Books at Auction

There are several different categories of auctions. Most booksellers are familiar with the rare-book auction houses, with their elaborate cataloging. These specialists inhabit a universe all their own, and I doubt I will ever understand them. One such individual, in the Washington area, would always try to sell me his auction business when I phoned to inquire about the next sale. Another told me point-blank, in the presence of other booksellers, that I did not spend enough money to merit his attention, and that I’d never own a book worthy of being consigned to his sale. Needless to say, I don’t go to those sales any more.

But you’ll find books sold at any weekly “antiques” auction, as well as those sales where the contents of a house are being sold on-site, before the house itself is auctioned. My primary specialization-performing arts-got its first real boost at just such a sale. The sale was well-attended but, as I’d feared, the books were to be sold dead-last. For six hours, we stood on a slanting driveway as the crowd bid on dilapidated living room furniture, old kitchen utensils, and the like. To relieve the boredom, I bid on a couple of things, and ended up buying a trombone. Finally, the auctioneer walked us into the basement, where the books had been stashed. My eye fell upon a carton of hardbound opera scores, which I quickly calculated would be a reasonable buy for me if I had to pay as much as $200. By the time the bidding started, my only competition was a timid-looking woman who’d also been waiting. My heart caught in my throat as the very box of books I craved was the first lot offered. I thrust my bidder’s card into the air and stared straight into the face of the other bidder, preparing for a real fight. To my surprise, she melted at a mere $18. To my further surprise, she was so intimidated that she actually left the sale at that moment. A competing bid brought me up to two dollars on the next box, and that was the end of the competition. Not another bid was made on the rest of the books. The auctioneer pled with the crowd, and finally entreated me to bid one dollar, in return for which I could have the remainder of the basement-full of books, playbills and magazines. I politely refused, at which point he begged me to bid a dollar, saying he’d be happy if I took only those books I actually wanted. Thus, for a total outlay of $21, we went home with our van loaded with opera, classical music and ballet books. The auctioneer was relieved, as he had committed to emptying the basement. Without my one-dollar purchase, he’d have spent $50 or $60 paying his helpers to haul the remaining books to the dump. At a more recent auction, I saw three large bookcases full of cookbooks fetch no more than $30, including the bookcases! And several weeks ago, I saw a couple of our colleagues score several Mencken first editions, in very good dustjackets, for a fraction of what they were expecting to spend.

Things don’t always go so cheaply. A couple of years ago, I attended a sale held at the home of an aging couple who were moving to a retirement community. A dozen books of Gustav Dore illustrations, in pretty nondescript editions, went for prices nearly eight times what I’d sold them for at retail. Later, I learned at least part of the story. The elderly homeowner’s wife had insisted that he unload most of his books, including the Dore. While she was busy in some other part of the house, the old gent sneaked outside and bought back his own books, at rather scandalous prices. Of course, the price would have been less had there not been a competing bidder, and heaven only knows what was on HIS mind!

Here are a few tips about buying at antiques auctions.

1. If the books are set at the beginning of the sale, or offered at a pre-determined time, this means the auctioneer is expecting higher prices. Books sold at random throughout the sale, or near the end, generally sell for less.

2. Many auctioneers will allow buyers to create their own lots, choosing from among tables full of books. This is a great way to buy only what you want, and save hauling unsaleable books. But because most auctions comprise property from a number of consignors, and the auction house needs to sell each consignor’s stuff separately, your freedom to create lots may be limited.

3. Most auctions allow you to leave a bid and go about your business, paying and collecting your merchandise later if you’ve won. Be certain that you understand the auctioneer’s left-bid policy-some establish a minimum dollar amount for left bids, and many will start the bidding at 60 to 70 percent of your maximum left bid. Don’t leave bids on lots that are not secured under lock and key. Too often, the contents of box lots get shifted, deliberately or otherwise, as dozens of people sift through the books.

4. Be careful about discussing your bidding intentions with potential competitors. Most localities have laws that forbid “bid-rigging,” the definition of which includes agreeing not to bid against a competitor on certain items, to ensure that someone gets the best possible price. (The auctioneer’s legal obligation is to the consignor, and his job is to squeeze every possible penny out of each item offered.)

Selling your own over-stock at auction is a crap-shoot. At least once I’ve come away at a total loss, the cost of the boxes in which I hauled the books having exceeded the price realized at the sale. Selling at auction is a gamble, which I like to consider one step above the Dumpster. If you’re one of that minority among booksellers who has taxable income, you can probably do as well by donating the books to a local charity and taking the fair-market-value as a tax deduction.

