Book Selling at Genre Conventions

The first SF convention was held in 1936 in the United States (New York City), or in 1937 in England (Leeds) – a matter of debate that hinges on the definition of “convention”. At any rate, more than seventy-five years later, SF conventions are Big Business, with events held every weekend of the year around the globe. Nearly every convention has a Dealer’s (Huckster’s) Room. Typical merchandise for sale includes jewelry, artwork, clothing, toys, games, weapons … and books. For dealers, the great thing about genre conventions is that they provide a tightly focused customer base that is highly motivated to spend money. And while it is true that in the last decade or so more and more of the money spent in the Dealer’s Room has been going to non-book merchandise, reading is still the core of most genre conventions and books remain a very strong seller.

Upcomingcons.com/science-fiction-conventions is a good resource for finding information on a variety of upcoming conventions. Once you’ve located a con in your area, check out its website. Look for the email for the Dealer’s Room contact, but carefully read any information that might be available. For example, if the Dealer’s Room contact specifies no inquiries before a certain date, then you should pay attention. A large number of SF conventions are run by volunteers, and irritating someone who is doing a difficult task without getting paid is a bad way to introduce yourself.

This article is mainly based on my experience selling at the past nine Balticons, with a couple smaller cons thrown in over the years. Balticon is a four day SF and Fantasy convention held annually on Memorial Day weekend. It is the largest convention of its kind in the Baltimore, MD area, with approximately 1500 registered members. It is not my intent to push the idea of selling at genre conventions as a viable option for all online sellers. But even if con selling isn’t right for you, this article should help demonstrate that there are alternative selling venues for online sellers. These alternative face to face sales venues represent an opportunity to make some profit, generate contacts, and have fun selling books.

To be sure, SF convention selling is not for everyone. For example, you need to have a strong knowledge of the genre. Genre readers love to talk about what they’ve read and are always looking for recommendations for new books and authors, so you need to be able to at least hold your own in conversation. You can’t expect to make money if you know nothing about the genre, and show up cold with some boxes of SF paperback tat that you’ve randomly accumulated. In the nine years I’ve been selling at Balticon, I’ve established relationships with a number of repeat customers. For example, one woman likes omnibus editions, and spent nearly $300 at this year’s con because I scout inventory with her in mind.

Space in the Dealer’s Room is usually sold by the table. You should check to see if the con provides the tables, or if you need to bring your own. Spaces are limited, and routinely sell out early for the mid-size and bigger conventions. When you email the Dealer’s Room coordinator make it clear that you will be selling books. Some conventions are having trouble getting as many book dealers as they would like, and so might give you preference in getting a space. However, preference is also given to veteran dealers so don’t be surprised if they tell you there is no room left. Ask to be put on the wait list, and you might get in if another dealer drops out. This will also give you a head start for the following year.

Costs will vary, mainly depending on the size of the convention. Balticon currently charges $150 per table, and includes a convention registration with each of the first two tables. You might have to purchase con registrations separately from the spaces in the Dealer’s Room, or you might need additional registrations if you have people helping you. If you do, be aware that most cons raise the registration prices as the event date gets closer.

Overhead costs will certainly be a major consideration in deciding if convention selling will work for you. As with book fairs, you will have to figure travel, food and lodging into your expenses. In my case, the site for Balticon is only about 30 miles from my house, so not having to pay for a hotel lowers my overhead considerably. I have thought about doing large conventions that are further away, such as Philcon in Philadelphia, but have not taken that step yet mainly because of the added overhead. Some of the dealers I know do six or more conventions each year.

Be very picky when acquiring stock. Don’t worry about having enough stock to fill up your space – your problem will be having enough space to show all your stock. In general, don’t waste time, money or space on anything less than Very Good condition. A worn paperback with spine creasing just takes up the place of a better condition book, which has a much better chance of selling. My minimum selling price is $3 for paperbacks, and $8 for hardbacks – though I carry many books that well exceed those minimums. For that amount I think the customer deserves a very good or better book. Obviously, exceptions apply – some books are so scarce that the price goes up no matter what the condition.

