STEP ONE:USE ABEBOOKS
dot
com. and get to "BUCK A BOOK"
HEAVEN!
ABE can
do two things to your life which need doing. Abes can make you smart
and
Abes can make you rich.
Using its easy search engine to
find titles that are THE BEST, most informative BOOKS for the conversations
you want to be having in life
No more bookstores with 25$ a title. At last, you can afford to start READING and owning books, start educating your children. And if you're planning a trip to the U.K. book PARADISE ON EARTH http://www.sotherans.co.uk/ is something you have to see. Click on that URL for an instant voyage to and view of book heaven.
That trip to LONDON can and will be achieved by you and your sweetie if you just use an hour a week to become a BOOK SPOTTER! That's the next stage above book reader! Spotters will make a few thousand dollars a year extra, all cash, and do it learning to spot valuable books, from the INFO that I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU HERE.
Read on! You will be spending pennies and earning thousands. This is a dirt cheap way to mine the diamonds that exist all over your town, unknown to anyone. (Picture yourself befriending seniors, looking at their shelves, paying them good cash for lst edition books. Most yuppie garage sales have old books and they say, 'oh these are part of my mom's books, I have hundreds of her junk books." Perk up your ears when you hear that. Give them your phone#, take their phone and addie and tell them, 'how about next Wedneday? I'll bring the donuts and Columbian bean freshly ground."
I grew up in the 40's and 50's with shelves of first editions of HG Wells, Hemingway, GB Shaw, first edition All Quiet on the Western Front, Charles Dickens (my grand uncle five times back). And a first edition of metaphysician (Philosophic Society) Manley Palmer Hall titled "ATLANTIS", a show copy, private edition, signed by author, as big as two telephone books laid side by side. Today no other copy of it exists. Not even at the premier reference site, ABEBOOKS. It's worth thousands.Problem is, I SOLD it for twenty bucks!
Yep! I'm ashamed to tell it. One summer my parents left us teenaged kids with the maid and went to France. (My Dad conducted for Tony Martin who was singing for Onassis on the yacht and at Monaco for Grace and Red Cross.) Pissed at no allowance money, sitting around with no cash and them with Onassis and Grace and Cyd Charisse, I sold that sumptuous book for a twenty dollar bill to a real bookstore owner who made a trip to my house. Today, I am so embarassed, so GUILTY.. That book is today several thousand. I apologized to my Ma who went to Manly Palmer Hall's Philosophical Society on Sundays. She didn't remember owning it. I do! And am appeasing the book Gods with this contribution here, to you gentle folks, to get my SOUL BACK! I know now why all my hardship karma in this lifetime. Plus I'm out the several thousand it is worth today!
BACK THEN, NOBODY knew that books could become worth this huge sum. Little tiny books by Manly Palmer Hall are 900$. What would this have been. I've lived 65 years and never knew about bookspotting, nor did my parents. Those sorts of first edition, one, Anais Nin was signed! Valuable thousand and ten thousand dollar books are still available for you to find with seniors in your town who have shelves of books that they inherited from Granny, seniors who don't know what antique first editions are worth.
NEW first editions are equally valuable. The trick is to get a fine author. Ferinstance, a first edition signed minor MODERN novelist like Thomas Berger can be several thousand. Unsigned 900$. Annie Proulx, Ann Tyler, Bill Bryson, Amin Maalouf, all modern classics but few realize that they're gonna be that huge, yet. So, somebody went to a bookstore, stood in line, got it signed? THOUSANDS!
But, let's not be greedy. Shall we first discuss reading books, and doing it for the love of LITERATURE. Later, we'll get back to a discussion of money.
THE GREAT NOVELS are more than entertaining. They give you a portal into another age. You can time travel with them. Read "KING OF PARIS" by GUY ENDORE. Life of Alexandre Dumas pere et fils
Read up on fascinating historical times. Philippe Aries is a great writer about the Ancient worlds. Just do a search on his many books.
And you can give your children a library worth thousands.
And you yourself can sell books, by being a BOOK SCOUT. not selling at ABES as they charge l00$ a month to their vendors, but via Craigs list. For free. Or by carrying books into used book shops which dot every city.
I lived 65 years in a family of readers without knowing any of this could be done. Reading great books won't tell you anything about the BOOK SCOUT BUSINESS. I had quite a dose of TIME TRAVEL and ANCIENT HISTORY. But my reading was tilted toward Erotica. I 'd read PIERRE LOUYS at age 16, OVID and Maupassant by age l7. I noticed that they were big, ancient books in my Mom and Dad's shelves, but neither I nor my parents or their friends with books ever knew that one day these books would be sought after and a used book dealer would pay thousands for them!
I never had a clue that BOOKSPOTTING could be lucrative and fun. Like a BIG EASTER egg hunt only with pay offs in the thousands. A lottery where you actually have a chance because NOBODY KNOWS about this thing. I have used ABES for two years without realizing that the search engine had a "HIGHEST" range. It's not the default butif you PUSH THAT BUTTON the same book I buy for a buck by Isaac Bashevis Singer is 2,000$ when it's a signed first edition.
HOW
TO USE ABES:
1). FIRST off, go look at ABEBOOKS.COM
Leave their front page search engine open, come back to this article, and
I'll lead you thru its search magic, its million dollar features. (Literally,
it is going to make you a million!)
