which would go a certain distance towards explaining the fact that, while nearly every book dealer finds it easy and pleasurable to acquire books, most find it less easy, and even somewhat painful and unpleasant, to sell them. This is where peniaphobia, the fear of poverty, sensibly and nobly leaps into the breach and saves the day. Additionally, the average book dealer is also provided with an ample number of equally worthy and useful phobias, such as agateophobia (fear of insanity), clithrophobia (fear of enclosure) and atephobia (fear of ruin). This long preamble is by way of introducing the subject of turnover. The dealer in out-of-print books is in a somewhat different position from that of other retailers, for he does not simply buy his wares from a wholesale supplier and pop them onto the shelves of his shop. The acquisition of his inventory is an arcane process, full of mystery and personal drama; of knowledge painstakingly gathered and stored; of passion, intelligence and daring. Another element which makes the plight of a rare book dealer different from that of other retailers is the fact that much (though not all) of his stock is in fact silently appreciating in value. The psychological moment of such nuances in the context of operating a retail business can scarcely be overstated. And yet, a dealer in rare books is a retailer like any other; and turnover is still what retail is all about. Inventory Turnover = Sanity  The book dealer is faced with limits on many resources, but the ones he really needs to watch are two: space and time. If these two are husbanded with order and method, the rest, including money, will take care of themselves. Given that the amount of shelf space is limited, book dealers can and should arrange their affairs so that every inch of shelf space produces the maximum profit. Briefly stated, any book that won’t sell should be removed with dispatch and according to a set schedule, and another more productive book should take its place. In classic retail terms, this means putting stuff on sale after it’s been sitting around for x period. Book dealers tend not to follow this practice, but it is a doozy for maximizing profits, because profits for an out-of-print book dealer are currently limited mainly by the number of books available for purchase—a figure which has suddenly become almost without limits. Indeed, the Internet, by perfecting the rare book markets, has made it possible for book dealers to take advantage of what ordinary retailers have known all along: it’s better to make a sale now and reinvest the profits and the free space than to invest in a lot of inventory that doesn’t make a profit until much later, or that doesn’t sell at all. If you already have all your books available, either online or in an open shop, our congratulations. We venture to wager that your business is profitable, your bank account pleasantly swollen, and your evenings long, relaxed, and finished off with Valrhona chocolates and maybe a little port. Inventory Turnover = Profit  A handy way to consider your investment in inventory is to gauge dollars spent on inventory against dollars spent on an ordinary investment, like a T-bill. Say you invest $10,000 at 6% for two years. At the end of year one, you have $10,600; at the end of year two, $11,236. Compounding is an easy illustration of the time value of your return on inventory investment. In other words, if you can sell a book faster, you can reinvest the upside in more inventory, more T-bills and so on, and take advantage of even more upside, faster, etc. Book dealers who can learn to minimize monthly carrying costs, improve turnover rates and lessen the ratio of dead stock will be more profitable book dealers. Here are a few easy steps to take to help increase turnover ratios (adapted, somewhat, from my previous life as a designer of overpriced tchotchke): Get more stock online  The larger the proportion of your stock that is “live” and available for purchase online, the better your business will be. Consider skipping that next library sale in favor of an extra day or two of cataloguing per month. Tedious? Bah! Tell me that from the beach at Wailea, where you’ll soon be sipping something frothy from a coconut, and being fanned by a few love slaves. Reduce prices on dead stock  Again, the Internet has changed the way book dealers do business. Your results may vary, but I think it is reasonable to say that, except for very high-end material, no book should last above three years on your shelves in the online environment (remembering, again, the T-bill factor). Spend some time researching the going rates on your oldest stock, and prune accordingly. Every inch of shelf space is there to create profits for you!! Consequently, every bit of chaff should be removed. Create a sale catalogue  A printed Sale Catalogue with attractive prices, and emailed or snail-mailed to your customer list, will help free up cash and precious shelf space. Sell on alternative venues Study alternative venues such as Tomfolio, Used Book Central, Half.com, eBay and, of course, Popula. Many of these growing sites have a unique customer base and can provide a valuable supplement to your regular sales venues. Try them out by uploading your oldest inventory … you might be surprised at the results. Design for Selling  Analyze your previous results, so you can plan for the future. Make sure you take current trends into account. What has changed? Have you new competitors? More or less storage space to pay for? How much more do you need to produce in order to help pay the wages of a new employee? Try to develop a plan based on previous years’ results. That way you’ll be less likely to overspend, and more likely to achieve target levels. In closing, any book dealer could do worse than study a few basic retail books for ideas on how to increase profits. Salud, amor y pesetas, y tiempo para gozarlos, everybody.

