We need to turn this economy around and I’m an ardent believer that a truly green economy is our answer. The economic opportunity to reuse items (such as the Better World Books model), to build renewable energy sources, and to make our homes and businesses more energy efficient is a trillion dollar opportunity that can’t be outsourced. I believe Better World Books is a perfect example of this. We’ve taken over an old packaging plant in post-industrial Mishawaka, Indiana and created a lot of jobs. These aren’t just your standard warehouse pick-and-pack. They include high-paying jobs in technology and analytics.

Van Jones’ book about the Green Collar Economy could not have come at a better time. Driven by Van’s considerable evangelization skills, Green Collar Jobs have become a widely known concept. You may have noticed that the presidential candidates have integrated Van’s rhetoric into their own stump speeches and platforms. His book is selling briskly, and it is highly worth a read.

It took hours upon hours of work, but we’re live on WorldofGood.com!  WoG, an eBay initiative “…is the world’s first online marketplace to convene thousands of People Positive and Eco Positive sellers and products all in one place, empowering you to shop in ways that align with your personal values. Respected, independent organizations verify the positive impact every product has on people and the planet. Our goal is to ensure that every choice you make here is a good one.”

Awesome (check out their press).

We couldn’t be happier to be working with such a great collection of people, as we endeavor to make it easier for you to make the world a better place!  (That sentence was a mess, but my heart’s in the right place, just read it until it makes sense).

If you go to their Resources section you can see that we’re offering over 100 titles in the realm of anything from social entrepreuring (a topic we know a little something about), to microfinance to women’s studies.  Don’t just sit here, go check it out!

I haven’t read it yet but consider it ordered.  Anyone read this one?

Not that:

For the hundreds of our BetterWorld.com customers who are still buying James Frey’s book, A Million Little Pieces, and the hundreds more thinking about it, I have one suggestion: you deserve better.

If you’re looking for a memoir about addiction, scrap Frey’s book and check out An Officer and a Junkie.  Here you’ll find a well-documented story about a humble guy named Mike Winder going through the horrible realities of addiction.

The story begins as his parents drop him off for his first day at West Point Military Academy and chronicles how he became addicted to various drugs. His drug use at first is reminiscent of a Hunter S. Thompson dope journey but changes course as the years of drugs take serious toll on his body, his mind and his relationships with family.

Mike and I grew up together and he was one of my first friends when my family moved to a new town.  We often played hoops together, caused trouble here and there, but also stayed up late occasionally doing homework or studying for physics tests.

The fact is that An Officer and a Junkie simply has more value for people and society. Chances are that, whether you are aware of it or not, you know someone that is an alcoholic or a drug user and functions in his or her everyday life. Some people can even achieve at the highest of levels while simultaneously stuck in the snare of addiction (some examples – Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, and Mickey Mantle).

I saw my friend Mike during most of the stages of his book, from his acceptance to the Academy, his drug abuse, graduation, addiction and recovery. He lives with the physical and mental repercussions of his drug use everyday – his doctors assure him a lifelong sentence of antipsychotic and mood-stabilizing medication – but he is committed to sobriety and living a healthy life.

We all know about the James Frey Oprah debacle. If you think it’s important for a memoir to be true and want to read a good book, check out An Officer and a Junkie.

Which is more important in this case: the story or the truth?

Regardless of what you’re into, you’re going to find a good suggestion and a good price at the site, so check it out.  Also, expect more reviews and more staff picks coming soon.

First, I made you some things, interviews and stuff that are going to be on the new site.  See, I still dig you.

Second, I’ve got photos to prove I was at work, they’re not all up yet, but they’re comin, just you wait.  In fact, I’ve got video.  Yup, video.

Third, there’s more exclusive content coming, just for you, because we’re going to do this together.  By the way, have you seen www.betterworld.com lately?  I’ve been real busy, but I think it’s coming together.  I’m doing it for you reader.  Did Van Gogh’s screaming alien people complain that his masterpiece was taking too long?  I think not!

