More on Partnerships and Parasitism
- By Renee Roberts
Would a trade association help booksellers?
by Renée Magriel Roberts
Well, looks like my last article (June AE Monthly) on partnerships and parasites struck a nerve. My mailbox was flooded with emails from booksellers (none from selling websites, no big surprise) and virtually 100% along the same lines. Here is a sampler:
There were the wishful thinkers: "Hannes Blum ... may learn something if he reads this article..."; "I used to feel like we were partners ... and I tried to act like we were partners." "I wish Amazon, Alibris and ABE would read it [the article] and take it all to heart." "I hope a lot of folks read your article and get really ticked off and jump ABE's ship for at least six months. Wouldn't that create a cash crisis in THEIR court?" "I hope your article will influence the mega book sites to change their 'parasitic' practices."
The self-doubters: "I too am at the point of wondering why I do this [bookselling]".
The just plain angry: "Nothing makes me madder than paying 1.5-2% more for someone else to process the credit card transaction than I would pay; trying and failing to quickly figure out if I'm being paid for what I've shipped...the accounting is in pig Latin." "It seems as though ABE is for ABE only and we [booksellers] are tolerated as a necessary evil." "The big A sites are no place for honest bookdealers who know anything about used/antiquarian books." "I have no interest in paying some entity, particularly a foreign company, to run my business." "The last change has left me still angrier [ABE taking over credit card processing]. I HAD/HAVE no security problems related to credit card processing." "I no longer intend to work for nothing and give all my profits to ABE." "It seems to me that once you have reached a critical size in a corporation (ABE) that other influences take over (greed) and it has no guilt and can justify anything."
The commiserators: "It's exactly how I feel about the websites, but I couldn't have put it in words like you just did..." "My sentiments exactly, and many others too." "Every professional bookseller I know feels the same way". "So many of us feel exactly the way you do." "AMEN!!" "You have identified the revolting aspects of ABE's operation and pinned them nicely into an insect display case, where they belong."
The psychics (or maybe I'm the psychic): "Thanks for sharing my exact opinion on all you discussed".
The Dr. Phil stand-ins: "It is not necessary to remain in an abusive relationship". "Remember what Dr. Phil always says -- we teach people how to treat us."
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More on Partnerships and Parasitism
- By Renee Roberts
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The desperate: "This is the first well thought out and written expression of the problems facing those of us who need to feed, clothe, and provide shelter for our families". "I am considering leaving the business, I pay my utilities and that's about it". "We have a house for sale, and if it sells, I'm bowing out of ABE." "I have watched bookselling degenerate into a low-class, shady, almost impossible way to make a buck." "We truly are at the mercy of our website 'partners'. Short of amending their ways, we have no outlook for a better situation. I suspect it will get worse before it gets better...." "The actions of the listing sites are about to drive me out of business." "I see no possiblity of change unless these people [i.e. ABE] go bust."
The questioners: "Have you any suggestion for a new or existing site which would be the role model you are searching for?" "There must be something we can do about this. Any suggestions?"
The critics: "Not all the bad spellers are trolls".
The comics: "My aquaintances who are very rich insist that the less advantaged dealers exist to be exploited. The only people who truly count, whose needs and desires should be considered, are the members of the investor class. They all chuckle when I point out they are scum." "The reason for the delay in payment (by ABE) to booksellers is due to the interest they collect while holding the money...I mentioned this to ABE and was told they didn't think their management would do something like this."
The problem-solvers: "I wonder what the big corporate sites that you described so well would do if the booksellers just took their books off and moved them somewhere else [hmmmm.....] "We decided on a cooperative [Tomfolio]. It was the only way we could afford to implement our idea, protect us from corporate or leverage takeover...our concept was to provide a listing website...that insisted on high business standards but that would not impose upon nor interfere with the business of any of our sellers who abided by our Code of Ethics." "If you have a petition, I'll sign it." "You give every reason...for joining us renegades at the TomFolio shelter." "Aside from government intervention in monopolistic practices (which probably is a reach), the only real alternative would be to form a guild/union of booksellers to raise both bookseller stands and to make demands from the sites." "I think if more booksellers did something, instead of just grumbling, there might be more likelihood of change." "We need a ban on non-inventory holders" [i.e. computer programmers who create hollow listings looking for a customer hit.]." "If you come up with a plan of action, please let me know." "Perhaps the next step is to promote a mass exodus or to encourage bookdealer cooperatives." "I am wondering if you have considered organizing some sort of booksellers association with the primary objective of putting heat on ABE (and others) to influence them to rethink their greedy practices?"
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More on Partnerships and Parasitism
- By Renee Roberts
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The letters I received agreed almost in unison about the problems, but have many different suggestions about solutions. Here is what I think: large corporations who are also near-monopolies only respond to issues of a certain scale. One bookseller writing a letter will receive (as many of you have demonstrated) a non-response. The only way to move a monopoly is to organize.
I do NOT think that this organization needs to initially come up with an alternative book site. There are already alternative sites, both cooperative (TomFolio), commercial (Biblio), organizational (IOBA) that simply do not have the same customer traffic as the big A's.
What is needed, in my opinion, is a professional trade organization, an International Booksellers Guild, that, like a union, focuses on the conditions within the environment (like ABE) in which we are all working.
The emperor has no clothes. Sites like ABE are nothing but dysfunctional, hollow shells without our work, our books, our listings. Our challenge is to clarify our strategy and tactics and to speak as one voice.
There is a great piece from www.taforum.org, a British trade association site which sets out best practices for a trade association. I think it's about time we had one.
Renée Magriel Roberts can be reached at renee@roses-books.com.
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