[B-Greek] Advertising books on the list
James Spinti
JSpinti at Eisenbrauns.com
Thu Apr 3 09:19:56 EDT 2008
Carl, et al.,
I am in agreement with Carl's sentiment here. I certainly don't want the
list to turn in to one big commercial for anyone, even Eisenbrauns. I
don't mind the posting of the Oxford annual sale of LSJ; their prices
are too good to pass up for an essential reference work.
But, James Ernest's point needs to be born in mind, too. Amazon is the
50 pound gorilla in the daily life of an independent bookseller; you
have to be nimble and know the territory to avoid getting squashed. That
is where small independents like Eisenbrauns have the advantage: we were
started and are run by academics who love what they do.
Now, let's return to our regularly scheduled b-greek grammatical
questions.
James
________________________________
James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Carl Conrad
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 9:04 AM
To: Leonard Isaksson
Cc: James Ernest; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Advertising books on the list
<snip>
I'm not in disagreement with this either. There have pretty certainly
been occasions when we (I!) have jumped too quickly and complained
that a link to a commercial "deal" at one or another online site is a
commercial. I have myself called attention to the more-or-less annual
sale of LSJ at bargain prices without any pangs of conscience --
perhaps wrongly. I think what triggered my response on the present
occasion was the pretty blatant statement of the need to compete on
behalf of one's own enterprise against the big giant. The question
here, it seems to me, is whether we are (primarily) providing useful
information to list-members or (primarily) promoting a commercial
product. I've cited Amazon listings primarily as a quick reference to
publication data for a book, but of course there's pricing and easy-
ordering information at that site also.
I think my own sense of propriety here is that we shouldn't consider
the B-Greek list as a marketplace but as a center for useful
information. If the intent of the notice is to provide useful
information about a book that may be of considerable interest to some
list-members, that's one thing. If the intent of the notice is to sell
as many books to potential buyers as possible -- to use the list as a
commercial mailing list --, that's another. There's probably an
overlap between the two, but it seems to me that those who post book
information to B-Greek probably know what their primary intent is. I
think too that unless there's a question posed about where to find an
important book that's possibly out of print, questions about "where to
get it" should probably be answered off-list. The final recourse: our
FAQ says:
"Promoting products, services or public causes on this list: We do not
permit messages on this list which can be interpreted as being of a
commercial or business nature, including sales messages from non-
profit organizations. We especially do not permit messages which spam
and/or cross-post religious discussion lists trying to get people to
purchase products or visit various web sites. Advertisements or job-
postings are not allowed without the approval of the list-owner,
Jonathan Robie <bgreek.owner at gmail.com>. Please clear your requests
before posting. Those directly related to the subject matter of B-
Greek will probably be approved."
In other words, if in doubt, ask for Jonathan's permission.
<snip>
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