Your bookstore loves you,
Jack

Anyway, because of this huge part of my life, I tend to read books that either have to do with music or my other love (modernist literature, particularly turn of the 20th century British lit).

Luckily there has hardly been a better time to be into the former as there are a few great new books for me to suggest that you read (as usual click the cover to check it out at www.BetterWorld.com ):

The one most recently reviewed in the Sunday New York Times Book Review: Grand Obsession.  This text, by Perri Knize describes her search for the perfect piano that takes her on a journey all over geographically and mentally.  It’s an entertaining and engaging story that will have you longing to play, be it chopsticks or Chopin.

Not being a piano player didn’t take away from my enjoyment of Grand Obsession, but I certainly was more apt to pick up Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music.  I’ve heard great thing but haven’t cracked this one open yet.  I’ll review it soon for those of you itching for a book about a classical guitarist who returns after years away from the instrument (tell me almost everyone doesn’t regret not continuing their _____ lessons as a kid).

Last is a book I’m just getting through right now called This is Your Brain On Music. This book approaches music with a far more scientific approach than the previous two.  This book deals with layman’s versions of how the brain works in it’s approach to listening to, reacting to and generally engaging with music.  Anyone who can understand the haunting quality of a single note or chord or finds themselves playing the same songs over and over needs to check this one out.

We’re hoping to fund a lot of girls’ scholarships through Room to Read’s “Room to Grow” program. We set up a mini-bookshop of about 150 carefully selected titles, and of course people could shop BetterWorld.com if they couldn’t find something on the shelves.

I’ll be posting much more from the festival soon. For now, a few photos:

Some new friends showing off their “Speak softly and carry a bag of books.” tote bags from Better World Books.

Well Read indeed! The Book Throne: it’s everywhere you want to be.

Something we all have to contend with, however, if we live outside the public transport savvy cities, as so many do, is that we need a car (I usually ride my bike everywhere, but considering there are 6 inches of snow in Boston right now, you can be assured I’ll be borrowing my roommates car for that grocery store trip…).

OK, so you need a car.  Every car dealer out there is telling you that they’re green friendly and the numbers of “City MPG” or “Highway MPG” (sidebar: is this known as “Freeway MPG” in California?) are dizzying.  Let “GOOD Magazine” break it down a bit for you, to see which car company talks the talk AND walks the walk in this article.

Also, the future plans for green cars from each company in the graph will warm your heart, and hopefully not completely empty your wallet…

(p.s. If you don’t know about GOOD, they give all of your money to non-profits if you subscribe to their magazine.  Check out their info.

Honda’s (not yet released) Concept Car, runs on hydrogen
fuel cell, thereby creating 0 emissions!
[Image courtesy of MSNBC]

If not in the car market, or looking for something a bit different, look into this book at www.BetterWorld.com with some suggestions for making your daily life a little bit greener (and get it shipped carbon neutral, natch):

If you happen to be perusing CNET’s News Blog today (or if you like following the myriad links that we post), you’ll see a reference to a company you may recognize.  Hailed as “Eco-Alternative to Amazon funds literacy programs” Better World Books gets a pat on the back for all the hard work we do (which isn’t why we do it, but it feels good sometimes).

The article begins with a story you may have heard before:

F. Xavier Helgesen had big dreams to build Web sites after graduating from Notre Dame in 2001 with an MIS degree, but then the dot-com industry crashed.

Instead he co-founded a company in 2002 that sells books otherwise destined for the landfill, sends some of the proceeds to literacy groups, and uses carbon-neutral shipping…

and goes on with the good news of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, including our free shipping in the US, our flat rate $2.97 for international orders and how we use not just no-value books but use discarded, once landfill bound library shelving to store the books (680,000 lbs of library shelving, in fact).

Check out the full article.

