The 30 second research project that increases hits and matches.
By Bruce McKinney
Both buyers and sellers carefully consider the terms they use when searching for or describing material. For a buyer search terms are the essential tool for book-locating while for sellers such terms are one of the ways their material is found. Both sides need them. Recently we added a Get Keywords link to the preliminary results pages on searches in the Americana Exchange Database [AED] to facilitate the identification of such terms in our more than 1.3 million full text records. This additional step takes a fraction of a second and displays, in declining order, all frequently appearing terms. It is immediately useful and will become more powerful over time. Here is how it works.
The AED is comprised of full text descriptions of material that has been offered at auction and in dealer catalogues, included in bibliographies and collector catalogues. These descriptions represent the compiler's best efforts to accurately describe and illuminate the importance of material. To build these descriptions the authors used terms they deemed useful and important -- in effect key words and they did so based on experience, advice, research and comparison. Now you can unearth these terms by running searches in the AED, selecting applicable records and Get AE Keywords. We then parse these records to instantly create a list of terms appearing in them. For sellers, this is a list that contains terms to include in selling descriptions or as keyword addenda with descriptions. For buyers it is a list of keywords by which to search the various selling sites to unearth potentially interesting material. Whether a buyer or a seller this is an effective tool.
For eBay auction sellers, all of whom list invisibly and for a limited time, attaching term lists will immediately increase visibility, traffic and probably prices. On listing sites, where books sometimes wait years for a buyer, sellers tend to be patient. On eBay the item is up for sale now. Bidders must be located today. For eBay sellers, keywords increase visibility and traffic immediately because they broaden the basis for matching while remaining accurate and faithful to the descriptions used to define and describe this material in the past. This is not a theoretical advantage and it is not key word stuffing. It is an immediate boost.
These keywords are equally useful for increasing listing site traffic. To the extent buyers know what they are looking for they should be able to find appropriate listings whether they are brief or extended. If however they are searching with more general terms it then becomes important to have all the logical terms a potential buyer may employ to identify appropriate material. At a guess, edited term lists will increase sightings and sell-through by perhaps 10% a year. Such terms will certainly increase the visibility of those sellers who employ them. Perhaps the greatest difference may be in the ability to sell more common material by lifting it into the sightline of buyers. When many copies are available higher visibility is particularly helpful.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
