The Best Thing to Sell

I mentioned in the previous post that I'm back to selling books on Amazon.com. As those of you who've known me the longest will attest, I'm not that entrepreneurial a person. But on-line sales is made for the introvert. I never have to interact with a real person--except at the post office.

The best thing is when you sell a book that you neither want nor believe has any resale value. In other words, the best thing to sell is something that (you believe) has no value. It's like getting something (i.e., money) for free! Or, at least, for the effort of mailing a package. (And that can be trying, again. Watch those staples!)

I have acquired a very great number of books over the course of my life. Some, a relatively large percentage, I believe, for free. So much of the time I'm making money on the sales. But even when I'm not, strictly speaking, in the black, I'm providing the books with a good home (I'm mailing them to someone who actually bought them, thus expressing an interest), and I'm offsetting the purchase price. And I'm clearing room on the shelves for other books--ones that I would prefer to own, at this point in my life.

That raises another issue, which is, as someone who has changed careers (arguably twice) in a relatively short life, I have books that don't really do much for me any more. If you are a friend of the blog and have requests for particular titles, especially political theory titles, maybe we can talk. Because I have some books (many!) that need new homes.