Q: Jill, you’ve posted several times on book-related lists about starting Purple House Press because of a recognized need in the area of baby-boomers wanting copies of their childhood books and those books being too expensive now for most non-collectors.  How did you recognize this need?  Were you a seller of children’s books before? A: I sold out of print books for four years, concentrating on hard to find children’s titles. I noticed different people were requesting the same titles over and over again. Since the demand was growing as more people came on the net, the prices of these books rose dramatically, placing the books out of most people’s price range. Q: And how did you originally get into the bookseller business? A: I quit my job after 13 years as a software engineer, to spend more time with my children. After being at home a few months, I began collecting the books I had enjoyed reading over the last 25 years or so. I began buying so many books that I had to start selling some of them to pay for new books I wanted, and this led to bookselling! Q: What first brought the idea into your head that you, personally, could be capable of being a publisher of books?  Did you have a background in any type of publishing? A: Well I naively thought I knew about books, since I sold them. I learned quickly that I knew nothing about making books, but with the help of the net and trial and error, I’ve learned a good deal over the last year and a half. There will always be more to learn in this job! Q: How did you get started on deciding to be a publisher did you approach it as any start-up business, with a business plan, budget, and financing? A: When I saw the price of my favorite childhood book, “Mr. Pine’s Purple House” by Leonard Kessler, hit the price of $300 on ABE, that was when I decided to do something to save all these great old stories from extinction. Because if a little children’s book costs $300 only few people will be able to afford it, they won’t let their children hold the book or sleep with it, so I knew these stories would die out with the generations that grew up with them when they were more accessible. It is very important for children to be able to handle their books, sleep with them, color in them, get them sticky with peanut butter! I did do a business plan and had a rough budget, using money from my bookselling savings and a family loan. Q: What steps were involved, as far as finding an experienced  book printer to work with a start-up publisher?  Were there minimum print runs required? A: Most printers are more than happy to help new publishers. They can be found easily on the internet. There are a few publisher’s organizations out there to help independent publishers too, PMA, SPAN and I find the pub-forum email list (similar to Biblio but for publishers) to be the biggest help. With print on demand (POD) there are no minimum print runs, but I prefer the traditional method of printing and binding so that I can choose all the elements that go into our books. All of our hardcover chapter books are Smyth sewn – not just glued to the binding, they are covered in cloth and not paper over boards, and I choose thick natural color paper. I usually print between 3000-5000 books per run, pretty small in the publishing world! We try to offer signed limited editions of 200-250 books for the collector, when the author is willing. Q: How did you first contact authors, and did you find the authors receptive to the idea from the first? A: I sent letters to their previous publishers, I contacted author’s guilds, I located some through genealogy web sites, I had my lawyer find one author and I also used switchboard.com! Most authors like the idea of their books becoming available to a whole new generation, but when I was starting out it was tough. I had nothing to show the authors except my desire to revive their stories. A few turned me down in the beginning, later one author said he talked it over with his character and she decided she belonged to another place and time. This one really threw me, because I wanted to bring the character back so much, that when he said no it was like a death in the family. I grieved for her. Q: Are all your authors living and are all of the books you’ve produced or plan on producing still under copyright Protection (if not, are there any procedures that have to be followed on works on which the copyright has expired)? A: No all of our authors are not living, unfortunately. I would love to have talked with all of them, because working with these wonderful people has been a great benefit that I never expected. They know so much, have such great stories to tell about their books, and about publishing decades ago. I know how the ideas for some of these stories came about, I know Leonard Kessler had to make 26 complete dummies of his first book before it was accepted! Even if an author’s work is under copyright protection and I have an agreement with them, I  am not allowed to print their books until the publishing rights have been returned from the original publisher. Even if the book has been out of print for 50 years, in most cases the original publisher still has the rights to them! When authors request the rights to revert back to them, it can be a long process – one book took seven months. Q: You’ve been remarkably good at getting advertising for your publishing business.   