From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

 Most new bookdealers burn out within three years...

[Satnrose]

[gretchenfetchinsllc]

There are differences in the two city's cuisines, for sure. The only copies of these books I've seen outside of shops in the region are in our library and NFS.

Come to think of it, I seldom see either of them when scouting in the region, and I've been doing that for 10 years or more. 

Every "spec" book ever published for a construction project out to bid is comb bound. Some of them may have some collector value: I imagine that the spec books for the World Trade Center would bring a decent price. Most serious prospecti are comb bound as well. 

We get box loads of church and other group cookbooks, as well as piles of advertising cook books (pillbury and so forth) that are comb bound. None are printed on. Some have "Sharpie" notes on the spine.

[lludwig]

As booksellers we know that using "antique" or "vintage" to describe a book is a no-no. However, I have found an exception to the rule in the case of cookbooks. About a year ago I was reading an article in a magazine. It had caught my eye because it was about a woman's cookbook collection and she said that she liked to collect "vintage" recipes and "vintage cookbooks." In the past I had been using the word "old-fashioned" in my ebay title as in "old-fashioned recipes." The article made me reconsider the use of "vintage" in the case of cookbooks since that is the 'lingo' that the collectors used.  I did a check and found that vintage was much more likely to used by cookbook sellers. I decided to give it a try and found that my older cookbooks, especially the regional and community cookbooks, received many more views and sold faster when they had the word vintage in the title.

I use the cut-off date of the mid-1970s to what I consider to be vintage for cookbooks - before the microwave was commonplace in homes and cookbooks had microwave receipes.

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

For older cookbooks consider using the word "vintage" in the ebay title.

If there is not enough space for vintage, the abbreviation VTG in the ebay title will work. When a buyer enters "vintage" in the search, listings with VTG in the title line will turn up too.

[lludwig]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

There is no better dictionary than the Oxford English Dictionary [OED], especially for sources.

I was once in a tiny alcove off the Reading Room of the Library of Congress when I listened in on a conversation between a burly suit and a little old feisty lady. She was ranting about how she could find the origin of a computer word and he was making suggestions on where to look. Finally, I couldn't contain myself any longer and said to her, "Pardon me, but why don't you look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary?"

And she said to me in an arch manner of which only the English are capable:
"Young man, that is for whom I work!"

[Satnrose]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

When in doubt, ask.

There may be a limit to what you understand or what you can research. The Book Sellers Board, as a whole, has tremendous resources at its disposal. And many are eager to help.....

....but sometimes no one has the answer right away, so don't be afraid to ask again later....

[Satnrose]

[lludwig]

In regard to my statement in my post of ?12-29-2014, "I've sold over 80 Junior League cookbooks and except for one they all had the name on the plastic comb spine."

I need to correct that statement to "Without exception, all of the 80+ Junior League cookbooks that I have sold had professional printing on the spine." I sold the one that I thought didn't have printing on the spine but in taking it off the shelf realized it did. I just couldn't see it in my photo. One interesting Junior League cookbook that I have sold the first printing and now have the fourth printing listed has illustrated covers on both sides. The front of both of mine has people having a picnic at a big table under the trees with the name of the cookbook and the back cover shows a boy with a fishing rod but no printing at all. Wwhen I looked at the River and some copies on ebay, the front cover with the printed title was the boy with the fishing rod! Since I have owned both the first printing and the fourth printing, either those are much later printings that for some reason the Junior League went to the expense of reversing the covers or maybe two different printers were used and one used one cover as the front and the other used the other as the front.

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Don't be afraid to go head-to-head with the experts

First of all, I don't believe in experts,
only in levels of expertise.

If you're right and they're wrong, stand your ground.
Don't allow yourself to be intimidated.
If you're proven wrong, take it with grace.

There are a number of things in this business that can never be definitively settled, such as the authenticity of an autograph or a work of art. Opinions are not proof, and authority may be generally accepted, but false.

