How can I find and let the (probably quite limited/niche) target market know about the collection for sale.
I am trying to sell a collection of books which my wife collected during her post grad studies. The collection is best described as Holocaust and Jewish Studies works containing 108 books. The holocaust being a sensitive and sometimes very misunderstood subject we ideally would like the books to go to a serious academic but understand we may not have ultimate say in their destination.
We would also like to get a good price for the books as the sale is not just to make space but will fund further non-fiction purchases so we can continue to learn and study. We are based in the UK but would like to offer the books worldwide.
Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. I will happily post in a more suitable place if someone can point me in the right direction.
Thank you in advance for any insight you have to offer.
There are two ways to sell second-hand books:
The cheap and quick way is to go to a store which buys & sells second-hand books, show them a crate of books and ask what they'll give you for it. Depending on a lot of factors (topic, physical state, new price, amount of buyer's interest) they'll offer you anywhere from a few bucks per book up to perhaps 1/3rd of the price you originally paid.
The store I work in offers 40% for selected titles which we know we can sell to undergrads. This means we know which titles will be used for which courses, and how many students will take each course, and approximately what percentage of students buys their books at our store. Only in this specific case, we offer 40% when buying a used book.
The other side of the spectrum is also possible: some books won't be taken if you offer them for free. Storage costs money too. Seriously, don't overestimate what a second-hand book is worth to a store. The store will want to take a 30% to 40% margin when selling the books to cover their expenses, and make some profit (of course). This means you will get less than when you sell the book directly to someone else. Which brings me to the other option:
The other way is to list the books individually on a website which allows user to sell used books. You'll have to wait until someone (an invidivual or a trader) shows interest. This may be never. You might be able to get 1/2 to 2/3rds of the price of a new copy of the book (depending on supply and demand).
With this option you'll have to take into account any commision for the website and the costs for delivery. If the buyer has to pay for it, your price can't be very high because they can likely buy a new copy with little or no delivery charge. If you offer to pay for delivery, the effective price you're getting for the book is lower.
Edit: depending on the target audience, you might be able to do the following: list the books for sale on a website (perhaps your own) and direct the target audience there. This might work if you have a clear target audience, an easy way to contact them, and the books are of sufficient interest to them (rare books). Prices will likely be much the same though.