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| SAMPLE ISSUE This is the first issue of the Bookologist newsletter emailed to subscribers on March 26, 2003. _________________________ |
The Bookologist Number 1 - March 26, 2003 =============== From the Editor =============== I think we've all noticed how rooms with lots of books smell different than rooms without them - libraries and bookstores in particular - but have you ever noticed how they sound different as well? Books drink sound in, hold it momentarily, and give it back in subdued but pure tones. When I was first imagining what kind of tone would be appropriate for the Bookologist, this image came to mind: a kind of room inside our minds, a quiet but meaningful place to come when we need to be refreshed from day-to-day bookselling. In this first issue of the Bookologist I hope to set this tone, and what better way to begin than a safari into the bookselling jungle of our minds to hunt deadly myths? As a bookseller, do you labor under any misconceptions about the business of selling books? I'm sure all of us hold onto certain myths from time to time, shadowy creatures that lurk in the trees and vines, and to the extent we do we're often unable to see past them to the truth. In our first feature article, "Dispelling the Seven Deadly Myths of Bookselling," we will examine some of the more prevalent myths about books and their value. In this and upcoming issues we will also launch several regular and semi-regular features, including: 1. The Bookologist Glossary of Bookselling Terms. No ordinary glossary, important terms will not only be defined but also explained in detail and illustrated with clear photographs. Featured terms will be archived, and within a year or so, it's our intention to have the most complete and authoritative online glossary anywhere. 2. Book repair. As much as possible, we will attempt to include only simple repairs, the kind that require little or no equipment, marginal skills to accomplish, and a small investment of time, cheerfully leaving the rest for archivists to fuss over. Also, when possible, we will tie in the featured glossary term with a related repair, as we do in this issue with foxing. 3. Bookselling Tip of the Month. The right tip can sometimes transform a nickel-and-dime bookseller into a bookselling force. We will feature only the best and most timely tips we can find. 4. Market News. Some market niches, of course, are hotter than others, and we will try to report on the hottest ones out there, providing not only an overview of the topic, but specific authors and titles to look for. 5. Letters to the Editor. We strongly encourage your feedback, both in comments (pro and con) and questions. The best letters will be published, the best questions answered. We're particularly looking for bookseller-oriented consumer complaints, questions with broad appeal that are difficult to find answers for elsewhere, and specific suggestions on how to make this newsletter more useful to you. Address your letters to the Editor, Craig Stark, at craig@bookologist.com. Upcoming issues will feature a profile of Abebooks, comparison profiles of three booksellers (one who sells in a brick-and-mortar store only, another who has married the traditional B&M venue with the modern method of selling online, and a third who sells exclusively online), additional how-to articles on bookselling, head-to-head and hopefully entertaining battles between the Iron Bookseller and a worthy opponent, presentation makeovers, and much more. Finally, the Bookologist is accepting banner and text advertising for future issues. Rates are especially competitive for those getting in on the ground floor. Please contact David Steiner at dave@bookologist.com for details. Craig Stark Email: craig@bookologist.com ---------------Sponsor Message------- Need B-Flute to package your books? Fast-Pack.com offers Corrugated Cardboard B Flute Rolls and other shipping supplies for booksellers! Visit our Web site at http://www.fast-pack.com/bflutebk.html or order toll free 1-866-971-7201 -------------------------------------------------------------- ==================== Getting Your Head Straight: Dispelling the Seven Deadly Myths of Bookselling ==================== Are you interested in making money selling books? Maybe lots of money? Maybe a living? If so, you've come to the right place, because my primary purpose as editor of the Bookologist is to help get you to where you want to be in this business. There are those who contend that there's more than one way to succeed as a bookseller, and in one sense I agree. Some booksellers specialize in one area, some in another; some sell out of a store, some exclusively online; some list their inventory on fixed-priced sites, some on auction sites; and of course there's no end to different pricing levels and methods of presenting books for sale. These differences, however, will not in themselves determine whether or not you succeed. What will matter above all else is, in one word, inventory. The quality of it. How much you spend to obtain it. How you present it for sale. No matter what else you do, you can't escape the necessity of finding good books at low prices; nor can you fail to present them in such a way as to resell them for much higher prices. This and only this is how to make money. How much money would you be content with? $10 an hour? $20? $50? A quick examination of eBay auctions or Amazon Marketplace listings will show you that many, many booksellers settle for much less than this, but it doesn't have to be this way for you. Can you serve an apprenticeship of, say, six months, working hard at being the best seller you can be? Then $20 an hour is not only doable; it's likely. Two or three years out with the same commitment and you could double this or more. You don't have to be a genius to get to these levels, but you will have to work hard and work smart. Part of working smart is getting your bookselling head straight. There are several stubbornly persistent myths that are especially troublesome for booksellers looking for inventory. The more stubbornly you hold onto them, the more difficult it will be to find the books you need to find. Myth #1: All books have value to somebody. Most books - not some, not half, but well over 90% - aren't worth the paper they're printed on. This is important to know, because the next time you walk into a used bookstore, a thrift shop, an estate sale, or wherever you go to buy books, for every 100 or so books you look at, you might see one