[Satnrose]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Booksellers' Hints . . .

Eventually, every bookseller will have his or her day in the sun. Knowledgeable booksellers have nice tans.

[Midnightbooks]

[lludwig]

In the hint below it mentions that a family member may want a book because another family member owned it at one time. Although not quite on target, I recently sold a plastic comb cookbook to a person who had the same last name as the author. While the book itself is notable for several reasons, I think the person was willing to pay top dollar not only because of that as well as the fact that is was signed by the author, but because it was written by a possible family member. A family name that is unusual in the general population, but common in small pockets of people living in PA and Ohio which is where the book went. It is a book that I have sold many times, more often signed than not, and love finding. Now if only I could find the one she wrote for restaurants! A friend found a copy of that one at one of his local booksales, but he has the only copy that I know of - none on any of the services or other venues - a cookbook that is a rare bird.

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Any provenance established to a listed person increases the value of a book.

If you can identify the person[s] who owned the book and if they had any historical importance whatsoever, the price of the book goes up. But even if you can only identify it as "Hale Fallow [1818-1849], of Springfield Missouri" There may be a family member out there who would want that book because Hale owned it.

Local history is genealogy. Put the keyword "genealogy" in the Item Title. Local history books are desired not only by genealogists but also by writers doing research.

In B&M bookstores, pricing of genealogy books was generally low, $8-10. The bookseller knew that chances were slim of someone walking in the door who wanted that particular family tree book, but the book would "move" at the $10 price point.

When you see a Bible for sale, check for the manuscript genealogy, usually found just before the New Testament. If the genealogy is interesting, it can sell the book even if the Bible is in terrible condition. But most Bibles are overpriced, if you are considering reselling them.

The ability to research the value of a book has increased exponentially every year, now anyone can do it. The ability to do genealogical research has increased at a much much much much greater rate. It is now possible to do in one day what would have taken a year to do in the past.

If you understand the above genealogy hint, you will realize this is one of the most useful hints ever given.

Genealogy is the weakest point in 99% of the usedbookstores you enter. Most fail to do any genealogical research whatsoever.

....and don't spell it "geneology".

[Satnrose]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Use keywords.

The most valuable real estate on ebay is the ebay title. When creating an ebay title, use all of the spaces [80 characters].

If one is listing famous works of literature it is easy to just list the title of the book, the author and the illustrator is one in the ebay title. People looking for Gone With The Wind, Pride and Prejudice, or an illustrator will be using those words in their search. They know the exact title and author they are looking for but that is not always the case especially with non-fiction books.

Non-fiction books can get tricky because often times the title does not give a clue as to what the book is about and the author isn't that well known. Buyers may be looking for books about a subject but are not aware of the books written about the subject, especially if they are novices to the subject. That is when keywords in the ebay title become very important. It is up to you to find the unique selling point regardless of what the title of the book is.

For instance, I had a book called "Spanning the Gate" which was about the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was sitting in a pile when I realized that it was an anniversary Golden Gate Bridge so I decided to list it. I checked ebay and there were 5 other copies in similar condition, all of which had only the title and author in the ebay title. I listed mine with the keywords "GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE San Francisco California Construction Feat American History." It sold overnight. and now there are 10 copies sitting on the ebay shelf.

The keywords that I used would attract anyone who is interested in not only the Golden Gate Bridge but also the construction of it as well as the history of San Francisco and the history of California. Personally I don't think the title of book would have attracted any buyer in any of those subjects. Currently there are 10 copies sitting on the ebay shelf - most with only the title of "Spanning the Gate", a few with the author's name and a few with Golden Gate. None have sold recently.

A different approach to keywords in the title is often needed depending on what type of book is being sold. What works for literature won't always work with non-fiction. What works for art and photography books won't always work for cookbooks or hobby books.