When selling at an SF convention, take advantage of the face-to-face situation. Talk to the customers, find out what authors or books they’ve read and liked. Using your knowledge of the genre, recommend other books or authors – ideally, ones that you just happen to have in stock. Of course, I will make recommendations of titles that I do not have in stock, even to the point of directing them to another dealer in the room that I know has a copy. These customers come back to the con year after year after year, and something like that will stick in their memory. I have one customer who was really pleased with some books I picked out for him several years ago. He now comes back every year, trusting me to make recommendations on what he should buy next based on what I know about his reading likes and dislikes. He spent nearly $200 this year alone.

Speaking of the repeat customers, you should periodically “freshen up” your inventory. Part of this will happen naturally as you add new stock to replace that which has sold. My experience has been approximately 15 to 20 percent turn rate on my stock for one convention. But as part of your inventory catalog you should note when a particular book was added, and consider removing certain books after some arbitrary number of years without selling. I bought a couple of big SF collections this past year, so pulled nearly 50 percent of the bottom end of my old inventory and replaced it with all new stock – and my gross revenue went up by nearly the same percentage compared to the previous year. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the books that I pulled… box lots on eBay, garage sale with ads on Craigslist, trade in for store credit at a local used bookstore?

Another tip – know your inventory. One customer wanted to buy a $3 paperback, which I noticed was the first book in a trilogy. I showed her a trade paperback omnibus edition that had all three books, which she bought for $10. Another customer was wearing a Pink Floyd concert shirt, and I showed him a hardback book on the history of the band (one of the many non-genre books that I like to stock – see below) that he bought for $20.

Which leads to my biggest secret for success in selling books at a science fiction convention: bring lots of interesting non-genre books, or “specials” as I refer to them.

The non-genre books that I like to stock can cover any number of subjects. For many fans, costuming is a big component of the science fiction convention experience, and books about vintage clothing and jewelry, hair styles, hat making, military uniforms, and makeup and costuming for the stage all sell well. I’ve sold coffee table books on the history of Halloween costumes, on the world’s most elaborate tree houses, on 1960’s concert posters and rock album covers, on Japanese woodblock prints, on roadside Americana, on European and Oriental arms and armor, on Dr Seuss’s war time cartoons, and blue prints of homes from classic TV series. Collections of Pogo, Dick Tracy, Little Nemo, Tin Tin, and Betty Boop all sell. With the sub-genre interest in Steampunk (google it, if this is not a familiar term) almost anything related to Victoriana could sell. Non-genre writings from well-known authors like CS Lewis or JRR Tolkien are also in demand.

Describing how to pick what non-genre books will be of interest is difficult. It really comes down to a gut feeling – if it interests me and I am a science fiction fan, then I assume it will interest other SF fans. I would not bother with a glossy picture book on Porsche sports cars, but if I found a similar book on the history of the Delorean (think Back to the Future) for a couple dollars, I might try it. The beauty of books like these is that even if there are six other book dealers in the room with you, the odds of any of them having those particular non-genre books is vanishingly small. And because these types of books are so interesting and have such great visual appeal, they can move to my antique mall space after the con is over and work the whole year round.

To make setting up and tearing down more efficient, I’ve come up with a simple system. Paperbacks are stored in alphabetical order in flat plastic tubs, and set up is as simple as placing the tubs in order on the tables and pulling the lids off. Hardbacks and trade paperbacks are stored in alphabetical order in long boxes, just as they would appear on the shelves. Ideally, for setup the books come straight out of the boxes and on to the IKEA book shelves, with everything then in order and ready to go. Tear down is just the reverse, and just as easy. You’ll also notice in the picture below that I put a lot of the large format “specials” (described above) in face-out display, using the paperback bins. Face-out display is absolutely critical in maximizing sales: for one thing, it capitalizes on the work that the publisher put in to designing an attractive or compelling cover. Face out covers will catch the eye of someone passing by, and draw them in to look more closely.

My reasons for selling at Balticon are varied. To begin with, I make a very good profit for a weekend of work. Of course, there is time spent over the year prepping for the con. Some of this is time spent scouting, which I would still be doing as part of my online business. I do have to clean, price, catalog and organize the stock. There was a one-time initial outlay for the IKEA shelving and the plastic bins that I use. And storing the part of the inventory that I don’t use at the antique mall or online (see below) does take up some room for most of the year.

Selling at Balticon complements my online and antique mall selling. Balticon and the antique mall provide a nice outlet for good books I encounter while scouting, that are too low value to list online. The antique mall is a good place to put some of the books that I also sell at Balticon (the interesting non-genre “specials” I talk about above), so that they work for the whole year and not just one weekend. And I can list my high end SF books online, and pull them to bring to Balticon.

