Hillary Clinton only has herself to blame for her 2016 loss – CNN

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https://apple.news/A_y0mUHVuS4mEKIHfN-KndA

shattered

Shattered, The Book on Hillary’s Campaign

The new book “Shattered” talks a lot about what the crossroads are between the new era of using technology data analytics versus the traditional political grassroots campaigning. As seen today after the election of the 44th President Barack Obama in 2008, technology and Social Media played an important role. Although the Clintons are professionals in traditional political grassroots it might have been the candidate, the campaign or even the Democratic National Committee who played heavily in going through data analytics etc. Looking at the winning strategy of President Trump’s America First who really won the middle class workers on the mid west explains the disconnect.

As much as the ideals, beliefs and supporters thought Hillary was winning and would have been one the greatest women President the changes she should done on the strategy and focus literally boils down to her not being able to instill any of the needed changes which could have save her campaign and won last November 2016

The Future of Web E-Commerce on Bookselling

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It was interesting 20 minute conversation with an Web E-Commerce Platform a few minutes ago. A conversation I happened to have a few months back with another company.

Since 1998 when ADLE International was founded followed by our flagship website on books, Affordable Books on Line  a lot of new inventions and integration has occurred both on the retail front and online bookselling.

As we finally pass our growing pains and slowly build our own branding websites, we try to partner also with emerging e-commerce retailers slowly taking a niche on book sales. Hence this was how this morning conversation came about. Two  months ago,  another bookseller and a book inventory platform reach out to me asking the best way to upload books on these emerging e-commerce retailers. They noticed we are in them and they are also familiar with the years we have desperately tried to deploy our online integrations.

Unfortunately, my answer was “it does not work” which they were amazed. The reality is that if you have the time and capability to manually list each book, enter the data, photos and or convert excel spreadsheets go ahead I continued. The reason behind is that these emerging known retailers are using Web E-Commerce solutions platform where the main goal is for you to open a website,  they design, integrate and charge you monthly fees and commissions.

Every traditional bookstore and moreover new online booksellers uses third party book selling marketplaces to start selling. These is how they make themselves known by buyers and also get the experienced in selling books online. It is also a fact the main database uploads in the bookselling industry uses the mighty “Amazon” system which is totally different with these Web E-Commerce platforms being used by the said emerging known retailers going to selling books.

In my quest for the plight of booksellers, the call I just made was to reiterate the ongoing circumstances and once again to re-verify the facts. Parts of the answers the sales person I was talking to was that their systems are there permanently when integrated and books is one category they don’t cater as it’s too fast moving, you have do keep relisting and they are cheap. I was laughing in my brain as if he just quoted the mighty drop shippers whom everyday what they do is put the book prices lowest and sell to a $0.01 per book if they can. Well, this is another story we have to touch later.

So I then offered the said salesperson what about if we hire you for a service simply just converting the traditional amazon csv files to your said formats so they can be uploaded to these retailers websites. The reply was a reiteration we just do not touch on “books”.

So these blog is dedicated to those especially who had the same questions and those who had asked me recently about this topic. We have a long work still needed in advocacy and if you are part of the American Booksellers Association these is one of the topics we have to unite and address in our industry.

For now, we just have to hang in there, Summer is almost here as well as Going Back to School when we are going to be busy again.

For now, let’s stand united.

Alex Esguerra

 

 

 

 

Affordable Books versus Cheap Books

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Conceptualizing the vision of Affordable Books in 1998 had it’s own pros and cons. The idea of having books “Affordable” especially for students, low income groups, seniors and disabled people indeed was the main idea behind the ideology. Although, the other part of it was keeping in mind that we are still a business needing profits to exist, thus we strive to offer the affordability concept but pricing enough to make some profit for operational expenses and the cost of doing business.

Hence, we shy away from using “Cheap” as we are not the cheapest place like the mighty name in the bookselling industry. Yet however we are not expensive like the drop shippers or antique book dealers trying to make that high bucks.  With this in mind though our flagship, www.affordable-booksonline.com and the rest of our online portfolios like www.usedbooksworld.com  strives to still offer the best prices specially for out of print and hard to find books as well as bestsellers and textbooks.

So looking at it, we are in between on pricing but were  niching on prompt delivery, customer service  and high quality books offered and described. And as any fledgling independent bookseller, there’s a lot of tough times and challenges simply to exist but the joy of doing what we do and the love of books keeps as going each day on our store and online.

Now on our 18th year, a lot has happened and transitioned in the industry including mobile apps and online advertising. I do however thank our loyal customers through the years who has continuously patronized us over the years through thick and thin. If not for them were probably not in cyberspace by now yet we have prevailed. The best part of it is that our online stores nowadays exist on their own which is really hard without the big box bookselling marketplaces we used to all belong and whom has the advertising dollars and pool of books from online booksellers.  Today we have streamline our participation on book marketplaces to the more specialized ones in tune to our concept of “affordability”.

