(cc) Flickr user Brendan Biele

Scott Schwertly of Ethos3 just launched a new blog, Stuff Presenters Like, filled with good stuff, bad stuff, lame stuff, and horror stories about public speaking. If you’ve ever spoken in public, you’ve probably got one to share.

Yours truly contributed a public speaking horror story to the inaugural “issue.” A snip from the middle:

When it’s finally my turn, I take the podium, wait for my first slide to appear, and jump in. I’m watching my pace and clicking my slides on cue. I’m making eye contact. I’m even getting a few giggles out of the crowd. But they’re not laughing at the right parts. In fact, they don’t seem to be paying attention at all. They’re whispering to each other and shifting around in their seats.

I begin to panic.

Click through to read more. Do you have any public speaking horror stories to share?

(cc) Flickr user Plutor

A month ago, we took a hard look at our return policy and made a major change. In the past, anyone could make a return and receive a portion of their purchase price (often 100%) depending on the age of the order and whether we made a mistake or they did.

Well, this was confusing. Some even found it annoying.

We kept putting ourselves in the unfortunate position of having to ascertain who was at fault before every return, which seriously complicated our customer service efforts and more than doubled our load of emails. Of course we would always defer to customers who said that BookFool was at fault, but it still required more emails than it should have to resolve the situation.

So we simplified everything. Meet the Foolish Guarantee:

Within 30 days of purchase, if you return your book in the same condition as when we shipped it, we will refund 100% percent of your purchase price and reimburse you $3.99 for return shipping, for any reason! We only ask that you contact us for a Return Authorization before shipping anything back to us.

100% return guarantee + free return shipping. We want you to buy with confidence! What do you think?

If you’re ready to make a serious contribution to a worthy cause—rehabilitating the textbook industry—BookFool.com is offering real resume-building experience in Marketing, PR, and Event Planning.

BookFool.com is an independent, rapidly growing East Nashville textbook seller. Though not a large company, we do have a big impact, and there is still time to write yourself into the BookFool story in a profound way.

WHO WE NEED

We’re looking for a detail-oriented intern who can work independently and communicate professionally. This includes writing, which you will be doing a lot of.

Your official title will be Marketing Intern with a direct report to our Minister of Communication (Marketing Director), but like everyone at BookFool, you will wear many hats. Responsibilities include:

• Writing and distributing press releases.
• Helping establish and maintain our presence in social media.
• Researching and writing critical marketing reports.
• Making phone calls on behalf of the Fool.
• Compiling media lists and building media relations.
• Setting up new business relationships with schools and professors.
• Finding new ways to grow the Fool’s media reach.
• Much more…

Past marketing interns have created and curated a haiku contest for the Tomato Art Fest, painted a 15-foot mural of one of our favorite poems, written numerous blog posts, built media contact lists, and more.

APPLY

This internship pays $7.25/hr. You must have occasional transportation to our East Nashville location, though some of your work can be done from home. Please send resume with references and a writing sample to this email address.

Chapter 4: Dorm Pranks

Geek dorm prank (cc) Flickr user Mllerustad

By: David, Intern to the Stars

Everyone knows that one of the best aspects of living in a building with 200 of your closest friends is the prank potential. The closeness leaves everyone vulnerable–except, of course, the master prankster. To become the master of the pranks requires not only cunning and agility but also a massively creative brain. Here are a few true life pranks to get your creative juices flowing.

[Note: BookFool.com does not advocate that readers attempt any of these pranks. All reader attempts at prankage are done at the reader's own risk and neither BookFool.com nor I, your humble author, claim responsibility. In addition to the potential hazards involved in pranking, it is often quite mean to prank people. And BookFool.com does not support meanness. Unless, of course, it's really really funny.]