You will need to shop around for an auctioneer to handle your books. Although you see numerous books offered at auction, many houses have a policy of handling books only as part of a larger estate. You can make your offering more palatable to the auction house by doing a couple of things:

1. Negotiate the best deal possible on sales commissions and fees. Hauling, storage and setup all add to the auctioneer’s cost, and these costs are passed along to the consignor.

2. Offer to unpack and arrange the books at the auction. Offer to haul away any lots that do not receive bids. This saves time and money for the “house,” and will endear you to all those hard-working people who set up the sales and clean up afterward.

3. Don’t use the auction as your dumping ground. Discard textbooks, useless encyclopedias and the like before you pack up for the auction.

4. Don’t expect “reserve” pricing. Except in the case of rare and unusual books, best offered at book specialty auctions, this will make your offering unpalatable.

5. Do try to get your merchandise placed early in the sale. The best positioning, time-wise, is an hour to two hours after the start of the sale. The lots sold at the very beginning of the sale are “warm-up” merchandise, sold while the auctioneer awaits late arrivals (many of whom are the most regular spenders).

6. Don’t fret over how browsers handle the books. Once consigned to the sale, they are out of your hands.

7. Support your favorite auction house by bidding on other stuff offered. As you watch neat old stuff get sold cheaply, you’ll discover other interests beyond books. (My personal favorite non-book purchase is a heavy woolen rug, formerly used in an Order of the Eastern Star temple, which I bought for $15.)

As the auctioneers often say, “bid early and often.

Constant Change – Columbia Books

January 24, 2003 marked the end of an era in Columbia, MO with the closing of Nowell’s. The Nowell brothers came home from the Civil War, wanting something different than farming, so in 1876 they opened Nowell’s Grocery Store, just up the street from where my bookstore is now located. Over the years this little store changed and grew, as did the generations of the Nowell family owning the operation. In the early 1960’s the store (in a much larger location) burned to the ground, and it re-opened in a giant tent while the new and improved store was built. Nowell’s was the first grocery store in town to have a multiplicity of services besides basic groceries, and Nowell’s was the first store in town to use scanners. At one time Nowell’s had two warehouse stores and 3 stores in Columbia and 4 more in surrounding communities. They were successful, innovative and interesting places to shop. Walmart opened a supercenter, and then Hyvee came to town and the fourth Jack Nowell closed the stores for good last month. And now I must purchase my groceries from one of the several corporate-owned chain stores—fortunately I do not have to stoop to Walmart.

One thing I have learned in the years Columbia Books has been open (since October 1, 1977) is never to take anything for granted. Nothing stays the same in the book business, constant change is inevitable, and just about the time you think you have your business model in place is the time you will get blindsided by any variety of unknown circumstances.

To survive and thrive in the book business one must have the extreme flexibility of a ballet dancer, the capacity to re-invent oneself repeatedly, tenacity, determination, stubbornness, and a certain amount of plain old dumb luck. My degree in Library and Information Science combined a program of rare book courses under the late Dr. Helmutt Lehmann-Haupt, and a series of courses in library automated systems. This was in the 1970’s when library automation was in its infancy. My vision was to be surrounded by old and rare books, utilizing the new methods of research through computers…….needless to say reality has been a somewhat different creature, involving such details as providing a living for myself and two children—and insurance on their vehicles as well as college tuition.

In the mid-1980’s the only bookstore in downtown Columbia selling new books moved out to the large Mall. New books slowly became a part of my operation, over the next 15 years growing to become a viable business itself with sales reps calling regularly, and author events part of the venue.

In 1992 the first computer was purchased to help manage the paperwork, catalog the books, etc. In 1994 Richard Weatherford started an internet service called Interloc, which he felt would revolutionize the op book business via the internet. I was one of those he called to take the plunge, and since we were never able to keep on top of the catalog mailings, this seemed to be a logical evolution.

Those early days of internet selling were truly amazing; the books flew out the door and the main challenge was to type in enough titles to keep ahead of what was selling. The first computer was replaced with a bigger faster model, and then a second computer was added so we could type faster. Abebooks started up, Bibliofind was born and the databases grew like topsy as the big scramble began with everyone trying to get online. Amazon dipped its toe in the waters of used books in an effort to tap into another market….and the rest is history as they say.