Would you care to give us any tips on how to do this (all of us could stand to advertise our own businesses, I’m sure)? A: The one ad I took out was a total flop. Susan Halas taught me how publicity works and has been a lot of help in attracting publicity for Purple House Press (of course I’ve learned how to do this too, but don’t always have the time!). Anyone can sit down and write an email telling a magazine, web site, news station, or newspaper an idea they have for a story. And if your story idea is unusual, you are likely to get a call back. Of course the story idea is about you or your business; most important it mentions how what you do is of interest to their audience. Find the person to send the email to on a web site’s “Contact Us” page. Send it to anyone who might be interested in what you’re doing. Keep your email brief and snappy. I don’t just write to the book review section in newspapers, but the lifestyles, family and science/technical sections as well. The coverage they provide will be better than just a book review, and they are more likely to be interested in bookstores. Is your store different? What services do you offer to the community? Do you have a store mascot? Start with your community paper and build up from there. Once you have something in print, send it to the other places you are contacting. And don’t give up! Q: Do you plan to get into publishing other types of books? A: I plan on sticking with only children’s books. I enjoy them the most and there are so many good books out there waiting to be saved! I honestly believe that there will always be a market for these stories which are from a simpler time, without the gimmicks associated with them – no tv show, no line of clothes, no toys – just a great read. Q: Do you have any plans on publishing original, new books, rather than only doing reprints of previously published books? A: Well Leonard Kessler is writing a new adventure for Mr. Pine so we’ll see what happens with this story! I would love to print an all new Mr. Pine book for the world to read. I don’t have any plans right now for doing any other new books, although people frequently ask how they can submit their manuscript! I’ll never say never, but for now we are concentrating on older titles. Q: Along the same lines as the question above, are new, unpublished children’s book authors contacting you now about their books (you could end up being the Helen Gurley Brown of children’s book publishing!), rather than you having to seek them out? A: Well I guess I touched on this in the previous question, yes I am asked frequently about how to submit manuscripts, I’ve had agents contact me and authors themselves, but I have to be pretty choosy now on what we reprint. I plan on reissuing 6-8 books per year. Q: It was quite exciting about one of your books being featured on Amazon. Can you tell us a bit about how that came be? A: The book is Mr. Pine’s Purple House, it was my favorite as a child. I enrolled it in the Amazon Advantage program for publishers in September 2000. It was doing fine there, then in June I got a call from Amazon saying they would be placing a large special order for the title! They reviewed it in an Amazon.com Delivers email sent to 500,000 customers, mentioning it was Jeff Bezos’ favorite as a kid! Just this one little sentence zoomed Mr. Pine all the way up to #15 on their bestseller list, it stayed in the top 100 for several days, and now six weeks later it is still at about #600. This little book, in which Mr. Pine makes his house stand out from 50 identical house by painting it purple, teaches children about nonconformity. As Amazon says, “it is for readers who will one day grow up and dare to be different”! It is wonderful to know that Mr. Pine may have influenced Jeff Bezos as a child and started him on the road to build Amazon! “Dare to be different” is now our motto at Purple House Press! Q: Well, do you plan to remain a bookseller, or is the publishing end of your business going to take over (and which gives you the most satisfaction)? A: As an out of print bookseller I loved reuniting people with treasured memories from their childhood, now I do that on a larger scale! I always plan to sell books, but I am concentrating on our new books now. This is a time consuming job! I do the book design, handle the printing, distribution, packing, publicity, etc. The part I enjoy most, aside from working with our authors and talking with people who’ve been searching for one of books for years, is the book design. I love, love, love taking a tattered dj and restoring it using Photoshop. Sometimes I have to spend several weeks on each one, but it is worthwhile when I see the finished product. I also enjoy adding a picture of the author to the jacket, and having the author write a new foreword to the book. I feel like its my contribution to the history of the book. Q: Any comments, tips, hints, advice, “I told you so’s, or just words of wisdom for us about where you see the children’s market heading? A: When I first started last year, one printer stupidly kept telling me over and over, “I don’t see how you’ll make any money.” Another company did some prepress work on a dust jacket for me and so totally screwed it up that I had to hire another company to fix it. It was so expensive, that I went out, bought a Mac, Photoshop, and Quark (a typesetting program) and taught myself book design. It was a large investment but paid for itself after just one book, I also believe I spend more time on the books getting them “just right”. So that is my big “I told you so!”