Hello The Bitter Book Seller has Arrived!!!

To my one reader out there. . .I’m just going to put an expanded version of my about you page as my first post.

********

This is not another blog telling you how to make money selling books, I am not going to outright give any of my secrets or strategies away to NOOBS who don’t want to do their own footwork.

Yes, my secrets are no secret for most of you experienced booksellers, but it amazes me how many of these sellers turn around and just out right give info to new sellers, it’s like they have to show off just how *smart* they are, that they know better than anybody where to get the *best* deals—all the while creating an ignorant, aggressive competition, and giving them a leg up because Time is Money.  We all spent a ton of hours reading books, doing research on the web, fine tuning our methods, shouldn’t they? I spend at least 10 hours a week doing various research, why should I just give this a way? Save the NOOBS that 10 hours, that is 10 more hours that hey have to lower their prices and buy more inventory.

I see many of the sellers that freely give away all this info, also posting on various message boards about how slow their sales have become, as well as about spiraling prices. Well what did they think would happen? While many of us seasoned booksellers will hold onto something for at least a couple years, the NOOBs want their sales NOW. Even if you do tell the NOOBS how to acquire inventory and how to do everything from listing it to how to ship it, you can’t teach them the value, and the love of books. Many of these sellers are just here because they think that they can get rich quick–Heck, they can’t even do a simple Amazon search for books on collecting or even book selling, let alone read a book or go to one of the various websites that offer info on proper grading, etc. Many of these people don’t read books at all!

Once upon at time, I also gave info on certain things like shipping and grading, thinking that I wanted the other sellers on the various sites I sold on to be the best that they could so that people could trust buying from us little ol sellers. I soon realized that I was seeing so many new faces out in the trenches, that I was working harder for the same money, and that it was getting to be a challenge to find a book that would hold its value for the few months it took to sell, so I stopped passing out info.

Yes, it was inevitable that there would be more competition. But I think that all the indiscreet sellers whom have to brag to everyone from other regular shoppers to the cashiers about how much money they can make on selling one book, and that the sellers that tell everyone how to do it, expedited this process and most likely brought a lot more people to the train who are essentially looking for a free ride with all meals included.

To be clear, I am not talking about mentors. For Antiquarian book selling we all should have mentors, but no mentor in their right mind would take on someone who had never done any of their own homework first, and I’m guessing someone who does not read, and someone who is just in it for the money. I cringe at the way I see some of you treat books at sales. Even Daniele Steele deserves a little more respect than to be thrown on the floor.

OK enough for now, the rest of my about you page.

This is just a space for me to bitch about everything related to book selling, a lot of these rantings won’t be new to many of you, as you have probably had the same thoughts, and maybe even written about them. There are only so many stories, its the way we tell them.

I am a Full Time Tax paying Bookseller, not a rich one, but I support myself doing what I love. I started collecting books about 15 years ago, and eventually ended up selling as a way to pay for my collection. Since then I have sold off my original collection, traveled around most of the states, and moved to one of the most competitive areas in the country for books, where I’ve had to start from scratch and reinvent the wheel over and over.

I am the worst typer ever and rarely proof read blog stuff as I have a lot of other shit to do. I really am a girl, and I play D&D and Video games too. I am also a writer–though obviously not too successful yet or I wouldn’t still be selling books. . .or would I?