The 2006 Independent Amazon Booksellers' Convention began last Friday (8/11/06) and just ended a few hours ago. In attendance were online booksellers representing the entire spectrum of inventory levels, product and service providers for online booksellers, and a host of personnel representing Amazon.com. We had a "get to know one another" social gathering on Friday evening followed by presentations and working group meetings on Saturday. Sunday we were given a number of presentations by Amazon.com representatives covering many of the topics of interest to independent online booksellers. Monday (today), we were given the undivided attention of six Amazon.com vice presidents during the morning session, and we were visited by Jeff Bezos. This afternoon, we were shown some of the new products/services that Amazon.com will be releasing in the future. I don't think I can overemphasize the value of this convention in terms of information exchanged or how much I learned. I wrote the book, "Online Bookselling: A Practical Guide with Detailed Explanations and Insightful Tips," but it was clear to me that there is even more to learn. I think it demonstrates the fact that even the author of what has been referred to by many customers as the most comprehensive book available on the topic of online bookselling can still learn more. This is exactly the type of "continuing education" I plan to incorporate into my newsletter and I appreciate the information contributions that I have been getting. Some of the things that stood out to me were the quality and quantity of independent booksellers represented, the outstanding third party vendors of products and services oriented to assist independent online booksellers, and the level of interest and participation that Amazon.com played in the convention. That said, the highlight of the event to me personally was the opportunity to meet so many of my book customers and the supportive and appreciative feedback I got from them. It is flattering to learn that one of your first customers actually has over 2,500,000 books online and he not only tells you some of things he liked about your book, but he tells you that he learned a few things from it too. I was even asked by one of Amazon.com's Product Managers to show him my "Bookkeeping for Booksellers" software and asked to schedule a visit to present it to a gathering of Amazon.com engineers. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the feedback and comments I got from all of these people. Anyway, if you are serious about online bookselling I want to encourage you to put this event on next year's calendar. It doesn't matter if you have 200 books in your inventory or 10,000,000, there are people at this event that can not only teach you a thing or two, they are genuinely nice and supportive of one another. For example, I had the great privilege of meeting Dave Anderson, the owner of ScoutPal and Kevin O'Brien, the owner of SpaceWare (the provider of AMan Pro). Both are highly respected in the online bookselling community, both have great products/services, and both are very nice guys that provide fantastic support regardless of your inventory level. I spoke with both of them at length, and until later in our conversations, neither had a clue who I was even though both later acknowledged knowing about the existence of my book. As a result of the many presentations, interactions, and discussions I was a part of over the past few days, I will have a lot to discuss in my upcoming newsletter. I even have a few wholesale/remainder book distributors to add to the already exhaustive list that is given in my book, and there were some new third-party solution providers at the convention that I will be discussing. The newsletter will be covering all facets of the convention except those parts that Amazon.com presented and asked that we not reveal things about their upcoming product/service releases. I do not wish to jeopardize the confidence of Amazon.com or the convention organizers. Incidentally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Rhonda S., and Robert G., for all the work they put into organizing the entire evvent, as well as Thomas P. of Amazon for his coordination efforts. |