With the holidays around the corner, I guess my Christmas wish list could include new running shoes or some sort of ab blaster but why torture myself when I can do something I really enjoy?  Did you know that you can burn Calories just by reading?  It’s true I read it online and I burned a calorie doing it too.  So I crunched the numbers and at my weight, I will only need to read for 2800 hours to offset this past Thanksgiving dinner!  Well I guess my Christmas list just got condensed to just BetterWorld.com and since it is open 24/7, there will be plenty of time for my family and friends to get my Christmas gifts.  Happy shopping!

BETTER WORLD BOOKS BECOMES A FOUNDING B CORPORATION

Online bookseller promotes literacy worldwide while benefiting its partners, employees and the environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 6, 2007

Berwyn, PA — B Lab today announced it has certified online bookseller Better World Books, a leading online seller of new and used books, as a Founding B Corporation™. With the certification, Better World Books joins a growing international network of purpose-driven businesses dedicated to setting a new standard for social and environmental performance, creating benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

To become certified B Corporations, businesses must meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards and amend their corporate governing documents to incorporate the interests of employees, community and the environment.

“Being a successful business and having a social impact are not mutually exclusive,” said Better World Books President and CEO David Murphy. “Through our retail website, BetterWorld.com, customers can find the books they want, enjoy free, carbon-neutral shipping, and help fund literacy with each purchase.”

Based in Mishawaka, Indiana, Better World Books was established in 2003 by three Notre Dame graduates with a simple, yet transformative idea – run a book donation drive, collect as many titles as possible, then sell those books to fund a reading program at a local community center. Entrepreneurs at heart, Better World Books’ founders quickly grew their idea into an online retail presence which integrates social impact into the core of its business model.

By sourcing and reselling used books in a way no major book seller had ever before tried, Better World tapped into a burgeoning new consumer market with a desire and passion for social responsibility. In just four years, Better World Books has raised more than $2.3 million dollars for global literacy programs, while growing quickly from 3 to 130 employees.

“Better World Books is a unique Social Enterprise—a triple bottom line business where creating a nursing library in Somaliland, supporting employees with profit sharing and equity ownership opportunities, and shipping book orders climate neutral are not simply by-products of doing business—it is the business,” said Murphy.

BetterWorld.com carries over two million new and used titles. The company acquires its inventory of used books from two primary sources: a Campus Collection Program organizes regular books drives for world literacy at more than 1200 colleges and universities; and a Library Discards and Donations Program provides more than 800 local libraries a needed outlet for redistributing donated books they can no longer keep or shelve.

“Better World Books is strong and growing business that beats the competition on price and values,” said B Lab co-founder Bart Houlahan. “Not only does Better World Books help customers save money, they also put their money where their heart is by funding vitally important literacy programs around the world.”

Through its partnerships with well established and widely respected organizations working on four continents: Room to Read, Books for Africa, Worldfund, and the National Center for Family Literacy, Better World Books capitalizes on the intrinsic value of books to support literacy initiatives. Support is not limited to dollars, however. Better World Books also works with its partners to ship books to classrooms and libraries where they are needed most. In collaboration with Books for Africa, for instance, Better World Books has delivered more than 550,000 textbooks to resource-starved colleges and universities throughout the African continent.

B Lab helps companies like Better World Books set the new corporate standard for social and environmental performance. Since its founding in 1972, B Lab has certified over thirty companies with a collective market presence of $380 million, all leaders within the green, local living economies, employee-ownership, fair trade, organic, and sustainable business movements and from the food, apparel, home, financial services, building, action sports, technology, business services, telecom, restaurant, marketing, and retail industries.

About B Lab B Lab, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization, supports B Corporations by: certifying B Corporations who achieve a minimum score on the B Ratings System; disseminating a legal framework to institutionalize stakeholder interests within existing corporate law; promoting B Corporations through a unifying brand; and helping B Corporations access mission-aligned capital markets.

