About half my haul shown here
John Clark recounting our annual trip Down East in a slightly different way. Many readers of this blog know that one way I keep active is as a used bookseller, mostly stuff I buy at library book sales. Over the years, I have discovered some favorites, the Ten Cent Sales at the Thompson Free Library, our own annual sale here at the Waterville Public Library, The Lithgow Library sale (coming up this week), and three in Washington County I look forward to as part of our vacation. We missed the sale over the 4th in Lubec, but hit the one in Eastport at the Peavey Memorial Library. Their sale is more or less ongoing during the summer months, with an entry way filled with goodies, plus on sunny days, boxes on tables outside. Calais Free Library also has an ongoing sale in a room downstairs, as well as an array of music CDs and DVDs in the entry as you come in.
Beth and I have reached an agreement on my purchasing. For every box/bag that comes in, one must go out. This was, at first, painful, but I have adjusted, and Ebay, where I sell, makes triaging a simple process. I can sort my listings in numerous ways, including by how long an item has been for sale. If something has been listed for more than a year without any interest, that’s generally one I remove. If one has been up for that long with some interest, I drop the price to encourage buyers.
At one recent book sale, I found a huge number of Maine town histories that had been weeded. Those have turned out to be hot sellers. One aspect of selling, aside from making some money, is seeing how books go to what I would call ‘perfect users.’ On example was a town history from a small place in Penobscot County that I sold to the niece of the author. She made an offer and told me who she was and that she was on a fixed income, so I dropped the price and made her day.
Our younger daughter, Lisa had me looking for new/like new kids books that could be used in a prize machine rewarding achievement and good behavior at the Poland Elementary School where granddaughter Gemma goes. I found 25 at one recent sale that fit the bill.
I’m a big music lover (more about that next month), so I’m always on the lookout for CDs by groups I like, or am curious about. After hitting recent sales, I’m armed with an abundance of great tunes, and even some comedy albums.
Below are some examples of my finds, some odd, eclectic, or just plain interesting. What luck have you had at library book sales?
Brand new reprints of a mystery series
Love this cover
Another really funky title
British mystery series
Great science fiction story. I read it in one sitting
In one of my previous lives I sold books online. Because it was my ‘job,’ I had an entire 12×20 room in my house with bookshelves. One great haul was a collection of theater books from a retiring drama teacher at the local university. The best part of that batch was selling a set of books with illustrations back to a university in the home country of the costumes that were contained in the books.
Another fun ‘collection’ was from a local elementary school that had a book sale every year at the balloon fest. When the festival was permanently canceled, the owner of the barn where the books were stored between sales wanted his loft back. I bought the entire 30-40 banana boxes of books for a donation to the school. After tossing the books the mice had gotten into, I had fun with what was left.
I wasn’t really good enough at online sales to make a go of it and we ended up having to move around that time. My husband thought it would cost more to move the books than I would ever make, so I donated several hundred books to the county jail. Lots of trade manuals, a bunch of plays from that drama teacher, and oh so many romance novels (specifically requested), plus lots of kids books the inmates could use on visiting day.
When we retired, I was happy to find my new hometown has both a new and a used bookstore, and multiple free ‘libraries’ all over town.
I used to make a steady side income selling used books online and have attended many a library book sale including a few up in your neck of the woods. I always loved those sales because you never knew what weird and wonderful treasures you would find. This was all a LONG time ago and back then Amazon used to have buyers waiting for certain rare titles. That was always my favorite when I stumbled upon a book that would sell instantly that covered my whole haul. Of course, I lived alone at the time so there was no one to complain about all the books I came home with!
Amazon was good for sellers…until it wasn’t. I just sold a book to a gentleman in France who didn’t know that international buyers could purchase on Ebay. He’s happy, so am I. Thanks for reading.