IndieCommerce

Very soon, bookstores with Book Sense will able to sign up for the new Book Sense Gift Card program. This innovative program will provide booksellers with a number of choices regarding card designs and processing options. ABA has partnered with Givex, one of the fastest-growing transaction processors, whose sophisticated service will allow for a customized solution for the more than 1,200 bookstores participating in Book Sense.

Over the past two years, BookSense.com has grown exponentially in its value to independent booksellers. Here's an invitation to stores with Book Sense to take another look at the improved product as well as details of the BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program, which can offset a significant portion of the monthly costs.

Greetings Bookseller With Book Sense,

It's time for you to take another look at BookSense.com!

Here BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos updates booksellers on the latest improvements and enhancements to BookSense.com.

Greetings! There's a lot of BookSense.com news in this edition of "On the Move…." From new shipping options to longer timeouts to a new Levenger icon, much has happened since my last column, so let's get right to it:

Jay Steele did not expect to win BookSense.com's first-ever Poetry Slam, held on Saturday, May 31, at BookExpo America in Los Angeles. In fact, Steele didn't even intend to read his winning poem, "Trans-Substantiation," a riveting and personal composition about his transsexuality. But he finally did stand up before a crowd of over 100 people to read at the end of the event. "It was a last-minute [decision]," Steele told BTW. "I usually write and hide it."

On Friday, May 30, at BookExpo America, over 40 current and potential BookSense.com users attended the hour-long BookSense.com Users Group meeting, where they heard about the latest features of BookSense.com, as well as planned enhancements to the product. Moderator Len Vlahos, BookSense.com director, told BTW it was a productive session.

This month's feature from BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos updates booksellers on the latest improvements and enhancements to BookSense.com.

Greetings! There's a lot of new BookSense.com news in this month's edition of "On the Move.…"

New relationship with Levenger

Saul Williams, author of several books, including , Said the Shotgun to the Head (MTV Books/Pocket Books), will host BookSense.com's first-ever Poetry Slam on Saturday, May 31, at BookExpo America. The contest offers a chance for aspiring poets to read and have their work judged by their peers, and the winning poem will be published on the BookSense.com Web site and in Bookselling This Week.

The May 12 issue of The New Yorker magazine on sale now features a special insert, "Bound to Please," highlighting "the sage recommendations of America's independent booksellers."

On April 24, Book Sense and Levenger, Inc., a catalog and Internet company that provides high-quality tools for reading and writing, announced that the two companies had formed a marketing partnership to cross-promote their Web sites and merchandise. Starting in May, all BookSense.com Web sites will feature a Levenger link, and sales resulting from these links will earn participating booksellers an affiliate commission. Additionally, Levenger.com will have an affiliate link to BookSense.com.

The American Booksellers Association is inviting publishers to participate in the BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program. The new program helps publishers promote their books through both the Web sites and bricks-and-mortar locations of participating stores. ABA has been testing the program with the help of four publishers -- AOL/Time Warner, Harcourt, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster -- and 30 bookstores.

This month's feature from BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos updates booksellers on the latest improvements and enhancements to BookSense.com.

Greetings! Much has occurred in the last month. In our continuing drive to improve BookSense.com, we're in the process of adding staff and some new features to the BookSense.com product.

Here's a quick rundown:

1. Staff on the Move!

The oldest form of literature (verse) will meet one of the newest forms of bookselling (BookSense.com) at this year's BookExpo America (BEA).

On Saturday, May 31, from 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., at BEA, BookSense.com will present its first-ever "Poetry Slam," a contest for aspiring poets to read and have their work judged by their peers for a chance to have a poem published on BookSense.com and in Bookselling This Week.

In February, BookSense.com began testing a new program that could help participating bookstores fund the entire cost of their BookSense.com Web sites through the use of newsletter co-op.

A continuing problem for booksellers, especially those with an online presence, is the receipt of fraudulent orders. A number of booksellers have reported receiving bogus orders from overseas -- via either their retail Web sites or e-mail -- for large numbers of hardcover books, often Bibles or medical texts. These orders usually originate in Nigeria, Ghana, Singapore, or Egypt and are usually in excess of $150. The books being ordered are most often Bibles, other religious titles, medical texts, or other reference books.