Founding B Corporations to date, with a collective market presence of about $350 million, include: A-1 Builders, Blueprint Research & Design, Inc., BBMG, Benchmark Asset Management, BeOn, Better World Telecom, Better World Books, Blueprint Research & Design, Comet Skateboards, Culinary Collective, egg, Give Something Back, Good Capital, Green Harvest Technologies, Indigenous Designs, King Arthur Flour, Lateral Line Fishing Gear and Apparel, Learning & Vision Partners, Mal Warwick Associates, Matiz Espana, Method Products, Inc., Moka Joe Coffee, New Leaf Paper, Pura Vida Coffee, Seventh Generation, Uncommon Goods, Untours, Village Books, White Dog Caf

BetterWorld.com is featured in the “Let’s All Get Merry!” December/January 2008 Issue of the Hallmark Magazine.  Check out the “Shop for a Cause” section on page 23 to read more.

We’ve all got them, you know – the list you have with all the things you want to do in your life. For example:

1. Swim with sharks
2. Write a book
3. Learn to break dance

This month we’ve recruited some help for you and your list. Our friends at National Novel Writing Month (NaNo WriMo) have created a grass roots event with over 100,000 people getting together to write novels.

No Plot? No Problem! NaNoWriMo will keep in touch with you throughout November to give the emotional support and coaching to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. A novel concept indeed. Next month we’ll work on number 3 on life’s to-do list – all $100 dollar orders will get a cardboard head spin mat FREE with purchase.

The 2007 theme was “Literacy, key to good health and well-being”.  In conjunction, the Atlanta office sent two representatives to visit one of the new Wellness Information Zones developed in partnership by Libraries for the Future and The Humana Foundation.  These physical stations located within select libraries are aimed at reducing the number of people who have difficulty obtaining, understanding and acting on basic health information.  Through the Wellness Information Zones and www.wellzone.org people will have access to reliable health information that they can use to make positive decisions about their health.

In addition to the continuing education of our staff, Better World Books had organized a number of initiatives to commemorate the day.  From offering tips to promote literacy and discounts on purchases at www.BetterWorld.com, Better World Books hopes to bring necessary awareness to the global pandemic that is illiteracy.  As an added measure, the Library Division of Better World Books distributed a press release to targeted cities.

I encourage all of our readers, staff and supporters to think about the impact that literacy has on your own lives.  Thank those who have contributed to this gift and yourself for sharpening this tool.

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” –Mark Twain

Tomorrow, September 8th, is International Literacy Day! The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is dedicating this year to the vital relationship between literacy and health – including general health care, nutrition, family and reproductive health and health-related community development. The slogan for International Literacy Day 2007 is “Literacy, key to good health and well-being.”

Betterworld.com has a special feature on Five Things That You Can Do To Support Literacy – visit the site for an extra 10% off book purchases through September 12th, 2007.

There’s also a great article about the Better World Books/Room to Read partnership – from now till the end of the year, $5 from the sale of every Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book on www.BetterWorld.com will go to funding the establishment of libraries in Nepal and Sri Lanka! Our goal is to raise $15,000 to construct 5 libraries, so if you haven’t picked up a copy yet, click here to get one today!

Here’s an excerpt: “…Better World Books offers a different option. Started by some freshly minted Notre Dame graduates in 2002, it collects used books and textbooks from about 1,000 campuses and 700 libraries nationwide.

As an individual, you can donate if you pay for shipping yourself; but you can buy anything off its Web site and shipping is free anywhere in the country.” Click here to read the full article…

One of the pictures taken on our warehouse floor – the photographer even bought a book for his book club!

“As soon as I found out about BWB I began telling my friends to order from you in the future. If our money can not only purchase books but encourage reading programs, why wouldn’t we support that?”

