Editorials...was "Copying Dust Jacket blurbs"

Richard Moriarty asked:

On what basis do think that it is ok to copy dustjacket blurbs in book
listings?

To which Mark Healy answered:

Legally, I don't know or care. I don't like it and it reduces my
estimation of the seller.

I agree. Copying dust jacket blurbs is tacky.

Then he continued:

It isn't necessary. People who see your listing have already decided
that they want that title, so it is a waste of time and bandwidth. I
want to know what kind of shape the book is in. I don't need the
sellers editorial commentary or that of the blurb guy from marketing
a the publisher.

But with this I disagree for two reasons.

1) Copying a blurb and the seller supplying editorial commentary (as long as
the commentary is not simply a paraphrase of the blurb) are two very different
activities. The first implies that the seller is lazy and hasn't read the book.
The second shows the seller has read the book and has opinions. The views
might be idiotic or insightful...but no matter. At least the seller is showing
that she has thought about what she is selling.

2) Because a book, while certainly being an object or an "item", also has the
potential to be more. Writing a few sentences of commentary is a fitting
acknowledgment of that reality. Having opinions, it is true, doesn't alter the
object itself. My copy of "Swiss Family Perelman" either has a coffee stain
on the back of the DJ or it doesn't. The hinge is "going" or it's no "going."
My opinion to a potential buyer that the content of the book is funnier than a
viola solo will not alter these flaws.

So why tell a prospective buyer that a book not only has a coffee and hinge
problems, but also that the book is "funnier than a viola solo?" Because
"Swiss Family Perelman" is not a kitchen gadget. It may sit on a higher plane.
It is not a duty, but it is certainly sensible that the seller of such a thing
would like to comment on it before passing it on to another person.

In my book descriptions I follow two roads. If I have not read the book I
simply state the condition and the price. But if I have read the book, I do
add a few sentences of commentary. I'm parting (if the book happens to sell)
with a good friend...(or an annoying one) and I want the next person in line to
know that there is a touch of sadness (or relief) in the parting.

For me, selling a book that I have read always brings to mind the words from
the John Dowland air: "Now, Oh Now, I needs must part..."

And if that television character from the distant 60's could editorialize
about the miraculous Vegamatice by asking "ISN"T IT AMAZING ?", I think I
can say to anyone who might be interested in buying my copy of "Swiss Family
Perelman": "This book is like a vegamatic: AMAZING"

Jonathan

"Jbrodie1750" wrote in message
...

1) Copying a blurb and the seller supplying editorial commentary (as long
as
the commentary is not simply a paraphrase of the blurb) are two very
different
activities. The first implies that the seller is lazy and hasn't read the
book.

Are you seriously proposing that booksellers read each book before they put
it up for sale, and that that seller is lazy if he or she has not done so?
You've got to be joking!

Denise

paghat wrote:

Most people if they like books at all end up with way more of them than
can ever be finished

If you are right, even among bookish people most folks are not like me. I can't
imagine buying a book without reading it quite soon after purchase. On the few
occasions that I've done so, it's seemed very peculiar. Omitting books of
reference of course -- I don't read cookbooks or dictionaries straight through,
though I may read large sections at a time.

Well, and there's one other exception -- I haven't read all of my Charlotte
Yonge books thoroughly (I get bogged down in the textbooks she wrote), though I
do know most of the fiction ones quite well.

--Helen

On 28 Jul 2003 15:00:18 GMT, (Jbrodie1750)
declared:

Richard Moriarty asked:

On what basis do think that it is ok to copy dustjacket blurbs in book
listings?

To which Mark Healy answered:

Legally, I don't know or care. I don't like it and it reduces my
estimation of the seller.

I agree. Copying dust jacket blurbs is tacky.

blurbs where other authors say "this book is great" or the copy that
actually describes what the book is about?

personally i'm amazed that anyone would be offended or turned off by
the second.


Then he continued:

It isn't necessary. People who see your listing have already decided
that they want that title, so it is a waste of time and bandwidth. I
want to know what kind of shape the book is in. I don't need the
sellers editorial commentary or that of the blurb guy from marketing
a the publisher.

But with this I disagree for two reasons.

1) Copying a blurb and the seller supplying editorial commentary (as long as
the commentary is not simply a paraphrase of the blurb) are two very different
activities. The first implies that the seller is lazy and hasn't read the book.
The second shows the seller has read the book and has opinions. The views
might be idiotic or insightful...but no matter. At least the seller is showing
that she has thought about what she is selling.

lol, you have to be joking. i sell about 50 or so books a week
online, even with my voracious reading habit i couldn't read
everything i sell.

2) Because a book, while certainly being an object or an "item", also has the
potential to be more. Writing a few sentences of commentary is a fitting
acknowledgment of that reality. Having opinions, it is true, doesn't alter the
object itself. My copy of "Swiss Family Perelman" either has a coffee stain
on the back of the DJ or it doesn't. The hinge is "going" or it's no "going."
My opinion to a potential buyer that the content of the book is funnier than a
viola solo will not alter these flaws.

