BookFinder.com Journal

The Recently Reprinted Girl

I was reminded by the Paper Cuts blog that one of the stars of our 2009 BookFinder.com Report, The Recently Deflowered Girl by Edward Gorey has just made the jump back into print!  Finding a copy of the original is still a pricey endeavor but reprints are now easily attainable.   

 

[Now Reading: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick]

Top resource for college students

We were happy to see BookFinder.com cited in a number of recent lists of useful resources for college students…

#3 among “25 Essential Web Resources for Researchers and Students” :

“If you are looking for any kind of book, whether it is rare or out-of-print, specific edition - You will find it at Bookfinder. Over 125 millions book titles to search, you can actually buy new and old-books from this site. They achieve by doing a search through every major catalog available online.”

#7 among the “Top 10 Back to School Tools for the Organized Student”:

“Feel like you got hit over the head with a baseball bat when you leave the campus bookstore? Find the best deals on textbooks at BookFinder.com.”

#8 among “12 Super Web Apps For College Student Success In 2008”:

“Bookfinder - Never look anywhere else to find a textbook that you need. This site searches the entire internet and shows you the best price for what you’re looking for.”

One of the “Ten Web Sites Guaranteed to Make Your School Semester Easier”:

“A trip to the campus bookstore can end up exceding the cost of a month’s rent, but searching countless bookselling Web sites is a tedious process. So before you cough up a few hundo and force yourself to eat a semester of Ramen so you can afford that spring-break trip, check out BookFinder.com. BookFinder searches more than 100,000 booksellers worldwide (including popular sites like Amazon, BookByte.com, and Half.com) for any book, whether it’s new, used, or out of print. And because BookFinder is simply an aggregator, you order directly from the retailer; there’s no markup for its services. We liked that your search results come up in two columns: Used and New.”

One of the “Five ways to tech-out your college lifestyle”:

“While the interface seems a little dated, BookFinder will save you tons of time and money. Simply type in a book you’re looking for and the site will find you the best price the internet has to offer. There’s no longer a need to search a ton of websites (or get ripped off by Norris) to get the most for your buck.”

Top writing tool among “The Most Helpful Web Tools for Students”:

“A one-stop ecommerce search engine that searches over 125 million books for sale — new, used, rare, out-of-print, and textbooks. Save your time and money by searching every major catalog online, find out which booksellers are offering the best prices and selection. When you find a book you like, you can buy it directly from the original seller; BookFinder never charges a markup. If you are one of those poor students who struggles for money, this site is for you. You can compare prices that are offered by different sellers and pick up the cheapest item.”

One of the resources cited in a “Back to School Productivity Roundup” :

BookFinder: Compare prices on 125 million new and used books

Posted by Anirvan

Reviews from overseas bloggers

I’d like to think of the four of us here at BookFinder.com as being fairly globally-minded; we all speak second (or in some cases, third) languages, and have all spent time living or working in other countries. This background helps motivate us to pay close attention to small details, to help ensure that the site isn’t too parochial.

It’s fun seeing bibliophiles overseas benefit from our work. Here are two recent blog posts from tech bloggers outside the US, comparing BookFinder.com to Amazon.com:

Writes Abdylas “Ades” Tynyshov, a Kyrgyz blogger now studying in Malaysia:

Bookfinder - find and compare prices: “The good thing about this site is that it works in US and internationally, for international users it detects your origin of country and can search for books that can be shipped to your country. Because most of the time Amazon won’t ship used books internationally.”

Writes Italian blogger Nicola Deiana:

Do You Want to Buy a Book? Bookfinder is here: “Put most simply- for any book found you can display one page with its features. One of positive aspect is that bookfinder works in US and internationally, so you can find books by search for your country. First impression: In my view, I have to say so far it’s an incredible alternative to Amazon. In terms of ease of use and functionality, bookfind is one of the best search for books that I’ve seen yet. If you ever need a places to hunt for ebook, Bookfind provides a large range of book in their archive.”