Prank #1: Trapped in the Dorm Room

(Not to be confused with R. Kelly’s hip-hopera Trapped in the Closet)

I have a friend–let’s call him Randy–who pulled this prank on a whole floor of guys. Randy and a few buddies had a friend who worked in their school’s cafeteria. They managed to get their caf-working buddy to donate about a thousand Styrofoam cups to their prankly cause. Then they waited until 3 or 4 in the morning. At this unreasonably late hour, Randy and his bros snuck into another hall on campus with their cups. Using the sinks in the hall bathroom, Randy and Co. filled up the cups one by one with water and covered every inch of the hall floor in little cups full of water. The next morning, the residents of the victimized hall had to empty the cups one by one in order to leave their hall. They all missed class. BLAMMO.

Prank #2: Wake Up Sticky

This one’s pretty creative. My friend–let’s call him Howard–decided to prank this other guy, who we’ll call Dean. Basically, Howard made a sugar-water concoction and put it in a spray bottle. At night, Dean’s roomate would let Howard into the room after Dean had fallen asleep.  Howard would lightly mist Dean with sugar water and leave. Every morning, Dean would wake up sticky and could not figure out why this was happening every morning. Eventually, Dean went to health services to find out why his sweat was sticky. POW.

Office Prank (cc) Flickr user disterics

Prank #3: Way Too Many Phone Numbers

Who says students have too much time on their hands? These folks filled a kid’s entire room in torn up phone books. Check out the video of this championship prank (Warning: Language).

Prank #4: The Great Flood

This prank is brutal. My photography teacher from high school–let’s call him Mr. Noah–is the perpetrator. When Mr. Noah was in college, prank wars raged unbelievably hard. After climbing into his bed only only to find a huge collection of toenail clippings mixed with Gold Bond Powder spread between his sheets (yeah, weird), Mr. Noah was ready to take his revenge.

Mr. Noah had a hunch about who had contaminated his pristine sheets. The next night, Mr. Noah took the huge 55 gallon garbage can from the end of the hall and filled it with water. With the help of some buddies, he dragged the can down the hall and leaned it against his victim’s door. The next morning, when yawning Mr. Gold Bond Toenails opened his door, he was greeted by 55 gallons of water flooding into his room. Mr. Gold Bond: 1; Mr. Noah: INFINITY.

Pulled Any Good Pranks Lately?

How about you? How have you pranked your fellow dorm residents? Tell us about it in the comments.

(cc) Flickr user Archie McPhee Seattle

When we complain about unfair treatment, we start off mean and super-aggressive, shaking our fist and raising our voice, as if that’s the only way to get our way. And then when we get what we want, we never go back to say thanks, even if it was our own mistake that caused the problem.

We forget that it’s a real person we’re complaining to on the other end of the line.

The textbook industry has notoriously bad customer service, which is something we’re trying to change. But considering how poorly our customers have been treated by other sellers, I’m always surprised by how generous and good-humored they are to us.

Just last week, Jenise and Ashley came by to pick up a book and brought cupcakes for the whole crew so we could help them celebrate their birthdays. Happy to oblige!

Last night, I received the following email from Aundrea:

I just wanted you to know that I have been using your service for quite some time and I am VERY pleased. This semester I bought all my books using the BookFool.com service and it saved me around $500!!! I also love the buy back service that comes around to my school. When I used it two semesters ago, I was able to buy my books for the next semester with the money BookFool.com gave me for my books! Again Thank you so much for your service!!!

Last week, we received this message from Alexandria:

I love bookfool.com! You’ve been to my school to buy back books. And I love it. And I’ve ordered my books through you guys for this semester. I’ve saved about $150 so far because of bookfool.com. Continue with your greatness! Thanks!

Needless to say, receiving compliments out of the blue really makes our day. Apropos of nothing, these customers (and many more) have taken a few minutes out of their day to send us a virtual cupcake. We forward them around the office, print them out, and then work extra hard to be worthy of such praise.

Question of the Day: Who should you send a virtual cupcake to today? I guarantee you will make their day.

(cc) Flickr user Bev (Sugarbloom Cupcakes)

True Life: Crazy Roommates

By: David, Intern to the Stars

There are many kinds of roommates. There are the nice, sweet, caring, quiet, pleasant-smelling roommates who make your life easy but are likely to be forgotten immediately after graduation. There are also the loonies–or at the very least those with their loony moments. The loonies we remember. In this chapter, we’ll look at a few types of “crazy roommates.”