So why tell a prospective buyer that a book not only has a coffee and hinge
problems, but also that the book is "funnier than a viola solo?" Because
"Swiss Family Perelman" is not a kitchen gadget. It may sit on a higher plane.
It is not a duty, but it is certainly sensible that the seller of such a thing
would like to comment on it before passing it on to another person.

In my book descriptions I follow two roads. If I have not read the book I
simply state the condition and the price. But if I have read the book, I do
add a few sentences of commentary. I'm parting (if the book happens to sell)
with a good friend...(or an annoying one) and I want the next person in line to
know that there is a touch of sadness (or relief) in the parting.

if i think that the book is more likely to sell with the dj copy, i
type it. this is mostly on non-fiction, fiction will usually go on
it's own. condition, of course is always described and the two are
separated in a fashion that makes them easily distiguishable.

i rarely put any personal comments in the description.


robert

"I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen"

Are you seriously proposing that booksellers read each book before they put
it up for sale, and that that seller is lazy if he or she has not done so?
You've got to be joking!


I am not proposing that booksellers read each book before they put it up for
sale. For the prolific booksellers on this ng that would be impossible. But I
do have problems with the scenario of copying a blurb for a book that has not
been read. It just doesn't feel right to me. I apologize for using the term
"lazy"

I confess to not being a "bookseller." I do claim to be an enthusiastic
reader and collector who has quite recently discovered that it is enjoyable
to sell a book now and again. As my meager inventory grows, (I only have 35
books listed so far on my ABE) I *do* plan on only stocking it only with books
that I have read and enjoyed. This is because I want my "shop" to reflect what
I think is significant. My goal is to have no more than 300-500 books on my
cyber-shelf.

Amateur musicians have the freedom to play only music that they want to play.
I'm an amateur "seller of an occasional book" who has the freedom to sell only
books that I have enjoyed. (This is not because I'm independently
wealthy...it's because I have another day job.) If I had to make my living
selling books, I would clearly be out of luck.

I am certainly not saying that my bookshop plan should be the wave of the
future. But it works for me.

And it keeps me out of trouble.

And it makes me happy

Jonathan

(Jbrodie1750) wrote in message ...

I confess to not being a "bookseller." I do claim to be an enthusiastic
reader and collector who has quite recently discovered that it is enjoyable
to sell a book now and again. As my meager inventory grows, (I only have 35
books listed so far on my ABE) I *do* plan on only stocking it only with books
that I have read and enjoyed. This is because I want my "shop" to reflect what
I think is significant. My goal is to have no more than 300-500 books on my
cyber-shelf.



Very interesting.

I too am an accidental bookseller--mainly a collector who sees too
many good books that I am not personally interested in but would like
to get into the right hands (and of course offset some of the cost of
my own collecting). It is indeed enjoyable. I've sold a couple of
rare items to university libraries--just yesterday I got a check
(albeit a very small check) from a top-25 university. I've sold a
couple of books to well-known nonfiction writers: it's cool to get a
preview of what they are working on by seeing what they are reading.
In fact, I recently sold two copies of the same 11-year-old book on a
20/c president: one copy went to a prize-winning journalist and
biographer and the other went to a journalism professor at a major
West Coast university. I'm expecting a revival of interest in that
president!

After I have spent a day scouting, I make a four-way cut of my
gatherings: (1) books to keep, (2) books to give away (to friends and
family), (3) books to sell, and (4) books to trade.

If it is a book I truly enjoy (i.e., that fits into my collection(s)),
then I usually keep it. If I find more than one copy at a good price
(which is rare), then I give those away: my prime example is William
W. Warner's *At Peace With All Their Neighbors: Catholics and
Catholicism in the National Capital 1787-1860* (Georgetown U. Pr.,
1994), a wonderfully lucid history of a little studied subject by a
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer (for *Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen,
Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay*, 1977). In the past 2 years, I've given
away a half dozen copies of APWATN.

The books in Category # 3 are those that I determine are sufficiently
rare and/or sufficiently in-demand to justify my attempting to sell
them. Some of them are in areas where I have some knowledge but no
interest (liturgics and nonnalogy, e.g.) and others are things that
just look interesting (and maybe half the time turn out to be) or are
review copies of new books that can usually be turned quickly.

But your schema raises a number of questions for me:

--Surely 35 books on ABE is not cost-effective?

--Do you expect to find enough copies of books that you enjoy, at
prices you can afford, to sell at prices that bring you a decent ROI?



William M. Klimon
http://www.gateofbliss.com

But your schema raises a number of questions for me:

--Surely 35 books on ABE is not cost-effective?

--Do you expect to find enough copies of books that you enjoy, at
prices you can afford, to sell at prices that bring you a decent ROI?

Thank you for a thoughtful reply to my impractical notions. I'll respond to
your last query first and save more thoughts for future posts.

Well...so far I have been lucky. I have sold three books from my small ABE
stock..and the last one, a first of "Henderson The Rain King" that I picked up
for ten dollars and sold for 180.00 has allowed me to "break even." But
certainly I will need to have a much larger inventory. Is it possible that
300-500 books will be enought if they are the "right" books and the prices are
realistic? I will find out, because that number is my goal.

