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The Good Bookman is a regular feature profiling a bookseller in each column. The Good Bookman will reveal what our colleagues are doing in the hopes we can all learn from each other's experiences. To have your bookselling business considered for The Good Bookman, send an email to editor@bookologist.com.
THE GOOD BOOKMAN'S NAME AND COMPANY: Robnzak Books
LOCATION: Houston, Texas
WEBSITE: http://robnzak.moostores.com
NUMBER OF YEARS IN BUSINESS: Five.
HOW YOU SELL YOUR BOOKS: Internet only.
NUMBER OF BOOKS FOR SALE ONLINE: Approx. 5,500 with nearly 10,000 more waiting for my attention.
WHAT INTERNET SELLING VENUES EMPLOYED: Alibris, Amazon, Ebay, 1/2dot, Biblio, & my own little rinky dink online store.
SPECIALTY: I don't really specialize, but I do have over 700 modern signed first editions available (hmm, maybe I do specialize).
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: Five.
DO THEY LIST AND PRICE YOUR BOOKS: No, they just bark, meow, eat, poop, sit on my keyboard or cough up fur balls.
WHAT DATABASE IS USED: Homebase.
THE MOST USEFUL COMPUTER PROGRAM USED: Readerware.
FAVORITE WEB PAGE: For bid-ness It's http://www.auctionbytes.com & http://www.mootropolis.com, For passion, http://www.infernalbridegroom.com.
YOUR BIGGEST BLUNDER: November 2000...Sold a later edition copy of "A is for Alibi" by Sue Grafton to a customer in Germany for twenty bucks and mistakenly shipped my thousand-dollar first edition. Customer was sympathetic, but refused to return it. It was a hard but valuable lesson on paying attention to detail, and a mistake not likely to be repeated.
FUTURE PLANS: I have a number of very detailed plans for growth and profitability, each plan is a baby step towards achieving long term goals I've set for myself. Right now bookselling pays the mortgage, and hopefully someday (soon) I may be able to afford luxuries such as food.
YOUR FAVORITE BOOK: No contest. Agatha Christie's Murder of Roger Ackroyd. (John Kennedy Tooles Confederacy of Dunces is a close second)
To have your bookselling business considered for The Good Bookman, send an email to editor@bookologist.com. Booksellers outside North America are also welcome!
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