From the Editor by Craig Stark #2, 15 September 2003

Two weeks out and counting! Special thanks go out to all who have passed the word to friends and fellow booksellers and collectors about BookThink. We feel very fortunate to have your support.

Today's issue of the BookThinker features the first part of a five-part series on book photography. Not taking pictures for books. Taking pictures of books. Much has been written both in print and online about photographing small objects, of course, but books sometimes present photographic problems peculiar to themselves. Our study of these begins with an introductory discussion of flashpoints. In Part III of this series we'll introduce a jig for scanning pages in books that otherwise would be difficult to flatten without damaging. Stay tuned.

We're pleased to have Tim Doyle of Bayside Books join us again with an in-depth article on how signatures and inscriptions may or may not affect a book's value. There's much more to this topic than meets the eye, and Tim's advice could make a significant difference in both the purchase and resale of signed books. Also, BookSmart! a semi-regular feature that will spotlight key facts about books, begins in this issue.

You may have noticed several changes on the home page. To the right of the newsletter menu we have added a search box for FetchBook - a rapidly growing book search service. We have chosen FetchBook for an affiliate partner because it consistently delivers more options and better prices than others we have used, also because it focuses on books. Higher profile search services sometimes omit vendors who do not offer lucrative affiliate compensation, and thus competitively priced books may go unnoticed. FetchBook is comprehensive and easy to use. Give it a try!

Also, Steve Madsen and Pac-n-Seal have arrived. Pac-n-Seal carries a wide selection of packaging and shipping supplies, prices them competitively, and provides excellent service - in other words, advertised items are actually in stock and are shipped promptly. We know because we've used him. The flagship of Pac-n-seal is the Pac-n-Seal System itself - a packaging method that uses a heavy duty impulse sealer and poly bags. Some readers may recall that we reviewed this system in detail several months ago and were so pleased with it that we integrated it into our own b-flute packaging system. Speaking of b-flute, Pac-n-Seal now carries it in both the 12" and 18" widths. Questions about packaging and shipping? Steve is a BookThink forum contributor and will be happy to answer them there.

Finally, we've added six new titles to BookThink's BookShelf at http://www.bookthink.com/booksh.htm. Purchase any one of these recommended books by clicking our links.