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Happy anniversary, readergirlz!
In honor of our seven-year anniversary, we're catching up with rgz divas and featured authors. Kicking off our anniversary series (or shall we say, anniver-series?) of posts is none other than our own Melissa Walker.

7 Things You Don't Know About Me:
1. I have kept a diary every year since third grade.
2. I have been known to sip pickle juice straight from the jar.
3. My dad passed away 10 years ago, but I can still hear his voice when I need advice.
4. I love the idea of collecting sea glass, but I'm lazy about actually doing it when I'm at the beach.
5. I find it delightful when cocktails are served in their proper glasses.
6. I sing show tunes to my two-year-old in hopes that one day she'll be my Broadway companion (my husband isn't into musicals).
7. I still think the world looks magic if someone is blowing bubbles nearby.

We'll be posting updates and tidbits from familiar faces all month long here at the readergirlz blog. Stay tuned and celebrate with us!

This past Memorial Day Weekend, I took the short trip down the road to the local bookstore and spent some meandering time. At the high school reading list table (love those tables) I pondered classics I hadn't yet read and picked up Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. At the popular paperbacks I found and collected a book long on my list—Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog. My agent, Amy Rennert, had suggested Marianne Wiggins' The Shadow Catcher (about the American West and photography, among other things; how could I resist?) so I went and hunted that down. Next I asked the sales clerk what literary book is currently selling well, and she suggested Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos. I like to be in the know, every now and then, and so I added that to my pile.

Finally, I went to the YA shelves and collected Melissa Walker's newest, Lovestruck Summer. I have a thing about owning all of Melissa's books—she's so cute, to begin with, but also, just as important, I learn a lot from her each time I curl up with one of her teen novels. This time was no exception, for Lovestruck Summer isn't just a compelling tale of summer romance and indie music. It's also a novel that showcases Melissa's tremendous ear and her ability, from the first sentence on, to juice a book with momentum and voice.

Listen, for example, to the book's first paragraph: "I live my life in headphones. That way I can control what I let in. If kids at school are being idiotic and perky, I put on a mellow track and tune out their spirit rally. If my parents are nagging me, I play a fast song and rock out in my mind while smiling and nodding at them."

That's good. That's very good, and here are some reasons why. First, rhythm. This book is about music and from the start, Melissa's language has jazz. From the start, too, the words surprise. Kids being idiotic and perky? Clever coupling. Tuning out a spirit rally? Wait. A spirit rally? Let me take another look, you think, at that. And do we not, in just a paragraph, get who this narrator is? Can we not already picture her, caught up in the medleys she's got tracking through her mind?

There is a reason that those who have big followings have garnered that affection. In Melissa's case, she knows her audience, she knows what they think (Sex and the City characters are old, for the record, and there are just some things that people shouldn't wear), and she knows how to write a credible romantic tale that will keep teens on the edge of their seat.

Today's Ypulse Author Spotlight is on longtime Ypulse friend, readergirlz diva and I Heart Daily founder Melissa Walker and her new book Lovestuck Summer, a self-described "beach read" about Quinn, an indie rock girl who comes out to Austin, Texas... Read the rest of this post

80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs (a coalition to discuss the issues surrounding the growing unemployment rate among young people. Plus, more on how teens are competing with laid-off adults for summer jobs) (USA Today) - New Kindle DX will... Read the rest of this post

On Melissa Walker's big week (Lovestruck Summer is now out in stores!), Melissa is being utterly Melissa, which is to say supremely generous. Today I'm over at her blog, telling the story of the Nothing but Ghosts cover, with additional photos of Chanticleer, the garden that inspired this novel. Thank you, so much, Melissa. I can't wait to drift away into your own Lovestruck space.

In the meantime, Jill Santopolo has informed me that the No Such Thing short story competition details have now been officially posted on the HarperTeen site. You can find them here.

Forgive me for being a tad emotional this morning. The last time I posted a world-goes-streaking-past photograph, it was the morning after the evening that we'd left our son at school—a freshman at a college hours away, a young man on the verge.

Yesterday, downpours and client pressures couldn't keep us away from that guy. His finals were done, and his room was in order; freshman year is done. Our son comes home with broader shoulders, boundless stories, and a multitude of friends—engaging, truly beautiful young people who were chanting his nickname as they made the trek to say goodbye while we boxed things up, Windexed the mirrors, and ran an old vacuum cleaner over nubby, well-worn rugs.

