The 'Next Big Thing' for BookSense.com

At the meeting of the BookSense.com Users Group on Friday, June 1, at BookExpo America, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos and other members of the BookSense.com team discussed some of the e-commerce site's newest features, as well as several planned enhancements.

The "Next Big Thing," said Vlahos, is the site's eventual migration to Plone, an open source software that will allow for a much more nimble and dynamic BookSense.com.

"Booksellers will have much more control of the look and feel of their websites, and they will have a much quicker deployment of new feature sets," he explained.

Vlahos also told the audience that BookSense.com will be launching a Wiki, or a user generated content page, in the coming weeks. Users will then be able to collectively create a page, akin to Wikipedia pages, on various topics.

Several of BookSense.com's newest features were reviewed at the meeting, including the "browse sample pages" option for Random House and Harper Collins titles, and eBooks, which can be downloaded to a consumer's computer and/or handheld device via all BookSense.com templated websites. If a bookseller's site is currently able to handle wholesaler fulfillment, it is able to sell eBooks, which can be paid for with gift cards or credit cards.

BookSense.com is also currently increasing its storage capacity to 1.3 terabytes, which will allow for the ability to podcast as well as display larger book jacket images.