Question for the group (poll)
WestySteve
Posts: 567 ✭✭✭
Which book title would you be more likely to purchase?
The book would be about buying, selling, and investing
Making a Killing with Coins
or
Making Huge Profits with Coins
Thanks for your help...trying to optimize a title for a book.
Steve
The book would be about buying, selling, and investing
Making a Killing with Coins
or
Making Huge Profits with Coins
Thanks for your help...trying to optimize a title for a book.
Steve
0
Comments
I'm sure the book is great, and I know title and cover image are often chosen/designed to represent in some visually condensed form the interior, while making you want to pick it up - thats what I try to do with my cover and image work - but this title seems too simplistic IMHO. Perhaps a touch more "serious" with a subtitle? I hope I am expressing myself correctly.
Eric
Edit - The point is made below. I was dancing around it like a fool. You need the truth. I'm sorry I did not just say it.
60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
Hoard the keys.
As a collector who would love to be a speaker at the FUN shows, it gets depressing when you go to the trouble to put together a Power Point presentation on a historical topic and have only a few people show up. Yet when you have a title like, "How to make money in coins," or "How not to get ripped off in coin purchases," the audience is out the door.
<< <i>Geting Rich with coins in 5 easy steps.
how about 4 easy steps? if that doesn't work, the fifth step is free.
Steve
...seems more realistic.
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
<< <i>"Killing Profits with Coins"
...seems more realistic. >>
Agree.
Respectively, both titles suggest to me a book that teaches the purchaser how to scam others. In fact any how-to-make-a-quick-profit book turns me off.
Agree again.
Start with a Large Fortune"
<< <i>"How to Make a Small Fortune in Coins....
Start with a Large Fortune" >>
<< <i>"How to Make a Small Fortune in Coins....
Start with a Large Fortune" >>
I was thinking the same thing.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
I have basically had my fill of all the investment books. Read a lot of them: High profits from Rare Coin Investment (Bowers), Silver Dollar Fortune Telling, Investing, Trading, and Collecting Certified Commems (Laibstain, a really good book on commems one of the best), and of course the books by Scott Travers (really good).
But as an accountant, I can tell you the proof is in the pudding when you run the numbers on your rare coin investment / business. While mine has been a nice schedule C deduction on my 1040 and lots of fun (shows, etc) it has anything but made me rich and losses can be really ugly.
Stick with what you know and like, fits your budget, develop a strategy, and if you work hard enough, keep it up (don't let another hobby like boating, golf, girls, etc derail it) then any profits should follow.
Today I spent my ebay bucks on reducing costs of the new ANA grading guide (my current one I got at an ANA grading seminar back in 1988) and the new Standard Catalog of US Paper Money.
The law of unintended consequences slapped me in the face with this one...in no way is the book about ripping people off. Seems like turning the sales push down a notch is the way to go.
Thanks again.
<< <i>Respectively, both titles suggest to me a book that teaches the purchaser how to scam others. In fact any how-to-make-a-quick-profit book turns me off. >>
I agree. I don't think at all personally you would do that but the title smells of it.
I had time to look further at your website about the book. I won't dance around this time:
"...You’ll learn the secrets of making the same kind of returns that the wealthy enjoy on any budget. If you put these ideas into action, you can make big profits with collectibles..."
This is like the title IMHO. I was unable to determine who your target is exactly; my guesses from the text as you present it...
Maybe get some others to read your online eBay section. I don't know anyone who needs that basic info - and the person who would is likely not capable of carrying out the "steps" or suggestions that follow. You are saying in the book buy something for 100 and sell for what, $125 or so, and you are happy? Bid early? No snipe? I am sorry but from what I read this kind of book can and often will lead to ruin for the uninitiated or those motivated by real need - profit - not "fun". You can't learn to buy and flip from a single book - it is just too simplistic. I KNOW I can't show you how I turn $1 into $100 with a degree of regularity in one book or three. I am not writing a book. If you can do this so well, why not just keep doing it. The books appears to be a money making venture from its presentation. Those who think they can learn those things to buy and sell and profit in a single book are in for trouble, surely. Half the book is gonna have to be about cleaning, stickers, market acceptability and a bunch of other stuff like A,B,C and so on. You can not condense experience w/o loss. It's LOOKING like snake oil to me from the way it is presented...I don't say that is your intent. Some of what is presented is so simplistic. Maybe the problem that caused the title is more widespread than initial scans showed. Trying to help you, truly. I have worked on/advised/edited for many books and covers FWIW.
Ask some folks here to read the eBay section and look at the book site and do a poll IMHO.
Eric
Edited for clarity.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
<< <i>"Get Rich Quick" Books, DVDs, infomercials, usually prey off others misfortunes, circumventing laws/ordinances/riles & regulations or it's about how to run a successful scam. Gee...e-Bay immediately comes to mind. >>
Hi Wooden Jefferson scary icon man
Maybe I got the wrong flavor from what I read but there is an eBay section - maybe try reading the eBay section of the online book materials in the OP's sig line link and see if you get what I got?