Big Corporate Entities have taken much of the book market, both B & M and online as well, making it a real challenge to survive and to maintain integrity and identity as individual booksellers. Between 1985-2000, 34% of the independent bookstores in this country closed, largely due to the invasion of B&N and Borders, and the domination of the internet by Amazon. Lengthy litigation on the part of the American Booksellers’ Association leveled the playing field as far as publisher pricing of books, but it came too late for all too many stores both small and large. Many communities and major cities in this country have no independent stores left. One of my sales reps told me about four years ago he had only a dozen accounts left in the entire state of Texas.

Before the advent of the internet, the chain stores for the most part were unaware of the parallel world of used, op, and rare bookselling which had co-existed for some 500 years. Book buyers and collectors shopped both sides of the book world to satisfy their desires.

The internet revolutionized this. Amazon discovered the link to the seemingly infinite world of used and op books on the internet and began the stampede of the Corporate Bodies to take over and control yet another segment of the market. Independently owned databases and websites disappeared rapidly as Amazon, B&N and Borders and, later, Alibris jockeyed for dominance, and book buyers found they could tap into seemingly endless listings of books online without having to expend the time and energy visiting and browsing their local bookshops.

Another undocumented wave of bookstore closings is happening with the decline of walk-in traffic. B&M bookstores not actively involved with the internet are few and far between. Many booksellers have only internet presences with no visible storefronts. Bookseller catalogs are almost a thing of the past, as online listings make printed catalogs instantly obsolete. Local and regional book fairs are dying out due to lack of attendance. Book scouts and charities become instant booksellers online, making competition for the good books almost like a feeding frenzy in shark-infested waters.

The internet is tailor-made to dovetail almost perfectly with bookselling; the problem is how to avoid the tenacles of Corporations who are invested in selling units of products, to work within their system in such a way as to maintain individuality and integrity, how to thrive as professional booksellers, how to withstand the Walmart pressuring of more is better, cheaper is best, quality is irrelevant. At the moment A’s are duking it out for internet dominance, their main concern being the bottom line of profitablity as far as selling units of product: more is better, cheaper is best, quality is virtually irrelevant. The first generation independently owned databases are gone, very few of the second generation databases are still around, but a third generation is now upon the horizon, with the emphasis being on quality, customer service, product integrity, individuality, making the whole process come full circle. They lack the size and clout of their larger counterparts, but they take into account the idiosyncratic nature of book buyers and collectors that ultimately is the driving force behind the used and rare book world.

The browsing process is an integral part of the buying process for readers and collectors, and booksellers who can adapt the internet to recreate this “feel” for their online customers will survive and thrive over the long haul. The internet never closes—just crashes from time to time–and bad weather outside is a positive factor; readers and collectors thrive on serendipity, which translates into personalization, quality, integrity, and knowledge on the part of the bookseller being key factors—-once again moving full circle.

Columbia Books has a server now, with the capacity to host its own website, several workstations. I list online with Abebooks, Alibris, Amazon, Antiqbooks, Barnes and Noble, Bibliodirect, and the ABAA/ILAB database. By using the Bookrouter service I am able to customize and tweak my listings to “fit” each database. I have 27,000 titles online, but not all of them are on all of the sites. Barnes and Noble has driven the regional chain store out of the Big Mall here and they in turn have located across the street from my store and are actively working to completely take over my market group. The internet keeps my store open and viable because they cannot touch what I do there. The possibilities are almost infinite: ILAB has had successful virtual book fairs, which means I can “show” my books without having to pack them up and wear out my body, the newer databases are so much more personal, the Bookrouter service is beta testing features to make websites better, easier, more personalized and much more readily accessible, my walk-in customers can check out my inventory at 2 am……I have thought about a new greeting on my phone machine to say “Columbia Books, we never close…” which, because of the internet, is indeed the case.

#brickandmortar

English Teacher Efforts To Interest Teens in Books, Reading

I just received my first-semester class evaluations from my students. After reviewing them I came to the conclusion that my class would be much more enjoyable for my students if we did not spend so much time reading or writing. They would prefer to interact in more group activities or spend their time working on artistic projects. Unfortunately, I do not teach physical education or art. Although I can appreciate that group activities and artistic projects have a place in my classroom, they can not and will not be the central focus of my class.