(Note: A number of Foolish folks contributed stories to this chapter. Though I will tell the stories in first person, this does not mean that I actually roomed with these people. It’s simply a narrative device. If you have ever roomed with me, this isn’t about you. Even if it exactly describes you.)

1. Roommates who kick walls in.

(cc) Flickr user singingbeagle

I had a great roommate my sophomore year. Sure, this dude–let’s call him Jack Danger–was a bit of a kook, but his shenanigans were always entertaining. One day, Jacky-boy decided he was going to break the world record for consecutive somersaults down the dorm hallway. (Indeed, an impressive aspiration.) We were all pretty stoked because, I mean, who doesn’t want to know the guy who holds the record for the most somersaults down the hall? So Jack Danger started rolling.

Things were looking really good until the 16th flip, when suddenly Jack came to a crashing halt. He looked up to find his feet firmly implanted in the wall of our floor’s R.A. After yanking his feet out of the wall, Mr. Danger paced around for a little while, trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, he accepted responsibility and left the following note on our R.A’s door:

“Dear R.A.,
I broke two things today:
1. The record for somersaults executed consecutively down the 3rd floor hallway.
and
2. Your wall.
Sorry,
Jack Danger”

It was really inspiring to see Jack break a record.

I knew another kid my freshman year who also tried to attempt an impressive hallway feat. The hallway was fairly narrow, and so this guy–let’s call him Chris Death–wanted to see if he could jump from one wall to the other and back while running down the hall (you know, Mario and Luigi type stuff). So Mr. Death takes off running down the hall. He makes a flying leap towards the first wall, extends his foot, and watches it plow through the sheet-rock. It was really cool. It wasn’t quite the Mario stunt he was going for, but ended up being a pretty rad ninja-kick-thing. After lifting himself off the ground, Chris moved one of the posters in the hall to cover up the hole. The R.A. didn’t find out for a week.

2. Roommates who want that Dave Matthews CD just a little too badly.

Some roommates will do anything for a Dave Matthews CD. Like, for instance, Jerry. Here’s Jerry’s story:

“My suitemates had a sweet computer that would burn CDs (this was the late 90’s when that was still an amazing concept) and was FULL of music they downloaded from the internet. I wanted to burn a Dave Matthews album to listen to on my way to the upcoming Dave and Tim Reynolds concert in Kentucky.

Well, Suitemate A had moral qualms about burning Dave Matthews music, even though he would rip, download, burn, and generally steal anything else. He felt that he and Dave has a special connection. He never let me burn the disc.

One weekend, Suitemates A & B go out of town on a debate trip and lock the door that joins their room to our shared bathroom. My roommate and I never locked our bathroom door, so we were a little offended by the gesture. We were also bored and so … of course … decided to break into their room and burn that coveted CD. We had to get the door off the hinges, which required borrowing some tools from our RA, who seemed to think the whole thing was pretty funny.

It’s Saturday night and we finally get the door off. I’m feeling smug because the debate trip lasts until Sunday night and here I am, burning the CD on their precious computer, about to re-hang the door and they’ll never know I was in there.

I’m watching the burn progress bar with their door leaning up against Suitemate A’s bed, when the door opens and I hear Suitemate B scream, “[DELETED]!?!” as I go bolting out of the room like an idiot. My roommate and I are laughing and trying to apologize at the same time. The RA is nowhere to be found.

(cc) Flickr user How can I recycle this

Our suitemates didn’t speak to us for days.

I know it was insane to come home to find your room in shambles with the door off the hinges, but we eventually made up and I still keep in touch with Suitemate B. I never found out why they came home a day early.”

3. Roommates who are desperate for phone numbers.

I had a summer roommate who had to finish one short class before heading home to Wisconsin, where he would begin school there the next semester. On the last day of his mini-term, I returned to the apartment to find he had moved out. So far so good. A few nights later, I wanted a pizza delivered. I went for the phone book by the phone, but it was gone. I went for the phone book that I kept on my desk. Gone. I remembered we had a phone book in the junk drawer. Also gone. He took all three of my local phone books with him when he went home, 900 miles away.

