How can a library hold the best book sale ever?

September 24, 2007 3:55 PM

Best practices for library book sales? My librarian friend is hosting her first book sale (that is, she's free to run it differently than it has been run for years) and is looking for ideas to make it a fun, profitable and successful event. What kinds of things make a book sale really work?

Hopes: Raise money, move books, collect names of patrons interested in receiving word of future sales, turn it into an event. Will be staged over several days.

Limitations: Volunteer staff, limited advertising, small single room to hold sale in, tables and boxes to display books.

What are some cool things my friend can do to make this event fun? Ideas for layout/organization? Thoughts on reaching out to non-library patrons? Effective ways to collect email addresses? Thanks in advance.

posted by MonkeyToes to grab bag (12 comments total)

If space, tables, etc. are limited, consider doing a smaller sale more frequently -- last Saturday afternoon of the month, say -- and don't put out the same stock two sales in a row.

Make a big "Last Saturday of the Month Book Sale" banner for the sale and, before long, everyone who's ever at the library on Saturday will know about the sale without advertising.

Don't charge more than fifty cents per book. You'll do better stimulating sales volume and customer enthusiasm than you would if you charge used bookstore prices.
posted by gum at 4:30 PM on September 24, 2007

My library usually has sales over a weekend. On Saturday the books are sold individually, on Sunday you pay a couple of dollars and fill up a grocery bag with as many books as you can fit. This is nice because on Saturday there's a great selection, and on Sunday there's great deals.
posted by shanevsevil at 5:05 PM on September 24, 2007

I've always wanted to tell book sale organizers to charge a higher price on the first day to discourage those nasty book resellers from swooping in and taking everything good in the first 20 minutes. Or maybe have a 10 book maximum or something like that. Really, they ruin it for the rest of us.

A lot of the library sales I go to charge 2.00 for a hardcover or a cd, and a dollar for a paperback. It depends though on the quality and the number of books you have. If it will be an ongoing sale, you may want to lower the prices after the first few days or week.
posted by DarkForest at 5:11 PM on September 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

All I can say is don't get rid of the $X a bag day, because that's my favorite part. ;)

Make sure it's listed on Book Sale Finder!
posted by wintersweet at 5:23 PM on September 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

I've always wanted to tell book sale organizers to charge a higher price on the first day to discourage those nasty book resellers from swooping in and taking everything good in the first 20 minutes. Or maybe have a 10 book maximum or something like that. Really, they ruin it for the rest of us.

Yes, I can't emphasize how important this is.
posted by jayder at 6:12 PM on September 24, 2007

If you want to make it more worthwhile and fun for those that aren't resellers:

- limit number of books per person to 25 (but resellers will just bring along a dozen assistants or buy multiple memberships)
- ban all electronic items like cell phones and pdas
- place a rule where if you hold onto the book for more than 2 minutes or if you take it more than 10 feet from its table/shelf, you are required to buy it, although that would probably be hard to enforce.
- charge more for each book if a person buy many books. i.e. 50 cents each if you buy one or two, $3 each if you buy more than 10.

library sales are rarely fun nowdays, especially when a scout will cover an entire table with a sheet, claim all the books, and then look them all up to see which ones they want.
posted by gluechunk at 6:16 PM on September 24, 2007

When I used to go to the sale at UW-Madison, they charged like $10 admission on the first day, then subsequent days were free. There were unintended consequences to this policy that I invite you to consider.

If your real interest is in making money, it would be worth it to see if you can hire a student to start pricing, packing, and shipping the more valuable (say over $20) books on Amazon or somewhere. You could easily pay for the student and make money if enough books pass through your hands. I mean, hell, you're a library--you need all the money you can get.
posted by rachelpapers at 6:22 PM on September 24, 2007

Think beyond the sale itself. Identify what it is your library needs most in general, and tailor the book sale toward that end.

Is this a small public library, in a small town, with crappy funding? Or a good-sized library with (relatively) decent funding? Is your circulation down? Does the library need something specific that it hopes to be able to fund with proceeds from the sale? Are you currently trying new programs or services that you're trying to spread the word about?

Think of the books as capital you can work with in different ways. If you really need the money, and you think the books are good enough to sell, then go for it. But what if you have a different goal (e.g., to get circulation up)? If you can afford it, you might use the books as loss leaders to get people into the library, sell them dirt cheap, and use the opportunity to promote what you really want to call attention to.

And don't sell yourself short about "limited advertising." Promote the hell out of this sale, in any way you can think of that you can afford. If you have good community support, I'll bet some business or organization in town is willing to donate something toward helping you promote. People can't attend what they don't know about. Of course, if you're trying to raise money for something specific, weave that into your advertising.
posted by Rykey at 8:54 PM on September 24, 2007

Having run more than a few of these, I second what Rykey said: promote the hell out of this thing by all available means. In my experience, the best methods for attracting average folks (read: not scouts/dealers) are also the cheapest: several waves of flyering (including one the day of), and Craig's List and local listservs. Community newspapers and radio stations with events calendars can also pull people in if it doesn't take too much effort to get yourself listed. Make sure the sale site is clearly and attractively marked.

If you can time your sale to coincide with another event that gets a lot of people into the neighborhood near your library, do it.

Don't worry too much about dealers - the goal here is to move books and make money for your library. Sell low on average stuff. If you find yourself with collectible/expensive items, sell them on eBay or Amazon Direct instead. Use the resources available to you online to check on things that you think might be pricey. This can make a big difference in your profits sometimes.

Get donuts and coffee for your volunteers, and give 'em a few free books. Enjoy the book-littered semi-chaos, and being a librarian :)
posted by ryanshepard at 10:48 PM on September 24, 2007

Can you turn it into a book festival? Get a local ice cream shop to show up outside, and partner together on advertising and attracting attendees? Throw in a few easy games for kids (hopscotch, jumprope - simple things that don't require expensive equipment)?
I know it sounds random, but a music festival I've worked for does an open house every summer with an ice cream social. The free ice cream is such a draw that it even gets people to stay and listen to classical music - which is a near-impossible task. And I've had someone say to me that ice cream could be the solution to all our attendance problems.
So, there's my two scoops.
posted by bassjump at 6:16 AM on September 25, 2007

If you can, time it with some other event (especially if you're in a small town). My best library sale scrounge took place during a larger celebration. I scored a book filled with sheet music to classic pieces of experimental music and some other books I had been on the look out for a while. I wouldn't have known about it if not for the larger event.

If there's not an event to bring them in, maybe make one. Have it be part of a little Book days, or something.

Checking values on amazon is definitely worth a shot if you're looking to make the most money, if you just want to get rid of them though, have a set price per format and let them go.
posted by drezdn at 7:25 AM on September 25, 2007

Here's some info about hosting your own book festival from the Library of Congress Blog, with toolkit and hosting guide.

It seems to be geared toward younger readers, but still seems somewhat useful.
posted by sociolibrarian at 10:55 AM on September 25, 2007