Best wishes to all,
Eric
<< <i>Hi,
I had time to look further at your website about the book. I won't dance around this time:
"...You’ll learn the secrets of making the same kind of returns that the wealthy enjoy on any budget. If you put these ideas into action, you can make big profits with collectibles..."
This is like the title IMHO. I was unable to determine who your target is exactly; my guesses from the text as you present it...
Maybe get some others to read your online eBay section. I don't know anyone who needs that basic info - and the person who would is likely not capable of carrying out the "steps" or suggestions that follow. You are saying in the book buy something for 100 and sell for what, $125 or so, and you are happy? Bid early? No snipe? I am sorry but from what I read this kind of book can and often will lead to ruin for the uninitiated or those motivated by real need - profit - not "fun". You can't learn to buy and flip from a single book - it is just too simplistic. I KNOW I can't show you how I turn $1 into $100 with a degree of regularity in one book or three. I am not writing a book. If you can do this so well, why not just keep doing it. The books appears to be a money making venture from its presentation. Those who think they can learn those things to buy and sell and profit in a single book are in for trouble, surely. Half the book is gonna have to be about cleaning, stickers, market acceptability and a bunch of other stuff like A,B,C and so on. You can not condense experience w/o loss. It's LOOKING like snake oil to me from the way it is presented...I don't say that is your intent. Some of what is presented is so simplistic. Maybe the problem that caused the title is more widespread than initial scans showed. Trying to help you, truly. I have worked on/advised/edited for many books and covers FWIW.
Ask some folks here to read the eBay section and look at the book site and do a poll IMHO.
Eric
Edited for clarity. >>
Wow, Eric...don't hold back or anything.
Next, I did say you can get the kinds of returns that the wealthy make, but that is not from buying and selling ,because thrust of the book is not buying and selling, but buying and holding. If you buy a collectible for half price, and you yield 5% off of it, then you're really making 10% on your investment because you're leveraged 2:1. And I do that all the time. Here's some recent online purchases:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251344897144?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181219146162?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281158621110?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121154089415?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221263939312?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Again, the actual book is about collectibles in general, and discusses techniques that would be appropriate for collectibles. As for "sticker chasing", and crackouts associated with coins....I don't get into that because it's very specialized. I do try to educate the reader on how to make common sense purchases, with such advice as (1.) Never buy all your collectibles from one place. (2.) Learn the prices on the items you want to buy well before making the purchase...ideally from past sales info (3.) Buy professionally graded items when you can (4.) I do discuss the merits of buying in a competitive environment...like a busy auction...following price research. (5.) Before you buy anything, it should be important to the genre or have a "wow appeal", it should be in high grade, and be as rare as possible in your budget. (6.) Other stuff like paying attention to price resistance, rotational leadership, "breathing markets", etc.
Lastly, if you think that anyone would tackle a book like this one as a money-making scheme, you clearly don't have a clue what all is involved in this endeavor. Write your own and tell me how you're rolling in cash. This is a labor of love, and I'd like to help people make better decisions and provide an alternative to the stockmarket.
Here are my ebay techniques..and yes...they are common sense...they work. You probably do these things too precisely BECAUSE they work:
If you’re buying:
1. click on “newly listed’ and “buy it now”…sometimes that
thing you’re looking for was just posted a few minutes ago at a very cheap
price. If you see it first, you win. Just like $20 bills lying on the
sidewalk…they do exist, but only for the guy who gets there
first.
2. click on “auction only” and
“ending soonest”…then put in a good bid lowball bid. Sometimes the other
bidders don’t show up and you get it cheap. If you lose the auction, there will
be another one along soon. Note that this really works well with auctions that
end in the middle of a weekday.
3. click buy it now and then sorting from lowest to highest price. Or if you don’t
want to wade through the junk, sort from highest prices to lowest.
4. If you see a dealer who has a genuinely good price on something, be sure and check to see what else he has. Sometimes its just a guy who has to make his rent payment and he’s blowing stuff
out to make sure he raises the cash.
5. If you search by keywords (like I do), be sure and check on mispelling. I’ve found cheap, rare volkswagen parts because they spelled “volkswagen” as “volkswagon”
If you’re selling:
1. Do a market study and figure out what your competitors are selling for. Shaving 50
cents off your price to make yourself the cheapest can really help.
2. Make sure your auction expires in the evening when people are off work, and if possible during the
weekend. Be sure to factor in time zone differences. Also, think about holidays and big events. Don’t have your auction end during the Superbowl!
3. Make sure you think of all of the important key words. Look at other auctions to gather them up. After weeks of searching for and buying double die obverse nickels, I found that some dealers would only
write “ddo”. I never thought to look for that acronym so they missed some sales. If they’d have put in the word “double” I would have found them and bought their stuff.
