AE provides a variety of on-line services for those with an interest in books, manuscripts, ephemera and maps. These services fall into three categories: free, research and premium. A high speed connection, a reasonably up-to-date operating system and sufficient memory are suggested but not required. The site is designed for speed. Here are some suggestions for acquiring and configuring an effective system.
Free Services
The most frequently used free service is AE Monthly. This is our eZine devoted to the printed word and image in all its forms. We typically publish 25 articles per issue. If you are on our mailing list you receive, during the last evening of each month, an email containing the electronic table of contents for the new issue. Each article description contains a link to the full piece.
To receive AE Monthly each month sign up as a free member. Include your current email address. We'll then create a free account and send you an email to confirm your online address. If you have a spam filter and do not immediately receive our emailed confirmation either your email address is invalid or our message has been diverted to your junk mail folder. If you find our message in your spam folder click on it and select your "This is not junk mail" link. We will never send you anything but editorial content -- Never! Another way to identify AE as a friendly site is to add us to your favorites.
AEM Back Issues: We have been publishing AE Monthly for over four years and there are well over 500 articles in the back issues database. Click here to learn how to search back issues.
Books for Sale Database: This is a database of material posted by AE's own members. New material is posted every day. Some lots have electronic footnotes and images. Let us show you how to use BFS. How do I do this?
International Bookseller's Directory: Any bookseller may list in this comprehensive directory. Listings include extensive links to shows and events. The inventories of dealers who list in Books for Sale are searchable against all identified events in AE's events calendars. BFS dealers also list sub-catalogues for special categories here.How do I do this?
Traditional Auctions: Search all lots in all upcoming documented book, manuscript, ephemera and photography auctions! We provide a sequential keyword search. Search all you want whenever you want. Click here to learn how to access and use this feature. It's fast, efficient and free.
Message Boards: Do you have questions? We often have answers or at least suggestions. Post your questions on our message boards. We or another member will reply. How do I find this feature? Follow me!
Show Calendars: For many who enjoy collecting the rule is "I know it when I see it." One of the best ways to "see it" is to visit book fairs. Here you find interesting material and experienced sellers. Shows are held almost every week. In our calendars we show upcoming events, event details and link to our members whose inventory can be searched online before the show. How does a dealer know what to bring? They make an educated guess. If you find material of interest in their inventory express your interest via email and perhaps they'll be able to bring it to a show you'll attend. This will make the show more efficient for you both! Here's a more complete explanation.
Research Membership
A research membership provides access to the AED, our database of 1.6 million full text records of rare, collectible and valuable books, manuscripts and ephemera. It is updated every day. There are three ways to subscribe to the AED: by the week as a visitor [$7.95], by the month [$14.75] and by the year [$141.60] Access is identical, only the subscription period varies. Click here for a list of sources. Click here for sign-up details.
There are two forms of searches: Keyword[s] and Advanced. Keyword[s] looks for your terms in every field. Advanced looks for terms in designated fields. Results are provided as a preliminary finding. You can then exclude records outside your scope. Each preliminary record includes a full underlying record accessible via a link in the description field.
Records in the preliminary search results can be selected individually or as a group to be accessed for their average current estimate of value. When you identify similar copies in the AED that have sold you can then select these records and request a current estimate. We then adjust each older valuation to current value, add the various present values and provide an average current estimate of value. The entire process takes about two seconds. Let us show you how this works.
On the various listing sites on the net there are millions of items posted for sale "so can't I simply look at the asking prices for a frank assessment of value?" If you are looking for common material you can and should look on the listing sites but if you want to access rare material it may not appear even once among the millions of items offered. More importantly, even if it's available, is its price appropriate? An analysis of actual transactions will often provide useful guidance. As importantly you can see the frequency of appearance. A book that shows up every year will be coming up again. A book that has not been seen in decades deserves further consideration.
Comparing material at auction with material in the Books for Sale Database: Research subscribers have the option to search upcoming auctions and "also search the AED." We'll show you how this works.
The Americana Exchange is now offering a few key features accessible via the Internet on your phone! Searches of the AE Database, Books for Sale and Live Auctions are available. More features may be implemented based on feedback and member requests.
To access the mobile site, it's simple. Simply navigate to americanaexchange.com on your phone's web browser, and you're there! For a more in-depth technical article on this new features, please see this September AE Monthly article.
Overall, a research subscription is the workhorse of the rare book field.
Premium Services
This level starts with all free and research services and includes three other services that are very powerful.
Books for Sale: At this level you list all the books, manuscripts and ephemera you want to sell. Your listings can be batch uploaded or individually created. If you are listing elsewhere you simply import your files and we map them to our fields. If you are starting from scratch you can create the most complex listings on the web in your Web Catalogue account employing electronic footnotes in support of your presentations. We then post your listings on the major search engines and of course on our site. You create a seller's ID in the International Bookseller's Directory and when your material comes up in buyer searches they contact you directly. Would you like a closer look? Illustration 1 / Illustration 2
AE Footnotes: You have the option to create electronic footnote files from the 1.5 million records both in the AED. You can link them to Books for Sale listings and send them to prospective buyers as email attachments. They help to explain importance as well as pricing. Click here to learn how to create a footnote, and here to apply it.
Web Catalogue: This is a multi-purpose catalogue builder. If you are collector this is the easiest way to build a catalogue of your holdings. When you buy a better copy you can then instantly post the lesser one for sale. For dealers who handle tens of thousands of books you can import your full inventory into web catalogue and easily create sub-catalogues specifically to meet single buyer requests for narrow ranges of material. New England railroads? Run searches in your inventory, create a group, write a cover and click to send. You're done. Click here to learn how to create a catalogue, and here to start adding records to it!
MatchMaker: Everyday about 100,000 items are posted to the web for the first time. Some are at traditional auctions. Some are on eBay. Others are listed for the first time on the listing sites. About 4,000 of these items are to some extent antiquarian and collectible. A few will be of interest. Once in a while there will be an outrageous bargain. In Matchmaker you build a filter and we then run all new listings against your screen and report all matches found in the morning.
This is a valuable process because the best material disappears within a day or two. It will be found, purchased and quickly disappear without a trace. Matchmaker is your best opportunity to see such material as it first appears.
Building a screen is an unfamiliar process whose success will depend on you mastering the unique facts underpinning your interests. This often isn’t easy. In Matchmaker you start by creating a list of terms and linked terms. Over the next few weeks you’ll see how these terms perform every day. Some may be too broad, others too narrow. You’ll then adjust your current terms and add new ones. Within a month you’ll buy something you found via Matchmaker, something you would never have otherwise found and you’ll understand why it is such a valuable tool.
If you do it right you'll probably see about 75 matches a day and learn to quickly dispense with most of them. The few that remain will be enticing and once in a while you'll find material that you'll talk about for years. Here is a series of step-by-step approach.
Illustration 1 / Illustration 2 / Illustration 3 / Illustration 4If you have comments or suggestions about this manual email us at bmckinney@americanaexchange.com or phone 415 823-6678.