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Press & Media >Bargain Book News
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April 5, 2006
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Industry Interview
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By Maryellen Kennedy Duckett
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Mitchell Silverman, founder, Bookins.com
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At Bookins.com, book trading by mail is as easy as one, two, three. In a recent interview with Bargain Book News, Bookins founder, Mitchell Silverman explained how his "hassle-free" online book swapping service works, and why more than 50,000 "budget conscious bibliophiles" are expected to be trading titles via Bookins by year's end.
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Let's start with some background. Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
I was born and raised in New York. Since I come from an entrepreneurial-type of family, I've always known that I wanted to be in business for myself.
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"I created this service for people like me who love to read and have a lot of books sitting around," said 36-year-old Bookins founder Mitch Silverman, who was motivated to start the service when piles of books overcrowded his small New York City apartment. "Bookins is much easier then eBay and a better deal than selling to used-book dealers who give 20 cents on the dollar. It's more convenient than a library, and it gives people who like to own books instead of borrow them, more options."
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What career(s) did you pursue before getting into the book business?
I spent the biggest portion of my career at American Express building direct marketing systems. I guess you could say that I have a Fortune 500 education in terms of marketing, but also a small business background from working with and learning from my parents.
In 1999, during the dot com days, I left American Express to start a venture backed company, which was a point of sale finance system. This came out of the work I was doing at American Express, which was helping people receive credit in the forms of credit cards, financing, lines of credit…
Everything was kind of leading me up to this point -- learning how to build systems, learning about small business, learning about starting companies. So I took the background that I had and tried to build something successful based on what I had done. That's what I did with Bookins. I think that I ended up with a wonderful product.
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How did you come up with the idea for Bookins.com?
I've always loved to read, had a lot of books, and had given away books to friends. I've also traded in books at used bookstores, and realized that there was something wrong with the value I was getting back.
First of all, they don't take every book that you want to trade. Then for the books that they do take, you trade in four or five to get one back in return. It was just too much of an inconvenience to take my books in to trade. There's a big used bookstore in New York called The Strand. It's a nice thing if you aren't concerned about the value and want to make some space in your apartment.
But it seems so unfair when there are so many books sitting around there should be a way to connect people together. Let them swap books without a great deal of effort. It just seems so much better for everyone, including myself.
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When did you actually develop the Bookins model?
I was thinking about this for years, but I wasn't sure what it was going to be until 2003. My business partner, Boaz Salik, and I have been doing business together for eight or nine years. We have a history of solving complicated problems. He's an incredibly smart guy who has a Ph.D. and a few patents out. He helps me figure out the most efficient way to move books amongst people.
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Bookins membership is free, and it costs $3.99 to ship each book, correct?
Yes. Free membership and unlimited trades. The $3.99 shipping charge includes delivery confirmation from the post office. We make about a dollar from the shipping charges. We ship everything media mail, and pay for shipping confirmation and the processing of the credit card. We have a system, which we paid for also, which creates the postage. Every time we ship a book, we pay a fee for printing the label. So on average, we make about a dollar per shipment.
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"It's fantastic," said Redondo Beach resident Maria Mercado, a Bookins member since November. "I've received about 30 books so far, and considering the average book costs about $14 (retail), I've saved a lot."
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Your website, www.bookins.com, clearly explains how the Bookins book swapping system works, but can you share the three simple steps with our readers?
Sure. First, you create your trade list, which is a list of the books that you own and would like to trade. Second, create your wish list. These are the books that you want to receive. And third, mail your books when requested. In return, you'll get the books you selected on you wish list from other people.
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So to receive a book, you have to mail a book off to another Bookins member?
Yes. People don't generally know how the system works -- how it matches people and books, and assigns values to books. What the system does is reward good traders and weeds out people who don't trade very well. Those are people who don't respond to requests for their books or ship books in bad condition. We have a system in place that figures out who should make a trade based on the overall satisfaction that is going to be created in the system.
If you are a good trader and you have been in good standing for a long time, and there is a bad trader who ships out books that some people complain about, we'd rather get you a book from someone else.
