RACE TO SELL SIGNED COPIES OF CLINTON BOOK REWARDS BOOKSELLERS ON
ABEBOOKS.COM

Copies of Clinton Book "My Life" Bounce Between $20 and $499 Online

(Victoria BC - June 24, 2004) - Booksellers are selling signed copies of
Bill Clinton's biography "My Life" on AbeBooks.com as quickly as the
ex-president signs them--and buyers are snapping them up for $499.

"Signed copies appearing on AbeBooks.com are selling extremely fast,”
explains Lisa Stevens, AbeBooks Director of Marketing. "Our tracking shows
that customers are coming to the site every few minutes to see if another
signed copy has shown up for sale."

David Ezell, the New York City bookseller with Idlewild Media, was the first
to list--and sell--a signed copy of "My Life" on AbeBooks.com just minutes
after Clinton's first signing in New York on Tuesday June 22. He has since
listed additional signed copies: "It's all I've been doing for the past 24
hours--going to Clinton signings."

In addition to signed copies, Ezell is offering ephemera given out at the
signings including a Clinton Trivia Quiz, a list of "rules" from the event
in Harlem, and photos of Clinton. "You weren't allowed to point anything at
him, so I took photos as he appeared on the security cameras that filmed the
signing."

The moving price for signed copies of "My Life" demonstrates how quickly
sellers can change prices to react to market demand. (At the other end of
the market, prices for unsigned, new copies were moving in the opposite
direction: new copies of "My Life" were originally listed for $33 on
AbeBooks.com but were selling for $20 by late Wednesday as sellers raced to
undercut each other.)

Ezell figures he priced his signed copies conservatively at US$499: "I had a
ballpark feeling and have been watching the signing market for some time. I
spoke to friends I respect in the book selling business, and got their
opinion too. But these signed copies are selling so fast that I might take
it up a hundred dollars. When I see something move that quickly I have to
think about pricing differently."

Ezell adds, "Besides, Clinton is no Janet Evanovich. He's not going to be
coming around with another book in a couple of months. There are a finite
amount of books out there."

Some of AbeBooks' 12,000 booksellers predict prices for signed copies of "My
Life" may drop. Phillip Bevis of Arundel Books in Seattle explains: "When
you're talking about collectible books it's an entirely emotive purchase, so
any price is possible. On the other hand, considering Clinton's signing
schedule, the supply of signed copies will be huge compared to truly rare
signatures of ex-presidents like McKinley or Kennedy."

Some specialty booksellers on AbeBooks.com are listing "My Life" as an
experiment. Cristina Creveling of University Press Books in Berkeley doesn't
anticipate a rush from her usual buyers: "We're a speciality seller for
scholarly books, so it's just fun to sell some copies, even though Clinton
won't come close to our big seller of 2003, a book about a Greek scholar,
"Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life" by A.A. Long."

Signed copies of "My Life" are also appearing for sale on auction sites but
Stevens believes serious bookbuyers prefer buying fixed priced books: "Some
people enjoy the thrill of the chase that comes with a bidding war, but
most want to see an item's 'right price' and purchase it without waiting to
see if they will be overbid. Even though prices may change on AbeBooks.com,
we offer the world's largest fixed price marketplace for books, rather than
an auction environment."

The race for independent booksellers and individuals to profit from selling
signed copies of "My Life" online has not eroded the thrill of acquiring
such books. Ezell points out: "I'm keeping one signed copy for myself,
because I'm a collector as well as a seller, and when I see something that
beautiful I have to keep it. Also, there's a lot of sweat equity invested in
getting these books."

About AbeBooks
AbeBooks is the world’s largest online marketplace for books. AbeBooks makes
it simple and safe to find and buy—or list and sell—books online. Bookbuyers
love the variety of over 50 million new, used, rare, and out-of-print books
offered by more than 12,000 independent booksellers. Booksellers love
AbeBooks for providing tools to help them succeed online, including options
for selling via strategic partners (Amazon, Barnes & Noble), and four global
sites (AbeBooks.com, AbeBooks.co.uk, AbeBooks.de, AbeBooks.fr). AbeBooks is
a private company based in Victoria, BC Canada, with offices in Düsseldorf,
Germany.

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Contacts
Richard Davies, PR & Publicity Mgr., AbeBooks.com
Ph: 250-412-3238
rdavies@abebooks.com