Last week it was announced that Better World Books has raised $4.5 million including a $2.5 commitment from the Social Enterprise Expansion Fund of Good Capital.
I have been following this company for a while and on the face of things they are doing many positive things and are deserving but there is something unsettling about this company. As much as I desire to support a socially responsible company involved with books something about Better World Books just doesn’t sit right with me. They seem to be lacking a sense of humility and transparency that I would think would need to be paramount for such an endeavor.
I understand the challenges of uniting commerce and philanthropy but we are ultimately talking about a for-profit enterprise and as far as I can tell they have not released any information as to what the percentage of profits donated to non-profit partners is nor have they released any financial figures or salary figures of employees and executives (though according to Wikipedia NPR reported that its top executives make $100,000 or more).
“We have become an expert in finding new homes for old books” says co-founder F. Xavier Helgesen. If that is indeed the case how is that the have 1.8 million used books and 500,000 new titles in stock? I frequently look at the thousands of books in our inventory and think mistake rather than expert in finding new homes.
They claim to employ “two full-time, in-house Antique, Rare & Collectible book experts to grade & care for rare books.” I am assuming that these are the same two people that attended last summer’s rare book school at Colorado Springs representing Better World Books. If that is true they are far from expert and to promote them as such is a bit misleading. I have been selling books for over 15 years and the last thing I would call myself would be an expert. Experienced maybe, expert never.
Here are a couple of descriptions for their books as seen on AbeBooks.com
Joan Crawford. My Way of Life
Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy! First Ed. $116.25
Dawson The War That Was Never Fought– Used – Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy!. $1
-there is also another listing for the same book with the same description for $3.64.
A $100 book and $1 book are given the same treatment, each with the same lack of precision. Using terms like “perhaps considerable marking on inside” and “may have some markings on the inside” does nothing to help the customer know what they are in for should they choose to purchase the book and the marketing jargon (“100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy!”) carries more weight for them than the actual specifics of the book.
For a company that exists to promote literacy in the world it is disheartening that they lack basic, fundamental bookselling literacy.
They might be trying to make the world a better place but I am not so sure they are helping the book world become a better place.