As a high school English teacher, I feel that I am fighting a battle to preserve what is left of the dying art of reading. I want my students to get excited about words and the possibilities that literature offers them. Most of my students do not recognize the magic of books or the beauty of words. They are so absorbed in our high tech, fast-paced world that they are unable to appreciate the beautiful simplicity of literature. Students today seem to need high levels of stimuli to be entertained, which is probably a byproduct of advancing technology. I see kids of every age walking around campus playing hand -held video games and/or listening to their CD-players. When students discuss their lives outside of school, most of them admit without hesitation that they spend a majority of time at home watching TV, talking on the phone, playing video games or using their computers to download music or chat via email and instant messenger. Reading and writing seem to be activities that are only associated with school, which is a scary reality.

How do I get students excited about reading when I only have them for 90 minutes every other day? I have tried several strategies in my classes in an attempt to kindle a small flame of interest in reading, which I hope will one day grow into a passion for literature. I know it is unrealistic to think every student will learn to appreciate and enjoy reading, but my goal is to give each one a positive reading experience before they leave my classroom.

My first attempt to get students interested in reading is through my SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) program. I require students to choose a book from home, our school library or my personal classroom library.1 They must bring their SSR book to every single class. The book can be on any topic that interests them, which leads to some interesting selections, but I stress that the book must be age-level appropriate. Students must read their book for the first 15 minutes of each class and then complete a variety of projects throughout the year using their SSR books. There is always a great deal of resistance to SSR the first month of school. I have been pleased, however, that students generally pick books on topics that interest them, and as a result most end up enjoying their 15-minute reading period. I want students to realize that there are books on every subject from “how to” books on skateboarding to biographies about famous people and general fiction. Most students tell me they don’t enjoy the books that teachers choose to teach, which is a legitimate complaint. I have worked in districts that require me to teach books that I would rather not include in my curriculum. It is important that students be exposed to the plethora of book styles, genres, and topics that are available. I think SSR is successful because it encourages students to search for a book that might interest them. Many students have never done it before because it takes time and energy.

At the beginning of last year, I had a student proclaim proudly that he hated (abhorred, might be a more accurate word) reading because it was so boring. I suggested he choose a book in an area that interested him because that would add excitement to his reading. We had a long conversation about different authors and book styles. He finally decided to read Steven King’s novel, The Green Mile, because he had heard the movie was good. One day, after about four months of SSR, the kitchen timer rang to signal the end of SSR. He let out an exasperated sigh and said in an irritated tone, “SSR is too short. It should be at least 20 minutes because 15 minutes is not enough time to really get into my book.” I was thrilled! He was actually disappointed that he could not continue reading because he was so caught up in his book. That moment was a tiny victory in my battle against student apathy towards reading. It is also the inspiration that keeps me doing SSR despite the instructional time I lose.

The second thing I enjoy doing in my classroom to provide students with a positive reading experience is “story time.” My classroom is large enough that I am able to organize the students’ desks into two U-shaped rows. This leaves a substantial amount of space in the center of the room, which I use for story time once every week. The first time I announced to my high school students that I wanted them to sit on the floor for story time, I was met with gasps, dropping jaws and rolling eyes. They could not believe I was serious. Many of my students informed me that “only kids read children’s books, Ms. Rice!” I also heard comments like, “this is so lame” and “she is so weird.” Despite their protests and disbelief, I read them story after story. I wanted to give students the opportunity to just relax and enjoy a story without being “held accountable.”

One week in November I forgot to schedule a story time and at least one student from each of my classes pointed out my mistake. I explained (to every class) that we had a lot to do before Thanksgiving break and we did not have time for a story that week. My students were outraged! All I could do was smile at their disappointment. They had begun to look forward to story time. It was a break in the curriculum that gave them a chance to relax and enjoy a fun story. My second language learners were especially entranced by story time, because the language was simple and easy to follow. I think story time has been my most successful strategy in terms of providing my students with a stress-free, positive reading experience.

I think the apathy most students show toward reading is a result of their lack of exposure to reading different types of books. Most students view reading as a chore. It is my job as an English teacher to show students that although reading is an educational tool, it is also a form of entertainment. I hope that SSR and story time (among other reading activities) will help me to break down some of the barriers that keep students from reading for pleasure.

Most IOBA members have low-value or unsaleable books lying around book club editions, copies missing their dust jackets or others with cosmetic flaws that are still eminently readable. Have any of you tried contacting local English teachers or school principles about donating some of these volumes for classroom use? If not, you might consider it. After all, our livelihood depends on having people out there who want to read books. What better way to do so than to encourage the younger generation to read?