[INTRODUCTION: This is the second in a series of articles on selling books online profitably. Future topics include locating saleable books; and pricing and presenting them for auction or resale. The author is an online bookseller who makes over $1,000 a week selling books exclusively on eBay. The first article may be found at http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y201/m06/abu0039/s05.]
After instinct, knowledge is your second best tool for identifying a saleable book. In time, as you gain experience, knowledge will surpass instinct, but to get to this point, there's work to be done-in other words, research. The best place to do research is in the same place you'll be selling your books. For our purposes, this is eBay.
There are many methods for accomplishing deliberate, useful research, but one of the best I've found is to keep a notebook. I use one that's lined, divided into five sections, and small enough to carry on book buying trips (7" x 9 1/2"). I use the first section for miscellaneous notes, the second for HOT TITLES, the third for HOT AUTHORS, the fourth for HOT TOPICS, and the fifth for HOT VENDORS. (More about these topics later.)
Once you have something to record your research in, it's time to get down to business. Go to the eBay home page, click search at the top of the page, then select Books in the Search In Categories box. Next type any single common letter in the Search Title box (I use the R/S/T/L/N/E group of letters commonly used on Wheel Of Fortune) and $40 and $200 in the Price Range boxes. Click search. When the page of current auctions comes up, click Completed Auctions. Typically the first of 50 pages will now appear, enough for about an hour's worth of research.
Obviously you can't write down every last book that sells in this range, but you can dramatically reduce the time you spend here by applying one rule: only write down the titles that you might have passed over had you seen them on the shelf at a bookstore, thrift shop, estate sale, etc. Example: I'm certain not many of us would pass over an early edition of Jack Kerouac's ON THE ROAD-so there's no point writing that down--but what about Colin MacInnes' ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS? It was written during the same time period and explores similar themes-and most importantly, it routinely sells for $50 to $100. I recently found one with a dust jacket in a thrift store for $.50. Also, use your instinct. If you see an obscure 19th century title on dentistry, don't write it down simply because you have no knowledge of the book. Your instincts would have told you to grab that one off the shelf in spite of your ignorance.
As your list of titles grow, you may begin to notice patterns. Authors or topics may begin to reappear on your list. Once they do, it's a good idea to search them on eBay to verify marketability. If things check out, add them to your respective lists. By the way, Edward Gorey (the cartoonist) is an example of a hot author. Wild Turkey hunting is an example of a hot topic. A few hours a week doing this kind of research, and you'll be surprised at how quickly your lists will grow and very pleasantly surprised at how valuable they'll be when you're on book buying trips.
The final section in my notebook is reserved for hot vendors. In the course of your research, it's almost always productive to spend a few minutes looking at the closed auctions of sellers who seem to sell books in the price range you're aspiring to sell in. A great deal can be learned here, not only in researching what will sell, but also in learning about presentation and listing strategies. If you find a vendor who seems to be making money hand over fist, write the member ID down in your notebook. You've just made a new friend.
Once you're armed to the teeth with instinct and knowledge, there's no stopping you, provided you know where to find books. More about this next time in Part III: Locating Saleable Books.
About the author:
Craig Stark is a full-time online bookseller and former Editor of The Bookologist, a newsletter from the publisher of AuctionBytes.