SF conventions will usually have at least one major Guest of Honor (GOH), typically a big name author. Balticon has both an author and an artist GOH, and there are always other well-known authors and artists who show up for the fun. The GOH is announced well in advance, which gives you time to stock up on the author’s works. These will of course sell very well at the con, and you can also get books signed. This has obvious implications in terms of adding value to your stock, and to books in your personal collection if you so choose.

And when all is said and done … I really enjoy selling at the cons. I’ve been a big SF fan all my life, and I really enjoy meeting and talking with other fans and the pros. I supplied a blurb for Bud Webster’s book on SF convention selling (The Joy of Booking, Merry Blacksmith Press, ISBN 0615523439) in which I said “… he has found a way to take something he would do anyway – press a book into someone’s hand and force them to read it – and make a little money doing it.” This neatly sums up how I feel about selling at Balticon. I don’t make a fortune. But it consistently generates a nice profit, has helped to grow my business, and is a lot of fun.

Timothy Doyle Bayside Books of Maryland, IOBA 6285 Oakland Mills Rd Sykesville, MD, 21784

So You Want to Be a Bookseller: Ten Questions…Some Answers

1. Are you sure?

We’re living the dream. Three-hour working days surrounded by our beloved books, more money than we can shake a stick at – I can’t help but feel sorry for all those non-booksellers out there. Oh wait, it’s not always like that though is it?

The conventional wisdom is thabookselling is getting harder every year, and as with most such pearls there’s definitely an element of truth to that and it’s easy to see why. The devt elopment of new technologies – like digital books and print-on-demand books, the market dominance of one online retailer, the apparent profusion of ‘mega-sellers’ selling books for a penny, constantly rising postal costs and the relatively low barriers to entry for online selling certainly make it a challenging environment.

If you do decide to take the plunge then you need to be aware that books are heavy, days will be long (all 365 of them each year) and some people are not necessarily suited to the self-discipline needed when faced with boxes and boxes of books and a cold, impersonal computer screen. If possible, it might be worth starting out small and combining online bookselling with other work to see if it is really the job for you.

Having said all that, for many of us, selling and dealing in books is a vocation – and one from which we get a huge amount of satisfaction – but the important thing to remember is that this is certainly not an easy life or an easy way to make big bucks.

2. To shop or not to shop?

One of the first issues any prospective bookseller has to wrestle with is whether to open a brick and mortar shop (B&M) or just sell online from the comfort of their own home/barn/shed/outhouse etc. In general, the numbers of both new and second-hand specialist bookshops are falling. Again, there are many reasons but they mainly boil down to the relatively high costs of running a shop (rents, rates and local taxes, staffing, utilities) and increased competition whether from new technologies (like e-books), the internet, large stores and even charity shops.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, many B&Ms do thrive – often with a compelling mix of specialist knowledge and exemplary service – and actively use the internet to complement the physical store.

Whether you decide to open a shop or not, however, you will need substantial space to store your books as it is a fact of life that books take up space – lots of it if you let them. So it will be important to identify an area that is secure, dry, with some airflow and preferably not too bright. It is also vital to make sure that your storage is well-organised so that when those books start flying out the door you can get your hands on them quickly and efficiently.  But don’t worry, whether you open a shop or not, as long as you sell online, you will still be able to join the best bookselling club there is – the IOBA!

3. Where do I get books?

This is the $64,000 question, just where do all those signed first editions and leather-bound antiquarian gems hang out? Unfortunately, pretty much anywhere and everywhere …

At the end of the day, where you get your books from depends on where you are but some of the most common sources include your own library, local and online auctions, other websites, library sales, garage sales, car boot sales, charity shops/thrift stores, estate sales, friends and family, private libraries and the general public.

The best advice is to try all the local sources you can find and then pick the ones that provide you with the sort of books you want and prices that allow you to make a profit!

But also, make sure you talk to plenty of your local bookselling colleagues that you meet while out and about. While they may be competitors in the heat of auction-bidding, you will be pleasantly surprised how helpful they will be. Booksellers all want to make money, but there is such a wide range of interests and specialities that there are plenty of books out there for us all and one dealer may well know of a source of books that might work well for you but don’t fit with their own store or speciality.