. I don’t think ebooks will take off in the childrens’ market although a lot of people are gearing up for it. I think children have to touch and hold their books, and turn real pages. Print on demand may be the way of the future, but they have to offer options, like color, glossy paper and lower prices! My advice is that if you believe in something, believe what you can offer is different or better than what is out there, then give it a try and don’t give up! Interview by Shirley Bryant #publishers

So, let’s us make the assumption that commercial value is a driving force in the bookseller community, and that most, if not all, booksellers would prefer to not “undersell” a book, where it is understood that “undersell” is defined by the individual, and the definition of which will run the gamut of the individuals doing the defining. What then confers “commercial value”? The answer, in theory, is easy: nothing more than the forces of Supply & Demand. Determining such for a book not known to you… well, therein lies ‘the rub’, does it not? However this situation need not be too daunting if approached in a systematic manner. One just need evaluate the 4 basic factors that affect the commercial value of a given book: Edition (a Supply & Demand factor), Condition (also a Supply & Demand factor), Availability (a Supply factor) & Desirability (a Demand factor). There are then 3 subsequent factors, all pertaining to the individual bookseller, that will influence the price that bookseller actually establishes for the book to be sold: (1) the amount the bookseller paid for the book, (2) the bookseller’s desired profit margin, and (3) the bookseller’s customer base. Let’s begin by looking at, in greater detail, the first 4 factors… Edition In Book Collecting, the “name of the game1“, is ‘First Editions’. Let’s take this as a given, and just accept that book collectors [in most cases] prefer the first edition (which we understand to be the first printing) of a given work. Though one qualifying remark need be made at this juncture…when determining commercial value, one must always look at the book from the perspective of the book collector, e.g., a Rackham collector will want the first printing with his illustrator’s work contained therein, which will not necessarily be the true first printing of the title in question, yet, to continue with this example, the ‘Desirability’ factor of Rackham illustrated books is such to give these works a significant commercial value, perhaps even greater than the true first printing of the title. So the question now becomes one of determining the edition of the book under consideration…there is no easy answer to this question, as different books from different periods require different approaches. However, this is key — don’t guess! Have some rationale or reference that substantiates your assertion that the book in question is the edition you state. And here is probably a good time to relate that, in my experience, reference books soon pay for themselves, and the old adage of using 10% of one’s annual profits to build a reference library is still valid today, despite the availability of information, and misinformation , on the Net. For the booksellers reading this essay, this last issue regarding reference books can be approached from another perspective, and can be conversely expressed via the question, “What price your reputation?” Do you wish to be known as someone who “wings it” or as a professional who “knows what they’re about”? Not to say errors won’t be made, we all make them, but in my experience the conservative approach, in the long run, will better serve. Condition “Condition” in Book Collecting is analogous to “Location” in Real Estate, i.e., it is everything. Book collectors are little different than collectors of other material goods — they, more often than not, wish their collected pieces to be as close to “original” condition as possible. Simply put, the better the condition of a given book, the higher the commercial value. And remember, it is NOT a straight-line relationship…e.g., there are significantly fewer Fine/Fine 1st edition copies of GONE WITH THE WIND than there are VG/VG copies; as such, the Fine/Fine copies command a premium, and consequently are worth significantly more. And at this point, we should probably mention dust jackets…they first appeared on the scene in the 19th C. but until the mid 20th C. they were viewed as ancillary to the book, and were usually discarded. Hence dust jackets from the late 19th C. or early 20th C. are quite scarce, and this factor is recognized by market forces in the values assigned these uncommon pieces…e.g., an early 20th C. A. C. Doyle