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How is the Bookins system different from eBay, for example?
On eBay there are ratings, so you can pick whom you want to do business with. At Bookins, the system makes those decisions for you. Part of the convenience with our system is that you don't have to worry about whom you are trading with because you are trading with Bookins. It's not a matter of finding someone who has a high quality rating, and then asking them for a book and waiting for it. With our system, you let Bookins know what title you want, and we make sure that you get a quality book. If you have an issue, it is taken up with us, instead of you trying to figure out whom you are trading with and then complain about them.
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What happens if a bad book makes it through to a Bookins member?
If you ever feel that you've received a book that was in poor condition or the wrong book, we provide a point credit so you can get another book and a shipping credit so there is no charge for the book that you received.
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In your opinion, why should people trade books on Bookins instead of trying to sell them on Amazon?
I think the reason why a lot of people don't sell used books either offline or online is because of the effort it takes. To list a book on Amazon and have to deal with the packaging and shipping is too complicated. The system that we built is for an automated barter system where every parameter that has to be set by the participants is made by the system itself.
So who is making a trade with whom, what item is being traded, when is it going to be traded and what's the price is that item are all decisions made by the system.
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What sets Bookins apart from other online book trading sites?
There is certainly an emotional connection to books, which I have and can appreciate. But there is not a big dollar value placed on used books. If I am going to give up my books, however, I don't want to give them up for a quarter or a dollar. I would like to get something of equal value.
Our system helps people fulfill that need to find a good home for their used books and get back something, which is of equal value.
On these other swapping sites, you could potentially put in a 25-cent book and request a new bestseller. That's good for the person who is getting the bestseller, but not so great for the person shipping it out. They get stuck with that 25-cent book.
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Is Bookins your fulltime career?
This is my fulltime business. I wish I had more time in the day.
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Why do you think people would be willing to wait for a book in a mail when they could go to their local used bookstore and possibly find the same book?
There is no urgency to get a book, unless it is a new book that just came out. In that case, you would go to the local new bookstore anyway. But most people have a stack of books that they want to read when they get the time. As long as that stack is being replenished, there is no need to get something immediately.
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Some of our readers carry used books in their stores or deal exclusively in used books. Can you comment on how the success of Bookins could affect their businesses?
I never thought I would put a used bookstore out of business. That has never been my goal. I like going to used bookstores. I enjoy buying books. I buy new books, especially when I am traveling. If I finish the book I'm reading, I'll stop in a used bookstore and buy a book. Of course when I'm finished with that one, I'll trade it back through Bookins.
I don't think we will put used bookstores out of business. Amazon started selling used books, and I know there was a big outcry. The industry did suffer a little bit from that. But I don't see book swapping as a multibillion-dollar business. It might be pretty big, and I hope there are millions of people swapping books at some point. My guess would be that Bookins may make a little dent in the overall book business.
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Is Bookins available to international customers?
Currently it's just the United States, and two territories -- Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. We're limited by the delivery confirmation system from the post office. Every book that we ship has a barcode on the shipping label, which is provided right from the website.
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Can you explain how the delivery confirmation benefits Bookins members?
When you go to ship a book, you click a button and a piece of paper comes out of your printer with the full label on it, the postage, and the delivery confirmation barcode. You just tape this regular piece of paper to an envelope, put your book in it, and ship it out.
Our automation is driven by that delivery confirmation barcode. We know when the label is printed and we know when the book is delivered. We track the book. When the book is delivered, it triggers a process in the system that looks to get you something back of equal value in exchange.
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How many Bookins members are currently swapping books online?
Every month we're growing more than the prior month. It seems like there is something that is really taking off here. We have about 1600 members now and, at the rate we are growing, we anticipate having about 50,000 members by the end of 2006. So far we have had 10,000 books traded.
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Are your members distributed throughout the country, or is there a region where book swapping is more popular?
Bookins started on the East coast because most of our friends and family live here. We have members in every state, but the highest concentration is in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and California. That's not a function of who likes to trade books, it's more related to where our business started. Each day we add new members in new locations. The business is spreading through word of mouth.