Sounds like he was just playing a prank, right? But if I know him like I think I do, there’s a good chance he thought he would need all three phone books in Wisconsin.

4. Roommates who create awkward situations with tour groups.

(cc) Flickr user Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline

One day, as I was staring intently at my computer screen, probably watching YouTube or something, I heard a knock at the door: “Hey, I’ve got a tour group, do you mind if we check out your room?” This would happen on occasion. Tour groups would show up in our dorm building, and if anybody was in the rooms, the tour guide would ask if it would be okay to have a look.

I didn’t mind, so I opened the door and the tour group began to file in. Suddenly, in unison, the group gasped and with extreme disgust began to turn away from something in the back of the room. (You should understand, I had an L shaped room, and from the place I was, I couldn’t see what was back in the corner.) I leaned over to discover my roommate, Stan, sitting atop his bed in the nude. He just sat there, smiling and naked, watching the tour group run from the room.

5. Famous Roommates

• Speaking of crazy roommates, did you know that Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow shared an apartment in LA for a while? (They spent the majority of their time making prank phone calls together. Some of the footage appears in the opening minutes of Funny People.)
• Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones lived together at Harvard. I can’t imagine the insanity that must have ensued.
• Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman shared a Manhattan apartment in the ‘60s. At one point Robert Duvall lived with them as well.
• Marilyn Monroe and Shelley Winters shared a bedroom as acting students at the Hollywood Studio Club.

What kind of roommate do you have?

If they’re the crazy kind, stay tuned for some pranks you can pull on them.

In alphabetical order, we are…

Casey

1. The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis – One of C.S. Lewis’s lesser known works, but excellent nonetheless.  Theology + Science-fiction = Total Awesomeness!
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Including the Hobbit) by J.R.R. Tolkien – Tolkien was a genius!  The movies were favorites as well.
3. David Copperfield by Dickens -  I love to despise Uriah Heep.
4. The Chronciles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis – The part with Aslan on the stone table gets me every time.
5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey – This book has had a great impact on our family’s mission.

David

1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – Both touching and deeply disturbing, witty and brilliantly composed.
2. The Body: An Essay by Jenny Boully – This clever, book-length essay is composed entirely of footnotes.
3. White Noise by Don Delillo – A professor of Hitler Studies grapples with his fear of death.
4. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger – A thought-provoking novel composed almost entirely of dialogue.
5. The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl – A collection of fascinating, shocking, and very disturbing short stories.

Honorable Mentions: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Kris

1. Cinderella, all versions, though I grew up on Charles Perrault’s with the pumpkin and glass slipper. I haven’t read it in a while but read Perrault’s version enough in my first twelve years of life to make up for the last sixteen.
2. Phantastes: A Faerie Romance by George MacDonald
3. The Hobbit. First read in 5th grade and, oh, I still live and taste it.
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
5. 101 Famous Poems Edited by Roy Cook. This is my “bathroom book” and I have read each poem dozens of times; both in and out of the privy

Lou

1. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks. An awesome series of 21 fantasy novels. All of which I read in about 6 months, twice, before I read #2 below.
2. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien. No other comments needed here. Obviously, the Lord of the Rings closely followed…my precious!
3. War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells. Terrific book, terrible 2005 Tom Cruise movie!
4. The Time Machine, H. G. Wells. Are you starting to see a pattern here?
5. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, Richard Carlson. Simple ways to keep the little things from taking over your life. The anti-OCD!

Honorable Mention: Rules of The Red Rubber Ball, Kevin Carroll. Kevin was the creative catalyst for Nike. What a job!! This guy could make Archie Bunker cheer.

Luke

In order of publication:

1. Essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Hard to choose only one, but Self-Reliance is a good place to start.
2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce. What style!
3. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. A great story, well told.
4. The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis. A surprising little book that might blow your mind.
5. Hyperion, Dan Simmons. Technically Sci-fi but as terrible and awe-inspiring as anything in the Bible.

