discription for books

[kokoek9]

hi I sell mostly books and i am new to selling books. Question what do you put in for a discription for books you know nothing about. Tanks

Mike

[chapeau-noir]

@kokoek9  You can always just take details from the back cover, etc. I wouldn't use the ISBN catalog as that often has incorrect entries.

Book condition you can evaluate yourself.

[john_wade]

Put in plenty of pictures including a picture of the title page and date and the copyright page. Also, include a picture of the cover or dust jacket and any pictures in the book.  Take pictures of the foreword, table of contents and table of illustrations. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

Do yourself a favor and do a little research on some titles you have. Look them up on eBay take a look at completed sales (sort from high to low) and peruse a few of them to see what has worked in the past. Not only will you get an idea of what works for others, you also will get an idea of selling prices.

-Good luck

[stainlessenginecovers]

Selling a book has to do with the 'condition' 'printing' (1st Edition), author signed? (if it was) etc....

and not necessarily what 'it's about'. 

People 'looking' at your listing will know what it's about, who wrote it etc. 

[lux.ra_14]

OP should just ask AI.

Looked at several listings, and they're all AI.

Makes the question moot, unless OP is planning to rewrite and augment the artifical babble.

[kokoek9]

thats what I do when I sell single but I have found thatLots are easier to list and I have sell good as well. Now I am listing mostly lots

[tobaccocardyahoo]

With the separate condition description and the increase in mandatory item specifics there is less than there used to be needed in the description. Hence the AI fluff appears more often, It really is awful but maybe as a book lover, I neither need nor want this dribble, human generated or AI generated.

I tend to put a complete or incomplete citation of the book in the description much of the time - author, title, publisher, publication date, edition and number of pages. Enough so a literate collector can read the information more quickly than they can navigate the item specifics.

Since I tend not to list fiction, recent non-fiction or textbooks my practices may not be in line with those who do.

I also add to my listings my personal opinions of the book when I want to share. I view the role of the bookseller as part merchant, part huckster, part literary critic and part advocate.

IMO the most important part of the listing is the condition, often followed by the images when the condition is difficult to convey. The description is often superfluous.

A note on First Editions. They are often the only edition of the book and for most books being a first does not increase the value of the book. The internet destroyed the price structure for Modern First Editions and it has never and will never recover. I am surprised there were not more book collector suicides.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@lux.ra_14 wrote:

OP should just ask AI.

Looked at several listings, and they're all AI.

Makes the question moot, unless OP is planning to rewrite and augment the artifical babble.

---

Yeah - I'm not sure that market is going to care much for the repetitive AI "must-have" fluff.

[m60driver]

Keep it simple in the title.  I just put in title, author's last name, and year of publication.  If there is still room in the title I will put in abbreviations for condition, and then perhaps for hardcover (HC) or softcover (SC).

[1786davycrockett]

@kokoek9 

The standard information to include is the complete book title; the author's (s)  complete name(s); the publisher; publication date; edition; page count; any special characteristics (such as illustrations; photographs; appendix; bibliography; introduction or foreword special for that printing; afterword special for that printing, etc.)

Also differentiate between hardcovers (with and without dust-jackets); mass market paperbacks; and trade paperbacks.  

You may also note if this is a book for adults, young adults, teens, grade-school, or younger children.

Differentiate between fiction and non-fiction.  If fiction, what is the genre (mystery; science fiction; thriller; action/adventure; romance; historical; sports; juvenile; children; western; and so on).  If non-fiction, what is the area of study (American history; European history; Asian history; Middle East history; military; reference; business; religion; sports; hobbies; studio arts; performing arts; biography; autobiography; science; philosophy; and so on).

It helps a great deal if you are more than just a casual reader.

As @chapeau-noir  has noted, avoid using an ISBN code, as the ISBN codes in the eBay catalog are largely useless, and contaminated with misinformation.

[pickapaper]

One of the tough things about books is the competition and I'm speaking mostly about "common" books.  There are some huge booksellers on eBay who sell books for $2.00 or $3.00 with free shipping.  It's hard to compete with that.  For example, I looked at your listing for James Patterson's  "Alex Cross" for $12.43 with F/S.  eBay shows "similar items" on your listing showing several copies of that book for about one-third of your price.  Those mega-sellers do the volume so they can live with that but you have to decide if you can compete with their prices and it still be worth your while.  

I sell some books but always check completed listings to see if what I have is worth it to me to list.  If not, I donate them.

[brightlightbookseller]

We describe the condition of the book, not it's contents.  You can easily check that visually.  The only other thing we sometimes note (though usually not in the description field, this usually goes in the Title and/or Item Specifics) is whether it's a 1st Edition/1st Printing, or something like a Limited or Collector's Edition, and if it's signed that gets noted in the description as well as the title and item specifics.

[kokoek9]

how can I do all that when I am posting a  more that one book in a listing, I usually list 4 or less in a lot

[1786davycrockett]

@kokoek9 

If you are selling books in separate lots, the individual information for each book should be entered in your "Item Description" area (as opposed to your "Item Specifics" area), which provides almost limitless space for detailed information.

For instance, that lot of 4 HARDY BOYS books which is listed on your site, might get more traffic if the individual edition listings were mentioned -- HARDY BOYS collectors are less interested in individual titles, than in individual publishing histories and editions differences.

However -- many of your listings are for very common books (with very high prices!), which are readily available at local bookstores.  You might wish to reconsider listing anything that is so easy to find, since many of the titles which you offer are very accessible, and at much lower prices.

One of the secrets to successfully becoming a bookseller, is to offer inventory which most of your competition does not carry -- and popular authors such as Danielle Steele, E. L. James, James Patterson, and so on, are carried by far too many booksellers -- and not worth your time trying to compete.

Find a book-niche that works for YOU -- experiment with it, to see what works and what doesn't -- and expand upon what subjects and/or genres seem to have the most success -- and build upon what works, and reject what doesn't.

Good luck.