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The Bookologist, Number 7 - June 25, 2003 - ISSN 1544-1997
	Where to Buy Books By Craig Stark June 25, 2003
Books are everywhere, literally, as are places to buy them. However, if you're serious about succeeding in this business, it's important to identify the best sources of high quality inventory. These sources may be in your immediate area, nearby, halfway across the country, online, or in a combination of places, but wherever they are, concentrate your efforts on those that are consistently productive. The Bookologist recommends investigating the following venues: ESTATE SALES For many book dealers, estate sales are one of the best sources of good inventory. Smart buyers cover all the bases in this area. Find out who the major players are in your area and attend as many sales as possible. Some sales may be located by using the following search routine on Google: http://www.google.com/gfyvc "estate sale" book library –real +[your area code and/or geographical location] Compile a list of nearby estate sale operators, some of which may appear in the results of the suggested search above, and contact them directly for information. Many maintain websites and/or mailing lists for notifying dealers of upcoming sales. Some may be located by typing "Estate Sales" at http://www.smartpages.com/ or consulting either a print version of your local yellow pages or the classified ads in your newspaper or other advertising media. Other dealers are often good sources of estate sale/operator information as well. As of this date we know of only one dedicated website for national estate sale searches. Unfortunately, only several states/cities are represented here – this is a relatively new website - but if growth continues it may prove to be more helpful in time. http://www.estatesales.net/ ESTATE SALES. Includes a clickable map of the United States and a list of current sales by city. AUCTIONS The emphasis at auctions is typically on book lots, not individual copies, and often these lots are among the last items to be presented – that is, it’s sometimes necessary to sit through most of the auction before getting down to business. Still, great bargains can be had, especially when few or no other dealers present. Sometimes a phone call to inquire about available lots can save a trip. At worst, taking advantage of a previewing opportunity could prevent sitting in a hard chair for several hours and leaving empty-handed. A Google search routine such as the one suggested below may yield information on individual auctions or auction dealers in your area. http://www.google.com/ auction book –auto -car -real +[your area code and/or geographical location] Also, email or print notices of upcoming sales are often available directly from auction houses. The following links may also be helpful in locating the principal players and/or important auctions in your area: http://www.worldartantiques.com/AuctionHouses.htm WORLD OF ART AND ANTIQUES. National directory of auction houses. Includes business names, locations and contact information. http://collectors.org/AU/ COLLECTORS. National directory of auction houses. Includes business names, locations, contact information and, when applicable, links to websites. http://www.americanaexchange.com/auctions/auctionlistings.asp AMERICANA EXCHANGE. Nation-wide calendar of book auctions. Includes detailed information about major auction houses and links to websites. Complete auction house database available by subscription. LIBRARY SALES Library sales can be a rich source of inventory, but several points should be noted. If there’s a preview for FOL members or ticket holders before the actual sale begins, it’s usually a good idea to invest a few dollars and attend. Chances are there will be an opportunity to buy at that time. Sometimes there are limits set on what you can walk out with; sometimes not. The great majority of FOL "members," in this context, aren't actively involved volunteers but simply ticket buyers to presales. Active volunteers - those who set up and run the sales - sometimes have first access to the books, before the presale. In any case, arrive early, and you’ll get the best opportunities. The following website is exceptionally useful in locating sales: http://www.booksalefinder.com/ BOOK SALE FINDER. USA and Canadian calendar of book sales. Heavy emphasis on FOL (Friends of the Library) sales but includes listings of some ongoing library sales, auctions and fairs as well. Also includes contact information, locations and details of sales, some of which offer hundreds of thousands of books at a single event. Note that many but not all library sales appear here, and it’s a good idea to identify which libraries in your area are excluded and contact them directly for dates of sales. Many FOL organizations also operate used bookstores on an ongoing basis inside libraries. Many of these are listed at Book Sale Finder as well. USED BOOKSTORES Used bookstores can be consistent sources of inventory, but it’s important to pick your spots and consider timing. If prices are high and/or stock turnover slow, there’s little point revisiting stores more than once a year or so. Active stores, however, can sometimes be revisited as often as once a month and still yield good finds. The yellow pages are a good place to start for locating stores near you but be aware that not all advertise in this medium. The following website, which includes many businesses not listed elsewhere, is a great resource for locating stores in any area of the country: http://www.smartpages.com/ SMARTPAGES. For used bookstores in your area, type "Book Dealers - Used & Rare" or an equivalent