posted on February 26, 2008 08:12:00 AM
I wrote a book that covers eBay consignment selling, although there are tips in there for “straight” selling also. My kids tell me it’s an enjoyable book, but what do kids know anyway? The title is “EBay Consignment Selling & Drop Off Stores: The Unofficial How To Guide to Getting Started, Making Money, and Retaining Your Sanity.”
It’s available on Amazon, and should have the “Search Inside” feature shortly. If you go to http://www.createspace.com/3334460 and enter code PN4UYCG6, you will get 45% off the list price.
If you like it, let me know (and maybe put in a review on Amazon), and if you don’t, let me know but please be gentle. I’m new at this, and I need for you to be gentle and kind (just as all first-timers do). You too Fluffy (and a smiley face just for you ).
[ edited by cashinyourcloset on Feb 26, 2008 08:18 AM ]
posted on February 26, 2008 08:52:50 AM
wtg, claude! ...i'm sure it's good, as you've always been very articulate and in layman vernacular, to get your points across. ... congrats on being a published author!
posted on February 26, 2008 09:38:50 AM
Well, to be clear, I'm a published author but it is a "print on demand" (POD) book. Whether or not a publisher would have taken on my book is unknown. Print on demand is, IMHO, a great new concept. It's different from so-called Vanity Publishing (which is a way for publishers to take your money). You submit a PDF file for the book and cover. When someone orders it, it gets printed and mailed.
There are some downsides to POD, chiefly that it costs more per book to print and the book doesn't get out to brick and mortar bookstores unless the author handles it.
As you know, I usually have an anecdote that something reminds me of. Upon return from our dream vacation in the Galapagos, someone asked me what my favorite things were. I replied, they looked shocked, and asked me if I always spoke so nastily about birds. It turned out that when I said "frigate birds," she heard something much less nice
posted on February 26, 2008 11:45:25 AM
cash, did you see Blue Footed Boobies while there. Clumsy, but really neat looking birds, love them & their very blue feet.
posted on February 26, 2008 12:33:27 PM
They were probably the most anticipated birds for us. They're so comical that you have to laugh when you see them. We did not get to go to the island where they're most densely populated, but got to see a good number of them flying and on rocks.
posted on February 26, 2008 10:00:02 PM
They are comical specially when they come in for a landing.
Edited to add:
Just looked at your pics, absolutely beautiful, wonderful, magnificent.
Loved the seal mom & baby, chipmonk & bluebird. Actually I love them all.
Now tell me, who put the party hat on that bird & is it an egret. He's got great feet whoever he is.
Do you know Galapogas means guitar in Spanish. The early Spanish sailors thought the Tortises looked like Guitars & so named the island. Almost wiped them out, poor creatures, by capturing them & keeping them on the ship for fresh food. What a sad fate for these gentle creatures.
[ edited by mcjane on Feb 26, 2008 10:17 PM ]
posted on February 27, 2008 10:52:50 AM
Thanks very much for your comments. All of the photos on the Flickr site are John's (my soon-to-be 18 year old adult); some of the photos in the web site albums are his, but most are mine, my wife's, and the two youngsters (12 and 10).
It was John who photo-shopped the hat on the bird; I'll have to ask him if it was an egret (of all things, he's become a bird semi-expert; what's to become of today's teenagers? go figure!).
The seal mom and baby is one of my favorites also. John took it, and I find it very warm and loving while being an interesting composition. They were found on one of the red beaches in the G.
The sailors were truly heartless in their treatment of the tortoises. It was bad enough to kill them for food, but they also killed them for sport. We saw "Lonesome George" while there; poor fellow is the last known of his specific species, and while naturalists are searching for a female, time is running out. He had zero interest in two similar females that they put in his enclosure. Similar isn't the same as identical. While the tortoises looked to be alike to my human eyes, I guess if someone put a female chimpanzee in my enclosure I wouldn't find myself wanting to mate either (similar simian or not)
posted on February 28, 2008 08:26:44 AM
Our Galapagos trip, years ago, on a yacht (Inca Floats) with 10 passengers, was the best trip we ever took and the most memorable. We'd do it again in a heartbeat and have urged all our friends to go.