[Now Reading: Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education by Michael Pollan]

Posted by Anirvan

Our textbook deals in the NY Times

BookFinder.com’s textbook search is in today’s New York Times:

“Bookfinder.com, an umbrella search site that sifts through the inventories of hundreds of thousands booksellers worldwide, started a simple, easy-to-use textbook search tool. The way it works: enter a title, I.S.B.N. or author’s name in Bookfinder’s textbooks search box to navigate a huge database of 125 million new and used books. You can compare prices, shipping costs and the availability of less expensive editions published overseas.

Consider, for example, a textbook required for an advanced Japanese course at my daughter’s college. A Bookfinder search last week for ‘Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese II’ turned up 24 new and used copies, at prices ranging from $20.94 at Amazon.com to $110.62 at Amazon.de. For each of the 24 copies, total price (including shipping) is listed on a single page, along with information about how soon the book will ship. Some sellers offer expedited delivery. Amazon, for instance, offers overnight delivery and discounts of up to 30 percent off on new copies of 200,000 textbooks.

‘Our goal is to give students all the options of buying any new or used edition, whether it’s published here or for an overseas market, and then let them decide which books are the best deals for them,’ said Anirvan Chatterjee, Bookfinder.com’s founder.”

BookFinder.com started life as a class project, and we’re still based just a block away from campus. We know the new semester is stressful, so we’ve been working overtime to increase speed and selection for the busy textbook season; let us know if you have any problems.

Posted by Anirvan

BookFinder.com in campus staff blogs

I enjoy seeing people blog about how they use BookFinder.com. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been coming across some great feedback from folks who work in academic support roles:

Chris, Stony Brook University (New York)

“Bookfinder - Saved me probably hundreds of dollars during grad school. Yes, officially we tell you to buy your books at the campus bookstore. Unofficially, I’m telling you to buy them online. Bookfinder searches booksellers around the country to find books you need. Every semester, I’d go to the bookstore, write down the ISBN numbers of the books I needed, and look ‘em up. I’d much rather spend nine bucks to buy a book from an independent bookstore in Kansas than spend forty bucks at Barnes & Noble.” [via]

Roland (personal blog of a university admissions guy) (California)

“I was searching for a book that is out of print. Amazon found one (used) copy in the US at $162.65. I went to BookFinder.com and was directed to Amazon’s UK site, where I was directed to an independent bookseller with a new copy of the book for £5.95 plus £6.95 for shipping. That was nice.” [via]

Meg, University of Evansville Library (Indiana)

“Book Finder is a neat site/tool that allows you to compare prices on more than 125 million books for sale from 4,000 sellers. So there’s no need to go to Amazon, Half.com and all the other book sites when Book Finder can search them for you.” [via]

Keith, Texas Woman’s University (Texas)

“Since I work with faculty to develop online courses, I have a lot of favorite web tools. Here are some that I also think are helpful for students… http://www.bookfinder.com/ allows you to search multiple sites for textbooks and compare prices” [via]

Posted by Anirvan

Recent interviews

I did an interview with British book industry news website The Bookseller a couple of weeks ago. Phone-based interviews are interesting and sometimes a bit disconcerting. I’m always scared, wondering whether I’m going to be quoted verbatim, or if the writer will be kind enough to cut out all the parts where I’m sounding less than polished. (I was on NPR’s Morning Edition about two years ago, and the editors slashed a 10 minute interview into a couple of short sentences. I was elated—I didn’t sound stupid on national radio.)

It’s interesting seeing how The Bookseller transcribed my interview, and how I seem to devolve from sounding serious and stilted (“gives us access to industry-specific consulting, support, and advice, which has helped us accelerate our growth plans”) to sloppy and colloquial (“we started having people using the site and discovering for themselves that it was pretty cool”). I need to even out those extremes.

I did a fun podcast interview with Paula B. from the The Writing Show, an radio-style interview-based program about writing and books. The hour-long program went online today, but I haven’t listened to the whole thing yet; though I’ve enjoyed listening to Paula’s other interviews, it’s strange listening to myself drone on and on. Do I really sound like that?

For anyone who can stand to listen to it — what can I be doing better?

