Most people own books, some people have libraries but only true bibliophiles have book collections. What is the difference you might ask? The main difference between book collection and owning books is that book collection mainly consists of rare, valuable books.
Book collecting is a long, tedious and expensive work but it is also highly rewarding. If you wish to start book collecting here are some things you should know.
1. Growing your book collection takes time
Ever since I can remember I loved and cherished books. When I was a child I often got books as presents and by the time I was a teen I owned I lot of books. But I only started seriously collecting books 7 years ago.
Right now I own a personal library of more than 1500 books consisted mostly of fantasy and science fiction books. Even though I own more than 1500 books I only consider 10% of it to be my book collection.
2. Your book collection can be pretty valuable
I never started collecting books for money. I started collecting them because I love books. They bring me joy and peace. So why am I even writing about book collecting as an investment? Well, recently I really wanted to buy a certain book – the City of Brass, hardcover with blue sprayed pages. So I went online I found the book, but it was costly. Book that as pre-order costed 40-50 euros at most was now sold for more than 600 euros. That is 12 times more than the original price. This experience led me to look up some of my own books online, and I was shocked when I discovered how much some of them worthed.
If you want to start book collecting as an investment you should focus on hardcover books, special edition, signed books, out of print books, and of course first edition books.
3. Focus on one genre and/or author
All books are nice and worth collecting but most of the people have limited funds so it’s impossible to buy them all. Which is the reason why most book collectors are collecting only one genre and/or author.
I chose to collect mostly fantasy books with the main focus on Brandon Sanderson’s books.
4. Always do a book research
It’s always nice to support your local indie bookstore but if you are thinking of seriously collecting books (and possibly investing in books) you should switch your focus to online bookstores.
Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, Goldsboro, Forbidden Planet, and many other online bookstores offer a huge variety of exclusive book editions.
5. Become member of trading Facebook groups
I had no idea how big role Facebook trading groups had in the book collecting community until I joined one. Not only that you will meet a lot of people who share the same interests as you but it is also a very important tool for selling and finding books you need. There are groups for YA lovers, fantasy and sci-fi geeks, romance fiends, there is something for everybody. I highly recommend that you join one.