webstores: a bit ramble and a whole lot of rant

Once again I'm pondering whether I should have a stand alone website for my book inventory.  I've had a website in the past and found that the headache of maintaining it, especially in regards to PCI (credit card) security compliance, resulted in it not being cost or time effective to keep.

I sell my inventory of out of print and collectible children's books on ABEBOOKS, Amazon and Bibliofind and in the past there were more than enough sales on these sites to keep me busy. However, Amazon's book database is a hot mess, and since Amazon bought ABEBOOKS, my sales on that site have dropped significantly. Granted, economic reasons have something to do with drops in sales, but the fundamental problem with listing inventory only on the large database sites is not competition with dealers selling like inventory, it is having your listing noticed at all among the Print on Demand, the poorly or partially described listings and the scrapers who copy everyone else's listings and offer books for sale that they don't own and ridiculously marked up prices.

Eh, while I ponder whether I'm going to set up another website or just complain, please visit us at:

                                         Windy Hill Books & Ephemera

                                                   Out of Print and Collectible Children's Books                                 

                                          Bacova, Va

                                                    Hours by Appointment
                                                    dana@finebks.com

browse or search our inventory at:  

https://www.abebooks.com/windy-hill-books-bacova-va-u.s.a/2639/sf

Mini rant

I was in the local Borders bookstore this weekend looking at the new childrens picture books, just generally checking out what's new and what looks interesting, and I was struck again by the degradation in the childrens picture book section. This has been going on for a few years now but it has been especially bad over the last year, the picture book section has been shrunk by more than half it's original size and even more disappointing, a wall that at one time was dedicated to books is now "activity sets" and toys.

It's bad enough that I don't have an independent bookstore to shop at, but when the "big box" stores don't stock a decent collection it just flat ticks me off.

I'm not superstitious...I think

But why, why why is it that I can go months pulling books for processing and shipping without any problems, but as soon as there is one title that is mis-shelved and can't be found I will immediately have trouble with other orders as well.

I've always heard it said that trouble comes in threes but it's late, I'm even grumpier than usual, and there are 4 titles that are not where they should be.

Phooey, I'm calling it a night.

Pahhgg! Murphy strikes again...

Yesterday the American Library Association announced the 2006 winners of the major children's books awards in their meeting in Seattle. They did a web cast of the awards ceremony itself insuring that the news was equally disseminated. (The broadcast was at 12:00 eastern.)

For a dealer specializing in modern children's books this is always a busy day. After the awards are announced we check to see which of the titles we have and scramble to pick up the ones we don't have. Then we start fielding calls both from other dealers and our collectors on what they have and what they are looking for. If the winner of the Newbery, Caldecott or Printz is already in later printing in the stores or sold primarily to libraries and is not in the stores at all, the price of the book can climb just like a hot stock does on the stock exchange.

Award day is usually hectic, lucrative and most of all it's fun. You get to deal, horse trade and talk books with people who are extremely passionate about their collections.

So where does Murphy come in you ask? At about 10:25am eastern on Monday a Verizon Fiber Optic Tech working on service in the area misread a port and literally pulled the plug on me. I not only lost my internet access but also both my phone lines. (The analogy of eggs and a basket comes to mind.) It took Verizon 29 hours to get a tech back out and about 5 minutes for him to fix the problem once he got here. Excuse me, I have to go sulk some more....

ARRGGG.... RANT, RANT, RANT, RANT, RANT!

....if i have to read ONE MORE book description, by so called booksellers that list their precious gems as a "Fine condition, x-library copies", "Fine, for it's age" or even worse the listings that don't list ANY condition, edition or description.... i am going to go beserk!

a dinosaur grumbles

I love selling books online in the internet age, if only for the shear diversity of the books I sell and the locations I ship them. Since the advent of online selling I've shipped to every state in the U.S., almost every Province in Canada and a good many countries around the world.

In today's mailing alone I shipped books to Washington D.C. and Washington State, Virginia, Oregon, New Jersey, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Spain and also right here in Maryland. Quick and easy, upload the book description to the online mega database sites, get the email notification of order, pull, process 'n pack and out the door. And totally, totally boring.

As tedious as pre-internet catalog sales were to compile, publish and send, I really miss the personnel contact I had with my collectors. Each group of collectors had their high spots, the books or the authors than "made" a collection: Primrose Cummings and Walter Farley for the horse collectors, Sally Watson and Rosemary Sutcliff for historical fiction, Dare Wright for dolls etc. With catalog sales and a toll free phone number, I was able to find books and help build collections, and also enjoyed many a long conversation "talking books".

Ironic really, but I feel I had more real interaction with my collectors, was more "in tune" with the hot spots of the different genres when I lived on a rural property in Iowa (pre and early internet) than I do now 20 minutes from Baltimore.