phrase and your appropriate zip code or city and state. Listings include business names, contact information, addresses and links to directions/maps. Book Hunter Press publishes seven regional guides to used book dealers in online and print format. These guides provide extensive, detailed information on numerous dealers throughout the country, information that’s difficult or impossible to find elsewhere. The searchable online version is available by subscription here: http://www.bookhunterpress.com/index.cgi/guidesonline.html?id=WhTrYLrD Other stores can sometimes be located simply by looking for them while you’re out. Good places to look include antique malls, partially vacated shopping centers or other low-rent business districts, and on or near college or university campuses. When shopping used bookstores for inventory, consider what sorts of things might do well online but not in an open shop – for example, local histories, ephemera, etc. These items are more likely to be priced reasonably. Also, ask about trading your less desirable books in for store credit. Many stores will allow you to use this credit against half or more of your purchases. THRIFT SHOPS Thrift shops can be good sources of inventory as well, but again, it’s important to pick your spots and consider timing. After visiting each of them once, devote most of your time and energy to the busiest stores. Also, some thrift shops have scheduled restocking days, and arriving shortly after the shelves have been filled can sometimes yield great returns. Some thrift shops are listed in the yellow pages but – and this is especially true with this type of business - many aren’t. Driving through low-rent business districts and paying special attention to older and/or partially vacated malls is a good method for locating more of them. Also, many churches operate thrift stores on church grounds. Call. Ask. SMARTPAGES, again, is a great resource for locating thrift shops in any area of the country: http://www.smartpages.com/ For stores in your area, type "Thrift Shops" or an equivalent phrase and your appropriate zip code or city and state. Additional listings of thrift stores may sometimes be retrieved by typing "Goodwill" or "Salvation Army." Listings include business names, contact information, addresses and links to directions/maps. The following dedicated websites may also be helpful in locating more stores: http://www.catholic-forum.com/svdp/storeaddrs.html THE SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. Listings of store addresses. Alphabetized by state. http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/www_usn.nsf SALVATION ARMY. Store locator. Includes clickable regional maps of the United States. http://locator.goodwill.org/ GOODWILL. Store locator. Searchable by zip code or state. ANTIQUE SHOPS, ANTIQUE FAIRS & FLEA MARKETS Antique shops are less reliable sources of inventory, but sometimes a visit to an antique mall or antique district, where many shops are located under one roof or near each other, can pay dividends, as can attending an antique show or visiting a flea market. Vintage books are more likely to turn up in antique venues. Look for ephemera as well, which is often priced reasonably and can do quite well in online venues. SMARTPAGES – you guessed it - is a great resource for locating antique shops in any area of the country: http://www.smartpages.com/ For stores in your area, type "Antiques - Dealers" or an equivalent phrase and your appropriate zip code or city and state. Listings include business names, contact information, addresses and links to directions/maps. The following websites may also be helpful in locating more stores: http://www.acguide.com/ShopsLoc.html THE ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLES GUIDE. Store locator. Includes clickable map of the United States. http://www.antiqueguide.net/index2.html ANTIQUE GUIDE. Store locator. Includes clickable map of the United States. http://antique-shopcom.powweb.com/shopsearch/index.php ANTIQUE SHOP. Store locater. Searchable by specialty, name, city, zip code, or number of miles from a designated location. http://www.antiqueshopsusa.com/frames/framesshops.htm ANTIQUE SHOPS USA. Store locater. Searchable by city or state. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/herbbreese/ MULTI-DEALER ANTIQUES. Store locater with emphasis on malls and other multi-dealer venues. Searchable by state. Calendars of antique fairs or shows and flea markets may be found here: http://www.journalofantiques.com/calendar.htm/ JOURNAL OF ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES. Events calendar. Searchable by state. http://collectors.org/SC/ COLLECTORS. Show calendar. Searchable by state. http://www.fleamarketeer.org/ FLEA MARKETER. Flea market locater. Searchable by state. http://www.fleamarketguide.com/ FLEA MARKET GUIDE. Flea market locater. Searchable by state. http://collectors.org/FM/ COLLECTORS. Flea market locater. Searchable by state. Includes several Canadian provinces. BOOK FAIRS Book fairs and related literary events, once de rigueur for dealers and serious book collectors alike, have attracted less interest in recent years as the online market has grown. However, numerous fairs/events still take place and can be good sources of hard-to-find books. They can also offer opportunities for acquiring signatures of authors, and, perhaps most importantly, provide a valuable educational experience for new booksellers. For example, you’ll be able to observe firsthand what dealers mean by such terms as "Fine" and "Very Good" in describing a book’s condition or even learn the proper method of examining a book: cradle it your hand, partially open it, and carefully leaf through the pages by catching the tip of your finger on the edge of the text block. For more information on these events, consult the following websites: http://www.bookhunterpress.com/index.cgi/bkfairs.html?id=SaFiGZU5 BOOK HUNTER PRESS. National calendar of used and antiquarian book fairs. Includes names, locations and contact information. http://lcweb.