Rare Book Monthly
Bibliopolis and Bookhound - Birds of a Feather
Betty of Bibliopolis.
"With your own webpage," Luke and Alan continued, "in the long term, booksellers will be able to maintain control of customer data and be responsible for the whole transaction. Third party sites are crucial in the short term, but eventually you want the customer to go to your own site so you don't have to give up as much as 20% of the transaction. We also feel strongly that every bookseller with a website should have their own shopping cart system. That should be the plan. If you have them at your website there is no need to give up a percent to someone else. Long term it pays for itself. You can slowly convert your business to your website and it will become an extension of your storefront."
Should every bookseller have their own website, we wondered? Alan said that they interview each prospective client and sometimes they dissuade some of them because they do not have enough books, have never sold online before, and/or don't have a usable database. They recommend that they first sell through a third party such as ABE, Biblio, or Alibris, using an inventory system such as Bookhound, then build up their inventory until they have enough experience and inventory to need a webpage. They noted that they are probably not going to sell many books on a web page when they only have a very few books, and it is not right to charge them their monthly fee if they can't do them justice.
I asked how one website like mine can get out to everyone? Alan said that was the key question. Luke said "There is no one answer. It takes time to build up repeat clientele and there is no typical way. It depends on how many places you are listed. If buyers can find unique books they can only get on your website and you offer really good customer service, then you get a reputation and repeat customers. They won't type in your website unless they know you, they will type in the name of the book and if you are the only one or one of a very few with the book and you have unique, rich, accurate descriptions then you will have unique terms that Google can find. ISBN lookups are not unique, they are the exact same as anywhere else and the client is looking for the best deal."
Technology is not the only element. Bottom line is that the bookseller also needs to present the book in a timely fashion packaged properly, with follow-up promotional materials in the package. "That’s what you guys know; the booksellers," said Alan. "The customer experience is important; our webpage is just an enabler."
In a few words; good reputation means repeat business.
What about the penny to dollar sellers - do they need a website? It seems to me that every person who ever owned a book thinks they are a bookseller these days. They take every book in their own library and from every library sale, yard sale, or second hand store, and sell them for one penny to one dollar, no matter what the book is actually worth. Their profit comes from postage leftovers. To me, that is not professional bookselling.
Alan answered that. "The Internet business is a double-edged sword. It has opened up sales venues for amateur booksellers and other trades as well. Part of our founding principles are to maintain the professional side of bookselling, or at least to counterbalance that race to amateurism. We're not interested in spending a lot of time aiding the penny seller, we want ease of use for experienced booksellers, an emphasis on the professionals. He noted that the penny sellers are contributing to literacy in that they get the books out there, but that they are 'essentially just selling widgets.'"
Luke opined that one of the ways they will help do that is that they are providing a scholarship to the Colorado Book Seminar and that Alan will be going to the Seminar this year as a faculty member to talk about the importance of websites for booksellers. He also noted that the Seminar is an opportunity to educate booksellers and to help encourage amateurs to become professionals. "It's not about discouraging amateurs," he said, "it's about teaching them that instead of selling their $20 book for $1; they should sell them for $20, if that's the market. The point is that, while it may be an uphill battle short term, long term I think that professional booksellers are going to have a leg up with their knowledge of books."
