Biblio Finds Its Way in the Used, Rare, and Out-of-print Book Market

In a world of commoditized physical and online retail offerings, consumers are looking for more diverse shopping experiences. Buyers are again searching for things that meet their needs, and wants, and are favoring quality over price. This is where Biblio.com fits in.

In 2000, the original Biblio.com was launched as metasearch engine for new, used, rare, and out-of-print books: it quickly gained recognition for its speed and simplicity of use. In 2002, the name of this metasearch engine was changed to SearchBiblio.com to prepare the way for the upcoming new listings service.

During this time, development continued on the core product that was later to resemble the Biblio we all know today, with the revenues generated by the metasearch engine helping to provide seed money for the eventual launch of Biblio.

Biblio was ready to launch with its new product in February, 2003, initially with 14 booksellers. One of the hurdles was the difficulty of acquiring adequate inventory in order to attract buyers. At the same time, gaining a sufficient bookseller membership required active customers.

Fortuitously, in early February the listing site Bookopoly.com was offered for sale. Recognizing a unique opportunity for acquiring an existing base of booksellers and customers, and the market exposure which the acquisition would provide, Biblio purchased Bookopoly.com.

One week later, Biblio.com officially launched under its own brand. For the next several months Biblio.com and Bookopoly.com were both run independently. In June 2003 Bookopoly was closed down and its bookseller and customer bases were folded into Biblio.com.

Approaching its second anniversary this February, Biblio.com has grown to become the world’s third-largest site dedicated to used, rare, and out-of-print books, with more than 2,250 independent booksellers from 21 different countries representing an aggregate inventory of over 14 million books.

The little engine that could Biblio differs from its larger competitors in more ways than just size. Built from the beginning with managed growth in mind, Biblio has received no external investment or capital and all shares in the company are privately held by individuals who are actively involved in the daily operations of the company.

Chief Executive Officer and founder Brendan Sherar notes that its larger competitors also have a radically different business strategy than Biblio. Their sales are largely reliant on partnerships with major corporations such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, whereas Biblio’s primary sales and customer bases are independently cultivated.

Sherar says “This gives us two strategic advantages moving forward in the marketplace. First, our resources are not exhausted in maintaining such demanding partnerships. Instead we are able to focus our attention on building partnerships with our booksellers and relationships with our customers. Second, it clearly stabilizes our position in the market when the bulk of our business is supported across a base of hundreds of thousands of customers.”

“This is not to say that we will not be announcing some key strategic partnerships in 2005. The difference s that we are looking to form mutually-beneficial partnerships with like-minded companies, where it is clear that we have common goals and both hold equal sway in our relationship, and that it is in the best interests of our bookseller members and customers.”

Standing out in the crowd

Biblio is, of course, not the only small company to recognize the opportunity in the market for a company which focuses its attention on its relationships with its booksellers. It is, however, the largest of these.

“While our fundamental philosophy towards our independent booksellers is very similar to most of our smaller competitors, the chief thing that has made Biblio stand out is the sales results we generate for our booksellers. We believe what we do best is to find the balance between sales results and independence for our booksellers, and achieve that equilibrium.”

According to Director of Sales and Marketing, Kevin Donaldson, Biblio currently averages more than one million unique visitors to their site monthly, with millions of page views. With the substantial traffic that Biblio has built up over two years, sales have increased proportionately.

“We often hear reports from booksellers that the sales we generate for them exceed those of the other independent sites they list their inventory on – in some cases, rivaling even the sales of our larger competitors,” says Donaldson. He believes this trend in sales growth will continue, saying, “Our sales numbers in 2004 were up nearly 400 percent over the prior year and we project similar gains in 2005.”

Beyond the numbers

Biblio’s identity as a company extends beyond pursuing the bottom line and profits. Their vision statement reads: Biblio.com Inc. will lead our market through providing exemplary customer service, creating opportunities for our partners, and fostering the growth of the communities we serve.

Allen Singleton, Biblio’s Chief Operations Officer, explains what their vision means; “It has been part of our vision for Biblio to be much more than a traditional corporate entity. In short, we wanted to build a company that, through its operations, through its day-to-day contacts with customers, through the products and services it offers, through its colleagues, and through every aspect of its business, would give expression to the highest ideals of excellence. Additionally, we wanted to make sure we were able to make a difference through charitable work and funding community enriching projects”.

Just recently, Biblio announced the completion of La Biblioteca – Morado K’asa, a joint construction project which Biblio began with the municipal and state governments in Bolivia in August 2004, and through highly successful fundraising contributions from its bookseller members. This library places resources for education and learning in the hands of some 3,000 members of the rural community of Morado K’asa, where before, they did not even have access to books in their elementary or secondary schools (located 30 minutes away).

