OMG OMG OMG!

I realize I have not been very consistent recently. For anyone who checks the blog, I apologize.

I am about six weeks into a massive project to reduce my 43,000 book on-line sales inventory of physical, paper, pre-owned books to somewhere in the 3-6,000 range. Or maybe zero.

For the last 11 years I have been selling books. Nothing fancy, not collectible or old or worth hundreds of dollars. Regular books for people who like to read. Books that are no longer in print, because the publication status doesn't change the contents. Books of all genres. It was a dream of mine since I was very young and found that I could live vicariously in the books and travel to places fantastic and mundane by simply opening them up.

Yes, I have a Kindle and yes, it is very convenient. But there is something about the weight and the physical process of flipping a page that I can't shake; I like to read and hold paper books. But it has become clear I am in the decided minority.

When I started a paperback would routinely fetch $5 and the shipping was only $2.13. Now I have a hard time selling that same paperback for $3.50 and the shipping is $2.69. The websites on which I sell are more expensive to use and the shipping materials more expensive, etc.

So I am getting out. I can't afford to do it because I like it. I don't have the time to do it for a few pennies a sale. Maybe I'll keep a few and keep a toe in, like a hobby, but I'll give up my storage space and stop donating to charities. We'll see when the first 80% are gone.

There will be a few "last hurrahs". I do a church fair in November. 6,000 will go there. I'm having sales on the sites where I sell; maybe a few more will sell. I'll hand over another thousand to Head Start. Then there will be just the few I want to keep; my best inanimate friends.

Snow, Amazon, and other musings on the new year.

Three weeks into the new year and two big snow storms in New York where I live. A lot of fun to watch the snow come down - as long as I'm not driving or needing to shovel it!

Of course, my big indoor/outdoor cat hates the snow - it chases away all the other animals, it make moving around hard, and it is cold. He is much more sensitive to the cold now that he's 15.

I did spend my time productively trying to upload old paperbacks for sale on Amazon. It appears that Amazon, mighty Amazon, has trouble determining what is a trade paperback and what is a mass market for old books, precisely because they make their listing that of whoever uploads the product first. Surprisingly (sarcasm), when it gets to technical details, non-technical people sometimes make mistakes. With so many books in print, it IS impossible for Amazon to independently vet every book uploaded.

So about 50% of the harlequin romances came back as errors (Amazon listing is trade paperback) and 50% succeeded on the first try (Amazon listing is mass market paperback). The process to get the listings corrected seems convoluted but I think I understand their logic. We'll see if I adjust my upload to match the (wrong) information or if I go through the vetting process to get their listing updated.

I see a lot of other bloggers have set lofty reading goals for the new year. I wish them all the best of luck with all their goals. I, personally, just hope to find at least half an hour every day to read and at least an hour to write. 2013 saw those at probably 15 and 30 minutes respectively. Wish me luck!

Out of Print Books

In this day of electronic books and Google scanning thousands of books to be available free online, I still think there is a place for the paper out-of-print book. Actually several places.

First there is the old book that one remembers from one's childhood, either a personal favorite (mine is The Little Toy Soldier - NOT the Hans Christian Andersen tale) or something the adults were reading and you weren't allowed (Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds).

Second there is the old book about something or by someone who interests you and with whom you feel closer because of the physical paper. I have a friend who loves Frances Parkinson Keyes' historical novels. For me, it is the feel of the paper when I read a classic - like Edgar Allan Poe or Henry David Thoreau.

Finally there are those books which are too recently out of print to have electronic versions. This includes a huge amount of popular fiction, from serial romances to westerns, science fiction, mysteries, and thrillers.

Literally millions of these books (in paper form) are available online for reasonable prices. I have featured a couple sellers on this blog. I, also, have little online business with books that primarily fit the criteria above. It also has some classics and some books that have been published electronically - some Nora Roberts titles and the works of Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare, etc. for example.

My little enterprise has recently reduced prices on over 8,000 titles for the holiday season. It also features free shipping and coupons for multi-book purchases (all at the landing page). So if you, or someone on your holiday shopping list, is a bibliophile and is interested in paper books out of print in all media, I encourage you to take a look at the many online sellers, and start :-) with mine.

Feature and Follow - Bookshelf Tour

Here are two of my 5 shelves. Of course there are the thousands of books I have as part of my online used bookselling business; sometimes I pull one of those to read. Organization? The ones for sale are carefully organized; my "personal" books, not so much.

Heavenly - Profile of Online Bookseller Mostly Romance

  Masterson Twins bundle (2 books)

Romance is THE most popular genre of fiction. Many online booksellers have romances for sale but one seller, Mostly Romance, has a unique format and presentation. We have chosen Mostly Romance and owner Sandi Morris for our inaugural profile of unique and superb online booksellers.

Sandi tells us that Mostly Romance has been online for just over ten years. As many booksellers, Sandi started as a reader and collector.

During her junior high years, she discovered traditional Romance in Gone with the Wind and the gothic stories of authors Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney.  Always a voracious reader, Sandi was introduced to the modern Romance genre in 1973 when a co-worker recommended The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.  Followed by Jude Devereaux and Johanna Lindsey which led to Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Suzanne Brockmann and J.D Robb / Nora Roberts.  Traditional became non-traditional as Romances included time travel, outer space, vampires and werewolves.

Sandi tells us that as authors started writing connected books she found that she "had" to read all the books in a series and that she "needed" to read them in order.

Casual selling online of part of her collection caused her to recognize that she wasn't alone in this need and also that she had a knowledge of the authors, publishers and series she could share with other readers.   MostlyRomance.com was born.

Mostly Romance specializes in sets, or Sandi's preferred term, bundles, of connected books. This unique method of offering books for sale sets Mostly Romance apart from most booksellers.

 

  Faery Tale Romance bundle (12 books)

The bundle may be a publisher/author defined set connected by characters, locale, occupation, etc. or it may be an author backlist bundle, or it may be a bundle of books with a similar theme.Bundles may be as small as two books about sisters or as large as the seventy-one book Montana Mavericks set that was recently sold.

Mostly Romance doesn't use stock photos but illustrates each listing with scans of the actual books being offered. This is very important in this niche market because the books Mostly Romance sells have been previously owned. Each listing includes an accurate description of the physical condition of the book(s) as well as publisher description (blurb) when available.

  36 Hours bundle (17 books)

With over 6000 listings online and a back stock of 1000s, Mostly Romance has a lot to offer.

And, since it is "Mostly" Romance, you can also find Science Fiction or Mystery sets.