There's an exception to every rule, but online sellers should avoid trying to resell romance novels, books by comedians, and cheap paperbacks.

Romance novels.

Romance novels will sell quickly if they are brand new. But if you're going to sell romance novels for profit, you'll need to be a romance reader yourself. That's the only way you'll know which ones are worth carrying in your inventory.

Books by comedians.

Books by comedians like Bill Cosby, Paul Reiser and Jeff Foxworthy are usually big sellers and make great gifts. But the books are usually overprinted and don't have much resale value a short time later.

Cheap paperbacks.

Mass market paperbacks are tempting to the beginning online seller because of the low cost. They are lightweight and can be shipped cheaply. Unfortunately, the online price is quite low for most pocket books more than a few years old. You can better spend the time searching for out-of-print books worth real money.

When a title is selling for under a dollar online, that means not only that the title is oversupplied, but that demand is low. So do not hang onto this type of junk hoping to make a bit of profit from shipping and handling. Over time, as your inventory expands and storage space shrinks, those cheap paperbacks taking shelf space will be a serious burden. Deleting and discarding deadwood is a tedious, time-consuming affair. This is a chore you can prevent by investing in quality stock now.

Cheap books will come back to haunt you for other reasons. It just happens that the customers who buy

the cheapest books are usually your most demanding buyers. The customer who paid under a dollar for a book is the customer who complains the loudest about shipping fees and delivery times.

The larger-format books known as "trade paperbacks" are not as common and are often profitable.

Another special category is those vintage paperbacks, which are quite collectible. Certain authors, cover artists, series or genres have legions of fans. Avon, Gold Medal, and Dell "mapbacks" are in demand, so don't automatically trash old paperbacks without a glance at the cover. Every day, thousands of collectible paperbacks are thrown out, or mistakenly sold for a small fraction of their collectible value which can reach $500. A good resource is Collectable Paperback Books by Canja.

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