Biblio plans for the La Biblioteca project to be just one of many similar undertakings as they continue to grow and diversify in the marketplace.

A Customer Focus

“I think there is an untapped market of customers out there that are looking for that book that they loved so dearly from their childhood, or they have gotten the run around from the big box retailers on out-of-print books.” Donaldson says, “There are so many customers out there that want our products, we all have to spend our time and effort letting them know they are out there!”

Biblio’s focus in 2005 and beyond is to enhance the customer experience even further by making Biblio.com a destination for customers. In the works are monthly newsletters for customers, enhanced Want List management, coupons, an improved Rare Book Room, and much more.

“Where our Bookseller Members can help us is in ways that obviously assist us in getting their listings online, but also, and most importantly, enhancing the customer experience. When we are able to successfully connect a customer with a Biblio.com Bookseller Member, we all benefit,” Donaldson says.

Pulling it all together

It is clear that everyone at Biblio is genuinely excited about where their company has come from in such a short time, and the direction they are headed in the future. Market growth, enabling independent businesses to thrive, and taking an active leadership role in communities are the primary business focuses of Biblio.

“I truly enjoy what we do together as a community of people ultimately joined together by the love of books,” Sherar says. “As the saying goes, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. I believe this is what we see happening with Biblio, whether one is considering the collective resources we provide to empower our bookseller members to succeed, or the collaboration in building a library for a community in need. Our growing position in the marketplace is enabling us to facilitate positive progress and change.”

Biblio offers used, out-of-print, and rare books, with over 14 million titles offered for sale by over 2200 booksellers and bookstores worldwide. Visit Biblio at http://www.biblio.com

#bibliocom

Why I Belong to the IOBA

In the quiet darkness of a late fall night, circa 1923, my grandfather Charlie and his family packed their belongings and quietly left Birmingham, England. Times were not good in Birmingham for union organizers and efforts to bring a reasonable standard of living to the bakers there came at a very high price.

Charlie and family moved to Glasgow, Scotland. The small used bookshop that he started there was stacked to ceiling with dusty shelves which held a mixture of magazines, books, old toasters, and soft-core British pornography. The bookshop was eventually taken over by my aunt and I visited there a few years before she died.

Perhaps my own relationship with books and selling them was genetic. Coincidentally, I also spent several years as the chief negotiator for a teachers’ union. Times had changed and, happily, I didn’t feel the need to flee Fort Dodge, Iowa – at least not because of my union organizing activities.

The IOBA booksellers are gently tied to one another, even though much of what we do is rather solitary. Our days may be spent hunting for books, keying in data, and dealing with sales orders. The ‘Independent’ aspect of our work is significant. Paradoxically, we are united in our sense of personal freedom and charting our own course. When we buy a book (or a thousand) we rely on our personal intuition and knowledge to determine if we’ll be able to convert that book into a profit. Much of our day-to-day survival rests on our own shoulders.

But not entirely.

Being part of an association of like-minded people provides a sense that we’re not in it alone. While there may be 15,000 independent online sellers, it’s comforting to know some of them e-personally. It’s also significant that those who choose to join together share a commitment to quality, service, and a code of ethics. As a group we independent people make a statement of our commitment to a standard of excellence.

It’s a good business decision to let others know that you stand for something. Our customers are people who are interested in knowledge and education. It pays us to be knowledgeable and educated about what we are doing. There is no better way to accomplish this than by joining together.

There’s a fair amount to know about the art and science of our business, especially since little more than a decade ago our business model didn’t even exist! Through association with others in the field we each have the benefit of shared experience, such as learning about the cutting-edge information that can have a positive impact on our business. Frankly, why keep reinventing the computer chip, or the wheel, when others can provide you with some of the basics?

My involvement with IOBA has enhanced my work. It’s been an association that has given me a great deal–and offers the potential for much more. IOBA is a unique organization that is dedicated to serving our shared interests. It helps each of us be a little bigger and have the potential to be a little more independent than we were without it.

My membership in IOBA has been of substantial value to me. We face increasing challenges in our business on a day-to-day basis. The explosion of the digitized world continues to provide tremendous opportunities as well as significant challenges. One of the challenges affected many of us when a few months ago a major on-line service had a significant glitch and interruption of service. Potential changes in postal regulations could impact the shipping of our books we sell. Together, we can learn how to deal with any adverse effects on our business, and have some potential to impact issues as they emerge.