4. Should I specialize in one area? What should I buy?

This is one of the most common questions asked by wannabe booksellers and the answer is probably yes – but many sellers start as generalists (and often finish as generalists but with pockets of specialism). Obviously some books sell better than others and, even if only by trial and error, you will learn amazingly quickly.

One quick and dirty way of seeing if a particular book might sell is to look it up on Amazon and see where it sits in Amazon’s bookselling rankings. But obviously this can only ever be a guide and other factors such as the condition of the book and the price you want for it will have a significant impact on whether your copy will sell.

As for specialism, then the best advice is simply to find an area that you have a particular interest in and day by day build up your knowledge of books in that area. It will take you a lifetime and you will still not know everything there is to know about your chosen area but your knowledge will allow you to more reliably identify the best books, spot gems that others may miss and, most importantly of all, generate ongoing relationships with customers who share your interest and will appreciate the knowledge and expertise that you bring to their passion.

One free tip to finish … if you can come up with a way to make money from Reader’s Digest Condensed Books then you could well be on your way to becoming a gazillionaire.

5. Do I need a database or catalogue?

For once a definite answer – absolutely yes. A database of some description is a vital tool for any online bookseller, particularly if you are selling on more than one site. It is the only way to effectively manage your stock so that you can keep your stock up to date on multiple websites. A decent database will help you to keep your book descriptions and pictures in a manageable format and also help with your internal inventory management.

There are many different database programs available with different levels of functionality. Some of these are free, some require a one-off payment and others are on a subscription model – so it is vital that you do your homework to find the one that’s right for you. Many of the databases actually give you the opportunity to try before you buy. As with any software, it’s also important to check out the level of support you can expect both now and, as far as possible, in the future.

6. How do I learn to grade books?

Learning how to grade your books accurately is one of the most important skills you will learn, particularly for an internet bookseller when the buyer cannot handle book they are buying. There are standard bookselling condition grades and terms which have been used by booksellers for many years, however these have been watered down to some extent by the fact that each different bookselling website tends to use different words and definitions for their book descriptions.

The first thing to do is to understand the standard condition descriptions and the words and phrases used by booksellers. One of the best starting points is the IOBA website itself where you can find information on book conditions – http://www.ioba.org/desc.html  – and more information, including a useful bibliography in the IOBA’s Resources section at www.ioba.org

Another skill that you will need to learn includes how to accurately identify and describe the edition, particularly in the case of first editions, of the books you are selling.

Your research skills and knowledge will grow over time and it is important to listen to and learn from feedback from both fellow booksellers, collectors and also the general public to help hone your skills.

7. Where do I sell my books?

The good news is that there are many different places to sell your books. Online, these include the big aggregator sites which list books from hundreds or thousands of different sellers eg Amazon Marketplace, AbeBooks, Alibris, Biblio, IOBABooks and many others.

Auction sites like Ebay are also popular ways of selling books online.

However, the one thing that all these have in common is that they take their cut – usually a percentage of the sale price – and it can be significant. Most websites work on some form of commission basis and some give you the option of paying a monthly fee along with a lower commission, so you need to do your maths to make sure that you are not paying more than you have to.

Obviously one way to avoid some of these charges is to develop your own website (see Q8).

Many online booksellers also have their own B&M shops and other physical places to sell your books include book fairs, stalls and sales and auctions.

8. Do I need my own website/credit-card facilities?

Not necessarily, but – as stated above – sales through your own website are likely to be significantly more profitable than sales through the big aggregator sites thanks to the lack of commission charges.

However, developing a professional-looking, user-friendly website can be a significant investment and it is unlikely to generate a lot of sales at first compared with big aggregator sites. There are pre-packaged website solutions available which help to keep costs down. Having your own website does also demonstrate a degree of commitment and professionalism which can increase your sales.

The more work that you do to develop repeat customers and create a vibrant, interesting website – for instance with the help of social media – then the more sales that you can generate through your own website. Booksellers with strong specialities are also likely to benefit more from generating repeat sales through their own sites.

The facility to process your own credit cards, although often costly to set up, can prove useful even for a bookseller who sells solely through third-party websites. Some people prefer to deal direct with the vendor and you might be surprised how many customers will ring direct to place orders.