title usually sells for $3000 or so — a few years back one was auctioned with dust jacket (1 of 2 known as I recall). It pulled down over $100,000.00. Availability Supply of a given work is primarily a function of initial print run, and other subsequent factors such as initial popularity, time in existence, etc., etc. ‘Availability’ can be sub-divided by condition & edition — e.g., if your client is seeking a Fine copy of a given book, the ‘Availability’ pool will be smaller than if a VG copy is acceptable. Edition can also affect this factor when Issues & States come into play…let’s consider Dickens’ OLIVER TWIST which has a famous issue point with respect to the title page — the first issue has the Dickens pseudonym ‘Boz’ on the title page. When Dickens saw this, he requested an author name change be made by the publisher, so the Second issue states ‘Charles Dickens’ on the title page… both are First Editions, but which one will your customer prefer? If Issue is not an issue, then the ‘Availability’ pool of First Editions is larger. Either way, the rule of thumb is that the 1st issue item will command a higher price, both for reasons of primacy and availability. Desirability This is simply answering the question of ‘who cares, and why?’, and is probably the most influential factor in determining a given book’s value. The determination is relatively easy for some books (e.g., Hemingway’s THE SUN ALSO RISES), & more difficult for others (D’Anvers CRAFTSMAN)…but if you can’t ascertain any market whatsoever for the book under consideration, then rarity is strictly academic, and the book has little-to-no commercial value. Conversely, a book such as the NUREMBERG CHRONICLE that has recognized great historical significance with high demand and relatively low availability will command a significant price (5 figures for this particular book). Summary So then, how does one arrive at a price? A methodology I employ is a series of questions & answers… First, what do I have? After determining the two factors that answer this question (e.g., edition & condition), I note whether or not it has any special attributes, such as ownership signatures (author or otherwise) or publication specialty (e.g., ARC). NB: Research signatures in books! I have more than once made a significant sum because the bookseller from whom I bought a book did not take the time to look at, much less research, the signature/inscription in a book. Next comes an idea of availability…Are copies currently available (e.g., AddAll.com), and in what quantities? If yes, how does my copy compare to those currently on the market? Where do I want to position my copy with respect to the others available? Who’s at the high end…what are the copies like at the low end? Etc., etc. If no copies are currently on the market, then a determination of track record is in order…here one can look at old bookseller catalogues, price guides, and auction records. If found, then one need to do no more than extrapolate to current conditions. Finally, if the book held has no history, at least as far as we’re able to determine (recognizing that extremely few books have absolutely *no* market history), then questions on importance to society & an estimate of desirability are in order…chances are if we’ve arrived at this juncture, then the market segment interested in the purchase of the item is perhaps quite narrow or the book is quite rare…but either way, with an item not currently available, one is still able to establish the price…simply make a value judgment on what is held, think of a price, and mark it on the flyleaf. Lastly, we need acknowledge individualistic factors in ‘marking that price on the flyleaf’…what was paid for the book? Booksellers cannot sell at a loss, and expect a long business life! Which presupposes that the book was bought at a price that allows for markup does it not! Second, how much profit margin is desired? Is the price to be set at the absolute top of the market? Somewhere in between? And what customer does the bookseller have for the book…for example, does a bookseller known for reading-copy mysteries have credibility with a buyer of Aldine imprints for that 1513 Cicero that came in a box of books? Probably not. So, all these factors warrant consideration by a bookseller looking to establish a price for a book. But, as you might imagine, there is no ‘pat’ answer, and each individual must decide their respective position on each book. In conclusion, & speaking solely from a personal philosophy, I don’t worry too much about ‘making a mistake’, i.e., underpricing. For, if I follow the above methodology, chances are I’ll be “close”, and I’ll certainly make my profit margin on the price I’ve established…and unpriced books do no more than take up space. Which, afterall, is in-and-of itself a cost…not to mention — there are always more books, and space is something I’ll definitely need for that next batch that walks in the door. 1For the most part — as with most rules-of-thumb, there are exceptions, with many coming in the Americana genre, where the addition of maps, etc. in later editions may challenge the first printing of a title in desirability and, consequently, commercial value.