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posted on February 28, 2008 01:33:15 PM
cash, you need to put these pictures in a book. They are amazing & so professionally done. I have looked at them many times & will go back again & again. Your family & the camera are like one. I could not tell which pictures were taken by the adults or children.
I have a dentist who is an avid birder & spends a lot of his free time making Bluebird boxes which have to be to exact specifications. He has many on his property. He also has an interest in all wildlife & their presrvation. He's a great guy & I actually like going to the dentist I guess because we talk more about animals than teeth.
Is it OK with you if I make a copy of your Bluebird photos for him? He would love that.
Your sad story about Lonesome George brings to mind the story about Martha, the Passenger Pigeon. She was the last one known to be alive, I believe she was at the Chicago zoo, not sure though, & the search for a mate for her was fruitless. When she died the species became extinct. At one time there were trillions of Passenger Pigeons & all were shot out of the sky for sport in a few short years. This happened in America & almost happened to the Buffalo.
Will we ever learn that the animals are the true treasures on this Earth.
Can't thank you enough for posting those pictures.
In fairness, I think John probably took the majority of the photos that were excellent. He is talented, and (no slight to his talent) also has great equipment. I still hold out hope that he will be able to be a professional (i.e., make a living at it), but for now he's a dedicated amateur. I'm seeing John tomorrow; he will be very pleased that you've enjoyed his photos (and some of the rest of the family's also; we're not half bad ).
You're welcome to make copies of the bluebird photos for your dentist. John wouldn't mind. He had to put his signature in large letters on his photos because he saw that people had posted some of his as theirs (i.e., plagiarized) on Flickr, which is not okay with him for the obvious reasons. Personal use by you and your dentist is perfectly fine, but John also had to guard against someone taking a copy and using it commercially (hence the signature).
If you would like higher-quality prints of any of his (they are reduced resolution on-line), I can get you in touch with him. I don't know how well copies taken from the online would work, but you're welcome to them.
Parenthetically, I have noticed that dentists (and doctors also) seem to be very interested in birding. Your dentist is far from the first I've run into. I don't have a theory as to why, but it's interesting.
We watch a lot of nature shows, and our family trips to South Africa and the Galapagos made a large impression on our children. Maybe if people learned more about the animals on this planet, they would have a different view. I know my children won't think of shooting animals as sport.
We also went on a small boat (can't quite call it a yacht, but it floated fine). It had a capacity of 16 passengers; there were 12 of us on our trip. Coral II was its name. IMHO it's the only way to see the Galapagos.
I recommend it to people also. I have a feeling that the smaller boats will continue to be allowed, but I think that the larger ships will be barred sooner rather than later. It's just too fragile an ecosystem to deal with big crowds.
My great-uncle (Anton Dohrn) was a marine biologist. I unfortunately never met him or his off-spring that created and maintained the Zoological Station in Naples, Italy; he died nearly a half-century before I was born. I mention it because I just got a copy of a book of correspondence between him and Darwin. Talk about 6 degrees of separation! I'm glad that I'm closer to Darwin than I am to Kevin Bacon
posted on February 28, 2008 05:26:01 PM
Cash: Our boat was called the Encantada. What a wonderful experience; I wish everyone could take that trip.
I imagine a day will come when one has to sign up years in advance for one of the smaller boats. They definitely should put a stop to those huge tour boats, sooner rather than later.
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I've lowered the price as I have a second edition coming out any day now.
