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Books, like baseball cards and Beanie Babies, are collectible. And like baseball cards and Beanie Babies, some books depreciate from the amount you paid for them while others can actually appreciate hundreds of times over from their original value.
Here are the following areas of focus when determining the value of your books.
They are as follows:
1) The edition/printing
2) The overall quality of the book
3) Number of copies in circulation
4) Movie exposure.
1) The edition and printing.
A first edition is more valuable than a second edition (in most, if not all, cases). This is because the first edition is closest to the original version the author penned and has not gone through changes and edits that sometimes occur in future editions or printings.
For example, a first edition of John Grisham's "A Time to Kill" is much more valuable than a second edition. Just like Fitzgerald's first edition of "The Great Gatsby" years ago is much more valuable than an edition printed today.
2) Overall quality of the book
If you have a 1958 Dr. Seuss book, it is quite possibly worth over a $1,000. If you have this same book and the cover is stained and weathered or the pages are torn and there are crayon marks on the endsheets, you have probably a $4 book. The quality and condition of your books is crucial for achieving the highest value. And with fiction and non-fiction, the real value is not so much with the book itself but with the original dust jacket. If the dust jacket is chipped, torn or has the price tag cut out, the value can drop dramatically. It's crucial to keep your books in excellent condition.
3) Number of Copies in Circulation
If there were three million first edition copies of Hemingway's "Old Man and The Sea" available today they wouldn't be in very much demand.
But the number of Hemingway's first edition classic is quite less and as the years go by the number available for sale decreases a little bit more and the price for the ones that area available continues to go higher. You can never go back and print more of them.
That's not to say the only value in regards to scarcity or copies in circulation depends upon age of the book.
Every new author that breaks into the literary business often finds their first book to have a very limited first edition run. The reason is that publishers don't know how successful this first book will be. The author is unproven.
So while Stephen King's new books now have first edition runs in the millions, some of his first books had first edition runs that were very small and with his success have made these books very valuable.
4) Movie Exposure
While there are some literary conservatives that might disagree with this, many books see their value increase simply with a movie being released based upon the novel's story.
There have been many cases where a relatively unknown author with an unknown book saw the value of his first work and its limited first edition skyrocket in value. One example would be the movie "Fight Club" and the book by the same name by the author Chuck Palahniuk. In the months preceding the release of this movie, bookstores were being scavenged for the first edition of this book which had come out years before to relatively unimpressive sales.
Tips to keep in mind:
* If you have or find books that are signed by the author or contain a special message from the author to another person, they may be quite valuable. If these autographs and inscriptions are in a first edition, they could be extremely valuable. Even in second or third editions, they should be held on to just in case.
* Check the Internet or visit rare bookstores to find information on the value of your books. And always get a second and third opinion to ensure you're getting a fair deal.
* Books don't have to be old to be extremely valuable. Likewise, old books from famous authors don't necessarily mean they're worth thousands.
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