Thursday, May 13, 2010

D-Day minus 1

Tomorrow is set-up day at the Gold Rush Book Fair. I'll be on the road first (it's two and a half hours away, so that's not too bad a drive). I'll also get in a wee bit of book scouting time as well (cross my fingers).  I'm glad the weather has finally improved. It's not the usual 90+ that we normally get at this time of the year, but 80's will be much better to drive and work in than the 60's with wildly gusting winds we've had until yesterday.

I took a couple of pictures of my packing / stacks / stuff ready to go... now I just have to get them into the computer.


For this fair I seem to be taking a very eclectic group of older books (well, for me, they really are older). I'm trying to pull together quaint / illustrated / fun covers - dust jacketed stuff from the 1960's and before ... with an emphasis on the 1930's or so.

We'll see how that works out.  For my SF, it's not so great as I just don't HAVE much from before 1960 (though I'm trying to add more). For Childrens books, I've got a good mix.   And then there's the wild (IE: strange) assortment of non-fiction items.

So ... whether or not I'm happy with the stuff I'm taking, well, it's just too darned bad. It's boxed. It's ready to go AND I'm almost feeling back to normal so I can move, lift, transport and talk to people without too much trouble -- a real boon for someone going to a book fair.

I'll try and update during the weekend, but that might not be possible... if not, I'll get something put up next week after its all done.  

Wish me luck!

See you at the fair.

2 comments:

dawt said...

Congratulations for giving eBay another try, I do hope it's successful!

You asked for suggestions regarding your listings, so I thought I would oblige as a way to show my support and encouragement. You've done a great job and I commend you for your efforts.

I would suggest more photographs. If I'm going to pay $200-$700 for a book, or anything else, for that matter, I want pictures galore, front, back, spine, inside-front, inside-back, title page, dust jacket, outside edges and so forth. Also, close-ups or allow for zooming. Yes, it is time-consuming, but for $700, it's worth it.

It might also be to your advantage to break up your single description paragraphs into two or more. People tend to skip huge chunks of text because they simply do not want to take the time to read it.

I used to sell on eBay, collectibles as well as books, but it's been a while. I don't know all of the correct jargon of a book's anatomy, but I still did pretty well. So please take this advice with that in mind.

I enjoy your blog and wish you much luck with your sales!

Stephanie Howlett-West said...

Dear Dawt:

What great ideas! Now I have to go back, grab the books out of the boxes that went to the fair and add more photos. I appreciate the wonderful ideas and will definitely try to utilize them. THANKS! SMH