4. If you’re selling multiples of a commodity, be sure and have a sweet policy on combined shipping.
I was selling silver proof sets, so I advertised that the shipping charge would be $4 no matter how many they bought. One smart buyer bought them all after realizing they would have a real low unit cost that way. I was happy about it…only had to ship one package.
5. Take lots of photos. It provides a sense of security for the buyer that more than makes up for the cost on all but the most inexpensive items. Whats interesting is I’ve noticed that comicbook sell for much more money when they are photographed from an oblique view lying on a desk. The buyers need help visualizing what it will look like at their house lying in front of them, I guess. Non-clinical photos work.
6. Want fries with that? For God’s sake, mention your other ebay sales in your ad…even casually. People will look and some will buy.
7. One that I haven’t tried, but I’m really thinking about doing is providing a link to a movie that you put in photobucket. Selling a raw currency note or an antique check might be hard, but if you’re confident
in it and you provide a movie where you handle it and really show it off, flipping it over, etc., that would probably result in quick sales. Crap, now that I’ve said this, everyone will do it and it will dilute out my own successes. (I’m kidding). I did sell a vehicle like that, and it worked really well…gave a video tour of the car and let them hear the smooth running engine…sold it really quick for top dollar.
One last thing. I do touch on sniping in the book. Whether to snipe or not depends on how "hot" an item is that you're bidding on. I find sniping works well for less active auctions. But for more popular items, I think it's a good idea to bid high and early. Why? Consider the logic of selling an item with a $1 initial bid. Sellers do this to draw lots of people into the bidding....and it works. But if you're a bidder, you don't want a lot of competition...so to foil that approach, bid high and early, because it drives the price high quickly, which squelches outside participation in the auction. It also can demoralize the competition. Heck, you could combine these two techniques if you like...bid high, but still snipe. But the funny thing about sniping is that when you snipe, you have no second chance. I've used the "bid high early" technique and seen people try to snipe and lose by 11 cents. If they had the opportunity, they might have bid again...12 cents higher...but a sniper doesn't get a second chance. I set my buy price at where I'd like to buy it, and let it alone. If I get it, great...I'm happy. If not....well, I didn't want to bid that high anyway.
Eric
Edited to add: Not all of them are regulars of course.
Edit #2:
"...Making a Killing with Coins or Making Huge Profits with Coins..."
"...First of all, the book is truly about collectibles, not coins..."
<< <i>Have BNB write your introduction on his AU58 cracked and sold as Gem BU
Saw him walking the floor in BP today too.
EAC 6024
<< <i>Oh, I don't know. My customers range from Spielberg Productions, HGTV who also wanted me to discus on camera exactly what and where I do what I do (like that was going to happen), museums abroad such as The Discovery Museum in the U.K. or our National Museums and back across to Disney and private collectors. I'm doing...OK.
Eric >>
That sounds good. There is a heck of a lot of expertise on these boards, and I don't pretend that I know any more than anyone here. But there are a lot of people who want to know more, and they are my target audience. The book I'm writing was written for my 20 year old self...stuff I wish I knew way back when.
<< <i>One last thing. I do touch on sniping in the book. Whether to snipe or not depends on how "hot" an item is that you're bidding on. I find sniping works well for less active auctions. But for more popular items, I think it's a good idea to bid high and early. Why? Consider the logic of selling an item with a $1 initial bid. Sellers do this to draw lots of people into the bidding....and it works. But if you're a bidder, you don't want a lot of competition...so to foil that approach, bid high and early, because it drives the price high quickly, which squelches outside participation in the auction. It also can demoralize the competition. Heck, you could combine these two techniques if you like...bid high, but still snipe. But the funny thing about sniping is that when you snipe, you have no second chance. I've used the "bid high early" technique and seen people try to snipe and lose by 11 cents. If they had the opportunity, they might have bid again...12 cents higher...but a sniper doesn't get a second chance. I set my buy price at where I'd like to buy it, and let it alone. If I get it, great...I'm happy. If not....well, I didn't want to bid that high anyway. >>
This doesn't make sense to me. 11 cent outbids? That isn't even an Ebay minimum next bid? I call bs.
Edit x2: OK....The answer is, when I bid, I will "penny" my bids. Like instead of bidding $100, I will bid $100.11. I anticipate that the snipe bids will be a nice round number, so in cases where they are, they lose by less than the bid increment. I've had situations where the sniper would anticipate that *my* bid was a nice round number like $100, so the snipe bid would be $101, to compensate for a $1 bid increment. But because my bid was like $100.11, their bid did not meet the minimum bid increment of $1...and so even though they bid more, they didn't meet the minimum bid and lost. And the fact that they didn't have time to fix it because they were sniping was the icing on the cake.
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line."Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Eric