[Lludwig]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

SECOND OR THIRD PRINTING BEFORE PUBLICATION

On books that the publisher knows will be bestsellers, they order their best guess on how many to run. It may be over a million for books like Stephen King. Of course it takes a little while to manufacture that many. In the meantime, some major book retailer (like Barnes and Noble) decides they want to do a special promotion and they order more. So even before the publication date, a reprint takes place.

[Mever, a bookbinder]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

On vintage paperbacks (loosely 1939-1960), the traditional term has been lamination, or "lam" for short. There are several condition factors as the term has generally been used with paperbacks:

lam lift -- the lamination is complete and intact, but lifted towards the edges of the book; e.g. lam lift at edges.

lam peel -- usually at the edges, bits and pieces of the lam are missing, like small chips, nicks, or thin strips. It can be more severe with lots of the lam peeled away. (Definitely a negative).

Many sellers peel away unsightly or loose lamination. They rarely say so in their listings. If the book was issued with lamination, a fine copy must have the lam intact. It is difficult to figure out which vintage pbs were issued with lam and which were not.

A related note. When the cover is pulled back from the page edges (cover pull-back), it is often caused by poor glue. But a related theory is that the lam was too tight. This can also cause the edges of the covers to turn up slightly.

[Psthomas]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Don't get snippy with buyers who ask questions.

What may seem like a silly question to you, may be asked for a very good reason. Many sellers don't include all relevant information in an auction or don't express it clearly. Buyers typically don't know you, your level of competence, or your practices - so they must ask questions to clarify or learn what to them may be essential information.

A snippy reply alienates a buyer and is just plain rude.

(Yes, I did receive a snippy reply from a seller. lol)

 [Blackarrowbooks]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Make as much profit as possible
without being greedy.

If you buy a book for $1.00 and you sell it for $10, then you made a profit of $9.00, right???
Wrong.
Your costs are your time and effort, your transportation, computer, shipping and handling, storage, research, rent, etc., etc.

Psthomas once pointed out that too much success would spoil his business: If he sold 100 paperbacks a day [his specialty], he would spend all of his time packing and shipping them, and wouldn't have time to buy more.

The formula for an open bookstore is 1-to-4. For every dollar spent on books, you must have four dollars in sales. This is barely the break-even point, and yet if you were to explain that to the ordinary citizen off the street who has come to sell their books, they would think that you're cheating them.

One of the most downheartening things to do is to watch the buyer of a store deal with the dozens of people bringing in tons of near worthless books to liquidate. When people are practically throwing books away to get you to buy them, why should you pay real money for anything?

The number one problem with any book business, is how to deal with the bottom end of your stock. I'm sure we've all been in bookstores that are loaded to the gills with junk. I'm certain you've seen stores packed with mediocre books that are just a little bit overpriced and won't move. A bookstore that is forced to have a drastic sale is a business that has failed to grasp the idea behind the pricing formula.

Here's my version of it:

Give away the cheap stuff [or price it so low, it's got to go]
Price the inexpensive cheap
....the middle inexpensive
....the very good middle
....the top over the top.

[Satnrose]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Push the envelope.

You don't have to follow the prices of other dealers. Quite often they are wrong. Just because someone rents space on the listing services, doesn't make them a knowledgable bookseller. No bookseller can know everything. No bookseller knows the right price for every book. Sometimes, after you've been in the business a while, you become the specialist in your field. You become the one that others refer to. Your prices become the ones to watch.

[Gruetzmacher]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Try to understand your book's value in terms other than its dollar value. What is its cultural value? scientific value? aesthetic value? historical value? etc etc etc.

Answering questions like that can help a lot in determining the monetary value. Obviously that's not the only criteria; there's also the supply-and-demand factor. That's where the research comes in.

I've noticed that the sellers who realize the best prices are those who obviously have taken the time to get familiar with their stock and are able to describe knowledgably the content of their offerings.

[Bookbiz]

[lludwig]

From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .

Sometimes you need to take a day off just to get some fresh perspective.

[Ctbooks]