Update Announcements, #75, 21 August 2006

There are business models, and there are business models. Some enterprises use the build-it-and-they-will-come approach, focusing their efforts more on product or service than profit. Others take a different, more aggressive approach, devoting considerable energy and resources to producing profit, sometimes at the expense of product (or service). I don't know whether booksellers hold such a thing as a general perception about the venues they trust their inventories with, but I'm guessing that many of you would say that the dominant players are interested entirely too much in profit, entirely too little in those responsible for generating it - booksellers. It's easy to feel neglected or mistreated when you're competing with tens of thousands of faceless booksellers and fees keep going up and up.

Whatever your perception, I strongly suspect that Media Editor Catherine Petruccione's interview with Biblio's Kevin Donaldson will alter it. Shortly after speaking with Kevin, Cathy wrote me and said: "If the good guy ever wins, Biblio should do just fine." Her "good guy" perception was based on Biblio's unusually bookseller-friendly (and customer-friendly) business model. Funny thing, it's producing sales too, often at the high end, and if you're disenchanted with the big guys, Biblio may be a viable, long-term solution.

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Contact the editor, Craig Stark
editor@bookthink.com