BookThink's 50/50 by Craig Stark b#31, 15 November 2004

What could be more important for booksellers than to know when to buy a book and when not to? Not anything I can think of. If you have a substantial amount of this kind of information in mind when you go to sales or can access it quickly (via a notebook or some sort of handheld device), great. There'll be no stopping you.

But there's information, and there's information. Some of it's necessarily more (or less) useful depending on how likely it is that you'll have the chance to put it in play. What good does it do you to know the title of an uncommon book that can be resold for $50? If it's uncommon, the chances of using this information are relatively slight, and whatever you invest in acquiring it may not be time or money well spent. Far better to invest in information that will have wider applicability. Far better to have knowledge of books that will sell for $50 and more and can actually be found at sales or other venues with some regularity for prices that will give you plenty of room to profit handsomely.

This is where BookThink's 50/50 comes in. Starting January, 2005, BookThink will launch a bi-monthly (6 times a year) market report that will list and annotate 50 books (and "books" as well) in each issue that will typically sell for more than $50 online and - here's the best part - surface at sales and other venues with some regularity. This is information you can use and profit from often. Uncommon books will not be included.

Here's a sample of what you're likely to see in 50/50:

2-volumes. Unabridged. Originally issued in dark blue cloth with a 3-compartment box, the upper compartment housing a boxed magnifying glass that operated like a drawer. The magnifying glass was essential for reading microprint, a necessary evil in condensing what was originally a 10-volume set into 2. Beginning in the early 1970's, Book-of-the-Month-Club offered these dictionaries at deep discounts for new members. Many sold, and many are still out there. Values are understandably lower if the box and/or magnifying glass is missing, but final values at or near $100 are commonplace.

So, if you could use 50 of these every other month, then BookThink's 50/50 will bring them to you. As with BookThink's Gold Edition, BookThink's 50/50 will be available for purchase either by annual subscription at $20 or individually at $5. If you subscribe before the deadline of January 1, 2005, please accept a $5 discount in appreciation for your continued support of BookThink, and pay only $15.