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At BookThink we often discuss strategies/tactics for taking your bookselling businesses to the next level. Sometimes the steps
we take to do this are small indeed - for example, scanning the bar code on a book at an FOL sale and putting it back because it
will likely sell for only $5 (and you've just raised your minimum selling price to $10). A somewhat larger step might be to put
the scanner in your pocket and focus on books that aren't so readily evaluated by field lookup devices and yet present an enhanced
opportunity for resale - and/or look for them in different venues. And so on. But it's also possible to take leaps on occasion, the
kind that can leap-frog you over other booksellers - and by all accounts there's an opportunity to do just this every August in
Colorado Springs, Colorado at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar.
Since its inception in the late 1970s, CABS has graduated over 2,000 students, and, though it isn't targeted exclusively at booksellers, many of these students went on to become successful booksellers. I had the opportunity recently to pose some questions to two CABS faculty members and two alumni. I think you'll find their thoughts illuminating and perhaps inspire you to register for the seminar this summer. Following this, also look for a reprise of BookThink News Editor Karin Bergsagel's account of her experiences at CABS in 2007.
Daniel De Simone has been Curator, Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection of The Library of Congress, since January 2000. Previously, he ran his own rare book company in NYC. Over the past 25 years he has developed expertise in antiquarian bibliography, illustrated books, 18th-century French and Italian books, and 18th-century Irish books.
BOOKTHINK: Dan, the task of putting a reference library together can be daunting for new booksellers, so much so that, when they discover that there isn't a magic formula for identifying first editions, let alone a single reference that even begins to cover it all, they don't know where to start or, worse, are reluctant to start at all. Does the Seminar address the topic of building a reference library? Suggest specific books or online resources to start with (especially for budget-conscious booksellers)?
DE SIMONE: Building a reference library takes an entire career because you never know what it is you will need to know next. But for the beginning bookseller there are some basic references that will get you started. We focus on how to find information, where to look, and what to do with it once you locate it. Reference is a key part of the seminar.
For the beginning bookseller, the most important reference source is other bookseller's catalogues. If I were working in modern first editions, I would get on the mailing list of the most important dealers in the field. Their catalogues not only provide information on what is presently in the market for sale, but bibliographical references that will guide you to the right places to look for accurate and current bibliographical information.
BOOKTHINK: Speaking again of booksellers new to the trade, I often sense from them a reluctance to learn much about how books are made, book history, etc., especially reaching back into the hand press period. The thinking is, I suppose, that this understanding won't further their own businesses, which are involved in selling books, not making them; and perhaps there's also an assumption here that they won't often sell books that are centuries old anyway. Given that the Seminar devotes some time to presenting materials and tools used by bookbinders, discussing their use, etc., would you talk some about why it's important for booksellers to understand books at this level?
DE SIMONE: Evidence that knowing the how a book is constructed and the history of printing and publishing surfaces everyday on the Antiquarian Book Seminar list serve. New booksellers who never thought they would need information about early printing are consistently asking for help from other seminarians about the early books that just came into their shop or books they found while scouting. Knowing how to identify the important characteristics of a book that is outside of one's field of knowledge is what separates those who are striving to buy and sell better books from those that are content to sit and wait. We cater to booksellers, librarians, and collectors who want to learn the traditions of the trade and who want to take their business to the next level.
BOOKTHINK: As you know, the following appears on the Seminar website: "The Antiquarian Book Seminar is designed for people of all levels of experience, from beginners to those with years of experience who want to hone their skills in this rapidly changing field." I'm guessing that many inexperienced booksellers might feel that they would need to gain more experience in order to maximize their benefit from the Seminar. True or not? If not, what would you say is the most important thing a less experienced bookseller could take away from these classes?
DE SIMONE: Everyone has to start from somewhere. It is not what you know, it is what you want to know that should determine whether you come to the Seminar or not. We provide so much information during the course of the Seminar, no one gets it all. So, for just about everyone, it is a stretch to comprehend what is thrown at them. But the point is: The experience will only help you be more successful. For instance, while at the Seminar you meet and interact with some of the most important booksellers and librarians in the country, as well as a large group of like-minded people striving to make their lives with books more profitable and more meaningful. The faculty and your fellow seminarians become your colleagues. And one of the major benefits of the Seminar are the contacts you make and the ability to work with them and communicate with them for your entire career.