Pat : You won the Nero Wolfe award for Booked to Die . How does it feel to be responsible for bringing so many people into book collecting? John : I am still amazed at the life that book has had. In 1990, when I finished it, I was just hoping it would sell to someone— anyone! I was ten years between books and was beginning to think I would never publish again. Then Susanne Kirk at Scribner bought it, and life has never been quite the same since. I think it’s great, to answer your question, that so many readers have become collectors—and in fact many have gone on to become booksellers—because of Booked to Die . I hear from them all the time. When I was a kid I envisioned writing a book that would have this kind of deep effect on its readers. That’s why we all got into it then, to move people in deep and mysterious ways. It wasn’t all about money, as it seems to be today. I mean, the money is important—nobody wants to write in a garret with his neck chained to a wall living on gruel and water—but I would far rather write a book with some staying power and make just a decent living than make millions each time out and say nothing. Pat : Bookman’s Wake was the second Cliff Janeway mystery, will there be more? John : I am of the grope-and-hope school, so I never say what will be until I have it in the can and my publishers love it. I get a premise and I grope my way through it. I don’t write by outline, and as a result there are always half a dozen places in a book where I lose faith and have to find it again. I’m in that place right now, even as we speak. Having said that, I guess I can say that it is a Janeway book I am groping toward. We’ll see what happens next. Pat : Your latest book, Two O’Clock Eastern Wartime , is a terrific WWII mystery which takes place in a New Jersey radio station. How much of that came from your own radio background? John : All of it if you consider as part of my background the fact that I’ve been researching the era forever. Yes, I did work in radio, but I totally missed what people lovingly call its golden age. I caught the very end of that as a listener, and I was captivated by those stories as I never was by TV all these years later. I had to do a lot of research into that time for a nonfiction book I wrote for Oxford called On the Air , so that played into it. When I was doing my radio show the station let me have the entire afternoon on Sunday to play around with. So between playing old shows I could track down old radio people and interview them live on the air. I had newsmen like Eric Sevareid and Charles Collingwood, character actors from The Jack Benny Program , writers, sound effects men—you name it. I had Jim Jordan (who was Fibber McGee) and Dennis Day, Howard Duff (who played Sam Spade on the air), and a fellow named Dennis Horsford, who as a BBC engineer in 1940 went up on the London rooftops with Ed Murrow to try to capture the sounds of the German blitz. All of this became the stuff of my book. Pat : I think that this book is your best to date. It’s written beautifully. I was just a little kid in 1942 and you brought back a lot of memories of the old radio shows and fighting with my four brothers over who got to sit closest to the light on the front of the radio console on our living room floor. John : Well, thank you. It was a special time, wasn’t it? It was our time. Pat : How do you feel about signing your books? Some authors think that it is an imposition or seem overly concerned that the collector might make money off the books. John : Anyone who makes a dime off my signature will be, to paraphrase Lou Gehrig, the luckiest guy on the face of the earth. It’s got to be the commonest signature there is. I don’t like to get boxes of books in the mail, because I can stand in line at my post office as long as 30 minutes waiting to get a package, and that’s a drag. But generally speaking, say at a book fair or if someone waylays me on the street, I’ll sign anything. Writers who get elitist after some huge success give me a royal pain in the keister. They should be glad people care, and I can vouch for that because I spent at least two-thirds of my writing life having no one care at all. Tell you the truth, I am embarrassed when I go to a bookstore to sign and the store imposes one of those rules where the author will only sign his current book. That’s pretty self-serving, isn’t it? If it’s up to me, I’ll sign anything they can pack in on their backs. Pat : What advice would you offer to someone just starting in the book business? John : Be lucky. Narrow the hunt, don’t be a flaming generalist like I am. Still, the most important thing a new book dealer can have is a good eye for the arcane book. You’ve got to have good juice for books you’ve never seen or heard of. Then you’ve got to be willing to spend the money on the good stuff you do know, because in this business you’re only as good as your stock. And those great books don’t grow by themselves on your shelves, you’ve got to go get them. Pat : How about advice for the struggling new author? John : Again, be lucky. Never hope more than you work, as some sage said. Be persistent, keep after it. Remember what Churchill said in London’s darkest hour, never, never, NEVER give up! Don’t be too much the “writer” at the expense of your story. Here’s another quote, this one in Alice in Wonderland —take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves. Great advice. Try to write every day. Keep your hands busy. Follow the five Heinlein rules religiously. 1. Write. 2. Finish what you write. 3. Learn when to stop rewriting. 4. Market what you write. 5. Keep it on the market till it sells. Pat : Thanks John. -Pat Ahearn #authors

