The BookThinker Newsletter ISSN 1547-9501 134, 20 April 2009

BookThinker #134, Special Report 2, 18 May 2009

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Building a Bookselling Reference Library Part VI: The Book Collector's Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz I recently had the pleasure to examine a new collector's guide that, I must say, surely sets a standard for this kind of reference - Paul R. Bienvenue and Robert E. Schmidt's The Book Collector's Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz. [Read the complete article here.]

QMR Book of the Month How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit At first glance, you might be scratching your chin on this one - a 40-year-old book on how to print T-shirts for fun and profit is actually worth something today? Well, yes - and no. Author Scott Fresener started a T-shirt business in 1969, the story goes, with a paltry $500 investment and quickly built it into something special. Nine years later he published a how-to book that was also special, so much so that it sold way over 100,000 copies. As with many other books we've featured here, some guys have a gift to teach, and Fresener is one of them. How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit is an exceptional teaching tool and the standard guide in the field - the bible - and has been for decades. [Read the complete article here.]

BookThinker Update, 11 May 2009

Update Announcements

Selling on eBay- A Review of Comsulting's Bulk Reviser Surprise, surprise - more changes from eBay are looming ahead, and booksellers will most certainly be affected. I'll be addressing these changes in more detail in upcoming issues, but today, in the interest of alerting those of you who maintain sizable eBay Stores and may want to get a head start, I'll review a third-party application that might come in very handy very soon as you undertake an editing process that, in some instances, will be required.

The Ordinary Meets the Bizarre and Other Matters An Interview with J.C. Hallman I first had the pleasure of interviewing J.C. Hallman for BookThink in March 2007, when we discussed his two non-fiction books The Chess Artist (St. Martins Press, 2003) and The Devil is a Gentleman (Random House, 2006). Shortly afterwards, he moved to the Twin Cities, where he continues to write, teaches at The University of St. Thomas, and enjoys the thriving literary community in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

BookThinker Special Report, 27 April 2009

Top 10 on eBay March 2009 Canada, New Zealand, and Australia were represented in the March top 10 lists. Canadian sellers took 3 places, and 2 US sellers each sold two titles on the fiction list. It veered toward more recent titles and less experienced sellers with all 10 titles were published during or after 1950, and 7 books listed by sellers with 50 or fewer feedbacks. The non-fiction group included sellers from New Zealand and Australia. A US seller sold 3 books in the top 10, and half the listings were sold by sellers with fewer than 50 feedbacks.

QMR Book of the Month I Taught Amelia to Fly For somebody who ditched a plane over 70 years ago, there's remarkably steadfast interest in Amelia Earhart. And not near as much interest in Neta Snook Southern, who was indeed Earhart's first flight instructor and was in her own right a pioneer aviatrix of the first order. This self-published book, I Taught Amelia to Fly, is her autobiography, and I suspect she suffered writer's cramp back in the 70s - just about every copy you come across is signed.

BookThink Specials Right now, BookThink is offering special deals on our most popular publications. See what's available to help you grow your bookselling business.

From the Editor   Building a Bookselling Reference Library Part V: Simply the Best Autograph Reference Book I've Seen Today, I'd like to introduce you to a recently released autograph resource - In the Presence of History: The Authoritative Guide to Historical Autographs for Collectors, History Enthusiasts and Investors. It's simply the best thing of its kind I've seen between two covers and an utter must-have for booksellers. [Read the complete article here.]   The Frugal Bookseller Part II Last time we talked about saving money on restaurant meals, motel stays and other assorted penny pinching ideas. As promised, we have two more for you in this edition, both of which revolve around the world of electronics. As much as they have been criticized by some in the book business, electronics are as much a part of buying and listing and reselling as picking up great tips here at BookThink. [Read the complete article here.] BookThink's Gold Edition Issue #58 Buying and Selling Catalogs Part III: Power Flashpoint Alert: Asbestos Ironically, one of the more fiery bookselling flashpoints - asbestos - was a substance once prized. And now? This is clearly something you can ignore only at your bookselling peril. Purchase now.   BookThink's Quarterly Market Report of Common, Profitable Books Issue #6 Issue #6 of BookThink's Quarterly Market Report of Common, Profitable Books is now available for purchase. Purchase now. Previous BookThink Update >>>>>>> BookThinker Special Report, 6 April 2009 Update Announcements BookThink Special Report Selling a Signed First Edition on eBay Update, and a New BookThink Service An update on BookThink's auction of a signed copy of Gone with the Wind. [Read the complete article here.] Gold Edition Quotation of the Month Buying and Selling Catalogs Part II: Auction Catalogs, Issue #57 Auction catalogs, especially those published in recent decades by major auction houses, are one of the most profitable of catalog niches. Not only do these catalogs feature the most sought-after items in the marketplace but also support these items with superb photographic presentations, detailed, authoritative commentary and often up-to-date pricing information (either in the form of pre-auction estimates or post-auction results) - virtually everything a collector looks for in a resource. Moreover, in cases where reference books on a specific collecting niche either don't exist or are prohibitively expensive, auction catalogs are especially attractive. [Read the complete article here.]       BookThinker Special Report, 23 March 2009 Update Announcements       BookThink Special Report The Frugal Bookseller Part I There's no question that a comprehensive knowledge of history is a great asset for a bookseller. There are many reasons why, but perhaps one of the more important (and obvious) ones is that it empowers your instincts when scouting, enabling you to snag books that have value because they address or are contemporaneous with important historical events, people, periods, etc. [Read the complete article here.] QMR Book of the Month Neaderthin Eat Like a Caveman to Achieve a Lean, Strong, Healthy Body Here's an interesting idea for a diet: "Never eat anything that you cannot get naked, armed with only a sharp stick." In case you haven't noticed, the so-called Paleo diet, which essentially attempts to mimic what cavemen would've eaten back in the day, is hot stuff these days - and this book, Neanderthin, is selling hand over fist at $40 and up. BookThinker Update 16 March 2009 Update Announcements

BookThink's Top Ten on eBay February 2009 The saga of Aegard makes clear that what you see on eBay isn't always what happened. After a long run in the Antiquarian Top 5, Aegard is now not a registered user and his auctions were pulled. In this column, we report what eBay shows in search results and in individual listings. What we don't - and can't - usually know is whether what we see there is true. So take a grain of salt along with Top 10, and we'll keep trying to get it as on target as the information allows.