Getting Booksellers to Agree on Anything Is Like Herding Cats
That's one reason that over 100 booksellers getting together to start a cooperative to sell their books on line is such an outlandish idea. Why do that when you can sell books at Amazon, Advanced Book Exchange, Alibris, and many smaller sites such as Biblio? After all -- all you have to do to sell on those sites is list or upload your books, pay the fees and commissions, and you're in business.
That's the trouble! You then become part of their business, are often told not to tell their customers about your store or put any of your own promotional material in the box.You become a cog in a very large wheel, and you are at the mercy of whatever decisions they make that affect you. They can, and often do, raise their fees and commissions, refuse to collect sales tax that you have to pay even if they don't collect it, and often don't raise shipping reimbursements when the post office raises rates. Many of us don't want to just drop ship to customers of other companies. We want to know and help our customers in a more personal way.
What If We Owned Our Own Site?
That was a novel idea!
But lots of booksellers were ready to entertain it. They started a discussion list to talk about it and plan. It's not as though you can just get a group together who live all over the world and come up with a name, a web site, and incorporate -- just like that. We all had ideas, and they were often different. What we did agree on was that we wanted to own our own site, make our own policies, maintain contact with our own customers, and not be able to sell out unless we all agreed. We wanted to maintain a high standard with a code of ethics all of us would adhere to. Of course, the devil was in the details.Independent booksellers are just that -- independent. Because of that, they are usually far from wealthy -- especially if selling books is their primary source of income. It takes money to incorporate, build a website from scratch, maintain a programmer, buy hardware, and keep the bills paid. I wasn't there at the very beginning, when the idea was first conceived in 1999. By the time I joined the discussion group, we already had The bylaws and our first elected board of directors.
Then we began to discuss the name we would like to have for our web site.When approximately a hundred independent booksellers come up with names they are attached to and they are all different, it becomes quite a feat to agree on just one. Some felt the name should have the word book in it someplace, since, we were, after all, booksellers.So we had suggestions like book planet , book world, and other such names. But none of the suggestions we got had that special zing to it that we could get excited about. We were trying to find the magic words that would define us to the world that incorporated words that described what we considered ourselves to be -- professional independent sellers of used, rare, and /or antiquarian books and Ephemera. But the name had to be catchy. It had to be unique. After a few weeks and hundreds of emails back and forth, we were almost beginning to think it would also be impossible -- to agree. Finally Bill McDonnell, on April 4, 2000,.suggested tomfolio. The immediate reaction was Tomfolio? What's that? Then someone explained that Tom Folio was a bookman spoken of in The Tatler, April 13, 1710, by Joseph Addison:
Tom Folio is a broker in learning, employed to get together good Editions, and stock the Libraries of great men. There is not a Sale of books begins till Tom Folio is seen at the door. There is not an Auction where his name is not heard, and that too in the very nick of time, in the critical moment, before the decisive stroke of the hammer. There is not a Subscription goes forward, in which Tom is not privy to the first rough draft of the Proposals; nor a Catalogue printed, that doth not come to him wet from the press. He is an universal Scholar, so far as the Title-page of all Authors, knows the Manuscripts in which they were discovered, the Editions through which they have passed, with the praises or censures which they have received from the several members of the learned world.
Footnote: The reference is to Thomas Rawlinson (1681-1725), a lawyer and bibliophile whose accumulation of books at his residence in Gray's Inn was said to have compelled him to sleep in a passageway. When Rawlinson's collection was sold at auction, it required sixteen sales over twelve years, each sale taking from two to four weeks.
Maybe we had reached the point where anything that seemed to be a book-related unique brand sounded good, but one by one we started agreeing that we liked the sound of it. It would make a short and sweet URL and tomfolio.com had a nice ring to it. There were still a few who didn't like it, but a majority voted for it, and it was adopted. We now had a web identity!
The picture is of Lee Kirk's bookstore cat, Lord Spike the Wonder Cat.
An interview with a tomfolio.com shareholder, Steve Ericson
What attracted you to tomfolio enough to invest in it?
Steve: I was concerned by the closing of book selling venues and the arbitrary
price increases which seemed to bear no correlation to either service or
increased sales on the survivor sites. In fact, as prices increased, sales
dropped off. Also, the assertion by these sites that all customers were
theirs, not ours. And I believed that a group of like-minded booksellers
forming a co-operative would be a sensible thing - a 'safe-haven'.
What do you like best about it now?
Steve: I like that TomFolio.com doesn't change the rules on me. It is
essentially the same today as it was when I joined. If anything it is
better because while the rules and fees have remained the same, the site has
increased it's usefulness through available features and increased customer
base. Also, when I get a customer through TomFolio.com, it is my customer,
who is free to contact me any way they wish and can pay in any way they
wish.
What would you like to see happen in the future ?
Steve:Ideally, I would like to see TomFolio.com be able to compete more
forcefully with the major bookselling sites. So, principally, I'd like to
see it increase it's customer base further while carefully increasing it's
dealer size. I'd like us to be the site where all booksellers aspire to be.
Some of our favorite links
- Impossible-Accomplished
- This should be a lens in itself! Jim Lawton, one of the charter shareholders and founders of ABookCoop has been in since the beginning. He shares his eyewitness objective, but still lively, history of ABookCoop, better known now as tomfolio. Jim fills in many of the details I have omitted in my more subjective lens. After reading this, I decided to leave out much of what I was going to write about here, since Jim did such a thorough job of it. This article was published on our tomfolio wiki, which I will link to next.
