Books, Books Everywhere - Not a Book to Spare

Yesterday was a cleaning day for me. I use a lot of reference books in my search for knowledge on the pottery I find at the Swap Meet and thrift stores. Up until yesterday I just kept them in piles around my computer station in the living room. Unfortunately one of my cats had turned over a water bottle that someone (forever to be unnamed) had set on top of a stack of books and it spilled. Luckily it was almost empty and little damage was done, but it was a wake up call for me and I immediately started moving the books to a safer location in my bedroom.

Now this may sound simple, but when you realize that every horizontal surface in this house is covered with either my merchandise or my wife's craft supplies it becomes a lot more complicated. Every item I have is coded in the listing to tell me where to find it, so for every item I relocated to make room for the books the location in the listing had to be changed. This was a time consuming process and if not done carefully could cause some items to disappear forever. The bottom line is that it took all day to move the books, so I did not get much else done.

I guess what I am really trying to point out here is the importance that these books play in my life. While they are expensive (average price $30.00 each), the payback can be enormous when you find that first item that turns out to be "Quality Junk". They also allow me to give my customers and the readers of this blog as much background information as possible about my pottery items. I see too many listings on line that simply say " California plate $5.00" and a picture (which may not even be the plate that is for sale). I prefer to provide as much info as possible. Not just to help sell the item, but also to make the listing as interesting as possible. The upside of doing this is that you do not get a lot of questions about things because you have already provided the answers. The downside is that everything you say about the item is open to question by the buyer, in particular the condition of your merchandise. I don't really mind this because I want happy customers and if I make a mistake (accidentally or through ignorance) I want to make it right.

I recommend that everyone build up a library of books that apply to their own interests whether you are a buyer, seller or collecter.

I did manage to get a few new items listed from my weekend buys.

Thanks for listening.....☺☺☺☺