Rainbowseeker Loves Reading Books and Selling Them Too!

I guess this all began when I was a child....an only child. What do you do when you are an only child of busy parents? Even with lots of friends and outside interests....even with TV and Radio you still find yourself with time on your hands. Until you discover books.........

The first books I remember being in love with were fairytales. These were the classical fairytales that sometimes had a sad ending and always had some kind of moral or ethic lesson to share.

Meanwhile at home we raised and did field trials with English Springer Spaniels so my next love was dogs.... followed closely by anything about horses. This encompassed all the popular authors....Walter Farley and his BLACK STALLION series books were among my favorites for horses as were the Collie Dog stories of Albert Payson Terhune for dogs. And like many young girls I dreamed of being an animal doctor so it was not long before I discovered the wonderful veterinary stories of James Herriot.

At some point around the third grade I also discovered the wonder-girl detective, Nancy Drew. This series, by the prolific Carolyn Keene, was my favorite mystery series as a child. I read every book I could get my hands on and love them all yet today. Nancy was my personal hero....and the girl I wanted so much to be.

I was reading this series as a child back in the late 1950's before it got updated and was rewritten to be politically correct. All my books had old fashioned dust jackets like the ones in the picture.....most with white spines or wrap arounds and mainly "digger" internals. To this day I can remember my mother going and buying me the latest book for $1 or $1.25 at The Grand in Whitefish Bay when I was sick in bed with the flu and once with the German Measles. I can even remember the title of one of those books that remains one of my favorites yet today.....THE GHOST OF BLACKWOOD HALL. Even in those days I was shaping my interests to include paranormal topics and more mystery.

When I began selling on eBay ten years ago one of the first things I sold was a collection of Nancy Drew Mysteries that I had put together for my own two daughters. I bought them at an estate sale when the girls were just babies and by the time I started selling on eBay the girls had long ago finished with Nancy and were on to reading science fiction and more adult novels. But just like for me....Nancy was probably single handedly the biggest reason my daughters grew up loving to read.

Well I of course didn't stop my reading experience with Nancy as a child either. As I grew and the years passed into the 1960's my imagination turned to Science Fiction and the vast new frontier of space like so many others of my generation. I loved all the "planet travel" novels, especially those by Fantasy and SciFi great, Andre Norton. I especially loved her BEASTMASTER and TIMETRAVELER books. When she died about a year ago Sci-Fi lost a true artist. I never got into her fantasy books then....but I'm looking at them now. Times and tastes change....what can I say.


Books have given me experiences and adventures beyond belief. I have seen and experienced places and things I could never have done in my lifetime outside the pages of a book. They have introduced me to some fantastic characters.....they have shaped me into the person I am today, with their moral examples and their larger than life heros. And they have painted for me pictures in my mind brighter than anything I have yet to see on the screen, in a movie theater, or on TV. I truly love to read.

Of course loving reading means I spend a lot of hours in my favorite stores where they sell books. My pocketbook limitations often forces me to the books shelves in Wal-Mart and Fleet Farm where they have paperbacks for 30% off the cover price. But like all adicts I am happiest at a "REAL" bookstore like Barnes and Noble or Waldenbooks where the selections overwhelm me and I can get lost reading for hours, even days.

I'm happy that I was able to interest my daughters in reading as they grew up so I am not alone in my addiction today......it's become a family thing. Even my husband has his favorites, but sometimes I think he reads mainly in self-defense. When our girls were growing up we used to encourage them to read every way we could, because reading is the foundation for everything in your life. One of our favorite family activities was to discover an upcoming Walt Disney Movie and then all read the book first. After reading the book we would go out for dinner and see the movie. That was followed by a stop on the way home for dessert and a critique of the movie versus the book. Somehow we always agreed....no matter how wonderful the movie (and Walt Disney never disappoints) the books were always so much better. Our children were hooked for life.

Well as the years pass the books have been piling up in every corner of this house. With 4 of us reading we easily accumulate several hundred books a year. And somehow we always seem to think that someone may not have read this one....or will want to reread it..... or a friend will come along and won't it be great if we can share our favorite tales and adventures with them too..... and wouldn't it be tragic if we couldn't! We don't all have the same taste either, but like all book lovers everywhere we are convinced someday our clueless family members will suddenly discover a love for the author we love.....so you have to save even the books by authors not currently on the common family list. It not hard to understand why the books pile up around here in a big hurry!

A few years ago we decided it was time to give some of these treasured books away or take them to some fleamarkets, or trade them at HALF PRICE BOOKS. But there always seems to be more, and more, and more books having babies in dark corners here despite employing those measures. This led me to trying to think of new ways to share these books. My oldest daughter and I actually looked into opening a used bookstore. She still dreams about doing it one day and who knows....maybe one day we will. But in the meantime.............something has to go!


Recently for me a new market place seems to be opening up. As I said, I have been selling on eBay for over 10 years now, but the fees on eBay have become too large for selling single books. But now some of the free alternative auction sites seem to be offering the perfect venue for selling items like books. Realizing that eBay is moving in a different direction from small mom and pop sellers like myself, I've been exploring other places to sell my antiques and collectibles. And now I have the best of both worlds. I have settled on two sites where I can share my passion for everything I have sold in the past and add selling books to this list as well. I finally have the bookstore I always wanted to open! The last picture in my text is one of the pile of books I currently have listed on eBid and on MilBid....two smaller alternative auction sites I have begun selling on over the last two years. You will find links to both of my stores on these sites below in this lens.

Before you rush off to look at my stores however, I would like to tell you a bit about my books and how I sell them. I have paperback and hardback books including westerns, adventures, romances, paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, even a few horror stories....all for between 50¢ to $1.50....with slightly higher prices for occasional newer hardbacks. I will put together a box for you and ship it by the cheapest method possible, which is usually "media mail" at as close to cost as I can get. I even have been known to take an offer or two from buyers finding multiple items they desire. So check me out if you love reading too! We just might have some authors in common. If you don't see what or who you are looking for contact me......I just might have it in some dark corner here just waiting for you.

ABOUT ME - MAIN LENS
ADVENTURES IN SELLING or WHAT WILL COME AFTER EBAY?

ON-LINE AUCTION SELLING SITES - Where I Sell
Where RAINBOWSEEKER Sells BOOKS ONLINE!

INFORMATION ABOUT SPECIFIC ANTIQUES
DELDARE WARE - Antique Art Pottery made by BUFFALO POTTERY

GOOD THINGS TO EAT
Family Favorite Cure All - Chicken Dumpling Soup

OTHER LENSES
THE DOG OF MY HEART - An English Springer Spaniel