I do not envy dealers on ABE who have thousands of books in stock priced so
unrealisitically that they will never sell. I would rather have 500 books and
sell one a month than 5000 and sell none at all.

And fortunate again for me is my definition of "ROI. For me, "breaking even"
is acceptable and making a few bucks is delightful. That is because the
actual puttering I do in maintaining my shop and selling a decent book is so
much fun. However, if I start to lose money, that is unacceptable because it
will be hindering me from buying my dream S.J. Perelman book, "Dawn Ginsbergh's
Revenge" (with DJ.)

I hope these explanations allow you to think that I'm not "one viola player
short of a full section" but rather just a bit unpractical and harmless.

Jonathan

fiziwig wrote:
...[snip]...
As a frequent book buyer on ebay I browse by subject categories looking for
something interesting I haven't read before. I often buy books I've never
heard of, and many of them turn out to be interesting and well worth my
time.

For that reason, whenever I encounter an ebay listing that simply has
condition and price I skip right over it. There's not a chance in hell I
would ever buy a book listed with only condition and price. ...[snip]...

This shows that it is difficult to market to both the browser and the
collector.
The browser/reader needs info to decide to read the book.
The collector knows what the book is and cares only about condition
and price (and trustworthiness of the seller).

Much of the time, there is not a lot of overlap between the two
types of buyers, so a seller can use an appropriate blurb style.
[The problem is the book that could go either way. i.e. the
10 dollar first edition or a common illustrated edition.]

[I've seen many 100 dollar and up books with blurbs that
target readers and many 2 dollar books with blurbs that
tout the collector value. Is it cluelessness or stolen blurbs?
Probably some of each.]

[How many browsers looking for a book to read will pay 50 to 500
dollars for a collectable copy? - on the other side, how many
collectors will be interested in a 87th printing of a paperback.]

Brian "collector of thirty-seventh printings"

An excellent point. Mostly I am a buyer of content and condition matters
not at all. I prefer PB because I can put the book in my back pocket when I
know I'll be kept waiting at the dentist office.

So I guess that makes me a whole different kind of buyer than the collector
targeted by sellers of collectors editions. Yes, I collect books, but I
really collect content, not physical objects.

--gary

"Brian" wrote in message
...
fiziwig wrote:
...[snip]...
As a frequent book buyer on ebay I browse by subject categories looking
for
something interesting I haven't read before. I often buy books I've
never
heard of, and many of them turn out to be interesting and well worth my
time.

For that reason, whenever I encounter an ebay listing that simply has
condition and price I skip right over it. There's not a chance in hell
I
would ever buy a book listed with only condition and price.
....[snip]...

This shows that it is difficult to market to both the browser and the
collector.
The browser/reader needs info to decide to read the book.
The collector knows what the book is and cares only about condition
and price (and trustworthiness of the seller).

Much of the time, there is not a lot of overlap between the two
types of buyers, so a seller can use an appropriate blurb style.
[The problem is the book that could go either way. i.e. the
10 dollar first edition or a common illustrated edition.]

[I've seen many 100 dollar and up books with blurbs that
target readers and many 2 dollar books with blurbs that
tout the collector value. Is it cluelessness or stolen blurbs?
Probably some of each.]

[How many browsers looking for a book to read will pay 50 to 500
dollars for a collectable copy? - on the other side, how many
collectors will be interested in a 87th printing of a paperback.]

Brian "collector of thirty-seventh printings"

On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 10:27:52 -0700, Brian
declared:

fiziwig wrote:
...[snip]...
As a frequent book buyer on ebay I browse by subject categories looking for
something interesting I haven't read before. I often buy books I've never
heard of, and many of them turn out to be interesting and well worth my
time.

For that reason, whenever I encounter an ebay listing that simply has
condition and price I skip right over it. There's not a chance in hell I
would ever buy a book listed with only condition and price. ...[snip]...

This shows that it is difficult to market to both the browser and the
collector.
The browser/reader needs info to decide to read the book.
The collector knows what the book is and cares only about condition
and price (and trustworthiness of the seller).

Much of the time, there is not a lot of overlap between the two
types of buyers, so a seller can use an appropriate blurb style.
[The problem is the book that could go either way. i.e. the
10 dollar first edition or a common illustrated edition.]

[I've seen many 100 dollar and up books with blurbs that
target readers and many 2 dollar books with blurbs that
tout the collector value. Is it cluelessness or stolen blurbs?
Probably some of each.]

[How many browsers looking for a book to read will pay 50 to 500
dollars for a collectable copy? - on the other side, how many
collectors will be interested in a 87th printing of a paperback.]

Brian "collector of thirty-seventh printings"

well a blurb touting the "collectibility" of a book is pretty
self-serving, whereas a blurb with the content opens a collectible
book (particularly a $10 book) to another market. condition should
always be described in either case and easily distinguishable from the
"blurb" text.

robert -- who really doesn't care if it's read or collected as long
as it sells ;-)


robert

"I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen"