I think web 2.0 and CH are the missing link for ordinary people to contribute meaningfully in the new ways of creating wealth in this so called new economy.

Cycko, Feb 2007

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Book finder

Submitted by: Aidan
Created: Jul 12, 2006, 6:38 pm

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The Idea

Enter the ISBNs of all your books (or scan the barcode, if you've got the hardware/software) to be able to catalogue them. Upload your catalogue to a central website. Search for out-of-print books via that website. Send requests to owners of a particular book, asking to buy, borrow or trade the book. This will facilitate being able to get hold of books that would otherwise be difficult to get hold of. The incentive to catalogue your books could be that you the software would help you to organise them at the same time (like Booxter on the Mac). The revenue model could be similar to peerflix.com. If you want to make a trade you pay a small fee to the site in order for the site to broker it. Additionally, you could charge a small fee for the client app which helps you organise all your books. Used bookshops could use the site as an easy way to get all their stock online. Charge a premium rate for stores. Finally, there is the old fallback of advertisements for publishers or stores

I thought of this idea when I was...

looking for an out-of-print book that was only ever printed in another country.

Comments Posted

ThatTeriGirl Posted: July 18, 2006, 6:39 pm

This is an awesome idea. You can also integrate a swapping mechanism if you want to list books you're willing to lend/swap/sell to others and they can do the same for you.

TomW Posted: July 31, 2006, 4:38 pm

I like this idea very much.
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Some guy invented something similar (but not the same!) to this a couple years ago, and Amazon bought it. Not sure the current status of the project.
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He built a simple system where he would use his internet-enabled phone to enter in ISBNs while roaming around a book store, and it would respond with the current price of that book on Amazon, BN.com, etc.
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Anyhow, since I haven't heard anything, it is possible Amazon has buried this project. Fire it up!

Doymarn Posted: August 4, 2006, 6:37 am

Aside from book sales how do you see revenues generated on borrowing, swapping or trading books which i think would be the most prominent activity?

Perhaps a book rental service might generate more interest and revenue potential but then again if the main benefit is finding out-of-print books i question the volume of activity this would generate?

What do you see as the main revenue streams?

Aidan Posted: August 6, 2006, 2:45 pm

Doymarn:

The revenue model could be similar to peerflix.com. If you want to make a trade you pay a small fee to the site in order for the site to broker it.

Additionally, you could charge a small fee for the client app which helps you organise all your books.

Used bookshops could use the site as an easy way to get all their stock online. Charge a premium rate for stores.

Finally, there is the old fallback of advertisements - probably for publishers and bookshops.

gyrofoo Posted: August 7, 2006, 11:16 am

check out http://www.paperbackswap.com/

This site is currently free (I've been using it for about 5 months), but there was some talk about changing to a subscription basis or some other charge. Here you can list books you don't want anymore, if anyone in the group wants it, you mail it to them. You pay the postage and get points. With your points, you can request books from other users. You can list book you want and get notified when they come available and get added to a waiting list for a given book.

It's a great idea, and there may be plenty of market for CH to build a better one.

Aidan Posted: November 9, 2006, 11:53 am

cool - I found this site today:

http://www.librarything.com/

Now this doesn't have to be built :-)

Hello!

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