Greek Media: Politis loves Better World Books

Jaime is 33, moving back to Chile (we’re all wiping away the tears, seriously), he’s an architect by trade but a warehouse manager by day and, sorry ladies, he’s happily married to his lovely wife Pia (who also works at Better World Books and is a total business rockstar) and has two kids, Victoria and Benjamin (who are obviously training to become book nerds at BWB as well).

Congrats, Jaime!

Here are some highlights from the (latest) posts on our Facebook Fan Page: (currently with 1300 fans!!!)

Rose from Singapore: Bye Amazon

Ambassador Tom Amolo: I am an eclectic reader, this is home.

Reika from Australia: Great job! I found old books from my teenage years which I missed. Being so far away from the US, I couldn’t get my hands on all the books I want at such a cheap shipping rate. You’ve really solved my problem on that! Thanks!

James from (my beloved) Ireland: Great job guys I just picked up two books for cheaper from you than from a bookshop in Ireland! Keep it up!

Randy and Sharon: Amazing! Im a phenomenal book addict and just discovered the joys of shopping online! lol… Looks to me that BetterWorld Books will be my new fave site!!!

And Chris from Dupage captures it neatly: I’ve contributed to the past to non-profit organizations, but nowadays I just can’t afford it. I feel like I am indirectly actually doing something for the common good just buying books from BetterWorld. And free shipping!! Awesome!

On A Prolific Trip of Epic Proportions 5
MGD says: “It is great to see those young children reading. They appear to enjoy doing that. Keep the good job guys.”

On Show Us Some Love, Finnish Edition
Sanntu says: “Hi! Nice site! I don’t know how you manage to have such low international shipping prices AND do some charity as well but I’ll be sure to buy something… soon.

So, I’m Finnish and might be able to help you out. The whole article is maybe a tad longish to translate completely (at least now, it’s 3 a.m.) and doesn’t seem to be online anyway.

But here’s what the caption says, roughly:
“$Millions to promoting literacy: ‘Way back in school I used to dream about a company whose operations were inseparably connected with charity,’ says Xavier Hegelsen.

All in all it seems like a positive story and if there’s something more you’d like to know, do ask.”

On Chicago, Navy Pier, Game Time!
Kristin says: “I had never heard of you before and I am so happy I came across your book store at the Chicago Green Festival! Thanks for coming out to our town!”

On Show Us Some Love, May 12 Edition
Cathy says: “My first encounter with BetterWorld was with a book I bought on Amazon. No more Amazon for me now that I have found this great site.”

Well Cathy, I’m not going to complain.

“Sharing this from an RFF (Readers for the Future) posting by David Glen Anderson, repeated below. Sounds like a website worth supporting. I like the idea of books supporting good causes, and I like to see second hand books move on to new lives. (The book Dave talks about below isn’t Righteous Anger)

‘Before I left to attend Life, the Universe and Everything, I ordered one of the Golden Duck candidates from BetterWorld.com (http://www.BetterWorld.com/) Fund literacy, care for the environment, and get a fair price on the books you want. 2 Million Used Books. Free shipping in the USA, $2.97 worldwide This book was not available new.

The book is in transit. I went to their website. For less than $30 I found about 8 books that I needed to fill in some holes. Some are exlibrary copies but when I cannot find certain books in my local bookstore exlibrary works. BetterWorld lists libraries et al that benefit by my purchase.

Dave Anderson’

([Dave]‘s into all kinds of good books and good ways to make them mean as much as they can in the world.)”

Nice!

Apparently the writer bought some books from us at www.betterworld.com and has this to say about that:

I’ve been reading Christopher Buckley for the past month now.

1. No Way to Treat a First Lady
2. Thank You for Smoking
3. The White House Mess
4. Florence of Arabia
5. Wry Martinis

I’m on book #4 right now and I was so thrilled to find this:

It’s Christopher Buckley’s autograph~!

… now Johann and I have to change our names to Kerry and Susan. ^_^

My favorite is still No Way to Treat a First Lady. Florence of Arabia is really funny. ^_^

We also got a copy of Irving Stone’s Passions of the Mind — his take on Sigmund Freud.

We received a library copy and it still has the old library record. ^_^

I like that my books have a story. ^_^

So what have we learned? Used books have a story (that’s more than the one cleared by an editor) and sometimes a surprise. And did I mention they’re loads cheaper? Ah, well in case I didn’t…

Check this testimonial about Better World, our website for book sales, all the way from the United Arab Emirates! :

This website is a paradise for bargain hunters on books. The people managing this site come across as being very ethical: they sell at ridiculously low prices, especially older editions of textbooks, they stun you with an incredible shipping cost of USD 2.95 per book for international orders and also fund literacy with your purchases. I have lost count of the number of books I’ve ordered from them. Orders unfailingly arrive in 2 weeks to United Arab Emirates and the books are in the same condition as stated in the website. If they said there was a CD, you will get a usable CD with the book! As testimony to my good experience with Better World, I ended up buying a lot more books than I otherwise would have. I will put my hand on my heart and say this is a site any booklover should checkout before hitting the ‘Place Your Order’ button at amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. You may never know what you are missing till you have visited Better World.

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!

If only every used book shopper had the curiosity to dive in that deeply!

Please see below for an excerpt from an article featuring the bookstore’s BWB book drive effort which appeared in the Summer 2006 North Hennepin Community College class catalog.

“This year, during the spring buyback program, the bookstore collected 24 boxes of books – more than 1200 pounds – from students, staff and faculty. “It was a great donation for a worthy program,” said Jeanne Kiel, Bookstore Supervisor. “We’re hoping to send regular shipments of books to Better World Books, not just at buyback time.”

www.nhcc.edu Summer Magazine 2006 page 11

Making the campus aware of the project, of course, is one of the keystones. Beginning in the early stages of the project, we sent out emails and put up flyers to notify our fellow students about the book drive. Even before the collection boxes were out, all three campuses knew that this project was going to begin soon. The time we put into the advertisement portion of this project definitely paid off. Students knew exactly when and where to donate their books, and contributions started coming in as soon as we put the boxes up.

Also, thoughtful placement of the boxes increased our donations tremendously. We placed them in high traffic areas such as the library entrance, frequently traversed hallways, and the bookstore. The bookstore location was an especially important collection spot due to the time of the project. Book-buy-back week was underway, and by placing the box adjacent to the buy-back center, it was ensured that any surplus books would be donated.

Contributions from faculty are also something that is definitely worth looking into. About half of our donations were from the college’s faculty and staff. All it took was an email from our advisor notifying the rest of the faculty that this project was coming up. To make it easy for people to donate, we designed one day a campus-wide “Book Blitz,” when chapter members and volunteers made the rounds to collect books at faculty and staff offices. The response was enthusiastic, and plenty of our people were more than willing to get a few old books off their hands.

And lastly, the most important factor that resulted in this successful book drive was dedication. A committed team of people can go a long way. We started the project, and kept with it all the way until the end. Everyone stayed positive, were supportive of each other, and were always ready to offer assistance in any way possible.

Basically, thoughtful planning, willingness to dedicate time, and a team of committed people are really all that is needed to put on a successful book drive.