2). WHEN YOU SEARCH, exclude England, Australia and Germany because postage is too high. Go to ADVANCED SEARCH BUTTON, up at top, choose that. Then you get to rule out those countries. Pick USA.
3.) HOW HIGHLY IS AUTHOR ESTEEMED? To see if an author is considered hot, ADVANCED SEARCH lets you see the highest price on his signed first editions.
4.) ORDER YOUR BOOK. For instance. Let's
look at AMIN MAALOUF. Get the spelling right. YardSale Store has a book
for 4$. He's a real exotic keeper novelist who knows the middle east. SO
I highlight that whole paragraph and I CARRY THE TEXT TO AN EMAIL and do
CONTROL V and that paragraph goes into the email.
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The First Century After Beatrice: A Novel
by Amin Maalouf (ISBN: 0807613738)
Maalouf, Amin; Blair, Dorothy S.
Bookseller: The Yard Sale Store
(Narrowsburg, NY, U.S.A.) Price: US$ 4.00
Book Description: George Braziller, Scranton,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 1995. Book Condition: Good. RELIABLE library withdrawal
with a NICE dust jacket in the plastic, protective cover. Stamped at the
page edge, the card pocket page has been CUT out by the library. Some scuff
to the plastic covers and the page edge. This edition remains USEFUL. Bookseller
Inventory # AUERNov13VI17
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5.) NOTE that they tell you it's a library book which means no collector will ever want it. But I like this writer for his writing, so I don't care. His first edition books that aren't ex-library are worth hundreds if not thousands already and I'll bet you never even heard of him. Is that interesting or not? OK. I want it. NOW I GOTTA find the YARDSALE STORE and write them. How do I do that?
6.) Go back to that page. Spot the words "BOOKSELLER PAYMENT INFORMATION" at bottom left and click on them. NEW PAGE appears. Now SEE at bottom right it says "BOOKSELLER's HOME PAGE?" Click on that! 90% of the time it has their email on that page. Only big book companies make you enter their own shopping page. I will never do that. Ever. I go straight to their office, to their desk, to a human via my email or I don't go.
7) Take that address, capture it in mouse by highlighting, go back to your email letter with the RED DESCRIPTION (above) stuck in it, and now address the email. IN SUBJECT LINE, always put "DEAR YARDSALE STORE" Because that will help you find it in your browser among hundreds of stored emails. The subject line is a great help!
8). DROP THAT TITLE and DESCRIPTION OF BOOK into the email. Now, go back to that page, and see at top right it says "SEARCH THIS SELLER's BOOKS? CLICK ON THAT and you go into his own private search engine. Enter title or author or both. It says NO. USE GREEN BACK ARROW, <--to go back one page and ENTER ANOTHER author/title. IF it responds no, always use back arrow before you search again! Otherwise they will search every vendor and you dont want that. You want four titles to give to this vendor.
IMPORTANT BROWSER NOTE: Famed browser named "MOZILLA FIREFOX" saves all form info. NO OTHER BROWSER DOES! Next time you go to a search engine, say a week later, You start to write an "A" in author space, the BROWSER quickly, instantly comes back and says "AMIN MAALOUF? ALDOUS HUXLEY? ALBERT BROOKS?" It gives you every 'A; writer you ever ever ever put in there! You go to the right line and punch enter. I type fast, I don't do it for that reason. I do it cuz I forget the titlse I want to buy! Take a moment, go to the MOZILLA FIREFOX website and punch DOWNLOAD button. You won't be sorry. I only use this browser for book ordering and CRAIGS LIST and other form-intensive sites. See, who's gonna remember all the fave authors he's searching for? ME? NAHHHHHH! But Mozilla does!
9). Now, finish the email letter off. I say, "Hello! I am a California Senior, can read 4 books a week, will be a lifelong client, my life, not yours, please allow me to use email to order as shopping carts put me off. I lose all form info. I can pay by check or paypal as you wish."
(They make more $ with check cuz paypal takes a %.) I may fill in titles of four to six books. They will really want me for a client then! I TELL THEM I want these four to six books. I ASK:
1.) HOW much would it be to media
mail* them to 91335 and add that sum and
2.) what will I owe them total?
3.) What is their paypal name if that's how they
want payment? and
4.) if Check, what is their address?
Off my email goes. I have made contact with a vendor!
A few hrs later, maybe next morning, I get back my answer but with the same subject line "DEAR YARDSALE STORE" and their reply. "YOu will owe us 9.50 with shipping included, paypal it to YARDSTORE & AOL.COM. The specific address that they use for their paypal account. WHEEEE! Four titles for 9.50
10). NOW I go into PAYPAL and fill out the payment form, and I carefully insert text from my mouse for each book: "AMIN MAALOUF, title and price, STEINBECK, title, price, ANNIE PROULX title price. etc. All into the payment form. I want exact records! Maybe later, you think only four of the five books came. You may have to go back and find this info. Or they substituted another title or something. So stuff info into the form!
PAYPAL leaves your records on their high security site. So you go in, you find a stored record of all your payments over last few years. IF YOU PAY BY CHECK, THERE IS NO TRACK! You must create a notebook to store info on all checks to vendors sent out, to whom, what city, what books, exact titles. My bank no longer sends me cancelled checks so this must be done by you!
