Alibris will announce on Tuesday "a new book-fulfillment solution" for booksellers. The new program, called Alibris Distribution Services(ADS), will provide full cataloging and distribution services for booksellers who have "exceeded their operations capacity, have more inventory than they’ll ever catalog, or want to liquidate large amounts of new and used books."Participating booksellers will receive 70% of the price realized less 99c per item accepted into the program.Almost sounds to good to be true. Send all that excess inventory to Alibris, let them catalog it and deal with the shipping, warehousing etc. I've rarely meet a bookseller who didn't have space...
Amazon Finds Another Way To Deliver the Books : AmazonFresh
Bookmark inserted in AmazonFresh deliveryRemember Webvan, the online grocery delivery service started by that other bookseller Louis Borders, that went down in flames in the dot com crash of 2001. A great idea but a little ahead of its time. Well, not to miss a beat, here in Seattle, Amazon's backyard, we have AmazonFresh, Amazon's version of a local grocery delivery service.It is a fantastic service. With two kids you can't beat the convenience of running out of something at 8pm and having it at your door by the time you wake up. And it is price competitive, unlike the...
On the Closing of a Bookshop
Storefront of Valley Book's previous location ERRATA: Nat Herold, referred to below as an employee of Valley Books, is actually the co-owner of Amherst Books.****************After 34 years Valley Books of Amherst, MA, one of the oldest used and antiquarian bookshops in New England, is closing.Owner Larry Pruner says "Every good thing has to come to an end, and when it's no longer a good thing, it comes to an end sooner."He then shares this:"The used book business is like an ecosystem that's been thrown off balance by e-books, the Internet and the recession. It's hammering away at a world that...
Is Borders Indie Bound?
They're calling it the "make" book program and its part of a new strategy implemented by CEO Ron Marshall to bring Borders out of the doldrums (and possible bankruptcy) and into the bookselling limelight.How it works:They take a "few works favored by Borders national sales officials and promote them nationwide in the spirit of a local seller, from prominent placement to personally advocating ("hand-selling") books in the stores."So far the four books they have chosen have become bestsellers and "publishers have credited Borders with either being an early factor in the book's success or a key in turning a hit...
A Preview of the ABAA’s New Website
Here is a sneak peek at the new and improved website of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA). The much needed and long overdue overhaul is being lead by Bibliopolis with an assist from the team at Biblio. It is set to launch in June.When completed it will finally provide the ABAA with a solid foundation on which to build their online presence and will provide them the chance to compete with the other online marketplaces. I just hope it's not too late, for they have a lot of catching up to do and with the online landscape still...