or two that have any value to you as a bookseller, and only then if you're lucky. Myth #2: Books are sacred. Believe me, you can pick up a book, throw it in the garbage this very moment, willfully and with forethought putting it into intimate contact with eggshells and coffee grounds, and suffer absolutely no heavenly retributions for it. I promise. Even if you paid a dollar for it! If the sky is blue when you do this, it will stay blue; clouds will not pile darkly overhead; bolts of lightning will not strike you senseless. Yes, even if you're too busy or too tired to donate your worthless books to a library or thrift shop, you will not be charged with a bookselling sin. Remember this: a book consists of a few handfuls of sawdust and a splash of ink-not quite nothing but very, very close to it. One of the worst things a bookseller can do, in my opinion, is allow inventory to accumulate on the basis that all books are special or too good to get rid of or will eventually find a buyer willing to pay your inflated price. I admit this may be true in another context. A book purchased at a yard sale for $.10 can change a life, but if you're going into the business of changing lives, you're in the wrong place. The purpose of this newsletter is to help you make money selling books, not to teach you how to save your fellow man. Consider Thoreau's wisdom: "I see ... townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools [and books!]; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field! they were called to labor in." Myth #3: First editions are valuable. Just because a book is a first edition doesn't mean that it's worth a damn. Again, most books - not some, not half, but well over 90% - exist only as first editions because they weren't good enough to merit a second printing. If a book wasn't worth buying 50 or 100 years ago, chances are it's still not worth buying today. Myth #4: Old books are valuable. Just because a book is old doesn't mean that it's worth a damn. Think about this: a hundred years ago how many people watched TV? Went to the movies? Listened to the radio? These hugely popular forms of entertainment didn't exist then. As a result, many people looked for entertainment in books, magazines, and newspapers. These publications were not only widely available but, more importantly, consisted substantially of a type of writing that read like a TV or radio show: light entertainment, boilerplate fiction, excessively topical news, opinion pieces, etc., the kinds of things that don't tend to hold their value over time. So, not only are many century-old books common, but many don't justify the time it would take to read them. Conclusion? Most of them are a tough sell, especially if they're fiction. Myth #5: Scarce books are valuable. Just because a book is scarce doesn't mean that it's worth something. Here's the formula to remember: only a book that's both scarce and in demand has value. If it's only scarce - say, one of three remaining copies on the face of the earth - and consists of a dozen self-published poems by the worst poet ever to take pen in hand, it won't be worth anything to anybody unless that poet also scaled Mt. Everest in his bare feet and completed his epic "Ode to the Frozen Toe" on the summit. Myth #6: Bestsellers, the books most in demand by the most people, are the books you should sell. Not on your life. Bestsellers are printed in huge numbers, and books in huge supply not only have no value but, in many cases, convert into negative value once they pass the front door into your home. In other words, you're better off to not even own them because they take up space in your house, not to mention your mind (see Thoreau above). If you want to list your bestsellers on Amazon Marketplace for $.01 and attempt to make a living on what you might extract from the shipping allowance, be my guest, but you'd better like eating beans. The only good news is that you'll have lots of company to commiserate with. Myth #7: If I only knew which books to buy, I could be a successful bookseller. I'll let you in on a secret: with scattered exceptions, nobody really knows which books to buy. True, the most successful, most experienced booksellers have some knowledge of books and apply it from time to time, but there are untold millions of books in existence, and who could carry around even a fraction of useful information about them in their head? The majority of purchases made by most booksellers are done so on the basis of one thing: gut instinct. Fortunately, instinct can be refined with experience, sharpened into a breathtakingly effective tool. If your instincts are right only 10% of the time now, in time they could easily improve to 50% or more. Of course, there are many more bookselling myths stalking our minds, new ones forming even as we speak, but these are the ones I hear over and over again, the ones that lead to countless book-buying mistakes. Hunt them down today, and you'll be glad you did. ---------------Sponsor Message------- How Can I Become an eBay Power Seller? Power Sellers use proven marketing and sales techniques that are easily learned. Let us teach you how to sell real products to real people. Please visit http://tinyurl.com/3h6h to subscribe to our free newsletter and review our training products and information, resources and techniques for professional auction sellers. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ==================== Bookologist's Glossary of Terms: Foxing ==================== Foxing: An imprecise term for spots, stains and tanning found commonly on the pages and covers of books. Colors range from brown to reddish-brown to yellowish-brown; shapes range from distinctly circular to irregular blotches or general discoloration; sizes range from tiny spots to stains (or tanning) covering entire pages. Most typical locations for foxing are on the endpapers, especially those in direct contact with the boards; pages facing an illustration, bookplate <http://www.bookologist.com/cab/abu/y203/m03/bk0001/images/figure1.jpg>, or inserted newspaper clipping; and any area where moisture has been introduced and allowed to remain over time. Infestation can occur anywhere, however, including the edges of the text block itself <http://www.bookologist.com/cab/abu/y203/m03/bk0001/images/figure2.jpg>. Most susceptible is paper with a high iron and/or acid content commonly found in American publications of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, due in part to the intro! duction of iron paper-making machinery and use of