MEDIA MAIL is very cheap. Add 60c. if you want tracking. In May 2007, Media mail will go up 25%
11.) Hit the Streets both Saturday and Sunday for Garage sales. You will find families dumping their books by the box. Carry your eye glasses and carry your own, strong apple boxes in the car so that you can PICK THROUGH the items and take the ones you want, selecting only the titles that are a.) first edition, b.) old and rare by that I mean twenty yrs to l00 yrs old. c.) great authors.
12.) KEEP HOME SHELVES READY TO RECEIVE. You will unconsciously TURN AWAY from books if house isn't ready for them. You actually will not want to buy more if at home you have books on the floor, or have run out of shelf space. Always be ahead of yourself on empty, ready shelves or you will unconsciously seek NOT to buy books. Always keep books on shelves and have that extra space ready and waiting. This means you have to buy shelves at garage sales. I just passed up four boxes of great books, all of the Grishams, bio of Judy Garland and Lenny Bruce, I'd never seen before because I had books on the floor and no ready shelf space at home and I knew it. Within hours I knew I'd made a mistake, went back and books were gone.
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Now, as I was saying for sixty five years, I've handled books, often first editions, read them in my parent's den (California low rent word for what in posh homes is a library,) without realizing that some of those books they owned would TODAY be worth up to $70,000. (complete set of Charles Dickens,) There was a signed ANAIS NIN fer gawds sake, I had all those hot radical books in the VIETNAM yrs that ...well IMAGINE this. A book by Peter Dale Scott, on the REAL REASON we were in VIETNAM, sells for 500$ used. He's not a well known writer, just average --today goes for 500$ smackers This is a unique book in that it didn't have to be marked FIRST EDITION, and it is found UNSIGNED. Reason is a big transnational corp didn't "take to" the book. They were part of the VIETNAM thing, just as OIL companies are part of IRAQ and ITT took it off the market. I truly believe that happened to ANTHONY SAMPSON's SEVEN SISTERS where he reveals that US went into NAM for the biggest oil wells on the planet. Which brings me to the recent OJ 'IF I DID IT" BOOK. That will be worth $30,000 each if you had bought one on EBAY that first day before the media closed in on it. But the big money isn't just freaky deaky books. I've been studying the used book market. Find that there are 1902 DICKENS for 70k, a GOETHE for 160k, but of course, first editions.
Studying ABEBOOKS and its pricing info makes me think I am going to go to garage sales more often and talk to seniors on my street. I'll go to thrift stores and OPEN THE BOOKS and check for first editions with good jackets. (Dealers buy those and pay for them.) I will hit the library sales, and there are many, listed at BOOKFINDER SITES. Do a search on BUY USED BOOKS" in quotes, at GOOGLE. I will study ABE's search engine to see who's hotter: SALMAN RUSHDIE or CHAIM POTOK or PHILIP ROTH or BERNARD MALAMUD or SAUL BELLOW or HEMINGWAY. These chumps are NOT my favorite authors....but I'll plop down my dollar, come home and crank up ABES and see what it goes for. If you had a portable PC you could do it right in the BOOK SHOP but what a sight that would be!!! (You crouched at shelves clicking away on a laptop like a CIA spy! Anyway, you won't need to check references. An hour of reading up on books here with me and you will be loaded for bear!
There are four authors who teach this artform in their novels or non-fiction books and they are very cheap little books! John Dunning, Nicholas Basbanes, Lea Wait and Lawrence Goldstone. Their books, used are 1$ and it's worth studying this art for it could represent some PIRATE SHIP BOOTY-SCOUTING FUN and a TREASURE CHEST full of moonlighting money.
I've been telling my daughter Paloma about this. She lives in the epicenter of book sales, the BRONX district called Riverdale, where Ralph Lauren was born and raised, 10 minutes north of Manhattan on the subway. Seniors cannot give estate sales, garage sales or tag sales as they live in apartments! So boy do they have the books stashed high! And JUDAICA brings a very high price. Malamud, Singer, Bellow and Aleichem!
I feel that penetration into their homes with girlish charm is the way. This is a century old Jewish neighborhood. My daughter's father is Jewish and from the Bronx originally and I'm half Jewish so this would be informational on an historical level, too. To hear their STORIES and all. You could get a FABULOUS NEW YORKER article out of this entire GAMBIT were you so inclined.
My own grandparents recognized Hitler was trouble when he burned the books, including ones my Grampa wrote on Jewish Music (David's Harp, Music of teh Diaspora and ll more,) and they skedaddled out of Germany in 33. LIke most gramps, they never even told me their holocaust stories. So I have been E-MAIL-NAGGING my kid to make pals with all the reaaallllllly old Jews and offer to take them cookies and freshly ground coffee or good Chinese jasmine Tea and go by their flat and inspect their shelves and give them CASH for their used books. And boy does my kid make money! BABY PHOTOGRAPHY BY PALOMA. Then I demand that she go to the Antiquarian Book Fair in Manhattan every APRIL not with her finds cuz one probably can't enter the joint with books, but ....she could bring her descriptions or digitals. Or collect biz cards of vendors...This entire biz is done with the allmighty description with details on important features, like DUST JACKETS.(DJ's) See below.