As we go through our 18th year, our staff at ADLE International wishes to extend our special thanks to all of you.

Alex Esguerra

 

 

 

A Glimpse on “Difficult Women” – Roxanne Gay New Book

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difficult

Difficult Women went to bookshelves this January 03, 2017 as quoted from the BookForum’s ” An Untamed State is a gem, blasted into beauty by the world’s harshest conditions. This gripping debut has set the table for mangy great works to come”.

Browsing through this it does touches a lot on human connection in both privilege and those women dealing with poverty as it tells the different stories and daily lives affecting equality and even discrimination. We remember author Roxanne Gay writing on Marvel’s Black Panther series so this book she absolutely gives how her stories have a remarkable visual sweep.

“A powerful collection of short stories about difficult, troubled, headstrong, and unconventional women . . . Whether focusing on assault survivors, single mothers, or women who drown their guilt in wine and bad boyfriends, Gay’s fantastic collection is challenging, quirky, and memorable.”–Publishers Weekly

“A collection of short stories that will make your spine tingle with intrigue.” —Bustle.com

Biography (Roxanne Gay)

Roxane Gay’s writing has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, West Branch, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon, The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy culture blog, and many others. She is the co-editor of PANK and essays editor for The Rumpus. She teaches writing at Eastern Illinois University. Her novel, She is the author of three books–Ayiti, An Untamed State, and Bad Feminist. She very much wants a tiny baby elephant.
As seen when she wrote on Marvel comics, “The real gift to readers in Difficult Women is [Gay’s] ability to marry her well-known intellectual concerns with good storytelling
Kudos to start a great works for 2017 with Roxanne Gay.

 

Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail -On the Street 1/17/2017

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One of this years bestselling books to hit the shelves a day after we remember  Martin Luther King is another Audacity Book on Barack Obama’s Yes We can Campaign. It talks about how he strive to pursue his presidential slogan after 2008 amidst his detractors, critics and political enemies.

We will carry this book on the day after MLK at Affordable Books On Line.  An unassailable case that, in the eyes of history, Barack Obama will be viewed as one of America’s best and most accomplished presidents. Written by bestselling author Jonathan Chait, Publisher:  Custom House, Review Quotes:
Chait offers a well-organized, clearly written case that will be valuable to future historians in their assessments. –Kirkus Reviews”

Over the course of eight years, Barack Obama amassed an array of historic achievements. His administration saved the American economy from collapse, expanded health insurance to tens of millions who previously could not afford it, negotiated an unprecedented nuclear deal with Iran, helped craft a groundbreaking international climate accord, reined in Wall Street, launched a fundamental overhaul of our education system, and formulated a new vision of racial progress. He has done all of this despite a left that frequently disdained him as a sellout, and a hysterical right that did everything possible to destroy his agenda, even in instances when they actually agreed with what he was doing before Obama was the one doing it.

While the last historic achievement “Obamacare” is now the ultimate first to be repealed by the incoming administration and Congress, Barack H. Obama is optimistic that it’s revision will still be geared ultimately to the initial goal of providing health insurance to millions of Americans without medical coverage when it was originally conceptualized.

His first act in 2008 was to bail out the auto industry as the precursor to his legacy in stabilizing the great recession in modern time. Now, as the page turns to possibly the most dangerous Commander in Chief in our history, Jonathan Chait, one of America s most incisive and meticulous political commentators, digs deep into Obama s record on major policy fronts the economy, the environment, domestic reform, health care, race, and foreign policy to demonstrate why history will judge our forty-fourth president as among our greatest. Chait explains why so many observers, from cynical journalists to disheartened Democrats, missed the enormous evidence of progress amidst the smoke screen of extremist propaganda and the confinement of short-term perspective. He also reveals why Obama s accomplishments will last despite the reactionary effort by Donald Trump and the Republicans to extinguish them. And in its resounding defense of Obama s tenure, Audacity both makes clear his victories, and what we need to fight for next.

This will be a great reading book in time for the inauguration of the 45th President, Donald Trump on January 20 while watching Barack and Michelle Obama’s historic farewell send of in Marine One from the White House lawn.

This book’s ISBN: 0062426974 and UPC: 9780062426970

Hardcover
Physical Description: xxii, 240 pages : 9.50 H x 1.00 D x 6.50 W inches 0.94 lb

Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail Hardcover – January 17, 2017 by Jonathan Chait

Alex Esguerra

ADLE International

Below the Belt: A Stone Barrington Novel – What’s new for Stuart Woods

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Below the Belt –  below

From the book reporter,

Below the Belt: A Stone Barrington Novel
by Stuart Woods

  • Publication Date: January 3, 2017
  • Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
  • ISBN-10: 0399573976
  • ISBN-13: 9780399573972

Stuart Woods is the author of forty-four novels, including the New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington series and Holly Barker series. The last twenty-eight of them have been New York Times best-sellers.