Honorable Mention: Not a book, but Barry Hannah’s story “Constant Pain in Tuscaloosa” (Airships) is the finest short study of voice and human complexity in the English language.

Nicole

1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess — Questions of free will; beautifully written with unique forms of speech created by Burgess: Nadsat!
2. Stiff by Mary Roach — Wonderful Non-fiction regarding cadavers and science! Mary Roach writes science wonderfully with humor.
3. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov — Comically narrated by Humbert Humbert and VERY controversial.
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley — He seriously wrote this in 1931!! Amazingly written and some SCARY science fiction.
5. The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block – I am a huge fan on FLB and I adore her style of writing; you can feel her words.

You

Our favorite Fool of all. What are your favorite books?

The funniest and most trenchant rebuttal (or perhaps clarification) comes from Carl Pyrdum, a professor in Georgia, who explains why professors are not entirely to blame for the sad state of affairs. As a former teacher at a University myself, I share his frustration with the current system:

Meanwhile, the bookstore requires professors to jump through insane hoops to submit their book orders. Usually, they want the orders three months before you knew for sure your class was going to make.

BookFool’s response is simple: Give students information and options and let them make a decision based on their needs. That’s why we give them a second opinion on their used book values and automatically compare prices on books they buy online. This won’t solve all the textbook problems, but it’s our little way of helping students take charge of their textbook needs.

Chapter 2: How to be a Roommate

By: David, Intern to the Stars

Headphones: Good for everybody. (cc) Flickr user AndYaDontStop

I have found that it is in your best interest to be a good roommate. Often by being a good roommate, you will encourage your roomie to do the same, thereby creating an atmosphere of mutual goodness crucial to enjoying dorm life. During my freshman year, this is the kind of relationship I had with my roommate. We never really spoke, aside from the occasional “where are the paper towels?” but the mutual respect made dorm life quite pleasant.

Of course, there are other times when one might prefer to be a bad roommate. For instance, being a bad roommate can be the perfect passive-aggressive approach to convincing your roommate to move out.

Good roommates shower (cc) Flickr user dotbenjamin

I have three friends–let’s call them the powderpuff girls–who used this approach quite successfully. The powderpuffs were living in a suite-style dorm, which means two rooms are connected by one bathroom. Thus, one dorm room has four occupants, rather than just two.

These three girls requested to live together but were placed with another girl they didn’t know. They wanted to get rid of that girl. So they each played the “bad roommate” card (see the second list below). The fourth wheel simply couldn’t take living with three bad roommates and moved out. I’m not saying it was right, but it was a great victory for the powderpuffs.

Because different situations call for different responses, I have created two lists. The first will help you to be a good roommate. The second will provide tips on being a bad roommate. Use the one that suits you best.

How to Be a Good Roommate:

1. Shower. Body odor is generally quite undesirable in a roommate.
2. Do your laundry. The reasoning behind this is similar to the reasoning in #1.
3. Buy some headphones. When sharing a room, headphones not only provide an escape from the noise of your roommate, but they also prevent you from being the obnoxious noise maker.
4. Learn the appropriate time and place for long and intense telephone conversations. Hint: your dorm room is not the place and the middle of the night is not the time.
5. Smile. But not too much. That would be weird.
6. Wash your dishes rather than leaving them in the sink or elsewhere to attract bugs and create foul stenches.
7. Take out the trash on occasion.
8. Plan to go out of town every now and then.
9. Try not to wake up Roomsie when you come in late.
10. Don’t tell your roommate when you begin to notice their “freshman 15” happening.

How to Be a Bad Roommate:

Significant others make bad roommates. (cc) Flickr user Elmo Alves

1. Get a boyfriend or girlfriend.
2. Spend the majority of your time in the dorm talking sappy with your significant other. This can take place either over the telephone or in person.
3. Borrow your roommate’s stuff, specifically food items and hygiene products.
4. Party hard. Every night.
5. Invite someone to move in with you for a while.
6. Secretly tell your RA whenever your roommate breaks a dorm rule.
7. If your clothes are dirty, feel free to wear your roommate’s.
8. Follow your roomie when he/she leaves the room.
9. If you break something that belongs to your roommate, quickly hide or dispose of it.
10. During times of boredom, read your roommate’s mail or journal.