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/bookfair.html THE CENTER FOR THE BOOK. Library of Congress international calendar of book fairs and literary events. Includes names, locations and contact information. ONLINE SOURCES Consistently high quality inventory can be obtained using online venues, but experience is more critical to success here. Start slowly. Take small risks. Grow. Strategies for online buying are complex and will be discussed in future issues of the Bookologist. Meanwhile, the following is a list of major venues in the online used book market: http://www.ebay.com/ EBAY. http://www.amazon.com/ AMAZON. http://dogbert.abebooks.com/ ABEBOOKS. http://www.alibris.com/ ALIBRIS. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ BARNES AND NOBLE. http://half.ebay.com/ HALF.COM Note also that dedicated book search engines can be useful in locating books. Two of the best, both with direct links to purchasing listed books, are: http://www.bookfinder.com/ BOOKFINDER. http://www.addall.com/ ADDALL. There are numerous specialty book websites as well. See "Specialty Links" below for examples. Finally, searches of both Google and Froogle (the product search spin-off of Google) can sometimes be helpful in locating books. http://www.google.com/ http://froogle.google.com/ CLASSIFIED ADS The majority of good books are in private hands. Gaining access to this source of inventory, however, can be challenging. One method is to run a classified ad in your local newspaper or other advertising publication. Another is to advertise in the yellow pages. No matter which medium is used, make every word count. Minimizing the number or words in your ad is important to keep costs down but don’t eliminate words at the expense of getting swamped with unproductive calls. Try to pre-screen your sellers by using words such as "non-fiction," "large collections," "hardcovers," "quality," or other delimiting words which will help attract sellers with books you’re interested in. Starting your ad with the phrase "Cash for books" is a good attention-getter. When the phone rings, it’s important to thoroughly screen your callers. Ask for specific information such as the number of books available, condition, subject matter, etc. Since trips can sometimes consume several hours, don’t commit to making one until you’ve established that the prospects are good. GARAGE SALES Garage sales are hit and miss - sometimes good sources of inventory, sometimes not - but the odds of success may be improved by giving careful consideration to ad content. A few examples: 1. Sales in more established neighborhoods tend to be more productive sources of good books than those in newer neighborhoods. Why? Because a newer house nearly always indicates a recent move and with it the inevitable process of getting rid of "unwanted junk." Another is that newer neighborhoods tend to be populated with younger families, who in turn are less likely to have accumulated collections. 2. Moving sales often have more items for sale than garage or yard sales. 3. Look for clues to the approximate age of the sellers. "Baby items," "Toys," "Games," etc., suggest a young family. "42 years of accumulation," quite the opposite. 4. "Inside sales," "Entire contents," "Everything goes," "Huge," "Tons" - sales described with these terms tend to have more items as well. 5. Avoid areas of obvious economic deprivation – for example, older trailer parks. 6. Pay attention to word order in the ad. There are more likely to be greater numbers of books if the word "books" is listed first. The word "library" also suggests quantity, as does a capitalized "BOOKS." 7. As you gain experience, you’ll begin to see red flags in ads, subtleties that suggest a dealer is involved – along with higher prices and/or picked-over merchandise. Several common red flags are "dealers welcome," "collectibles," and "rare books." Sales that start at unusually early (or late) times or are scheduled on off days may also indicate dealer involvement. Obviously, local newspapers and advertising publications are the best resources for locating sales, but a certain amount of information is also available online. Among the many garage sale websites, here are several of the more active ones: http://www.g-sale.com/ G-SALE. http://www.yardsalesearch.com/ YARD SALE SEARCH. http://www.freegaragesale.net/cls.htm FREE GARAGE SALE. Last but not least, don’t forget the WORLD’S LONGEST YARD SALE, a fast-growing, massive annual event/phenomenon in the Southeast that promises significant potential for acquiring inventory. Look here for more details: http://www.tourdekalb.com/yardsale.htm TOUR DEKALB. http://www.jamestowntn.org/worlds.htm JAMESTOWN TENNESSEE. CHURCH SALES Look for church sales in the classified ads or call churches individually for dates of sales. These are usually planned well in advance and are sometimes conducted annually. Books are frequently donated by church members and just as often priced low. Also, quality books are more likely to escape the notice of those putting on the sale than they are at sales run by professionals. If at all possible, arrive early. You can find "Where to Buy Books" on the Bookologist Web site at: http://www.bookologist.com/cab/pages/resources/buy You can find other Resources at: http://www.bookologist.com/cab/pages/resources