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Bookseller Photo WAR CONSPIRACY: THE SECRET ROAD TO
THE SECOND
INDOCHINA WAR SCOTT, PETER DALE
Bookseller: Kenneth Mallory, Bookseller
(Decatur, GA, U.S.A.) Price: US$ 500.00
Shipping within U.S.A.:
US$ 4.00
Book Description: Bobbs Merrill(1972)., Indianapolis, 1972. Probable
first edition,
not actually stated. The book reveals the hidden history of United
States
involvement in Southeast Asia over the 50s and 60s. Peter Scoot succeeds
in
achieving the new insight into the American war in Indochina with his
meticulous
and fascinating analysis of intelligence conspiracies and the links
between the
intelligence communioty and corporate power. This is a fine
hardback in a near fine jacket that
shows just a bit of wear, making this an
extremely nice copy of what is a truly uncommon book as it was successfully
suppressed upon publication by then ITT owned Bobbs Meriil. Bookseller
Inventory
# 1677
-=-=-=-=-=NOW HERE IS THE BIG ONE!--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The Complete Works of Charles DICKENS
Bookseller: Bauman Rare Books
(Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.) Price: US$ 70,000.00
Shipping within U.S.A.:
US$ 3.50
Book Description: 1902, 1902. DICKENS, Charles. Works. New York: R.G. Newbegin, 1902. Sixty volumes. Octavo, contemporary full red levant morocco gilt with morocco floral onlays on spines, raised bands, boards beautifully gilt-tooled with central large gilt arabesque of gilt flowers and morocco onlays, green levant morocco doublures with gilt red morocco floral onlays, green watered silk endpapers, all edges gilt. $70,000. A truly magnificent set, one of only 15 produced, of the "Definitive Edition" of Dickens' works, splendidly illustrated with numerous engravings mounted on India paper (85 hand-colored). This set uniquely extra-illustrated with over 200 original watercolors by "Kyd" and H.C. Green, and with an autograph note signed by Dickens to his publisher, Frederic Chapman, discussing the sale of pirated editions of his works. The autograph note to publisher Frederic Chapman, Gads Hill Place, 22 August 1869, is tipped in to Vol. I and reads: "Twenty Second August, 1869. Dear F.C., I have cautioned Charley against Mr. Austin. I think it highly probable that Mr. Austin uses his name upon the smallest author possible. I hope Mr. Worthington's statement proves correct, but I shall not be surprised to find that a very large part of his sale is of piratical editions. Faithfully yours Charles Dickens." Charley was Dickens' eldest son, and had taken over editorship of his father's monthly journal, All The Year Round; at the same time, Dickens himself was waging battle against the publication and sale of pirated editions of his works, as well as unauthorized adaptations for the stage. By the turn of the century, the popular taste in Dickens illustrations had moved toward the creations of watercolorist Joseph Clayton Clarke ("Kyd"). Clarke's engaging Dickens characters appeared on cigarette cards, postcards and fore-edge paintings-full of humor and personality, expertly representing the expression and "way of life" of given characters. This exquisite collection of original watercolor drawings by Clarke and others depicts most of the major characters. A series of chromolithographs were made from Clarke's drawings, some of which appeared in The Characters of Charles Dickens Pourtrayed in a Series of Original Water Colour Sketches by "Kyd" (London, Paris and New York: Raphael Tuck and Sons, circa 1889). A splendid production in fine condition. Bookseller Inventory # 30112
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
You can do this biz with SMALL MONEY at GARAGE SALES. Yesterday I went to one, found a dollar SCORE! A 1970 hard cover book with PERFECT DJ (dust jacket) by HELEN & SCOTT NEARING worth 14$ (checked at ABES,) though if had been signed, worth hundreds. Title: " LIVING the GOOD LIFE." (How they retired to a farm and made it pay.) This book is a rare sensation among vegans and gentleman farmers. The garage sale Gal invited me to her house to see all of her mother's old stacks cuz I loved books so much. I had brought a business card with my telephone, which says "ANITA SANDS, INTERNET ASTROLOGY! That card does not mention that I was dealing BOOKS!
You can go to estate sales, (though the professionals who give THESE sales have book dealer come FIRST, so not as good. You can go to LIBRARY BOOK SALES, listed at BOOKSALEFINDER SITE, THRIFT SHOPS. The last THRIFT SHOP that I visited wanted a buck a book but what an awful selection!Tom Clancey and Danielle Steele. Utter DRECK! Myself, I LOVE Ms. Krantz consider her a fab Jewish writer, Mistral's daughter her best...but she's considered declasse and outcrowd by dealers.
One barrio Thrift shop with a permanent 'half price sale' sign on the outside was the most expensive retail used book shop I was ever in. MOLDY BOOKS $1.50 each. You could go blind in their book loft, one FLUORESCENT fixture overhead. Ten thousand titles of dreck so why bother going blind? I tried haggling, carried six books downstairs. Owner wouldn't budge. I was nice. "I could take them back up to the loft..." "That's alright" he said sourly, --probably thinking that I'd put them all in my purse.
*The Nearby Salvation Army had books starting at 45c and up to a buck each. FAB price if you like DANIELLE STEELE! But then I found some great first editions of modern writers and I ended up buying a few.
From long experience I know that Garage sales can be better, sometimes a quarter or three books for a dollar. They are your really best PRICE bet, but you cannot control the title. It's random pickings. And hey, I had specific authors I wanted, GB SHAW, SUE GRAFTON, Saul Bellow, Robert Anton Wilson, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Arthur Miller. Bernard Lewin. Harold Bloom. George Gissing. AND MOST IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO READ is the BOOKMAN mysteries by JOHN DUNNING which explain this whole world to you in a HIGH-OCTANE way! His detective is an ex cop and a book dealer, as he is.