We have fascinating articles on determining the worth of particular books from Vic Zoschak, on the psychology behind acquiring whatever it is you collect (including books) by Maria Bustillos, and on professionalism – which pertains to everyone in any business, as well as those of us in the book trade, by Julie Fauble. In addition, Jean McKenna is now supplying us with a Q&A section on issues pertaining to our businesses and book matters–feel free to contact Jean with questions for the next Standard. We also have wonderful interviews this issue: Pat Ahearn talks to author John Dunning, who got so many of us interested in the book business; our own Jill Morgan talks about how and why she got into the republishing of children’s books; and two children’s authors, Len Kessler and Dorothy Mills, whose books Jill has republished, tell us about their lives, the books they’ve written, and how Jill is affecting their careers. And finally, we have a report from our President, Jim Hart. I hope you all find this issue interesting and fun and, remember that it could be this way each month, every other month, or quarterly. All we need is writers to volunteer. I’m interesting in getting writers both on technical/business issues (computers and books), and also on interviewing people related to our trade, whether authors, publishers, database people—you name it, and we’ll find a place for them. Bless you Deanna Ramsay, for putting this issue on the site for me! Shirley Bryant

Table of Contents President’s Report Which Listing Service is Right for You? Online Fraud Prevention Descriptions that Sell Auction descriptions for fun and profit Bookselling on the Internet: On Writing Descriptions Committee Reports

Each day the newspaper, television news anchors, and our own industry email lists are full of events that impact our industry, our income, and our lives. Our business world is changing so fast that trends are impossible to predict from history. How do we survive, much less thrive? Virtually all IOBA members are small businesses, dependent on commerce with unseen customers, most of whom we have never met. We depend on these strangers to pay us in advance for books, depending upon our honesty for delivery, for the accuracy of our descriptions, for fair treatment in case of damage, shipping delays, or other problems. How do we let these customers know that we really are honest, dependable, knowledgable, professionals? That when we do make mistakes, we will correct them without delay or complaint. IOBA is part of the answer. As an IOBA member, you have promised to conduct your business honestly and professionally. You agreed to follow a published set of standards in describing your product. You also agreed that if you did not uphold these principles, IOBA could end your membership. These are important committments. They provide a basis for trust between a customer and an unknown bookseller. A customer should be confident buying from a member of IOBA. Buying from you! Last year IOBA established a basic framework to differentiate our members from the general population of booksellers. We promulgated a comprehensive Code of Ethics. We published standard definitions of book conditions. We included a committment to ethical behavior in our Bylaws and our membership application, with sanctions for violations. We began regular publication of this newsletter, to keep you informed about our industry. We will continue and expand upon this work this year. We will be working on educational programs for new and experienced booksellers. Neil is continuing publication of our outstanding newsletter. We will continue work on our Ethics Code and enforcement provisions. Membership in IOBA will increasingly mean you are part of the elite in online bookselling. Of course, if the customers don’t know about us, or what we stand for, these differences don’t really help our individual businesses. This year we plan to begin letting the customers know, and to help those customers find us when they are ready to buy. The board has approved funding a significant and continuing advertising/publicity campaign. This will be one of our largest investments over the coming year. Our Public Relations Chair is an experienced professional in this field. We will be promoting both IOBA as an organization, and each of you, as IOBA members. We are still finalizing plans for this campaign, but you will be kept in the loop as this comes together. Interested members are needed to add their knowledge and ideas to this effort. This campaign will include both trade publications, national media, and the local media in your community. We know you’re good. We’re want to help the buying public find out about you. Once the customer knows about IOBA, they also need to know how to find you. We’re working on that too. One year ago I announced an IOBA member only search engine. This engine was similar in concept to Bookfinder or Addall. A customer would enter search parameters, then be presented with a list of books that matched those parameters. The difference is that only IOBA members books would be shown. The customer could then click on the link, and buy the book directly from you. When I announced this program the engine was in the testing phase, and we expected it to go live last summer. It has taken a little longer than we planned. The work on this project became a major task chewing up countless hours of work. All of this work was contributed at no cost to IOBA by Deanna Ramsay, our former Internet Operations Chair. The programming hours made major inroads into Deanna’s professional and personal time. These demands were in addition to her Committee Chair responsibilities. Like most computer programming projects, unanticipated problems were met and solved, chewing up additional time. We are still not there, but major progress has been made. The board has committed additional funding to this project. Deb Graham is now our Internet Operations Chair. Deanna is assisting Deb with the search engine project. While we still don’t have a final launch date for this service, we have committed significant resources to its completion. We believe this major project can be a tremendous asset to each of our members. We’ll keep you informed of the progress. Deb has also begun planning enhancements to IOBA’s website that will allow increased visibility to our individual members. We know you’re good! You are doing important work! Let’s work together to spread the word. Jim Hart

