YOU'VE just heard that your favourite writer's new book is out, and you have to read it. You call a bookshop to see if they've got it but the line is engaged. So you go to the store and are greeted by a sales assistant who says they don't have it yet and won't for a while.
But there's now an alternative to such frustrating expeditions for those hooked into the Internet, the information superhighway accessed by personal computer and used by an estimated 50 million people worldwide. Users log on to the Internet, type in the address of one of the 15 bookshops available on line and, day or night, start browsing.
The largest electronic store, by far, is the Internet Book Shop (IBS) based in Oxford, England, with access to 783,000 titles or 19 kilometres of virtual shelves from the catalogues of 34 publishers including Penguin, Reed Books, Oxford University Press and Heinemann, and the complete Whitaker's Books in Print bibliographic listing. The next largest store, in the United States, has 250,000 titles.
Typically, you type in the title of the book or the name of the author, or both, then click the Search option. Seconds later, an image of the book's jacket, a summary of the book's contents and its price appear on the screen. That's when you click the Buy option and fill in an on-screen order form.
Payment for the book and postage is made by credit card. Before buying you must give your credit card details and mailing address to bookshop staff by telephone or fax for security reasons. The IBS gives you a pin number and membership card.
Back at IBS' head office, where there are no books, your order is received and charged to your credit card, then routed to a bookshop for supply, with IBS taking a five per cent cut. Expect your book to arrive in a week to 10 days, wherever you are in the world. If it doesn't, blame the postal system.