“ The Better World Books philosophy matches several of my personal ethics very closely. I hate waste, I support recycling, I love books/reading/literacy and I support pragmatic, intelligent aid systems, especially those where the purchaser gains something of value as well as feeling they’ve helped others. Keep it up, folks. Peter Bryenton www.brypix.com”

“I would recommend Better World Books, because your prices are good, you send orders out quickly; I love to read and feel strongly that everyone should have the opportunity to discover reading, so I love knowing that by buying from you I am helping that happen.”

I have just got to tell you folks…..I have ordered many books in that last
4 years from Marketplace sources and Amazon since I began my theology
studies and you are BY FAR the most efficient and thorough and dependable. When you
are working on heavy duty research like they expect of us in graduate
theological education, you usually need your “source” like, oh, “yesterday” once
you figure out what the “all important source” is. And many of them are older
and hard to find. SO, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for being THE BEST service
I have found. I wish I had found you back in 2003 when I started my studies,
BUT I HAVE FOUND YOU NOW and I am incredibly grateful.

Do you have a website that I can access that will get me to you directly to
check and see if you have any text(s) I am particularly looking for in the
future to make sure I can deal with you?

Thanks again and PLEASE keep up the great work….we depend on you.

The Worsted Witch, described as “the malformed love-child of my indecorous passions for knitting, sustainability, gothic horror, and illustration,” made the case for used book buying better than I ever have, imploring her readers to support literacy at BetterWorld.com.

Booksiter listed BetterWorld.com as one of the top websites to find a good deal on your textbooks. They cited our Rapleaf Reputation (over 1,600 positive feedbacks as I write!) which we are pretty proud of. We currently have the top ranking in the world on the Rapleaf Reputation system.

Tiffany on MySpace is teaching her friends how to “Improve the world and be a Cheapskate at the same time.” She can’t get over the free shipping. I don’t blame her a bit.

Finally, author and historian Melissa March blogged about us a few days ago on Grosvenor Square .

Thanks to everyone for sharing the word!

Carbonfund.org Pioneers Carbonfree™ Shipping

A pioneering program to offset shipping-related carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, Carbonfree™ Shipping, is being launched today, according to Carbonfund.org. The program was designed in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University’s Green Design Institute. It involves a breakthrough method for calculating shipping-related carbon dioxide emissions. The first four companies to participate in the program are BetterWorld.com, evo (Evogear.com), 3r Living, and alonovo.com.

How the Program Works

When a shipment travels from a warehouse to its destination, fossil fuels are burned, producing CO2. CO2 is one of the primary gases contributing to climate change. Carbonfund.org worked with a research team at Carnegie Mellon to design a proprietary method for determining how much CO2 is produced by each shipment.

The shipping industry moves billions of units every year and accounts for more than 600 million tons of CO2, according to US government figures. This is more than the CO2 emissions for the entire country of Canada. The Carbonfree™ Shipping program has the opportunity to revolutionize how this industry deals with its carbon emissions by providing an easy and affordable offset solution. A typical package will cost just a few pennies to offset the climate impact, depending on the weight of the shipment, the method of shipment, and the distance the package will travel.

How Carbon Offsetting Works

The initial program partners – BetterWorld.com, evo, 3r Living, and alonovo.com – have agreed to “offset” the CO2 created by their shipments. Carbon offsets zero out CO2 emissions from one source by reducing the emissions from another. For example, Carbonfund.org uses offset funds to support renewable energy projects such as wind and bio-fuels that reduce or offset CO2. Carbonfund.org also supports energy efficiency and reforestation projects that effectively rendering the activity “carbon neutral”. Offsetting helps underwrite the development of a renewable energy infrastructure.

Starting today, all shipments from BetterWorld.com will be Carbonfree™

Evogear.com and 3r Living will offer the Carbonfree™ option to their customers; alonovo.com is integrating the option into their platform.

“This is a big step forward for the fast-growing carbon offset industry,” says Eric Carlson, executive director of Carbonfund.org. “This program demonstrates that individuals and companies can have an impact on this global problem, one shipment at a time. It also proves that it’s not nearly as expensive to deal with climate change as many people might think.”