aBillionbooks

What does Amazon think it's doing?

2006-07-20T10:47:00.000+02:00

Yes, I also thought Amazon was the largest online book marketplace in the world. It may well be. Perhaps there are more new and used and text books listed on Amazon than any other book site. I don’t know. That would be a pretty impressive specialty if it could be proven.

So why then when we go to Amazon do we get an embarrassing display of bad sandals and what look like rip-off designer watches? And a grocery store option for goodness sake? I suppose Amazon thinks it’s cashing in on its fame. It’s apparently trying to be an eBay.co.uk without the auction.

Have you read book about the origins of Amazon ? Amazon: Get Big Fast. Maybe Jeff should read it too. He needs to get right back down to basics.

Something big happening in online book market

2006-06-26T13:43:00.001+02:00

It's not easy to say for sure what is happening in the onlin book market but the picture looks something like this: Abebooks, the major book site, is moribund from many booksellers' point of view and is losing listers fast. Alibris is not performing well since its takeover. Its interface is messy and confusing. Amazon is still out there, but it has become such a huge supermarket that it has lost its book edge. New kid on the block, Biblio, is a wonderful website, offering the best for buyer and seller, and it is growing, but just not fast enough. It charges listers no fees until they sell a listed book, not like Alibris and Abebooks, which charge sellers "rent" as well as commission, so Biblio can't afford to publicize itself enough. And here comes Google base, determined to create a way for booksellers (or megalisters of anything on sites such as eBay too) to circumvent all of the above by making their inventories available with search results appearing on Google and Froogle. I'll keep you posted.

Something big happening in online book market

2006-06-26T13:43:00.000+02:00

It's not easy to say for sure what is happening in the online book market but something big is on the go. The picture looks something like this: Abebooks, the major book site, is moribund from many booksellers' point of view and is losing listers fast. Alibris is not performing well since its takeover. Its interface is messy and confusing. Amazon is still out there, but it has become such a huge supermarket that it has lost its book edge. New kid on the block, Biblio, is a wonderful website, offering the best for buyer and seller, and it is growing, but just not fast enough. It charges listers no fees until they sell a listed book, not like Alibris and Abebooks, which charge sellers "rent" as well as commission, so Biblio can't afford to publicize itself enough. And here comes Google base, determined to create a way for booksellers (or megalisters of anything on sites such as eBay too) to circumvent all of the above by making their inventories available with search results appearing on Google and Froogle. This is a real threat to the non-search engine megalister sites. Who can say where the online book market will be in five years time?

I like this feed because of the bargain books aspect

2006-06-25T08:33:00.000+02:00

We used to think there was such a thing as too much information. No more. As long as it has a sell-by date that kicks in there will always be a managable amount of information, we reckon. This makes a book feed like this valuable.

Learning doesn't come only from books

2006-06-24T09:30:00.000+02:00

Building our web site aBillionbooks.com has been a major learning experience for us, the first one for me. It took place via email and from looking around the internet and even downloading and buying information. Let's talk in a year's time and see how the site has grown by then.

Abebooks founder starting over

2006-06-12T19:50:00.000+02:00

You would think Cathy Waters, Abebooks founder, had had enough of bookstores and books but no. The Globe and Mail has a wonderful feature on Ms. Cathy Waters and the beginning of Abebooks posted recently.

Excitement over here in the Little Karoo

2006-06-09T09:10:00.000+02:00

We are thrilled and delighted that aBillionbooks.com has gone live. The AdSense ads look great, the banners and search boxes make the homepage look like a Times Square for the online book world. What's more, we heard from Amazon.com last night that they are on board (or rather that we are on board with them). Hey, why wouldn' they be? Ours is a site that's going to do its best to draw together all the bitty bits out there so that aBillionbooks gives a painless overview and gateway into the vast online book market. There is still plenty of work to do on the site. We'll keep you posted how it's going.

So what is aBillionbooks.com exactly?

2006-05-30T09:55:00.000+02:00

Welcome to our blog all about books, or rather the world's best online bookstores. It's no longer necessary to own a bookshelf really. There are aBillionbooks out there available anytime through the booksites on our great booksite. Go have a look. It's like shopping in a street with bookshops only.... what a pleasure! One thing about living far from the big cities: you quickly learn ecommerce. We have a bricks-and-mortar bookshop in the boondocks so we buy and sell books online. Booksites are our lifeline. Through aBillionbooks.com we want to share our experience with booklovers and professional book buyers of new and second-hand books everywhere. Enjoy it.