As we know, right now anyone with a book can be a bookseller. For better or worse, it’s what allowed most of us the opportunity to become a part of this field. Is there more to what we do than the very simple act of offering our goods in the market? I believe that without our willingness to ‘associate’ with one another in our common best interests, we will merely be reactive to the market place. Our potential strength and effectiveness lies in creating opportunities to make a difference in the market place and, ultimately, to influence that same marketplace. There’s a lot for us to think about!

IOBA offers an expanding array of education and services to the on-line community. It provides substantial value for all of us. I’m dedicated to trying to help our association increase that value, because membership in IOBA is among the best investments an independent on-line seller can make.

David Friedman is President of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA), owner of Bibliotique, and can be contacted at http://www.bibliotique.net

The History of Abracadabra Bookshop

I went into the book business after having taught at a local college for a number of years and having seen that the future looked bleak. Faculty were being cut and I knew there was no possibility of another job in my field: Colorado and Western History. What else could I do? I loved books. I had been collecting modestly in my field, and had several hundred books on Colorado and the West, so I started what I called The Western Americana Bookshop. For the first few years I ran the business on the side and still taught, which meant I did not have to take money out of the business – just as well! I knew little of the book business but learned as I went along. There were no book schools like the annual event in Colorado Springs, at that time, so it was pretty much ‘learn as you go.’ Twenty-eight years later I still learn and I still love it. It sure beats ‘working for a living’! And, like the guy who won the lottery, I will hold on until the money runs out.

I started Abracadabra Bookshop in 1977 and the first location was in the Nepenthes Cafe on Market Street in Denver. After buying out Stage House II in Boulder, we moved to new quarters on Court Place, above the bowling alley. Dealing with the owners, Hare Krishna, was not pleasant, so we purchased a Victorian house on West 32nd Avenue and moved our growing stock into the Carriage House in 1980. We stayed there very happily until 1994, when, bursting at the seams with over 50,000 volumes, we moved to 32 South Broadway. This was a learning experience for us. Despite being the busiest street in Denver, Broadway did not increase our sales. It did, however, increase the amount of theft!

Frustrated by theft and other problems such as lack of growth – we did a study which showed that only 2 percent of the population of Colorado were book buyers – we decided in 1998 to move to Texas. We located in the pleasant Gulf Coast town of Rockport, known for great fishing, year-round sailing, and good seafood. We knew that a small town of 15,000 would not have the over-the-counter sales of Denver, but hoped the growing Internet would help. We were quickly surprised at how good over the counter sales were! We were soon doing 1/3 of our Denver sales. Texans are readers and the other Texas dealers were friendly and helpful. Good people.

However, there was a dark side to the Texas experience. Texas taxes are very high. A latent law allowing used books to be taxed as inventory was activated in 2003 and this meant we had to leave Texas. The Tax was 2.6% of the value of your inventory, and the law allowed taxing authorities to check your income tax records to see what you claimed. An idea of how devastating this can be seen in one item – a set of Octavo Audubons valued at $40,000 would produce $1000 a year in tax! We had to leave. I was getting very good at packing up and moving books. When we moved from Court Place to West 32nd, with 30,000 books, it took a week, shelf to shelf. West 32nd to Broadway, with 50,000, was accomplished in 10 days. Denver to Rockport, with 80,000 books took 10 days to pack, a week to ship in two tractor trailers, and 3 days to get back on the shelf. Rockport to Denver, with approaching 100,000 books, took 5 hours to pack, 5 days to ship, 2 days to re-shelve, and the rest of our lives to alphabetize! If anyone needs guidance in this area, please feel free to call.

So, back to Denver in 2004 and a new location at 7030 East 46th Avenue Drive. Colorado Taxes are among the cheapest in the nation, thanks to a man named Bruce. It is a good place to be in the book business and, with the Internet, location is not nearly as important as it used to be. We are able to buy well here, although Rockport produced some amazing finds, such as the 1st Edition of William Morris’sWell at the World’s End in Very Good condition!

We provide a complete book service, with close to 100,000 volumes in stock, a free book search, and our books are listed on the ‘Net with several services. We do several book fairs every year, mostly in Texas. This brief account of our history would not be complete without mentioning my wife, Marcy, whose contributions after leaving the National Park Service have been marvelous, and over the years such great employees as Diane Kennedy, Joan Riddel, Russ Wiese, Jon Snurka, Caren Eno, Jack Plante, Katie Mclean, Melody Field, Melinda, Dan Gorski. and others. As always, we are always interested in purchasing good book collections.

Alan Culpin is the owner of Abracadabra Bookshop & Booksearch in Denver CO and can be contacted at (303) 733-5700, orders@abrabks.com”, or http://www.abrabks.com

#brickandmortar