I began using ABE BOOKS website, initially uncertain if I coul make money buying books for 2$ each .. but now I note that many are first editions of recent authors. JOHN DUNNING tells you in "BOOKED TO DIE" how a man buying good writers over twenty years created a collection worth millions. Read that book." (The Character who bought this collection, one a month for twenty years named Mr.BALLARD.) So when your kids are ready for college, those lst editions that are in the 2$ range may make their tuition payments!
THE OTHER AUTHOR to READ: GOOGLE "LEA WAIT" her Shadow books series, all a dollar, are about a print dealer. Easy way to learn about prints.
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*SOME GENIUS WEB DESIGNER created the ABES search engine
which takes THIRTEEN THOUSAND separate vendor huts from that immense Brazilian
jungle of bookshop chaos and organizes them! Each vendor out of 13,000
himself has thirty thousand titles but is this a mess? NO! ABE BOOKS sorts
it out with the ALLTIME GREAT SEARCH ENGINE. (if...everytime
you hit an EMPTY, you back-track.) Go do it. Now.Remember to use
the
<--GREEN ARROW to
go BACKWARDS.
*Now,-- while I APPLAUD ABE's FABULOUS SEARCH ENGINE, I just won't pay for it. I dodge their SHOPPING CART ceremony and go behind stage and write the vendor. Hey, if they don't want me to do that, stop supplying me with each vendor's EMAIL and website! Be like ALIBRIS which won't!
*TO KEEP TRACK OF BOOKS I WANT, in a little notebook by my desk I glued tabs:TITLES, AUTHORS, What I ALREADY ordered, what I paid for already, (though paypal keeps a record and in each letter when I send money, I list titles and prices!) BOOKS, VENDORS, ORDERS, WHO HAS SAME TITLE CHEAPER and whether first edition or hardcover. On each tabbed page, I chronicle in columns:
a.) BOOK VENDORS who take Paypal. their EMAIL, their store's name, their personal NAMES. As I send them free garden seeds, do they garden? Jot that down. ABE BOOKS will show you who does take paypal and on another page, I list:
b.) TITLES I AM LOOKING FOR or authors. HAVE been searching for like Arthur Miller's bio, TIME BENDS for a long long time, finally I found a two pound hardback for a buck!. SOUL OF THE UNIVERSE by Stromgberg. Great metaphysics, but more entertaining the work of COLIN WILSON. TUESDAY LOBSANG RAMPA, two dazzling minds. Wow. I KEEP authors' names on a page in this book.
C.) WHO GOT HOW MUCH MONEY. Ten books can be l0$ even with shipping. PAYPAL stores the whole bill, and I always do CUT PASTE wi. the ten titles putting them in the PAYPAL letter. You have your own HISTORY at PAYPAL. Summon it up any time to review stuff delayed in the mail. "l0$ on Oct 3rd to BOOKNOOK." That kind of thing.
D.) LAST, I BCC my own addie at top, in all my outgoing emails to the vendors. EMAIL comes back to me in 2 seconds, I have permanent record of who has what book at what price!
E.) While I'm searching stacks, I keep an email to the vendor, keep adding titles, "SAVE AS DRAFT," Only netscape allows me to do this. I use NETSCAPE version 4.7
I USE FIREFOX for websurfing, NEVER netscape. BUT NETSCAPE is unparalleled for the email letters to the bookstores. I always BCC to myself. So you keep two browsers open. I CAN DO all the INTERNET surfing fast as LUCKILY my free, downloadable browser, MOZILLA FIREFOX LATEST VERSION retains anything you put into a website form, like TITLES, authors names, I just do I and it knows I'm talking about Isaac Bashevis Singer, though it gives me a few other 'I' authors.. (Google-search 'free browser' + mozilla + download" LOVE mozilla as it saves form info and springs it up at ya!
SHOW you what a dif a good browser makes. When I put ads at CRAIGS LIST, I am going to put that ad in with ONE of my l00 different email addies. No sooner than I type 'S' does it shoot back at me, STARPOWER? STARLADY? STARGAZEUR? Sandstorm? And I slide down and pick the one I want. Believe me, you want a STORED HISTORY and stored FORM capacity in a browser. Mozilla FIREFOX is only one I've found that has this feature!
When I go to put author's name in SEARCH ENGINE and type that first letter, it responds. If I type 'B' it says BERNARD SHAW? BERNARD LEWIN? BELLOW? Basbanes? I slide to my choice --as all the B's I ever put into that box are still remembered by MOZILLA!!! I slide down to one I want as I'm continuously searching for that author's work. TROYAT on TOLSTOY was one I looked for. Maybe ten vendors have it at 5$ to l0$, I continue to search cuz some NEW GUY might come online with Troyat for a buck! THIS JUST IN, BOUGHT IT FOR A DOLLAR! Loved it. Now reading Troyat's CATHARINE II of RUSSIA!
Now, ABE BOOKS gives you twenty book vendors who have your title or maybe l00, the CHEAPEST COME FIRST, but say you're looking for first editions? Ask SEARCH ENGINE to find the most expensive. You will see a 1902 CHARLES DICKENS for 70 thousand dollars. Bauman is a high prestige dealer. He probably paid ten thousand for it or twenty. As you inspect each offering, you see who takes PAYPAL! That's also a factor! OPEN your account now at this wonderful NET BANK. Then when you get paid for your merchandise, keep the cash there. Ready to spend on books!
