The BookThinker Newsletter BR>ISSN 1547-9501 #85, 1 January 2007

BookThink Update
8 January 2007>>>

Update Announcements

BookThink's Top 10 on eBay November 2006 More fishy stuff in BookThink's Top 10 on eBay this month - another carp book, for one thing, and also a fishy auction. You may recall the firestorm of controversy that erupted in late November shortly before the release date of O.J. Simpson's If I Did It. Several copies mysteriously surfaced - where else? - on eBay, and one auction closed at $8,300. After publisher HarperCollins agreed to halt distribution and destroy any existing copies, bidding on another copy reached $1,000,000, at which point eBay removed the auctions. How many copies survived? Nobody knows, but look for them to surface in the coming years and attract significant interest.

BookThink's Bookseller Profiles Aslan Books Also today - another Bookseller Profile. Jeffrey and Jeanine Dyer of Aslan Books tell how they have built an Amazon business that allows Jeanine to both work full-time and care for three children.

From the Editor Important announcements for BookThinker readers.

Taking Bookselling To The Top Part IVa: How To Succeed in Bookselling Without Really Trying On November 21, 2005, we published Part III of a scheduled 4-part series titled "Taking Bookselling to the Top: How to Succeed in Bookselling without Really Trying." I had every intention to wrap up the series in a matter of a few months, but, needless to say, one or two things got in the way, not the least of which was a rapidly growing website and an ever-present full-time bookselling business. Worse, Part I of this series was published fully 17 months ago. How's that for continuity. Anyway, I made a New Year's resolution to write Part IV, and what better time to publish it than New Years Day? The only thing is, there are two parts to Part IV, and Part IVa will appear today - and Part IVb had better be fast on its heels.

BookHunt Tip of the Month If You Don't Know Where to Start, Start Here BookThink launches a new monthly column in this issue - BookHunt Tip of the Month. Some of you have gotten off to a slow start with BookHunt and have expressed interest in tutorials that would help you get up to speed. Today's tip shows how to use BookHunt to locate under-priced first printings of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner - and of course this technique can be applied to any modern first edition of value.

Gold Edition #34 How To Buy and Sell Photobooks Part III: Photographer Flashpoints (second 25) Issue #34 of the Gold Edition - How To Buy and Sell Photobooks - is now available for purchase. Purchase now.

50/50 Issue #19
Dogs, Dogs and More Dogs
Now Available
Issue #19 of 50/50 is now available for purchase; its focus is "Dogs Dogs and More Dogs." Subscribe today here.

Introducing .... BookHunt Software Designed for Buying Inventory Online The bookselling theme we pound the hardest at BookThink is this: Sell better books. Agreed, some of you don't live in inventory rich areas, and this may be easier said than done. One solution I've suggested is to start buying some of your inventory online. After all, where are most of the best books located? For most booksellers, however, especially those new to the business, buying online is significantly more difficult than buying books in the field. Or was until now. Software developer Ian Ashbury has come to the rescue. Ian has designed a tool for BookThink that will greatly enhance your ability to not only locate inventory online but also save you countless hours you otherwise would've spent slogging through listings at eBay. It's called BookHunt, and here's more information.

Previous BookThinker update- BookThink Update
25 December 2006>>>

Update Announcements

Collecting Science Fiction An End of Days Identity and Meaning in the Shadow of the Dying Earth Well, I hope you brought your thinking caps with you today - or, in the immortal words of P.G. Wodehouse's Bertram Wooster, "ate fish." Science Fiction Editor Timothy Doyle takes on some fundamental philosophical topics today in his monthly column, among them eschatology. Don't know what eschatology is? You'll soon find out, and what's more, there's bookselling profits afoot.

A Novel Approach Dan Martin's Journey Back Second up is Dan Martin. Dan originally approached me several months ago and requested that BookThink review his first novel, Journey Back. Though we weren't able to accommodate him, I suggested instead that he pen an article on his experiences getting his book published. The resulting piece is an unusually interesting insider's look at the struggle many writers face when attempting to make it in a business that, ultimately, we booksellers profit from on the back end.