9. Do I have to ship my books every day?

If you want good feedback – yes. Picking, packing and posting are part of the daily routine of most online booksellers. The quicker that you can safely and securely get items to your customers then, more often than not, the more satisfied they are with your service. That has two benefits, firstly satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat customers and secondly on sites with well-developed feedback processes (like Amazon and Ebay) then there seems to be some correlation between feedback scores and sales. Given two books in similar condition at a similar price then buyers are more likely to buy the one from the seller with the better feedback rating. In addition, most sites will expect you to be posting orders at least once every other day and you will need to make sure you meet their requirements to keep selling there.

At first, shipping every day will probably require a trudge to the local post office, but once you are a big enough seller then, in many countries, you will be able to get your own postage contract which will significantly reduce costs and the number of those time-consuming trips. In the meantime, it can be worth shopping around and considering other providers, particularly for international sales.

10. Do I need to be part of a bookseller organization?

No, of course not, but as with a website it can improve how you are perceived by potential customers and can be a nice little boost to self-esteem as any organization worth its salt will expect you to meet certain professional standards (e.g. http://www.ioba.org/code.html).

Good bookseller organizations – like the IOBA and the many other regional and national trade associations which exist – can be an invaluable source of help, support and advice and it’s amazing just how useful that is in, what can at times be, a relatively solitary profession.

How to Buy Books Online

The aim of this article is to offer you, the buyer, some insights from a bookdealer on how to avoid these unpleasant experiences and to make buying a book online feel more like shopping in your favorite book store.

The first thing to do before making a purchase is to define what kind of book you want. I’ve broken this down to two broad categories: a reading copy (meaning a recent, common book), or a first/special edition. Determining what kind of book you’re looking for will help you decide where to purchase and give you a way to sift through your choices.

In this article, I’ll cover purchasing a basic reading copy since there are fewer variables (but many of the principals also apply to first editions). I’ll use Amazon for my examples since it’s the most trafficked venue.

Start by using the search box to find the title you’re looking for. I default to the “advanced search” option since it provides separate fields for title, author, etc. When you reach a book’s individual title page, you’ll see a box labeled “More Buying Choices. [#] copies used & new” on the right. Click on this link and you’ll see used copies arranged in order by price from low to high, with the cheapest copies having the best screen real estate near the top of the screen (except for Amazon partners or “Fulfillment by Amazon” deals which are bumped up regardless of price). There are also tabs for new, used and collectible, but for our purposes use the “All” tab.

You will find that in most cases the first page or so of listings for a common or backlist book will be priced at (or near) the hard-to-believe price of one cent.

One cent certainly sounds good but look closer and you’ll notice that listings from these “penny sellers” offer very little information about the book. Their descriptions are usually based on a generic template, used for every book they list, and these descriptions often raise more questions than they answer. Here are samples of typically unhelpful template copy:

May show water damage, moderate or excessive highlighting or underlining and/or excessive wear. Books may or may not include additional materials such as CD’s, cassettes, cards, dust jacket, etc. May contain highlighting/notes, may not include CDrom or access codes, customer service is our top priority!

In each of these cases, the space a professional bookseller would use to give clarifying detail is entirely filled with CYA (Cover Your A**) copy that warns the buyer to expect nothing. The verbiage on potentially missing “access codes” and “CDRoms” is also wasted as these descriptions are all from paperback bestsellers which would not contain such supplementary materials to begin with.

The dirty secret here is that the sellers of .01 cent books make their profit on the shipping commission; the meager difference between the cost of mailing and the slightly greater amount that Amazon reimburses the seller for the shipment (a difference of around one or two dollars). Subtract from this amount the price of a bubble mailer, the cost to acquire the book (often negligible because penny dealers get inventory for little or nothing), and Amazon’s commission and it’s easy to see that such a seller can’t afford to spend time describing a book or providing any manner of customer service.

So to save a few dollars, you may wait indefinitely, receive nothing like the item you intended to buy, and have to manage a return with a potentially unhelpful seller. Isn’t your time worth more than that?

My guideline for purchasing even a reading-copy is to scroll past all of the $.01 listings and template copy until I find a bookseller who is actually describing the book in hand; one whose description provides some assurance that I’ll be satisfied with my purchase.

There are professional organizations for booksellers, including IOBA, ABA, ABAA, ABAC. and others. Most of these organizations hold their members to high standards. For instance, the IOBA code of ethics states [link to full code of ethics]:

Members will provide a thorough and accurate description of all items offered for sale, noting appropriate bibliographic details, all significant defects, and all restorations or sophistications.