[Now reading A People’s History of Science: Miners, Midwives and ‘Low Mechanicks’ by Clifford D. Conner]

Posted by Anirvan

In the news

Some recent media mentions:

The New York Times:

“At BookFinder.com, the perennial best-selling cookbook is ‘A Treasury of Great Recipes,’ first published in 1965 by Vincent and Mary Price (yes, that Vincent Price). It’s a padded, imitation leather, gilt- stamped collection of luxurious recipes from the world’s past pleasure palaces, most of them long gone — like chicken in Champagne sauce from Le Pavillon in Manhattan, which closed in 1972.”

5th Estate

“A brilliant new resource for readers…I spent a while testing out the site today and, like the usual service offered by BookFinder, it shows promise of being an incredibly useful tool for readers who want live retail information…They are not just good news for readers, they are mostly welcome news for our authors and the bookselling industry at large, encouraging a diversity, precision and breadth that, three years ago, looked endangered by the big guys.”

Good Housekeeping (UK):

“Q: My sister and I loved reading when we were children and I’d like to buy her one of our favourite books as a Christmas present. I’ve been told it’s out-of-print — can you suggest where I could try looking for it?
A: There are lots of websites you can use to search for rare and out-of-print books. Try BookFinder.com, which searches the online catalogues of more than 100,000 booksellers around the world.”

The Minneapolis Star Tribune:

“Price-comparison sites let you shop around easily for the best deal online. Just type in what you’re looking for, and you’ll see a list of retailers and their prices, including shipping….For specific items, try Book Finder (www.bookfinder.com) for books”

The Spokane-Review:

“For roughly a decade, Americans have been using the Internet for their holiday shopping. Buying gifts with a mouse click and having them conveniently shipped for you are now an ingrained part of our holiday rituals…Take advantage of price-comparison sites. Some of the better-known are Froogle.com, Mpire.com, Shopping.MSN.com and Pricegrabber.com. If you’re hunting for books, there’s BookFinder.com.”

AuctionBytes:

“BookFinder.com has launched the JustBooks network of European search engines…search[ing] over 100 million new, used, rare and out-of-print titles for sale from over 100,000 booksellers, including local market leaders and independent sellers. Prices are computed in local currencies, and the cost of shipping is built into the prices displayed.”

Posted by Anirvan

Shipping followups

As we continue to tweak shipping support on the site, we've enjoyed getting both constructive criticism and kudos on our decision to sort all results by postpaid price (or our best approximation of it):

Lucas Ames, Bookselling Online Blog, "Changes at Bookfinder":

"I'd like to applaud Anirvan and BookFinder...The new site is a huge improvement...The other change integrates shipping prices into the search results to allow users to be aware of exorbitant shipping fees on the front-end, a great consumer-driven change that will undoubtedly serve to increase sales through the site."

Michael Stillman, Americana Exchange Monthly, "Truth in Pricing: BookFinder Attempts to Display What Books Really Cost":

"Congratulations are in order to the multi-site book search engine BookFinder for attempting to present real prices, that is, ones that include shipping costs...BookFinder has recognized that a one-cent book with a $10 shipping cost is no bargain compared to a $3 book with $2 in shipping. A little truth in pricing should be most helpful for those looking to find the actual lowest price rather than the imaginary one....This option enabled us to do a comparison...the cheapest delivered price is 373 times the cheapest non-delivered price. That's a 37,300% increase in the price once you add shipping! That's what happens when you buy penny books that have to be shipped."

Jeff Sharman, Using Books Weblog, "BookFinder & Shipping Charges":

"This means that some results from other sites are listed with slightly inaccurate prices. The price discrepency often gives those listings different placement in the search results than they're warranted, sometimes better and sometimes worse. Though usually the final price isn't off by much more than 50 cents or a dollar either way, this will likely cause some to scream "bias" since Abebooks is BookFinder's parent company...Shipping rates can be a divisive and confusing issue and it's really good to see BookFinder taking steps to make them more transparent."

We've made several significant changes in the way our shipping functionality works over the past few weeks, and will obviously continue to do so.

I'd appreciate more feedback. Is the new consolidated postpaid pricing useful? What can we do to make it work better?

