Update Announcements, #123, 23 June 2008

Up first today is earthmom, BookThink's Amazon columnist, with Part II of her introductory series - a primer on grading books for Amazon Marketplace. It's important to note that the Amazon grading system differs from traditional book grading systems in several important respects, and yet it matters not if we think the system is better or worse. If we're going to sell on Amazon, we need to learn it and apply it.

It's inevitable that some of you will disagree with BookThink's interpretation of the Amazon system because it's deliberately prejudiced on the side of adhering to high standards - who knows, perhaps higher than Amazon intends. But in the climate we're doing business in now, we strongly believe that booksellers who set themselves apart from the crowd will stand the best chance of succeeding. For those of you who have trouble distinguishing "new" books from "like new" books, I've written a short addendum to earthmom's primer that describes a definitive test that can be conducted in a matter of moments.

Next, Pamela Palmer returns today with BookThink's Top 10 on eBay. Her introduction: "With 20% on the top fiction and nonfiction lists selling as BIN or best offer, seems this may well be a trend to watch with high end books. Otherwise, 2008 started as usual. A blend of King, Rowling, and Lee showed up in the fiction category. Sue Grafton and Cormac McCarthy added variety, along with an 1886 copy of Kidnapped. Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous led the non-fiction list. Others on the list included Kenojuak: Graphics Masterworks of the Inuit and a pair of 1839 books on early exploration of Australia. Atop the Antiquarian and Collectible category were two Mormon books from the mid-1800s along with 3 volumes from the 1400s. Two were offered by the same German seller.

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Contact the editor, Craig Stark
editor@bookthink.com