When you deal with sellers who value their trade enough to acquire professional credentials, you are not only more likely to get the book you thought you were ordering, but you can be assured that if anything goes wrong, the seller should be responsive and eager to correct any problem.

Once I’ve found a few potential sellers, I check their feedback (if available). Amazon’s stars and “percentage positive” ratings are broadly useful, but be sure to click through and skim the comments left by customers. See if there are negatives or complaints from previous buyers that would annoy you if you were treated the same. Also, see if any buyers went an extra mile and left a glowing positive review. There are a few caveats however. Since leaving feedback is optional, most buyers won’t bother unless they have a grievance (justified or not) or had a stellar experience. Also, because of the way seller rating is calculated, a single recent negative comment can have more weight than hundreds of older positives. Think of customer feedback the way you would a restaurant review on Yelp, useful information but to be taken with a grain of salt.

Once you’ve chosen a seller and checked feedback, determine if you have any outstanding questions. Is this the correct edition of a book required for a class? Do you need the book for a vacation next weekend? Do you have special sensitivities to pet or smoking odors? Send the seller a message and see if you can get a response.

Most good booksellers will appreciate a question (even if it doesn’t lead to a sale) because you are giving them a chance to personalize their service. You may even be bringing an unknown selling point to their attention. Unfortunately, figuring out how to contact a bookseller is often harder than it should be. Many of the larger aggregate sites (venues that display wares from many sellers, like Amazon) hide or anonymize seller contact information and monitor customer/seller communications, filtering out email addresses and weblinks. The stated aim of this barrier between buyer and seller is to prevent information abuse, but a side effect is that a seller often can’t send you an additional image, refer you to another item in his or her stock or give you direct contact information to speed service.

Here is Amazon’s description on how to contact a seller with pre-order questions:

From the product listing, click the seller’s name. You’ll be taken to their storefront page where you’ll find information about the seller and a “Contact this seller” link. The seller will respond to you via e-mail.

Once you’ve chosen a bookseller you have confidence in and received answers to any questions, add the book to your shopping cart. During the checkout process, select a shipping option that will get you the book when you need it. Use expedited shipping if you’re in a hurry (with confirmation from the bookseller if you have a hard deadline). Also, check that your address is up-to-date. Many buyers forget to update their shipping information after a move which leads to misdirected packages. Finally, click the checkout button and know that you’ve done everything you can.

Now a week or two later and it’s the moment of truth. Was the shipment on time? Was it well-packaged enough to survive the USPS? Is the book everything you expected? If so, congratulations! Your extra effort paid off. Leave feedback for the professional bookseller who served you. We often lead solitary existences—with little to no contact with the outside world–so kind words are appreciated. You’re feedback also makes the shopping process that much easier for the next buyer. And make it all fives. Don’t try to be nuanced. You’re making up for the guy who left one star because he didn’t think the book was a good read and blamed the seller.

If the book isn’t what you wanted, stay calm. Most buyers don’t realize that a book order is the responsibility of the seller until it arrives safely, in the condition described. First, save the packaging in case the book needs to be returned (or you need proof of damage for insurance purposes). If the book didn’t arrive on time, check the postmark and the shipping method to determine if the seller or the postman is to blame.

Once you’ve collected these facts, contact the seller. Explain your grievance and offer a possible remedy. Would a partial refund satisfy you? An exchange? If the item needs to be returned, ask the bookseller what shipment method to use and send it out promptly. Media mail will often suffice. You aren’t doing the bookseller a favor by returning a $20 book via priority or express mail for which the seller then needs to reimburse you.

If you came to an agreement and received satisfaction, consider leaving positive feedback. After all, handling a complaint with care and courtesy is the definition of customer service. If, however you’ve stated your case and the bookseller is unresponsive, explain that if you’re not satisfied by a given date, you plan to leave negative feedback and seek a chargeback on your card. Then do it. Many sub-par sellers count on buyer inertia to accept a lesser product and not seek a refund.

This may seem like a lot to go through to make a book purchase but more effort up front leads to a better book buying experience and more time to read.

In the next installment, I plan to cover the purchasing of first and special editions with information on how to choose the right venue, and using the search tools of each to find the best books.