rag-content papers. The term "foxing" derives from the coloring of a fox's coat. Causes are remarkably unclear despite a century's-old identification of and struggle with the problem. There is some consensus that the culprits are either fungal or mineral or both in origin. Spots with a dark, distinct center and lighter, concentric halos almost certainly contain an iron fragment <http://www.bookologist.com/cab/abu/y203/m03/bk0001/images/figure3.jpg>, though fungus may still play a role. Those lacking a central point appear to be largely (if not exclusively) fungal in origin. Foxing requires a warm, humid environment to spread. Previously clean books stored in rooms at 60 to 70 degrees with a relative humidity under 50% will not develop foxing. Also, development of additional foxing in books already infected will be largely arrested. To the extent that temperatures and humidity rise above these levels, to that extent will the risks of foxing increase, as well as the rate of infestation, though some books seem unusually resistant under even extreme conditions. A dehumidifier is a relatively inexpensive solution in otherwise temperate conditions; an air-conditioner, which also extracts moisture from the air, may be required if temperatures become excessive. ==================== Bookologist's Book Repair: What to Do about the Problem of Foxing ==================== Treatment for foxing is difficult at best and often simply impractical. Unscrupulous book dealers have had good results with spraying a diluted solution of bleach onto the affected area, but this method seriously degrades the cellulose in the paper, may lead to wrinkling of pages or bleeding of text or illustrations, and introduces an acidic residue that will contribute to additional damage in time. The residue can be neutralized by a diluted solution of vinegar, but this requires a second moistening with its attendant risks; and in any case the initial cellulose damage is irreversible. Beware. Archivists have used various products to attack foxing, including Chloramine-T, calcium hypochlorite, and Chloramine gas. Unfortunately, the former two require disbinding the book and fully immersing individual leaves in a solution. Worse, a residue is deposited which may lead to long-term degradation. The gas treatment involves a technology available only to the aerospace industry. The short answer is: if a book is foxed, leave it as is. There is a growing school of thinking among book dealers and collectors that celebrates evidences of aging in much the same way the antique industry does. In other words, even if a book could be adequately cleaned, it may not be as valuable as an untreated copy. Equate foxing with patina; therefore, do what can be done to prevent further damage, and move on. ---------------Sponsor Message------- American Booksellers Fulfillment Service American Booksellers is a family owned and operated outsource fulfillment center for the antiquarian/used book trade. We provide online booksellers a pick, pack, ship service along with book storage-both shelved and boxed. Our employees have ten+ years experience working within the antiquarian book trade. http://www.americanbooksellers.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- ==================== The Bookologist's Bookselling Tip of the Month ==================== When putting together presentations for online listings, ask yourself this question: how much work am I making my buyers do? Are you: Inserting an icon that must be clicked to bring up a picture? Including small pictures that must be clicked to bring up large ones? Failing to include a picture of the book at all, thereby forcing your buyers to look elsewhere for one and/or read and reread your condition description in a vain attempt to imagine what it looks like? Using small text that scrolls interminably from one side of the screen to another? Putting the most pertinent facts about a book after a long-winded explanation of your terms of sale? "Hiding" those same facts in a massive block of text? All of these things and more spell only one thing: WORK. Buyers hate work. They want what they want sooner than later, and they want to get it with the least amount of effort. Make it easy on them, and your profits will grow! ==================== About the Editor ==================== Craig Stark has been a full-time online bookseller for over three years. Prior to this he managed a restaurant, wrote and published fiction, wrote a weekly newspaper column, and designed and built custom furniture - all of which, unexpectedly, provided experience that has helped him as a bookseller. He comes to the Bookologist by way of Auction-Bytes-Update, where he has contributed numerous articles on bookselling. Email Craig at craig@bookologist.com. ==================== About the Bookologist ==================== The Bookologist is a free twice-monthly email newsletter for online booksellers. It is designed to help readers acquire better books, earn higher prices for them, expand and sharpen their knowledge of topics such as book condition, grading, terminology, first edition points, and simple repair, offer up-to-date tips on the hottest market niches and more. The Bookologist is published by Steiner Associates, Natick MA. Subscribe to the Bookologist at http://www.bookologist.com. ******************** Note from the Publisher: We are pleased to bring you the first issue of The Bookologist free email newsletter. Please tell your friends, customers and colleagues about the Bookologist: http://www.bookologist.com/cab/pages/recommend Thank you for subscribing! ******************** *************************************** The Bookologist Craig Stark, Editor: craig@bookologist.com Ina Steiner, Publisher, Founder: ina@bookologist.com David Steiner, President, Founder: dsteiner@bookologist.com Bookologist.com c/o Steiner Associates PO Box 668 Natick, MA 01760 508-655-5697 http://www.bookologist.com ----------------- Thank you for subscribing to the Bookologist. The Bookologist email newsletter may be freely distributed in its entirety, so please pass it on. (Individual sections MAY NOT be copied and/or distributed without written permission of the publisher.) No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Steiner Associates makes diligent efforts to obtain accurate and timely information. However, Steiner Associates disclaims any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the Bookologist, whether or not such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause. Copyright 2003 Steiner Associates |
