Month: September 2010

Value Added – The Beguiling knows how, does your Bookshop?

by

In this day and age of the big-box bookstore, eBooks, and sites like Amazon it’s hard for the normal brick-and-mortar bookstore to compete. In terms of pricing it’s nigh on impossible to compete. In order to keep the customers coming in the store has to provide a service that a huge store like Barnes-and-Noble or Amazon can’t. The major service, in my opinion, is a sense of community. I mentioned this in my previous article about comic book stores and the advent of digital comic distribution, and it holds true for all bookstores. The release of the final Scott Pilgrim book shows how a bookstore can build a sense of community. Stores all over North America held parties to celebrate the release. At midnight on release day copies were being handed out.

I went to a book release party for this in Toronto, which was organized by The Beguiling, the bookstore where Mr Lee-O’Malley worked while he began the series. I’d never been to a book release party before. I know that many bookstores held them for the release of the Harry Potter books, but I avoided those. The two bars and the restaurant closest to The Beguiling also got in on the act, hosting parties, having DJ’s playing the soundtrack for the forthcoming movie, and holding costume contests. By most accounts about 2000 people showed up. The street was completely shut down from about 9pm until midnight, when the book was actually released. There were fans of the series wandering, having fun, lots were dressed up as characters. The only time I have ever seen this kind of anticipation of a book release was for the later Harry Potter novels. This was the same atmosphere, but with fewer pointy hats and most of the attendees were able to drink.

Read more

Book Sellers, Do You Trade Fairly?

by

Buyers and sellers have a complicated relationship, we sell and they buy which sounds simple but in Australia the buyer is protected by the Trade Practices Act 1974, yes it’s old but it still applies. There’s also the Sale of Goods Act and the Fair Trading Act and if there are problems and the buyer is not getting satisfaction from the seller there’s always an Ombudsman to complain to. The Trade Practices Act regulates areas such as:

* a system of fair trading, as opposed to misleading or deceptive conduct in the marketplace
* accurate and reliable information, as opposed to false and misleading information
* sales techniques – to ensure they are fair and not misleading or one-sided
* product standards for a wide variety of goods, together with information on those goods and their safety standards
* remedies for both retailers and consumers for breaches of the Fair Trading Act
* implied conditions and warranties that are available to the consumer
* the enforcement of a fair and equitable system in areas such as credit, lay-by sales, and so on.

With thanks to the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme for this information.

Basically, what this says is that the seller must give the buyer full disclosure of information and be totally fair and above board and ensure they honour any implied conditions and warranties associated with the product they’ve bought. Fabulous, now let’s apply that to online selling of pre-loved books.

A system of fair trading
This is a hard one but you have to give the appearance of having fair trading. Everything is in the seller’s court here as we have the ability to take the customer’s money and just run. In order to look fair we have to be open about everything. Have a guarantee that looks totally fair and above board. Have all of your policies documented on your website and make sure they are fair, both to you and to the customer.
Accurate and reliable information
This one is easy. Pre-loved books are often in less than perfect condition and it is incumbent upon the seller to describe the book ‘s faults accurately, if you don’t then the buyer has every right to return the book and expect a refund. When I’m buying pre-loved books through an online auction site or from a website I expect the book to look the same as the description. If the description says brand new or almost new then I’d expect to receive it with very little wear. Make sure the picture matches the description. I’ve seen some pictures showing a book with quite a lot of obvious damage and the description stating it is almost new and sometimes unopened despite being so old. The customer would have every right to return the book as there is a great deal of misinformation there, that description is quite misleading.

Read more

Second Hand Bookshops Melbourne

by

I learned from experience that when you visit a city for the first time it is not always easy to find the bookshops that may be of interest. I was in Paris a few weeks ago and wanted to visit a few shops, heaven knows they have enough of them. Everybody knows about Shakespeare and Company but … Read more

“R” is for Reason: the 5 Practical Reasons to Collect Books

by

What bibliophile doesn’t love owning their own personal libraries in their living room, den, office, and their bedrooms, in their car, and on top of their fridge? Years ago, I had two bookcases filled with philosophy books I had either read or planned to read. That’s when I realized it was time to get rid of the majority of those space hogging dime a dozen paperbacks.

The truth is that most people start to collect books for almost no reason. They aren’t really collecting them either; they’re choosing to own a lot of books and they don’t know why. Maybe they read them, bought them for their education, or inherited a few. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but this is the slippery slope that leads to a cluttered house and even, down the road, to becoming a pack rat…or worse. Just kidding, if you’ve seen the melodramatic TV show “Hoarders,” you know it is treatable condition and it is not the same as collecting.

Book collecting is about appreciating and preserving books and not about dusting bookshelves or stepping over piles of them. If you own thousands of books and plan to open a book store with your pre-prepared inventory, these five practical reasons can help you determine which books to keep for yourself and which should go to your shop.
Even if you aren’t sure that’s what you want to do, using these to assess and weed your home collection can transform a stack of garage sale nothings into a near museum quality exhibit. Store the remainder of your books in boxes for a few months and you’re certain to discover you don’t miss them and probably don’t even remember them.

Reason #1: Rare
Books that are considered collectible due to their rarity are excellent to hold to onto. First editions/printings, signed copies, and books printed before 1850, have value to other collectors because they may be rare and in demand, which means they are valuable. It’s not just a book; it’s a piece of history.

While there are a few excellent websites to tell you how much a book is “worth,” I, personally, evaluate a newer book by an author’s merit or potential, because the value of books change. Imagine all the 200 librarians who stamped and cataloged J.K. Rowling’s first printing of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone? They just didn’t know and they are probably, very sorry. If you have a first printing of an author’s first book and you believe they have potential, keep it. No one knows how long it will take a writer’s career to take off or whether they’ll ever become popular at all, but those typo ridden, shabbily printed first books are what you want.

Ninety-five percent of published authors support themselves with means outside of their writing. A new author will appreciate it if you buy the first printing of their first book to add to your collection, in fact, it will stun a few of those new authors senseless.

Read more