The Freed Hardeman Fool Crew @ Besso's

Buying for Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State at Dino's Main Street Cafe

Buying at the excellent Underground Coffeehouse in Searcy, AR. FUN FACT: Two of the full-time Fools attended Harding Univ. in Searcy.

Buying at Something Brewing in Conway, Arkansas

Getting Foolish with the water bottles at Hendrix.

Books at Dino's Main Street Cafe

Foolin' it up at NACC, Rainsville, AL

Making it rain in Searcy!!

Buying at Freed Hardeman. FUN FACT: One of our Fool's parents went to FHU.

And finally, a short video from our visit to Calhoun Community College in Tanner, AL:

Chapter 1: The History of the Dorm

By: David, Intern to the Stars

Let us begin with the most fundamental question: What is a dorm?

According to Dictionary.com, “dorm” is an informal version of the term “dormitory.” Gee, thanks! Let’s move to a more legitimate source of internet knowledge, UrbanDictionary.com, which defines “dorm” as:

A bedroom, living room, and kitchen in a space about the size of most walk-in closets. Roommate included free of charge.

Though UrbanDictionary slightly overstates the dorm’s amenities (in particular the use of the word “kitchen”), I find this definition to be satisfactory. The standard dorm room will generally come equipped with a leaky sink, cracked mirror, two beds, two desks, two chairs, and maybe a closet or two. If you get lucky (or maybe unlucky, as we will discuss in a later chapter), there might be a bathroom attached to your dorm room. Dorm rooms are probably most comparable to prison cells but dirtier and with doors instead of bars.

Just when did dorm become a four-letter word?

(cc) Flickr user Randy OHC

The tradition began centuries ago with monks, who referred to their dorm rooms as “cells,” hence the similarity between dorm rooms and prison. (Both would develop out of the monastic tradition). As in modern universities, monastic dormitories consisted of a single building containing many cells. Amenities such as the kitchen and lavatory were shared by the monks. Due to their focus on solitude, monks usually did not receive a free roommate with admission to their dorm. (Bummer!)

Higher-level education developed out of their monasticism and brought with it the tradition of “dorm cells.” Over time, schools would begin packing as many kids into each cell as could possibly fit. And that is where we’re at now. A bunch of college kids pretending to be monks.

Some schools today, such as the University of Oregon, do not have “dorms,” but instead have “residence halls.”  A residence hall is a more uppity version of a dormitory, which provides not only a place to live, but also a place to grow. Oregon’s website describes the difference as follows:

Monk's have the best dorms. (cc) Flickr user Ivan Marcialis

The terms “residence hall” and “dorm” are often used interchangeably; however, there is a difference between the two. An important objective of residence halls at the University of Oregon is to provide not just a place to sleep, but also opportunities for personal and educational growth. Highly trained Residence Life staff and Hall Government officers support this objective by creating engaging activities and programs in each hall or complex. At the University of Oregon, we are proud to say you’ll be living in a residence hall.

Though the opportunities for personal and educational growth offered through Oregon’s “residence halls” are clearly more desirable than the mere living space offered in the “dorms” of most schools, the analysis of “residence halls” will not be discussed in this course. For more on residence halls consider taking Residence Hallology 101. It’s sure to be a thrill.

That’s all the time we have for today, but stay tuned for Chapter 2: How to Be a Roommate.

And unless you live in a “residence hall” in Oregon, remember to thank the early monks the next time you walk into your dorm. For more on the history of the dorm, check out Time Magazine’s Evolution of the College Dorm Photo Essay.

Fancy residence halls at the Univ. of Oregon

When Erin contacted us to discuss our side of the story, I put some thoughts on paper about how we do what we do. It’s a little long, but it may be a view into BookFool that you haven’t seen before. First, her questions. Then, my PR-ey responses.

