click to enlargeWhile technology is transforming much of the book world there is one practice that remains virtually untouched for many booksellers, the act and method of pricing inventory. Yes, many booksellers now place printed descriptions with the price inside their books but if you look close enough you will still see a price written somewhere in the book. Barcodes have more to do with one’s drinking life than as a form of inventory control for many of us.
“On the first white page in pencil” is our mantra when asked where our books are priced. Others price their books on the rear endpaper, I know of one bookseller that priced his books on the front pastedown and there are a few that don’t even price their books until you choose them.
Then, in addition to the price, many booksellers add various codes and other hieroglyphs to their books to track cost, consignments and and other data vital to the internal workings of the bookselling mind.
With the mother of all book fairs fast approaching my colleague Garrett Scott has devised a brilliant and handy cheat-sheet to display in his booth to assist would be buyers in locating the price within his books.
Now that’s a good use of technology!