At one time the 'market' for rare and collectible books consisted of a few hundred well known and highly respected rare book dealers and collectors who slowly and laboriously collected books in their specialty. It wasn't too long ago that collectors wanted 'depth'- collecting every book and piece of ephemera by a particular author or within a particular genre. A collector searching for a particular book gathered dealers catalogs, visited shops in remote corners of the world hoping to come across the book they wanted.



Collecting was a "gentleman’s" game. Dealers carefully cultivated their customers over years, helping them select books that added depth to their collections. Dealers relied on word-of-mouth and reputation to build their business. Dealers, for the most part, 'specialized'. Book collecting was more than a hobby, it was an obsession to some.

They never envisioned that with a single click of a computer they could access the catalogs of thousands of rare and collectible book dealers and choose among hundreds of thousands of books in every edition.

Where once it may have taken years to find a book wanted by a collector, now takes minutes. Yes, the market is changing because of the Internet.

The Internet has added liquidity to the rare and collectible book market. And liquidity is very important for any market. All it means is that, when you're ready to sell there is a buyer, ready willing and able to buy your offering.

The Internet has also added the element of transactional speed. People are buying and selling books at a rate of speed that seems incredible by standards just a few years ago. Thousands of books are being traded daily.

On just one Internet site there are over 2,500 transactions taking place every day. And there are dozen's of sites that buy and sell rare and collectible books.

Why books?

Why deal in books rather than other collectible items such as figurines or art or pottery?

Books have a special place in the history of the human race. They record the history, thoughts, feelings, views, philosophy, theology and dreams and imaginings of men and women who lived before us and who live with us.

Books have shaped the way we think, live our lives and have formed the backbone of governments and world religions.

The fact that books have a special place in our lives make them, I think, more than 'collectible items'. They are an investment in the past and the future of the entire human race. Man has separated himself from animals in his ability to reason, to think and to record those thoughts in books for each generation to read.

Have you ever read the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury? Or maybe you saw the movie? If you haven't read the book or watched the movie you should. The highest function of which a person is capable is "Thinking"- and if you take that away, there isn't much left is what that movie was all about. Books jump start our thinking, challenge us and help us.

So what makes books valuable? Why should someone pay $100,000 or more for just a book? These are the questions I asked my self before I got involved in this wonderful business.

Did you know that, of all the collecting fields, only one has a disease named after it? "Bibliomania" is a disease. Literally, a bibliomaniac is someone who is "mad for books".

By the way, for the purpose of this article, when I'm speaking of "books" I am talking exclusively about "hard cover" books and NOT paperbacks (certain paperbacks are collectible as well, but very few of them have reached the value of their hard cover cousins).

And, I was as astounded, as you might be right now, to learn that used and out-of-print books are valuable and some are even super-valuable.

Take for example a first printing of "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland"- today worth about $725,000. Why should a simple child's book be worth so much money? Because it's "collectible"? Because it's old? Because it's a children's book? The answer is simple. And it took me sometime to accept the simplicity of it, but here it is:

"Certain books are valuable because someone wants it and is willing and able to pay the price to own it".

That's it.

Collectors come in all shapes, sizes and interests and they are all over the world. Demand is huge and you'll be surprised at the rate at which used books will sell. That doesn't mean there aren't slow times but books move very fast into the hands that want them.

The key is they want them. Someone told me once that you can never make any money selling something that people need- you only can make money selling things that people want. And it's 100% true. I talk about this in the section on marketing, but the point here is that the market for used, OP and rare books is voracious and I don't see it letting up. In fact, I believe it will get larger as baby boomers have more leisure time (and money) and begin thinking about and accumulating books written in the 'good 'ol days'- before the year 2000.

The Internet has completely changed the way used, OP and collectible books are bought and sold. Some of the electronic lists I've posted books to I've gotten responses of 80%- so for every 10 books listed I have sold 8. That's a pretty good response. The more remarkable thing about that is that I have made substantial profits on the books sold- profits sometimes in excess of 724 times what I paid for the book! Tell me any other business where the profit margins are that high? In on-line auctions (like those held on Ebay) I've sold closer to 95% of all the listings I've put up. In fact, if you're so inclined you could work the auctions almost exclusively and make a very good living.

This system reveals all the secrets I use, I hold nothing back. At one time I thought that I would never tell anyone about what I was doing because I didn't want to ruin the opportunity for myself. But now that I have been doing this for many, many years I realize the market is much bigger than I am and that helping you in no way hurts me. The market is just too big, and it's global and it really doesn't care what I think- it just keeps moving forward. And I'm glad it does because that means there is almost always a market for my books.

I've received orders from nearly every state in the US as well as orders from Japan and Malaysia and Singapore and England and Norway and Australia and more. I've posted books on a Internet newsgroup and received inquiries from all over the world.

Everyone is interested in buying, selling and collecting used, OP and rare books. Here's a very valuable suggestion: If you can translate your book descriptions or have them translated into German or French or Japanese you will make a lot more sales.

Foreign collectors of American literature are plentiful and lurk (watch without participating by posting responses) newsgroups and electronic mailing lists looking for books. You will certainly increase your sales if you can provide this service to overseas collectors and dealers.

Let's dissect the statement I made earlier: "Certain books are valuable because someone wants it and is willing and able to pay the price to own it". We will be able to see why certain books are valuable and others are not and then how we can profit from this information.

"CERTAIN BOOKS"

It should be obvious that not all used books are valuable. If all used books were valuable there would be no need for the training course I'm offering, it would be common knowledge and the secrets you will learn would be unnecessary. But the fact is these are, in fact, "secrets".

Very few people know how to identify valuable books at a first glance. In fact 98% of the general population walk by books that could easily put $100 to $1,000 in their pocket with no work at all!

I bet that I have walked past books that were worth $1,000's of dollars prior to getting into this business. And you have done the same. But not anymore.

All you need to know is how to spot the secret differences that makes certain books valuable. So what are these "Certain books"- what makes them different than other used books?

Let me reveal the secrets you need to know and you can get started today.

Thank you for your time, I hope you found this interesting.

Keep being Cre8ive,

Ian Richardson