The new one is more of a V1.1, as all I've added is some discussion of the eBay and PayPal changes -- but there isn't much in the way of changed behavior that I can recommend until the dust settles somewhat. I'm awaiting a Proof copy of V1.1, at which time it will also be available.
posted on March 19, 2008 07:33:34 AM
PS, if you want the 1st edition, it's only available in cashinyourcloset's store. The print/publisher marks a book as unavailable (as does Amazon) in the time between getting an update and the proof being approved. Then, it will go back on sale and you can purchase it with the discount code mentioned in the original post.
posted on April 3, 2008 07:02:48 AM
All right, so I'm completely shameless, but I can't help it. I got an email from a buyer of my book yesterday that made my chest puff with pride, my spirits soar, my heart pound faster: all without steroids or HGH!
Here it is, with identifying marks removed:
"I've read over 100 books about eBay over the past four years. I've even become friends with some of the authors. I speak with Skip M. and others on a regular basis about certain ebay things, but without a doubt, your book is my favorite. Maybe I've read so many ebay books they have blurred with consistency but yours is the first book I read that as you referred is opinion based. More like (here is what I think, I'm not trying to sell you anything, take it or leave it..but I would take it if you want to survive). I bought yours more as brush up, but could not put it down. Like an eBay novel lol.
Good stuff, bravo, and sign me up for anything else you want to put on paper."
posted on April 3, 2008 09:23:50 AM
Yippeee! Another milestone reached
Yeah, they're showing a cover that's for the 1st edition, whereas they claim it's a second edition. I added some quick stuff about the recent eBay and PayPal changes, so they're not hugely different, but it still isn't right.
When you click on "larger image" it seems to actually get smaller
They must have purchased it with another ID, or they bought it someplace else (Amazon or the publishers ecommerce site).
posted on April 3, 2008 05:37:05 PM
claude...that's a GREAT review /email you were sent ... you need to quote them at your amazon reviews, etc.. ... good job!!!
Your book is an great idea, I wish you well with it. Also am very jealous of your Galapagos trip.
I am an avid birder and would love to do this someday. I thought you might find this amusing, I just returned from a birding trip to Florida where I observed a Brown Booby on the St Augustine Pier. I have been getting lots of interesting comments from my non birding friends when I tell them I went to a Florida beach during spring break and saw a brown booby :=).
Thank you. I'm not a birder myself, per se, but am very interested in evolution and wildlife in general. I can only recommend that you go to the Galapagos sooner rather than later. There was an article in the most recent Economist about the problems the Galapagos are having with tourism; strangely enough, it isn't the tourists themselves that are a problem, but the amount of immigration the islands get from Ecuador in direct response to the money tourism brings in. The trip is very expensive now, but will only be more expensive in the future as they reduce the number of visitors allowed.
We had to make sure that the kids' T-shirts were very clear about what kind of boobies they were referencing In spite of that, my older son was accosted by police at a football game, and told to take off his "sexual and inappropriate" shirt. It very clearly had blue footed boobies on it, but the cops weren't interested in his explanation (and he's the most advanced birder in the family). My tax money at work.
posted on April 7, 2008 04:27:01 PM
Cash, did you see this?
Authors Guild Looking at Antitrust Issue of Amazon’s POD Plan
By Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 4/6/2008 10:03:00 AM
Saying it is reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications of Amazon’s “bold move,” the Authors Guild sent an e-mail late Friday to its membership questioning the motives—and implications—of the e-tailer’s new position on print-on-demand that makes publishers use its BookSurge division if they want the sell their titles on Amazon in the traditional manner. While Amazon is pitching the move as a consumer-friendly change that will improve the speed of shipping books and other products, the Guild says it suspects the motivation has more to do with profit margin than customer service.
No, I hadn't seen it. Thanks for the link. In my particular case, I used CreateSpace which is AFAIK, also owned by Amazon. The big selling point for me was that there were NO upfront fees. I'm not expecting a runaway hit, where a marginal decrease in royalties would hurt me.
As it is, it was relatively painless to get my book on Amazon. It takes FOREVER to get the "Search Inside" updated, and the cover art hasn't been updated after a month or so. But, since it's free, I guess I get what I paid for.
All in all, compared to eBay, I have no complaints about Amazon today, other than that its Kindle conversion stinks.
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