- Tom Folio Wiki
- This is where you get to know us and see the difference between us and the large corporate sites. You will find out what some of us look like, what some of us do in our spare time, original works some of us have written, and even our favorite recipes. It's a record of many sellers who have passed our way, and a memorial to some who will never return. Many different sellers contribute to the wiki, just as they have to the site.
- Tom Folio Scans of Author Autographs
- Except for the book data base, which is taken care of by our programmer, the content of our site is provided by volunteers. Henry F. Hain III, of Antiques & Collectibles, Pennsylvania, has compiled this list of scans of author autographs with some help of those who submit their scans, so people can better judge the authenticity of autographed books
- Author Biographies
- Our Author Biographies Committee has gathered and posted the biographies of many different authors, written by our various members. The people who oversee this project are Cindy Byrne of The Old Bookshelf, in Scotland, and Hollis G. Bedell of HGBooks, in Pennsylvania. We hope to someday get a biography to match every autograph we have collected, but all of this is volunteer work done by busy booksellers when they have spare time.
Why Tomfolio.com?
Tomfolio sellers can have direct contact with book buyers and answer their specific questions about specific books. They guarantee customer satisfaction or you get your money back. They will talk to you on the phone. They will help you find things in your area of interest they haven't listed yet. They really want to make their customers happy.
New 2009 Board of Directors and Officers
These are the current decision makers at tomfolio.com
Three-year terms
Barbara Radisavljevic of Barb's People Builders
Arne Schaefer of Africana Books
Two-year term
May Ellam ofAppleby Books
One-year term
Hollis Bedell of HG Books
Newly Appointed Board Members Filling Vacancies Until the Next Election
Bette Feinstein of Hard-to-Find Needlework Books
Constance Petersen of Smart Artisans Shop, Smartisans on TomFolio
Those remaining from previous terms include
Don Gallagher of Gallagher Collection
Gwen Foss of Alan's Used Books
Rock Toews of Back Creek Books
This years officers are
President - Gwen Foss
Vice President - Arne Schaefer
Treasurer - Bette Feinstein
Corresponding Secretary - Don Gallagher
Recording Secretary - Hollis Bedell
Please vote in our brief poll about tomfolio.com
Some of you may never have heard of us before you read this. Others of you may be members. Please let us know how you found out about us.
Looking Toward the Holidays
These are some that look interesting to me.
- Joy to the World: A Treasury of Christmas Crafts
Near Fine with no dust jacket; New book. Some copies have have slightly damaged covers, such as the one pictured. (Paper on edge of spine in front is lifting a little from the book surface. ) Creative Publishing, Int'l First Edition Hardcover Remainder; 4to 11" - 13" tall; 160 pages; 160 pages of Christmas craft ideas for gift-giving, tree-trimming, and decorating the house. Each craft has step-by-step instructions with ample illustrations- Sweet Was the Song
48mo. Decorated boards. [28]pp with hand lettered text and lovely illustrations in color and line by Ben Shahn. A very beautiful interpretation of this old English carol. Fine in dustjacket with minor wear to spine tips.- CHRISTMAS WITH COUNTRY LIVING 1997
Near Fine Hardcover Glossy pictorial boards; 4to - 11" to 13" tall; 19348.
.- Mez Lehrumuster (stitch an advent calendar)
Mez Lehrumuster (stitch an advent calendar), Stickereien fur die Advents und Weihnachtszeit, in German, leaflet with counted thread charts- MISS CARTER CAME WITH US.
Author: Bradley, Helen., Illustrator: Helen Bradley.
Publisher: Boston/Toronto Little, Brown (©1973).
First American Edition 1974. Highlights in a year of the life of a family in Blackpool, from Christmas, Great Wash Day, a funeral, a parade and eventually back to Christmas again. Lots to look at in these illustrations. 31 pages: 26 three-quarter page colour illustrations; 27cm oblong. GOOD (slight edgewear, some spillage, mostly to rear board; 1/2" tear & crease free-front endpaper; 2" tear page 11-12 running into the illustration 1/2"; light smudging throughout). No dj. [C] 31p: ill.; 27cm oblong. Purple hardcover, gilt titles Book condition: Good- See many more Holiday titles available at Tomfolio.com
- From Ephemera to books for both children and adults, tomfolio has many choices in many different price ranges.
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- CherylK CherylK Dec 18, 2009 @ 9:55 am
- Excellent! More power to you and the other booksellers of TomFolio.com. I'm a big fan of the independent bookseller and will let our local book dealer know about this site.
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- Mickie_G Mickie_G Sep 8, 2009 @ 1:15 pm
- Thanks for the information on Tomfolio! I have two friends who are booksellers on the East Coast that might be on that site! Will definitely check it out.
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- 24websurf 24websurf Aug 15, 2009 @ 11:59 pm
- OHH!!! This is so cool! I have to let people know! This lens just rocks! Congratulations!
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- Arne Arne Jul 26, 2009 @ 3:16 am
- This is one 'cat' that has'nt been herded into anything - rather seduced by the friendly surroundings of the cosy Tomfolio hearth, good company, and excellent fare !
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- May May May 30, 2009 @ 1:37 am
- Very nice lens on our wonderful TomFolio, Barb. I agree with the points Steve made in your interview with him and I'd also like to say that if there's one thing bookselling doesn't need, it is middlemen. The corporate sites get between booksellers and book buyers like the health insurance companies get between doctors and patients. Who needs 'em! TomFolio has smashing books and friendly, helpful booksellers.
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Lensmaster BarbRad has been a member since April 2 2009, has rated 498 lenses, favorited 125, and has created 50 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "The Blessings of Rain". See all my lenses
by BarbRad
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