In my absence, goodness happened. The kindness of Little Willow, Holly Cupala, Readergirlz, Alea, Jen Robinson, and others, who made it a point to spread the word about the Undercover poetry contest. Meanwhile, the uber-kind Ed Goldberg, of the fabulous Young Adults (& Kids) Books Central, posted a glorious review; I thank him, deeply, for taking an interest in these books that I write.

For those of you interested in the Undercover contest, you'll see that I have now posted the official judge of the competition: Jill Santopolo. I have worked with Jill at HarperTeen since my earliest introduction there; together with Laura Geringer, Jill shepherded Undercover, House of Dance, and Nothing but Ghosts to their respective finish lines. Jill then took on The Heart is not a Size, due out next March, in Laura's absence, and as an author herself, Jill absolutely knows books and words. I can't wait to share your work with her.

Today my dear friend Melissa Walker celebrates the debut of Lovestruck Summer. She's a force and a presence in this blog world; I've learned a lot from her kick, her poise, her smarts. Congratulations, Melissa, on your fourth book. We (and the spring's entire bounty of daffodils) are cheering you on. (And I can't wait to read it.)

I’ve looked on Abe, AddAll, Bookfinder, Amazon and I find no price reference anywhere. Google will tell me that the book sits in a few collections but this information does not help me set a price. What do I do?

If you are selling books online this scenario will present itself fairly regularly. If it doesn’t I might suggest that you are not buying books that will help you stay in the game long term.

As you may have guessed, a book that is this hard to find usually means one of two things. 1. It is so rare that it never comes up for sale so it must be a true gem $$$.
2. It is so utterly useless that only a handful were ever made and the author’s Mom has most copies up in the attic.

As always the amount of gray area in between is vast and your book’s price will no doubt be found there. OK, enough with what you already know - how about some tips?

One of the first things that a new book seller assumes is that if it’s old it must be worth a lot. This is often incorrect especially for fiction. Keep in mind at the turn of the century there was no television, no tabloids, no cheesy movies. Folks got a lot of their less weighty drama in the form of novels. That being said, a good place to start is a quick lookup of the author. Is he well respected or has he written other works of notoriety? If he happens to have two other books selling online for a pretty penny and you have an earlier work then you may have something. You can look up the author and perhaps a year of publication range at Abebooks or do a simple search on the author at Wikipedia (a great place for background info). You should also take note of the publisher. After a while certain names will reappear. Some will tell you that a particular book was mass produced and is not too valuable while others will lead to more questions.

A few other tips to remember. There are a few online booksellers that consistently overprice books (I mean way over price). You will get to know their names fast enough. If you see one of them price a book at $150.00 please do not price yours at $145.00. Do your own research, perhaps simply say to yourself, “What would I pay for this?” If you feel that it’s a $40.00 book then mark it at $40.00 or even $20.00 if you need a quick sale or if you picked it up for $1.00. This train of thought though should not apply to works of historical value of those in demand by collectors. But how do you know if it’s collectible or not? One of the most important skills you will need to develop is instinct. What does it seem like to you? If you are really stuck there is nothing wrong with putting it on the back burner for a while. You may start one shelf in your back room with ‘books of uncertain value’ and just re-research them every once in a while. One tool I like to use while my books are sitting around is a custom search on eBay. You can create and save searches and also have eBay send you an email when an item comes up in the search results. Set up a search for each book on your backroom shelf.

Sometimes finances comes into play. If your bills aren’t piling up on you then perhaps you could give it a healthy price and wait. Jungle Books mentioned at The Bookshop Blog Forum that he likes to put a starting price of $200. That’s fair enough as you can always lower the price after a few months if it doesn’t move.

There may be times when you come across a book that you think has some serious value. In this case it may be wise to bring it to a more experienced dealer in your area for an appraisal. Hopefully he will treat you as a colleague and give you his honest opinion. If you go this route make sure to thank him not in words but pick up a book for yourself. He’ll look forward to your next visit. If there are no such gentlemen in your area then you might want to try Joe Orlando’s email list (for B & M owners), or if you only sell books online then you’ll want to start a conversation at one or two of your favorite booksellers forums.

Recap:
Do some investigative work using some of the resources listed below.
Keep a Go-To list for future research.
Trust your own instincts.
Put it on the back burner or backroom shelf for a while if you really can’t decide or if you think there is a possibility that it may have some serious value.
Ask another dealer.
Ask others on your favorite forums.

Resources:
Abe Wants List (under your booksellers menu - for Abe Sellers only)
eBay Completed Items
Americana Exchange
Wikipedia - for Author’s Bio
Joe’s Bookstore Group
Bookshop Blog booksellers forum
Faded Giant

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