To see if he takes paypal, check the area that says "BOOK VENDORS PAYMENT PLAN." After you read that, and you score a YES on PAYPAL, then hit 'vendor's website" and you will see his email addie. Get that email letter started now in your browser, "Dear JOE at book nook, I note you have TROYAT's TOLSTOY do you also have....? and leave it blank while you do search.
You then enter his stacks, see if he has any of your many lists of authors.
Throw each one into your email.
I see you have SUE GRAFTON's "S is FOR SILENCE. " Give me that at 2$
(It's her newest, the other letters A thru R cost a buck.) Read her, she's
fab! She likes Ross Macdonald and Len Deighton so now I'm searching for
their work.
So while you're ON THE ABE SITE, going thru many vendors' stacks, identify WHO TAKES PAYPAL that is most important, and list them in your own notebook in neat columns. WIth their email.
You may go thru a dozen vendors at abe, look look look and never find a paypal user and then the thirteenth will take it. THAT IS WHY you keep a notebook to track your CULLS. You won't go thru this if you have a credit card and use it online.
If a vendor has no paypal but does have books cheap or many titles you adore, maybe a check would do. I'd be wary of using a Credit card unless you're a great record keeper! You might also promptly WRITE HIM. Have a saved piece of text "Sir, do you take PAYPAL? etc. I'm a senior who could read five books a week, but I am not about to use a credit card online."
I never use credit card online. Well, once at Walmart, a juicer on sale, hamilton bch carrot juicer, l9$ couldn't resist, and it worked out. You use cards on line? Let me know your experiences.
BOOK TALK: My Fave mystery writer is SUE GRAFTON (A is for alibi, b is for burglar got thru entire alphabet, only one I haven't read is S is for Silence. She swears Ross Macdonald and Len Deighton were her gurus. So I gotta read them, right? cuz she's sooooo bloody good. ALSO very GOOD taut writing comes from Michael Connelly. Then, of course the Parker mysteries. The Bernie Rhodenbar BURGULAR series by LAWRENCE BLOCK. He's very good. Fletch was good in the old days, but the image of Chevvie Chase being Fletch kind of ruined it for me. And it's so 70's.
So why I read like crazy is
a.) I am an insomniac, need some book time to close eyes,
b.) No cable and television sucks during my bedtime hrs, ABC news is
about it.
c.) I am writing a mystery! "DEAD GIVEAWAY" it's called. Ask me to
send you 4 chapters!
So after reading Grafton A to R, I went and got BLUE CITY by Ross Macdonald. Found BLUE CITY at Abebooks, probably Ross Macdonald's first book, right after WWII. Gritty realism cinema noir with a touch of Italian post war GRIMY CORRUPT "OPEN CITY" feel to it . There are some signs of the all round writer in him, for a moment there he was good but looking at a later photo on this reprint of a 1945 novela, I can see the genre combined with booze swallowed him up. But I haven't read his next ten books so will reserve judgement and see if he sobered up, or if like my ex BF, Ross wrote better dry mouthed, craving sunset so he could open the gin.
I am going to try another one since SUE GRAFTON likes him. She also esteems LEN DEIGHTON, a Brit. Had a few sent me, haven't read them yet. SHE IS THE BEST though. I trust ole SUE.
Funny how forty yrs later, great titles are recalled. I loved BITTER FRUIT by KINZER. Gave it to one of the great CIA whistleblowers as a gift. Ralph Mc Gehee. I want all of KINZER actually. His latest are so fab. It's all about GUATEMALA and the DULLES brother, So I started looking for it and of course I wanted the DULLES BIO, a book that I once owned, MOSLEY's THE ALAN DULLES/ JOHN FOSTER DULLES bio. (Just got it for a buck! a huge hard cover)
I am showing up in dialogue with vendors.....must drive them nuts. Reminds me of 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, super movie with Bancroft and Hopkins. RENT IT! I'm chiding vendors as she did, saying to them: " YOUR SEARCH ENGINE IS coming up DRY!!!!! Get more books. I put twenty titles or authors in, none was there. Not getting any book hits on your search engine. Hit those garage sales." or "I browse your stacks for a buck book like other vendors, yours are all $2.49 minimum. What's that about" I chide. OR, "If you lower prices. RED HAT DAYS 1$ by COOPER would be a second book. maybe a third UNSTUCK 1$, what would it cost to ship three? or two? MEDIA MAIL to 91335 ALWAYS tell them the zip so they can calculate cost of MEDIA MAIL!
Listening to me rattle on about buck books, my very fave bookstore
owner, Donald Quick of ARBOR Books realized I didn't know anything about
the hidden world of profiteering in books. Because I was talking about
how I adored 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, he knew that I had it in me to learn
more, so he said "read about buying first editions (the kind that go for
70 thousand each.) To learn, read Nick BASBANES, read LAWRENCE GOLDSTONE,
read JOHN DUNNING". So I do and instantly I understand that all 13,000
of these book guys are out on a TREASURE HUNT. There's a whole PIRATE world
out there. One you can leap into on Saturdays. You can find old people
in your neighborhood, real seniors, and say 'hey could I bring cookies
over, look at your bookshelves, maybe buy some books." You bring
your glasses and a pillow and a few grocery bags. Serve up the coffee and
cookies and talk about anything but books. THEN put on your specs and sit
down. 
First
go thru the shelves looking for the IMMORTALS: Next, go through these and
pick HOT STUFF. What you want is first editions, moroccan leather covers,
gilt edges, inscriptions by the author, boxed sets, that kind of thing.