BOOKTHINK: With increasing urgency, everybody wants to know where bookselling is headed, and many fear the worst. In a recent interview with Pat Ahearn, she boldly declared that books would become more, not less valuable as we move further into the Digital Age. Do you share this belief? Why or why not? In your opinion, would booksellers do well to focus more on antiquarian books?
In my present capacity, I am a curator at a large institution and it would be best to let the booksellers handle this question. Generally I agree with Pat; rarity and the ability to recognize rarity when it is front of you is what is driving the trade at the moment.
Thanks for giving us this opportunity to participate in your forum.
Kevin Johnson, proprietor of Royal Books, became a bookseller in 1997 and specializes in Modern Literature, Cinema, Art,
and Photography. In 2007, Oak Knoll Press published his first book The Dark Page, a full-color guide to the first edition
sources for American film noir of the 1940s, followed in 2009 by The Dark Page II, a second volume covering 1950-1965. Kevin has been a member of the ABAA since 2002.
BOOKTHINK: I'm forever getting questions from entry-level booksellers on how to get up to speed fast. "How do I start making money now?" My first impulse is to grab them and say, "Slow down." Does the Seminar offer instruction on how to begin a bookselling business from square one? In your opinion, is there a fast (or faster) track?
JOHNSON: There's certainly something to be said for hard work - like working seven days a week as most people in the rare book trade do - but I think a "fast track" approach will ultimately lead to disaster for a person who wants to become a serious rare bookseller. I would compare it to a fine watchmaker who works too quickly. The watchmaker may finish making his watch, but his end product is not going to be something that is desirable to the most serious watch customers, or even appealing to fellow watch dealers. In no time at all, the watchmaker will have a bad reputation, and left to sell his watches at bargain prices.
On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for efficiency. A lot of time can be wasted by not thinking through your most time-consuming processes and making them as lean and effective as possible. Efficiency can be increased in any number of ways: hiring an employee to do your shipping or other tasks, choosing or implementing an effective database, organizing your accounting system, or coming up with an effective pricing and coding system. There are a lot of ways to waste time, and I always emphasize that any increase in efficiency typically means a time investment up front.
BOOKTHINK: Are you a Seminar alumnus? If so, and speaking from the perspective of a past student, what did attending mean to your development as a bookseller?
JOHNSON: I am not, but I would be a lot further along today if I had gone when I first began selling books. I simply did not know about the seminar when I was coming up in the trade.
BOOKTHINK: Speaking from the perspective of a faculty member, what would you say is the most difficult thing for booksellers to grasp about the trade?
JOHNSON: Good question. Typically new sellers have a lot of misconceptions and wrong assumptions, and that's a big part of what we try to dispel. These wrong assumptions don't have anything to do with intelligence or lack of perception - it all comes down to the lack of general information about proper bookselling available to the average person.
What is the most difficult thing to grasp? It would be hard to name the #1 thing, but here are a few: (a) that booksellers have a long-established language, literally a word for every single thing, and use of that language brings the best customers and sellers to your door; (b) that success in the bookselling world is more about relationships than it is about competition; and (c) the relationship of condition, rarity, and demand to pricing.
BOOKTHINK: Finally, I'll ask the same question I asked Dan: With increasing urgency, everybody wants to know where bookselling is headed, and many fear the worst. In a recent interview with Pat Ahearn, she boldly declared that books would become more, not less valuable as we move further into the Digital Age. Do you share this belief? Why or why not? In your opinion, would booksellers do well to focus more on antiquarian books?
JOHNSON: I would agree with Pat that rare books have the potential to become more valuable in the digital age. Common books - the kind of books people used to buy in a shop for $2 or $3 purely for the purpose of reading - may become a non-existent market as the new generation comes along. Currently the world is in a state of infatuation with computers, Kindles, and iPhones; but I think as these things settle down and become commodities, the average person's interest in non-virtual things may well increase. It's very hard to say.
But in terms of what we're trying to accomplish, none of that really matters, as rare books and manuscripts are a different consideration entirely. The Colorado Seminar is not designed to teach new sellers how to move product on eBay; it's designed to provide a basic education on how to find, catalog, and sell rare books, and how to build a business model that supports that enterprise. We're teaching a trade that is just a little bit older than eBay - about 2000 years older. And if you ask me, one that will be around a lot longer.
