[NOTE: This article is the last installment of a four-part series. See also Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.]
Throughout this series of articles I've emphasized how important it is to get an emotional response from your buyer, so at first glance it might seem contradictory to state that, if there's a guiding principle in successfully presenting books, especially the class of books I've recommended buying, it's this: restraint.
By "restraint" I don't mean to be stingy with details,
either visual or textual. Far from it. I mean, as far as humanly possible, stay out of the way of the book you're selling. Disappear. Leave no footprints on your presentation. Think of it as an easel you paint a picture on, then duck behind, leaving no trace of you.
Let the book do the work.
Obvious examples of too much you are: Wow! Great book! Tremendous value! A must-have! Perfect for collectors! Beautifully illustrated! And perhaps everybody's favorite: Rare! Pictures or the overall appearance of your auction can be a problem of too much you as well. A huge Powerseller logo. Massive blocks of text. A picture of your bookstore-worse, your cat. Anything that comes between your buyer and the book you want him to buy.
Your buyer doesn't want to be hit over the head with this stuff. He wants to find something that will seize his imagination and lead him into a secret world where he can be alone with his thoughts, perhaps slip into a kind of dreamy reverie. This is what leads to the all-important emotional response.
But a word of warning: this is a delicate thing. Even if you show up at the bottom of your presentation with your terms-of-sale diatribe that seeks to head off every adverse contingency known to mankind, you run the risk of popping his bubble.
Ok, assuming you've stepped out of the way, it's time to put something in your place. The details you choose to include in your presentation, whether they take the form of pictures or words, can make or break a sale. The time to choose them, in my opinion, is not when you're pushing yourself to finish a dozen or 50 or more listings, or whenever you feel pressed for time, because it's all too likely you'll settle for things that don't quite get the job done.
I try to look at the books I plan to list the night before I list them. I sit down in a quiet room and leaf through them, looking for things that jump off the page, then tag them with Post-Its. As a rule, the more concrete these things are, the better.
In the case of pictures, it helps, I think to choose smaller ones, if possible, or even portions of larger pictures, because you can zoom in for a close-up and pick up more sharply defined detail. Color helps as well, as does resolution quality. To illustrate what I mean, take the case of including a picture of the outside of the book.
Figure (1) shows what all too many sellers do. This sort of picture not only shows next to nothing about the book (aside from some inconclusive condition information), but also, it could easily chase your buyer away. After all, who wants to look at a dark, blurry blob?
Look at Figure (2) now and see what a difference it makes to come to the side of the book and move in closer-and of course, focus the camera. Now it at least it looks, and more importantly feels, like something that can be touched, actually taken off a shelf. The chances of getting an emotional response have suddenly leaped to a new level. But gosh, even so, what a tired looking book this is! We can't stop here.
Look now at Figure (3). With a quick application of Craig's Secret Book Restoration Elixir (more about this in a future article, perhaps) and several keystrokes of image manipulation, we finally have something that, as an interior decorator might say, POPS.
As a second example, look at Figure (4). A reasonably good picture, I think, but does it really do anything for you? Now look at Figure (5) and ask yourself the same question. More to the point, does it seem to invite you into another world more effectively? This is what I call a "Window Presentation." It's as though you're peeking into a secret place.
In the case of words, again I believe it helps to seek the most concrete thing you can find. This might be a list of chapter headings, or even better, topics within the chapters. If there are hundreds of them, choose the ones that evoke a felt response. Include an especially evocative paragraph or two, if you can find them. Remember the principle: show this book and whatever makes it magical; don't explain it-or worse, attempt to sell it.
Obviously this approach can get out of hand with too many pictures or too much textual information, but experience will tell you when to stop. Typically, 4 to 8 pictures works for me, and perhaps a list of 10 to 30 topics, along with a paragraph excerpted from the book.
Yes, it takes time to do these things, but we're not selling books for $3 or $4 anymore. We want $20, $50 and more. Oddly enough, I've discovered that it's actually faster and less troublesome to type things directly from a book than it is to attempt to summarize what the book is about and write a sales pitch, even though the latter approach results in far fewer words.
Whether or not you choose to use this technique probably won't make or break you as an eBay bookseller, but I can almost guarantee that, if you pursue it in a focused and determined manner, keeping ever in mind that it's the careful selection of detail to evoke an emotional response which will carry the day, you will be pleasantly surprised at your profits.