And for those who'd prefer seeing the older sort order, have you had problems opting out? We've helped a few users enable preference cookies on their web browsers, and can lend a hand if you're utterly flummoxed.

Posted by Anirvan

Mike Resnick mention

Neat. BookFinder.com was mentioned in "Travels With My Cats," a 2005 Hugo Award-winning short story by Mike Resnick. In the story, the protagonist searches BookFinder.com, trying to find an incredibly rare book.

Posted by Anirvan

Publishers ponder the Long Tail

The New York Times Book Review published an article on publishers' reaction to the Long Tail last weekend (which, coincidentally, mentioned BookFinder.com).

The verdict? Some of the largest American publishers are confused:

"'The costs associated with printing small quantities of many different titles and of warehousing those many different titles and of fulfilling single-copy orders...are so onerous that it's not a model that I feel works for publishing today,' said Terry Adams, the director of trade paperbacks at Little, Brown. Susan Moldow, the executive vice president and publisher of Scribner, agreed. 'It only works if you're employing some kind of print-on-demand,' she said, referring to a technology that allows publishers to print a few books at a time, as they are ordered. Although Anderson and some others believe print-on-demand will change publishing history, the technology is still imperfect and costly."

But contrast that attitude with that of NYRB Classics, a fabulous young press that thrives on long tail bestsellers:

"'We're like scavenger birds on the back of hippopotamuses,' said Edwin Frank, the editorial director of New York Review Books Classics, which was founded in 1999 and is affiliated with The New York Review of Books. Top sellers among the imprint's 200 titles include Richard Hughes's dreamlike novel 'A High Wind in Jamaica' and historical novels by J. G. Farrell that revolve around Britain's colonial rule. 'We're happy with any book that sells over 5,000 copies' during its sales life, Frank said."

Donadio writes that:

"Paradoxically, the online sales technologies on which the long tail depends may actually be undercutting backlist sales by squeezing them between the two poles of the market: new frontlist titles and used books, which are easier to find than ever thanks to the rise of online booksellers and search engines like BookFinder.com."

BookFinder.com certainly makes used books easier to find, but it's an overstatement to suggest that we negatively impact backlist sales--and by extension, long tail sales--in any appreciable way. To the contrary...

We help sell new backlist titles. Long tail book sites like Amazon.com and BookFinder.com are some of the best resources out there to find, research, and buy backlist titles; BookFinder.com has worked with new booksellers carrying backlist titles ever since its launch, over nine years ago.

Publishers have always dealt with the existence of used books, and they seem to have been doing fine. According to the article, publishers "rely on backlist sales for a significant part of their business," but goes on to list a wide variety of backlist bestsellers widely available in virtually every brick and mortar used book store in America (e.g. The Lord of the Rings, The Joy of Cooking, books by Beatrix Potter). The online component doesn't change the nature of the game; it just means that consumers can search brick and mortar bookstores in multiple communities, and not just their own. The most profitable of the backlist titles were always easily available used, and there's no change there.

In-print long tail sales are robust. According to Chris Anderson's figures for 2004 (presumably American) book sales, out of 1.2 million books surveyed, 78% of titles in print sold 99 or fewer copies, and 95% sold 999 or fewer copies. The publishing industry as a whole is already delivering the long tail. For every frontlist title or backlist bestseller (e.g. Lolita, The Things They Carried, and A People's History of the United States, each of which have sold about 100,000 copies per year in recent years), there are thousands of also-rans, chugging along with a handful of sales per year. The increased trend toward print-on-demand micropublishing, as covered in another recent New York Times article bears testament to the growth of a vital long tail powered by the publishing industry.

Our tail is longer than that of the publishing industry, lessening overlap. BookFinder.com users' average search "center of gravity" is further down the long tail than the wider publishing industry (which is why we're able to report on the most sought-after out of print books with some authority). Potential overlap between new and used copies of in-print backlist titles might be an issue, but our users' used book purchases don't always compete directly with the offerings of the in-print new book industry.

Worried New York publishers dominate much of the discussion around the future of books and bookselling, but the situation's not always as dire as it's made out to be...

Posted by Anirvan