Jeanne Jarzombek, owner of The Book Prowler, transitioned from her career as a registered nurse to full-time bookseller in 2004. Her specialties continue to evolve, and include modern literature in translation, curious ephemera and poetry. She attended the Seminar in 2006 and 2007, then returned in 2009 as a consultant for the newly formed non-profit Antiquarian Book Seminar Foundation. She now serves on several CABS committees and is dedicated to furthering the seminar's interests, particularly with regard to its internet presence on social and professional networking sites. Jeanne is the moderator for the alumni mailing list and acts as the alumni liaison for both faculty and seminarians.
BOOKTHINK: Of the many topics addressed during your week at the Seminar, which was the most valuable in terms of advancing your bookselling business?
JARZOMBEK: Building a reference library and building a network. Without either, one cannot successfully survive in this business.
BOOKTHINK: Which was the most interesting?
JARZOMBEK: The sense of this vast body of knowledge in one room - all of these booksellers sharing their experiences with us as we sat surrounded by reference books that covered esoteric topics from the 15th century to modern day literature.
BOOKTHINK: One of the more common objections I hear from booksellers about the Seminar is that it isn't cheap - $1195 plus air fare and accommodations for 5 ½ days of classes, and indeed, upwards of $2,000 is a lot of money for somebody attempting to grow a business. On the other hand, I've never heard anybody who attended say (usually emphatically) that it wasn't money very well spent. How would you answer this objection to attending?
JARZOMBEK: It's so much more than "5 1/2 days of classes." There are evening excursions (Monday night picnic, visits to local bookstores), breakfast and lunch with fellow seminarians and faculty at your table. The surety of knowing that my circle of resources expanded exponentially, in reference books, faculty advisors and fellow booksellers, made it worth every penny.
BOOKTHINK: What kind of preparation, if any, would you recommend for incoming students?
JARZOMBEK: Read the biography of each faculty member to get a sense of their focus and specialty. Take a mental assessment of
areas you're drawn to or have begun to specialize in. Then, during the presentations, you'll build on your knowledge base, or
learn more about an area with which you're completely unfamiliar. Who knows what direction this may take you? Make a list of
reference books you own (if any). You'll learn of other complementary reference works to invest in. Familiarize yourself with
John Carter's ABC for Book Collectors, which can be found online in
PDF form . Plan to make friends. Finally, stock up on sleep and mind power. You're gonna need it.
Brian Cassidy (Alumnus)
BOOKTHINK: Of the many topics addressed during your week at the Seminar, which was the most valuable in terms of advancing your bookselling business?
CASSIDY: Dan De Simone on selling to libraries. 0% of my business before the seminar. 30-50% of my business now. Highlighted an opportunity of which I was largely under-aware and provided the tools and advice needed to take advantage of it.
BOOKTHINK: Which was the most interesting?
CASSIDY: Terry Belanger on bibliography. To make collation riveting is quite an accomplishment, and Terry does it with ease. You will never look at books the same way again.
BOOKTHINK: One of the more common objections I hear from booksellers about the Seminar is that it isn't cheap - $1195 plus air fare and accommodations for 5 ½ days of classes, and indeed, upwards of $2,000is a lot of money for somebody attempting to grow a business. On the other hand, I've never heard anybody who attended say (usually emphatically) that it wasn't money very well spent. How would you answer this objection to attending?
CASSIDY: The year I attended, the faculty said something on the first day to the effect of how you should be able to pay for the seminar doing business with the people sitting in that room. And it's true. Just to put some cold, hard numbers on this ... since I attended in 2006, I have bought and sold over six figures worth of books with people I met and relationships established just at the seminar that year. Most of that total is business I doubt I would have engaged in otherwise. The Seminar is an investment, not an expense. And quite honestly, I can't think of $2000 better spent for most booksellers looking to grow and improve their business. It's a cliché, but it's so true I'll say it anyway: You can't afford not to go.
BOOKTHINK: What kind of preparation, if any, would you recommend for incoming students?
CASSIDY: Come prepared to meet and greet. Booksellers tend to be a rather solitary and introverted lot. But if you just keep to yourself for the whole week, you will miss out on what for me is the most valuable part of the Seminar. So gird your loins for socializing. Make friends. Talk to the faculty. Introduce yourself to strangers. Go out with your fellow attendees after the Seminar lets out for the day. Eat. Drink. Stay up late. Put thoughts of sight-seeing out of your mind. Business books would probably call this "networking," and I suppose thought of crudely it is. Put more accurately, bookselling at its best is a business of colleagues, not competitors. Come to the Seminar open to discovering your colleagues.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Click the CABS banner at the top of most BookThink pages for more information on attending.]
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