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What are the most popular books traded on Bookins?
The biggest category on the site is fiction, but people trade everything including cookbooks, a lot of health books, trade paperbacks, etc. We have this point system on the site where we determine the market value of each book based on the retail price, how popular it is, did Oprah recently recommend it, and other factors. Remainders are discounted on the site so that people can't buy a bargain book and then trade it for a new bestseller.
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Are you continually updating the site?
We add new features every day. Everything that you see on the site is all built from scratch. We have programmers who have coded everything there. It's just the beginning. We have huge lists of improvements to the site. Some of the things users will see are new ways to browse and search, and new awards. Other improvements are things that people won't see, like all these processes that run in the background to make the site more efficient.
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What are your goals for Bookins?
This is a long-term project. It's funny. When I first launched the site, people said, "Congratulations. You got the business out there and now you can sit back and watch the money roll in." That's not the reality. The reality, as I told my friends and family, is that it is going to be a long road ahead of making sure the system works efficiently.
There is competition out there. Right now, my system is better than any of the other systems, but there is nothing hidden to what I am doing, other than the matching technology. So that I assume that my competitors will start copying what I am doing at some point. While they are doing that, we will continue to innovate and make the system more efficient and easier to use.
Innovative technology seems to be the key to the success of Bookins.
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Can you tell us about the team who helped create the system, and now delivers it to customers?
Of course. My partner, Boaz, is a genius; he's in charge of strategy, intellectual property, and research and development. Therese Minehan does public relations for us. She is such a hard worker and loves the business. Then there is Wendy Preisman, she does a lot of our customer service, copy writing, editing, and web construction. We also have a few developers. Christian Dell runs our technology. Amit Saggar built our software platform. Every day, with a couple of other developers, he works on enhancing the user experience.
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Your website includes an entertaining animated cartoon and theme song that explains the Bookins process. Can you tell us about the artist who created both for you?
I really had a great time building the business, then I came across someone who makes cartoons. I said that I would love to have one for Bookins. I didn't know what it would be, but I wanted it to represent how the system is constantly going and working for people. So I thought, 'What would be better than a puppy running around and moving books from person to person?' I discussed it with my friend Jared Nissim who is an entrepreneur and also lives in New York. He runs a company called The Lunch Club, www.thelunchclub.net, which is a popular, New York social networking site.
I didn't even know that he was a musician. One day he just sent me a song, and said, "Here is your theme song." I hadn't expected it and then I couldn't stop singing it. It's catchy.
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How did you come up with the name "Bookins"?
Pretty much every URL with the word "book" was taken, so we were kind of limited as to what we could do. The name is really like the cartoon and the whole business. We really wanted to build something that was nice and friendly and helpful. This isn't like complex science we're doing or trading stocks and bonds. We're helping people move books around, so Bookins is the perfect name for an easy, friendly service.
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What is your business philosophy?
I want to build the best product. I think service is important. We're telling people that we are going to have a hassle-free experience, so providing service to me is the most important thing. Even though we are only making a dollar per book, if there is a problem we are going to work with people to resolve it. We want to make sure that people can really trade books as easily as possible. We also want to keep innovating and improving.
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What is your favorite book and why?
My favorite book is Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel. It's a quick read about the search for finding longitude out at sea.
I also recommend The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell, which talks about how new ideas and trends get passed from one person to the next. They give a lot of great examples. It looks like Bookins is following the path that they describe in the book, which is that early adaptors -- people who are accepting of new technology and new ways of doing things -- start using the new services when they hear about them. The more those people use it; they get in touch with people who are classified as "connectors." These are people who like to know what is going on, and like to spread the word about it. It's our hope that Bookins follows the path set out in The Tipping Point.
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Is there anything else that you would like Bargain Book Readers to know about Bookins.com?
I'd like to invite everyone to sign up at www.bookins.com and start trading books. They can contact me through the site if they have any questions or need any help with the service.
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