Even a recent author like ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER
can be 2000$ if it's signed first edition.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Spinoza of Market Street.
Singer, Isaac Bashevis.
Bookseller: JMc @ GHb
(New York, NY, U.S.A.) Price: US$ 2000.00
Book Description: New York: Farrar, Straus and
Cudahy, 1961. First edition. 8vo.; black top stain; rose boards backed
in green cloth; stamped in gilt, blind and black; illustrated dust-jacket;
slightly darkened. Inscribed on first free endpaper: "To Anna Lehrer/with
friendship/Isaac B. Singer. Bookseller Inventory # 904
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
There are Isaac SINGERS with graphics or lithos for twice that price. Now do you see why people go to book signings and pay 26$ for a hardcover? They're betting on a HORSE! So babe, it's time to play with the ABES WEBSITEsearch engine, (they have two. One is regular, on the front page, second is ADVANCED mode you must ASK for it,) always throwing it the instruction "FIND MOST COSTLY VERSION OF THIS BOOK" Cuz that's how you learn! SEARCH ENGINE actually DEFAULTS to cheapest, but you have to HAND PUT IN "MOST COSTLY." Just to learn what's valued. Then, hit the geriatrics in your area. Befriend them at super markets. Give them your card. Get a card printed just for this "BIG READER" and a pair of eyeglasses. "STUDENT IN TRAINING" etc.
AUTHORS I SOUGHT: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Saul Bellow, Ross Maconald. Dashiell
Hammett and about a hundred others. not one appeared. OFTEN I DID not
spell name right. ABES books will fix it if it can, but not always can
it do so.
So one day I see a vendor with that very book on DULLES Brothers which I want which everyone else has for 4-10$ and this vendor only wants 1$. I felt I'd better not alert him by picking one book. I've had vendors fade, then turn price to 25 times higher than it was, also evading my emails. So I searched his stacks, found several titles I wanted, told him I would order a few books a month The vendor said:
"We have reserved Mosley's Dulles for you. But please note that this book is a hardback and we are clearing out all of our hardbacks within the next few days. If you want this book we must receive payment for it by 10/7/06 or it will be transferred with all of the other hardbacks.
That is a very sane, OK vendor 'move' or 'gambit' saying 'send me the money before you totally forget,' a plea of sorts and knowing this poor vendor had a long history of sniffing buyers moving off, nose to the ground. I honored the gambit. BIG OLE HARD COVER for a buck? I Sent the PAYPAL MONEY that minute, and Got the books a few days later.
I also HONOR ABE BOOKS. I just can't figure out how to shop with their shopping pages, so I go to the vendors and shop there. No middle man. When I get to heaven, will St Peter get irritated? Say, Sands, YOU OWE ABE BOOKS BIGTIME KASH KARMA!! Hehehe. I don't think so, Boss. I wrote this article for them, didn't I? GO NOW to ABEBOOKS.COM and do a search on top writers you like!
GAL PAL JUST WROTE ME: "Excited by your idea, sure need the MONEY. There is this local org here called THE BOOK THING where people drop off old books or come and pick some up. They have like hundreds of books ... I think I will pay them a visit tommorrow and see what I can find. "
I answered: "GOOD IDEA, but if it's a once a year sale, like libraries have, you gotta go before it opens as the dealers are already there, trust me on that. As a rule, always buy writers whom the critics love. Means you have to read old TIME MAG book sections from the fifties. Get "first editions" and get 'em with a dust jacket (D.J. they are called.) You can also make money with what is called "first printing" especially if the writer is esteemed. Like PYNCHON. Hey, I never read this guy Thomas Pynchon, but GRAVITY's RAINBOW is worth a million. Some old book nobody ever heard of! A first edition of it can be thousands. Then, Confederacy of Dunces, never heard of it, author shot himself before it got submitted by his grieving mom. A first edition is worth thousands. So you gotta pick up old mags, read the literary section books section reviews...this ain't gonna hurt your lovelife, either cuz you are going to get SOOOOOOOO smart and sweeties are gonna swoon when you discuss Kafka. Every library has a book sale. HIT IT! And you continue to just research who's hot, who's not like that Aquarius, Norman MAILER, early mailer. THOUSANDS. hehehe I can see you so rich!" Well, LIQUID if not rich!
SOME TIPS FROM AN EXPERT ON HOW YOU CAN COLLECT
RARE BOOKS:
* STEP 1: Know exactly what you're looking
for before you begin your search. Having the complete title, author's name,
edition number and publication year will help you locate the book.
* STEP 2: Look in Books in Print to see if the book
is still being published.
* STEP 3: Lurk at garage sales, antique stores,
estate sales and bookstore sales, and scan book dealer catalogs.
* STEP 4: Check out eBay's and Amazon's auctions
as well as some of the larger used book sites. Some Web sites have a search
option that checks many small stores across the world.
* STEP 5: Decide what condition is acceptable for
your collection. If you're a collector, you'll generally want first editions
and well-cared-for volumes.
* STEP 6: Look for books printed on early presses
or with wooden type. Woodblock pictures indicate a good investment, as
do hand-colored illustrations and first editions that have been signed
by the author.
* STEP 7: Focus on books concerning art, diaries
and atlases if you're looking for items that will appreciate in value.
Bibles
and other religious books generally do not.
