I received an email from Abe about CIROBE that I wanted to pass along, as the same invitation extends to you all:
Dear Lucas,
I wanted to make sure you were aware of AbeBooks.com and how we can help you increase your sales. Abebooks is an online marketplace of booksellers selling new, used, rare and out of print books, and textbooks too. I would be happy to answer any questions you have about AbeBooks.com or how to set up a bookseller account over the phone or by e-mail. I will also be at CIROBE and would be happy to meet you there.
If you would like to arrange a meeting, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached toll-free in my office at 1-866-261-2828, or by e-mail reply.
Kind regards,
Jordan Gordon
Accounts Manager
Let’s recap the myriad issues that many claimed would bring the university press market down:
(1) Google’s scanning of library books
(2) E-Books proper
(3) Online used booksellers
Each of these have been written about ad nauseum by the print and electronic media, each seeming to knell the end of academic book sales as we know it. Each time, these have come out, I’ve done by best to assuage fears and reassure all parties that things are not as bleak as they seem. In fact, I have maintained that Google’s scanning and the availability of used books will increase new book sales and e-books will never catch on enough to cannibalize the market in Ipod/CD fashion.
For now, anyway, it seems as if this is true beyond the terse statements on this blog. The AAP reported Friday that August year-to-year sales were up in all major academic text areas, with the exception of hard covers (to which I attribute to a textbook price backlash more than anything else). Also, I am happy to say that e-book sales were down 2.7%. Not a huge statistic, but surprising that this area, which really only had room to grow, actually went down. But wait, everyone’s probably just waiting to get their Sony Reader, right… hmmm.
Given the importance of academic sales to online booksellers, these numbers are incredibly important, and, in today’s case, incredibly uplifting.
Generally when Gmail displays ads that are relevant to the content of my email it freaks me out. Today, however, I was intrigued by an ad from This Into That. The site displays the work of Jim Rosenau, featuring home furnishings (bookshelves, shelves, chairs) made from old hard cover books. Check it out, it’s pretty cool, maybe it will inspire some of you to spare a few titles from being (re)donated to your local library and give you a weekend project to boot.
