10-30-2014 09:28 AM - edited 10-30-2014 09:31 AM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
Most new bookdealers burn out within three years...
[Satnrose]
02-25-2015 08:30 AM
oldbookshopnj - Thanks for the update. As you know many of the hints are a decade old or more, so updates, deletions, corrections, additions are always welcomed.
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
When describing a signature in a book,
make absolutely clear what it is.
Sample terms:
Signed/autographed/flatsigned by the author.
Signed and inscribed by the author.
Inscribed by the author but not signed.
Ownership signature.
Owner's gift inscription.
Unknown/indecipherable signature.
Signed on the:
front pastedown endpaper.
front free endpaper.
half-title.
fly leaf.
title page.
dedication page.
first page of text.
In your keywords, include all variations:
signature.
signed.
inscribed.
inscription.
autograph.
autographed.
It is useful to include the full name of the signature even when it's not the author, for a variety of reasons:
genealogical interest,
same name as buyer,
or it may be important for reasons you haven't discovered.
[if the signature includes the town, include that too]
[Satnrose]
02-25-2015 04:16 PM
oldbookshopnj - Thanks for the update. As you know many of the hints are a decade old or more, so updates, deletions, corrections, additions are always welcomed.
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
Buy the iffy.....
....every now and then you'll be surprised....
[Satnrose]
02-28-2015 09:40 AM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
When a university press publishes a book in paperback and hardcover simultaneously, it means they are aiming the book at the general public market as well the scholars.
03-03-2015 08:35 AM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
Work within what eBay is, not with what eBay was, or what you WISH eBay were.
[Hollowayd]
03-08-2015 12:34 PM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
The best use of an education is to learn how to educate yourself. You don't have to go to college for that, but it helps....
.....and the bookbusiness is a constantly renewed education. If you aint learning something new everyday, you're doing it wrong.
[Satnrose]
03-09-2015 04:18 PM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
Your profit is in your leftovers.
Selling the best stuff gets you back up to the breakeven point and then all the rest of your money is tied up in **bleep**.
If the FOL sells all books for a buck apiece, eventually the shelves will be full of unsellable books.
If you don't work the lower end as hard as you work the upper end, you will eventually be overwhelmed by a sea of carp.
[Satnrose]
03-12-2015 07:35 AM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
Don't compromise the fabulous.
If you ever get something that is truly great, top-of-the-line, unique, outstanding, the nth degree; then sell it at the uppermost price and don't back off.
When it comes to the best- build it up and they will come.....
[Satnrose]
03-14-2015 01:48 AM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
There is a proper venue for every book.
That is to say, there is a place where a particular book will sell best. But it's not always obvious.
blueridgebooks had a copy of THE SUN ALSO RISES in a dustjacket that I would have considered to be seriously defective. But eBay was the best venue for it. It sold for over $24,000 here. It would not have sold for near as much in any other venue.
Suitable venues for books, but not in any particular order:
eBay auctions
eBay shops
ABE
half.com
Alibris
Amazon z-shops
Amazon marketplace
Amazon auctions
Yahoo and the others
book auctions
country auctions
antiques auctions
book fairs
yard sales
book stores
antique/consignment malls
book catalogs
art auctions
speciality website auctions ["trade sites"]
speciality web pages
etc.
[Satnrose]
[Note: Some of the aforementioned venues may no longer exist.]
03-16-2015 02:17 PM - edited 03-16-2015 02:18 PM
From the Collected Works of Booksellers Hints . . .
Sometimes you can quickly determine if the copy of a book you have is from the year of its original appearance by looking at the publisher's imprint.
Timelines for two major publishers:
Harper:
1817: founded as J & J Harper
1833: Harper & Brothers
1962: Harper & Row
1990: HarperCollins
Doubleday:
1897: founded as Doubleday
1900: Doubleday, Page
1927: Doubleday, Doran
1946: Doubleday & Company
[Oldbookshopnj]
03-16-2015 03:16 PM
A minor correction: Doubleday and McClure was formed in 1897. This was S.S. McClure, publisher of McClure's Magazine. At the time Frank Nelson Doubleday was vice president of the S.S. McClure Co., and McClure instructed him to form the subsidiary publisher. They didn't get along, however, and Doubleday dissolved it at the end of 1899, taking one of McClure's editors, Walter Hines Page, with him and launching Doubleday, Page and Co. in early 1900.
03-16-2015 04:31 PM
bookthink - Thanks. The omission of McClure most likely was my fault. In my notes the 1897 Doubleday had a comma after it which I thought was odd. 99.99 percent of the time I don't change anything in a post by another but the comma looked so odd that I deleted it when posting the hint. It is possibe that when I originally copied the hint McClure was there but some how was deleted leaving just a comma.
03-16-2015 04:39 PM
Probably my fault in writing the original listing.
03-18-2015 08:59 AM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
eBay is more important to the bookbusiness,
than the bookbusiness is to eBay
[Satnrose]
03-19-2015 04:54 AM
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
The usedbookbusiness is in a constant state of change. If you can't adapt, you're out....
[Satnrose]
03-19-2015 09:02 AM
Very timely with eBay's new media fee structure being released this week.