Tips & Warnings
* Compare prices at several places. The same book
may sell for substantially less at a place that has more than one copy
on the shelf. Bring a laptop with you, connect to ABE BOOKS and see what
they ask for hardcover in that precise condition, that year, signed, not
signed. Then go back in the store if it's a good one.
* Remember that the book's condition, binding type
and edition number and the presence of an autograph will affect its price.
The book's age usually matters, but not in all cases.
* Make sure that any seller you deal with will guarantee
the quality of the book before you buy it.
*SEEK the BEST INFORMATION out there ON BEING
A BOOK FINDER, or BOOK SCOUT
http://www.booksalefinder.com/salefaq.html
*Old books may smell. Use the stink hospital
method of Donald Quick of Arbor Scout books: Slight old book smell....1st
bag it and freeze the book. Let defrost before removing from bag. Now put
scented dryer sheet
and book back in bag, one day and remove. Next, put in in a box with
baking soda and kitty litter until it sells..... Always maintain this stink
box.... I always have a few books in my stink hosptital...
This BOOK STORE OWNER has been a good friend. Donald told me, 'my town is a biblio gold mine with it's proximity to 6 colleges and a university. "Friends of the library" sell donated books...I just spent $130.00 at the library today. BOOK SALES SITE is a good way of planning an itinerary for a saturday.... also fill out a "want" form on e-bay and every time that title comes up for sale you can bid and get lucky if no one is watching that day....I always bid on "MY 60 Memorable Games" By Bobby Fischer ." That is a good tip about EBAY.
I wrote him back: I can see it now, you or I discover a treasure, sell some unique find to a madhatten bookshop, make 35k in one fell swoop. Your kids are older you take off thru europe, digging thru stacks and packing books as pck #1, pckg#2 and air freighting or posting them to your home town.
You hire a team of kids offa campus, in each European
city to stack-search with you and hit areas where UK vendors don't go.
Bruge, Belge, where English books are ....but nobody knows it. You do craigslist
ads to warm the waters in each city. Do a documentary on it as you
go. VIDEO with good set up to blow up to film for theatrical
distrib and for cable channel
QUICK's
TRIP THRU EUROPE
A bookscout Hunting Saga
STALKING THE FIRST EDITION
Watch
Out Europe
My pal got involved w. sales to cable tv my boss, the late Harry Jakobs, payments were high six figures. Imagine the documentary's SCRIPT. Book store owner doing library sales. Something inspires him to go to Brussels or some english speaking place abroad, where old books are.
THEN when
you sell your documentary,
you do a
half hour cable tv show
called adventures
of a bookscout.
that sale
is seven figures.
He answered: "All the glory you could need in the book world lies in the 10 mile radius around Reseda, where you live. The worlds' greatest authors stop in for signings. The best retail book stores in the world would also have the greatest secondary market...I got a californian book scout on ebay that is great for scarce and unusual books, he sells 50 single books at a time...I'll dig up his name for you to give you an idea of the gold coast's potential...Look for a 1st edition of BOOKED TO DIE...$300+...Thrift stores in proximity to SoCAL colleges...The thing with thrift stores, is to go to the same one(4) often....
So I went to the GOODWILL at the corner, found
two valuable books, A first edition Alastair Maclean "GOODBYE CALIFORNIA"
and a lst edition Ross Macdonald, "Archer in Jeopardy" both with great
DJ's. Made myself l00$ first half hour out on
the streets.
.~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Fascinating writings on BOOK
SCOUTS !!!!
http://citypages.com/databank/19/901/article4509.asp
http://www.ioba.org/newsletter/bookselling0400.html
RESEARCH RESOURCES:
Rare & Out of Print Books
Vintage & collector books are sold by 13,000 booksellers at AbeBooks
www.Abebooks.com
Sell Books
Looking to find sell books? Visit our sell books guide.
Sell-Great-Books.info
J N Bartfield Fine Books is just for the thousand and up club.
They don't have newer, superb American writers like William STYRON
Fine and rare books in all fields searchable website
www.bartfield.com
Google Book Search
Search the full-text of books & discover new ones with Google.
books.google.com
Overall Things You'll Need
* Credit Cards
* Internet Access
* Computer
* Secured Credit Cards
Topics Addressed
* Discovering Rare Books
* Tips on Finding Rare Books
* Rare Book Hunter's Guide
Don't look for a specific title - If you go searching for a particular
title, you will wind up spending too much. Rather focus on a genre. This
will allow you to find hidden treasures in thrift stores and used book
stores. Collect what interests you. What good are books you wouldn't read.
And last tip, Take pencil,paper, WRITE DOWN titles, DJ GOOD OR BAD, Publisher,
Yr, if lst edition, go home, crank up abes website and check. I just did
that
Two of the dozen books I saw were worth something. Now if you have
a laptop which picks up wind currents, do that in the store!
- As a longtime bookseller, I am constantly amazed by how many buyers out there buy from sellers without checking feedback. I'll look at a book auction and find that someone with 10 or 12 negative feedbacks a month and low feedback is still getting bids! Would you continue to patronize a regular brick and mortar store which sold shoddy goods, had misleading ads and poor customer service? If not, don't buy from that type of seller online. Feedback can tell you a lot. Read the comments. Then decide whether to buy from that seller.
LAST OF ALL, how to BUILD THOSE SHELVES
* * * * * * * * *
by Anita sands Hernandez astrology@earthlink.net