Thrift Shop Inspiration
I admit I'm a readaholic. I have over 3,000 books. Most are non-fiction and are informational. I buy most of these books at thrift shops, yard sales and annual book sales. Its amazing what you can find out there if you look. Yesterday I found books on raising ferrets, cockatiels, numerous diets new and old, raising kids, treating cholesterol, diabetes, how to write., marketing, fixing cars, fixing plumbing and a lot of other subjects.
You can find professional books like medicine, law, accounting etc that you won't find in bookstores. There is also a plethora of magazines to peruse in just about all subjects.
The best part is they are cheap, cheap, cheap. You can buy books that originally cost over a hundred dollars for 50 cents or less. Yesterday I got a brown paper bag full of books for 5 dollars.
Google likes content, fresh content. I found a 3 book series on nothing but controlling cholesterol. No, I'm not going to plagiarize, but I can get lots of subject ideas and information.
I know a lot of people are going to say, "why bother when you can do research on the internet ?" The short answer is, I find, that the information in books is more complete. The internet gives the short quick answers. Books give long complete answers. So I use books and magazines for information to use in blog posts, articles and anywhere else I need content. OH, and nobody gripes when I use highlighters and tear out articles from magazines.
So go to your local thrift shop and check out the neighbors yard sales and look for books that might be the beginning or inspiration of your next website. Don't forget your local library, rumor has it they have lots of information and books too!
By the way books written before 1923 with U.S. copyright are considered public domain. The writing and any pictures or illustrations are free to use without copyright infringements. If the copyrights weren't renewed there are lots of books between 1923 and 1963 that are in the public domain. Check before you copy anything verbatim or use illustrations, pictures, or graphics.
As a side note: There are books out there that are valuable. If you have a cell phone with web access look some of them up at amazon. You might be amazed. I've found books for 25 cents that I've sold for over 200 dollars. Watch for college text books that are less than 2 years old. They can be worth from 40 dollars up to 100+. I usually sell these either on Amazon or eBay. Nice little chunk of change when you find them.
When I find large print editions of books I usually buy them and donate them to the old folks home. They are very much appreciated and will get passed around.
Recent Comments
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Great idea! I have ideas that require a skillet and a source of heat, plus a trip to the grocery store. Delicious, healthier than pizza. Kids would probably love it.
Since you have cookbooks...here is something I've thought about doing but have never got around to. Find your best super duper easiest recipes to make using crock pots, microwaves, and maybe a skillet and sauce pan and write a short cookbook PDF for college students. These guys are living on Ramen and Frozen Pizzas. Another thing they must be cheap to make with little prep...No slicing/dicing if possible. Make them 5 bucks and sell the pdf through PayPal and advertise on Craig's List.
That's nice aRBie. I have a huge collection of books too. And you're right about the library and how much more info you can get out of books as opposed to the internet. You can make a list of ideas from the Internet, then do some real work at the library. I can't pass up cook books. My collection is obscene, but I can't part with a one.
I used to love buying books at garage sales and thrift shops but then I would always just dump them in the basement and never read them. This was before getting into IM. I think I'm gonna have to start buying them again! Good post, thanks.
As an avid book buyer who never got around to reading what I bought, I love this post. I turned into an avid library user so I had a use-by date. Now I'm clearing out a lot of books that turned out to be repetitive anyway, and just choosing the quality that I want to keep. The internet changes so fast that sometimes hanging onto the good, in-depth info is really more worthwhile against this changing backdrop of 'what are we learning now'.
Thanks for the quality of selection, and how to make it work for me
;)