1) How does BookFool work?

BookFool’s model is unique in that we cut out the wholesalers and middlemen altogether. We set up shop inside local small businesses and buy our books directly from students, selling them on the national used market at the beginning of the next semester. This means that we don’t care if the book is being used at your campus again. If it’s still used anywhere in the world, we can probably buy it from you.

At Vanderbilt last year, we had a student bring us 100 old, out-of-date textbooks to price. The bookstore would not buy them and the local wholesaler had offered him $76 and three free burritos. His jaw hit the floor when we told him we could offer him over $400 for all of them. Alas, we couldn’t give him any free burritos, but I don’t think he minded!

2) How do you determine the asking price? Generally, what are your mark ups?

Because we do not have to satisfy a gauntlet of middlemen, we can pay very close to a book’s current value on the national market. Many students find that once they factor in the cost and hassle of selling online (including 15% marketplace commissions and multiple trips to the Post Office), they can actually get a better deal from BookFool than if they sold it online themselves. And they get it in Cash!

When it’s time to buy your books, our site, BookFool.com, will show you the cheapest used copies at all the major used marketplaces. If we can’t give you the best deal on a used book, we want to empower you find the best price yourself.

3. What sets you apart from a traditional campus bookstore? Why might you be the better option?

Your campus bookstore is only concerned with buying books for your campus. If they don’t need a book next semester, they will either refuse to buy it or will offer you an insultingly low “wholesale price” and pass the book along to a wholesaler.

At BookFool, we buy for ourselves and sell on the national used market, not to some middleman who takes a cut. We partner with local small businesses to host our buybacks, which means these local shops get increased foot traffic, students get a better deal on their books, and the local economy gets a much-needed cash infusion. It’s a win-win-win!

4. In your mission statement you talk about how being recent students affects the way you do business. Can you elaborate on that?

As students ourselves, we felt how powerless we were in the face of the mega-conglomerates who run campus bookstores. Because many campus bookstores had no competition until the online used market matured, their buyback attitude was often “take it or leave it…NEXT IN LINE!” BookFool is using technology to put power back in the hands of the students.

For students, just having BookFool as an option causes your campus bookstore to reevaluate their prices. We also never pressure students to sell if they’re not comfortable with a price. Students are always free to compare prices online, at the bookstore, and elsewhere, and we welcome them back if they decide we can offer them the best deal.

5. How have you marketed to students?

Word of mouth is our best friend. We use Social Media and traditional advertising methods to alert students to our coming and then let them take it from there. Once the word is out, it’s all about giving students a great deal.

6. In general, what effect do you see the price of textbooks having on students and the textbook industry?

Textbooks are expensive, no doubt about it. Many publishers look to digital textbooks as their savior, but we have yet to see a digital solution that actually costs less and put students’ needs first.

Having options is at the heart of our Capitalist economy. As long as students need books, BookFool will work to empower students with options. This means engaging with professors, student government associations, and students themselves to find solutions that respect everyone’s needs.

7. When will you be back by Cosmic Connections again this December?

Cosmic Connections is an amazing place to hold a buyback. Katherine and her staff have welcomed us there for years, and we plan to maintain this partnership for many years to come. This semester’s buyback at Cosmic Connections happens on Dec. 9-12 and 14-17, from 8am to 6pm. After buyback season, we’re always buying online at http://bookfool.com/sell

Thank you for including us in the discussion, Erin.

This video was shot a few nights ago when we were all working late.

A warehouse this cheap is one way we pass great savings on to you.

I had the burger, which was hot off the grill and hit the … well … spot. I haven’t had a shake yet, but I hear they’re good enough to make you want to move to Cleveland so you can have ‘em every day.

The Spot buyback serves students from Lee University, Cleveland State Community College, and other area campuses. See the details on our LOCATIONS page.

Here are a few pics from my visit. If you haven’t been to The Spot, what are you waiting for?! They also now serve breakfast.

I stitched this together myself! Can you tell?

Buying a few books

Come by for a second opinion on your used textbooks!

The Spot crew, from their website: spotrestaurant.com