2. April 2008 by admin.

When visiting the local bookstore today and picking up a copy of the Blue Cliff Record by Thomas Clearly, I ran through an inventory check of some books I wanted including Thinking Through Confucius: SUNY Series, which was advertised on an email I received from Amazon.com. Borders did not even have the book in stock, so it seems that they do not have a direct link with Amazon. This is disadvantageous when a reader is looking for a rare book. On the positive side, it allows readers to browse between different selections of books.

Probably the greatest marketing invention, in the book industry, is not the creation of an ISBN but rather, the creation of “personalized recommendations” that vary depending on a user’s tastes. All I told Amazon was that I owned a few Chinese classics, some IT training manuals, and some political philosophy, and it returned back a wonderful wealth of potential knowledge.

But which books have the keenest insight and the best long term-profitability? Classics seem to reap more profit than any other book. Bestsellers often flare and burn out, often as quickly in a period of four seasons. A choice of publisher is also important, but it seems that once an author has chosen the right press, the author can keep rolling out new knowledge. Check out Donald A. Norman.

Statistically, Borders in Arcadia needs to restock on its Chinese literature and philosophy if it ever wants a few more million dollars over the next decades; the shelves are almost empty of Chinese classics and covered with New Age meditation and Indian and Tibetan Buddhist books; all that remains are a few tacky translations of the I-Jing and a book titled “Daoism for Dummies.”

What is the most efficient and profitable method of distributing information (books)? Should books be sold by merchants (bookstores), shipped from an online catalog or store, or sold as bits and bytes of information as an e-Book? Here:

http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=14107

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=133616

Clearly, the traditional method generates more monetary velocity, as they say, when the book exchanges hands. Information wise, it would determine whether if the book is prized by the owner, or passed quickly after readings.

Also, the method of selling rare and collectible books has its own industry, and a markup on the price within a few years a book is out of publication reaps its own rewards. Books, unlike most technology, do not lose value over time when kept in good condition, and have over a +100% profit margin. Special editions of the book generate even more revenue. Although books are not copied by hand, imagine how much the Ma Wang Dui Daodejing texts or the Gutenberg Bibles are worth! Creating such a mechanism for efficient sales or lending would lead to a library, which could be a public library or a private corporation with an online catalog. All that is needed is a group of friends and a few bookshelves.

http://www.santacruzpl.org/libraryadmin/01-02bud.shtml

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2. April 2008 by admin.

This is my first post on a business weblog. My name is James Wei, I am the president and co-founder of Inscend Technologies, a local product and service provider in the city of Arcadia, CA. Our products range from computer accessories to electronics to the eclectic (such as books and airsoft accessories). Our services sector include IT consulting, computer hardware repair and maintenance, advertising and web design. As far as services goes, we provide the whole nine yards. For products, our goal is to become the authorized distributor of quality brand name products, such as those from Intel, Sony, as well as those of promising new brands.

We are not only a seller, we are a leader in marketing products in creating trends for popular product categories, so that the community, the state, and the country can benefit from the precedent of certain product lines. The use and understanding of technology begins from youth. We wish to retain the optimism and energy of youth while gaining wisdom and experience in the field. Our team of employees reflect this. Our products are imported directly from factories in China and we will expand our range of selection to manufacturers in the United States, and elsewhere.

Efficiency is the number one priority. Although we specialize in international trade, our top customers will be local. We believe that serving the community and region is more important than shipping products elsewhere, to faraway states and countries. In the advent of global warming and the cost of oil, Merchants will need to be twice as keen when conducting sustainable commerce.

Long-term profitability is our next target, since having a broad customer base is power, but also a large responsibility. We believe that many top corporations are not concerned about the consumer individually and at large. We also believe that many corporate decisions, whether from the top executive or from a board of voters, were made at the expense of the consumer. In the coming decades we should have a transparent access to many company revenue records, so that shareholders will benefit from symmetrical information exchange.

This weblog then, will be the starting point and origin of all future ventures. Learning and flexibility will be key to success, throughout the columns of posts one will notice that our weblog is that our range of material is boundless and our listings are unprincipled in distinction. This method will maximize the freedom of expression as well as creativity, which will lead to the benefit of company and consumer alike.

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