In the beginning, there was AB Bookman’s Weekly.  For years the bookselling and buying community awaited its weekly arrival and flipped through the pages of Books for Sale and Books Wanted advertisements and sent off quote cards and phoned or mailed in their orders. Many a bookseller’s eyesight was ruined by poring over the tiny print by the flickering candle light.  And then Interloc came along and the world started to change. Interloc was an automated tool for booksellers to match their wants against others’ listings. It worked through a dial-up connection, was relatively expensive and was clearly designed for professional booksellers rather than their customers. And then the Advanced Book Exchange and Bibliofind started up more or less simultaneously and the pace of change started to skyrocket and the world of antiquarian and used books changed forever. These services were designed to link the actual customers (the civilians, if you will) with the sellers, rather than the closed bookseller-to-bookseller model of Interloc – and they were web-based on the logarithmically growing Internet.  Both services are still going strong – ABE is still owned by its original founders and is one of the leading high tech employers here in Victoria where this article is being written;  Bibliofind was sold by its founder Michael Selzer to Exchange.com who shortly sold it in turn to Amazon.com, in whose hands it remains. Interloc belatedly moved its operations to the World Wide Web as well but remained a distant third compared to the original two. Metasearch services like Bookfinder and Addall appeared on the scene. Other services like Bookavenue and Global Book Mart started operations. Interloc morphed into the controversial Alibris – a sort of combination on-line bookseller and listing service. Partnerships began to be the order of the day with arrangements between ABE, Alibris and the giant Barnes and Noble and others, more obscure. Amazon encouraged sellers to list their used books first on zshops and then Marketplace. All the while the Internet auction sites (we won’t even touch upon them in this article) were injecting their own notes of insanity into the increasingly complex world of online bookselling. Ebay developed a fixed-price site to complement its wildly successful auctions and called it Half.com. Booksellers are attempting to take control of their destinies by starting organizations like the IOBA and starting their own owner-owned listing service Tomfolio.  Is it complicated out there? You betcha. Are there some decisions to be made? Yup. What’s the independent bookseller to do? Hopefully the following information will help you to make your decision on how and where to sell your books. The following chart provides a comparison between all of the major and most of the minor listing services. One of the joys of Internet Publishing is that you can keep your information current and can fix your mistakes so if you see anything factually wrong in this table please let us know.  We will try to keep it updated as services change and evolve. Just as we were going to press Amazon announced that Bibliofind was being merged (read terminated!) with zshops and Marketplace and that Bibliofind subscribers were eligible for 6 months free listings on the Amazon services. So long Bibliofind and thanks – you were an important part of the Internet revolution in on-line bookselling and you will be missed. We have printed the survey information as is since it hopefully will provide a resource for the many Bibliofind sellers who now must find a new home.  As for Amazon’s actions, perhaps the less said, the better! The number of services used ranged from one to eight with 19 using just one service (13 ABE, 1 Alibris, 5 Bibliofind) and just one respondent using 8. We also asked respondents to rank the services in terms of ease of use, support and dollar value of sales. Ease of Use When we looked at people’s second choices Bibliofind was first with 37% of the respondents and ABE was second at  27%. Support Looking at second choices, Bibliofind, interestingly enough was second at 28% and ABE pulled in at 13%. Several people said that they rated Bibliofind high here because they never needed support. A number of the smaller services showed well here considering the number of respondents that used them – Antiqbook book was at 4% on both first and second choice; Justbooks gained 1% as a first choice but was at 5% as a second choice and Bookavenue was at 3% for both first and second choices. A number of people specifically commented on the good support they received from Antiqbooks and Bookavenue. Sales Ranking The second choice follows the pattern with Bibliofind at 31%, ABE at 26%, Alibris at 12, zshops 7, Tomfolio at 2 and the rest at 1%. Which One We asked respondents to choose which service they would list with if they could list with only one and once again the results were quite clear. Many of the respondents who chose zshops said that they would have preferred to choose one of the other services but the zshops sales were simply too important to them. In summary, it is clear that most booksellers use multiple services and  will continue to do so. ABE has the greatest market penetration at this point and a high level of customer satisfaction. The situation is fluid with respect to Bibliofind and it is possible their share may have increased substantially in the brief period since the survey started. Bibliofind’s future is shadowy at this point.  More services, some quite specialized or with restricted memberships such as the ILAB and Bibliopoly are appearing all the time and they will be an alternative site for many sellers. We booksellers like to hedge our bets and in this market that looks like a very sensible precaution. Luckily there are enough alternatives that we will continue to be able to do so.