The book story goes with newly ensconced in his Santa Fe abode with a lovely female companion, Stone Barrington receives a call from an old friend requesting a delicate favor. .  A situation has arisen that could escalate into an explosive quagmire, and only someone with Stone’s stealth and subtlety can contain the damage. At the center of these events is an impressive gentleman whose star is on the rise, and who’d like to get Stone in his corner. He’s charming and ambitious and has friends in high places; the kind of man who seems to be a sure bet. But in the fickle circles of power, fortunes rise and fall on the turn of a dime, and it may turn out that Stone holds the key not just to one man’s fate, but to the fate of the nation.

When he does a favor for his friend that can be with sensitive damaging information, Stone Barrington may hold the key not just to a man’s fate but to the fate of the entire nation.

Another suspense thriller from Stuart Woods who in 1981 debut through “Chiefs” by winning the Edgar award which started his long prestigious writing career. Over the years, we have continuously supported Stuart Woods great written books.

About Affordable Books On Line

 

 

 

Our 2016 Affordable bestselling books

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Some of ADLE International’s Affordable Books on line most bought bestsellers this year.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  –  curse

The Hidden Life of Trees – trees

Fantastic Beast – fantastic

Star Wars Rogue One – One Secret Mission – tsecret

When Breathe Becomes Air – air

The Underground Railroad –  underground

The Gene –   gene

The Undoing Project –  undoing

ADLE International started from a lof of humble beginnings, successes, pitfalls, and mistakes as any struggling start-up home based small business enterprise.

The story of Affordable Books and ADLE International encompasses the life stories and struggles of persistence and determination of it’s founder, author, writer, blogger

philanthropist, Alex Esguerra.

As a major brick and mortar online independent retailer, the storytelling begins with smallbusinessmentors  in 1999. Fresh from the collapse of an export and etock market empire after being hit by the 1998 Asian Economic Crisis which led to the stock market collapse in 1999, a ever persistent entrepreneur roam the parks of Vancouver, B.C. homeless, hungry and struggling for survival.

However, faith, hope and determination persisted when a struggling Alex still managed to register ADLE International as a sole proprietorship in Salem, the capital city of the state of Oregon, USA.

 

Spotlight: American Booksellers Association

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indie

The ABA, American Booksellers Association has been the backbone of the bookselling industry especially Indie Bound and Independent Booksellers.

“Founded in 1900, the American Booksellers Association is a national not-for-profit trade organization that works to help independently owned bookstores grow and succeed. ABA’s core members are key participants in their communities’ local economy and culture, and to assist them, ABA provides education, information, business products, and services; creates relevant programs; and engages in public policy and industry advocacy. The Association actively supports and defends free speech and the First Amendment rights of all Americans. A volunteer board of 11 booksellers governs the Association. ABA is headquartered in White Plains, NY.” Excerpt for the American Booksellers Assn website.

There are different tiers and membership levels in the ABA. It is also known for Advocacy Issues and Free Expressions such as pressing issues affecting a new or current bookseller, Issues like Sales Tax, Minimum Wage, Healthcare, Small Business Working Capital and even the fight on the Amazon monopoly as well as big box businesses.

With the onset of Amazon rules the Internet as well as policy and legislations that affect every bookstore owner today, one cannot find the cruel challenges faced by a small independent bookseller without the conglomerative efforts of the ABA.  There are also the professional chapters under the association’s umbrella. Though, there are other associations in the books industry aside, we know for a fact that ABA is indeed the main umbrella in terms of organization.

At Affordable Books @ ADLE International we extremely proud having ABA on our backs. The Indies first program and the different learning bookselling institute had help us increase our knowledge base and education. And proudly we can say that the American Booksellers Association is our association per se.

Alex Esguerra

 

 

 

 

Affordable Books for All

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Such a big mission for making books affordable for all.

  • Today’s Amazon monopoly on books seems to be a hard task on making books affordable.
  • Why is that when Amazon seems to be the cheapest site to buy books?
  • Yes and No. it’s huge drop ship wholesale sellers might be dominating the cheapest price on new and used books. Yet, when your scouting that one hard to find book and the quantity is almost none, these same people are Gods pricing such books as “Gold”. Sometimes looking at one book can be $500 to $3000.
  • As collectible as it may be it’s plain hoarding not to say will a real antiquitarian book collector really buy such a book?
  • So literally the destruction on independent booksellers are we’re trying to make that small profit to survive on a new or used book but it’s impossible to compete as these sellers are selling way lower that the price we buy them from publishers and wholesalers. How they do this is a long explanation but nevertheless it’s their way of doing business.
  • And again for the hard to find out of prints with considerable value valued at the priced of gold is another discussion.

So Affordability for us is competitive pricing while creating that book value, great service and personal buyer connection.

Yes the saga still continues on these monopolies but we’re here to stay our own saga at Affordable books