2008: IAN (James Bond) FLEMING'S 100TH BIRTHDAY
ANNIVERSARY
by Nick Howes
The 22d James Bond adventure, Quantum of Silence, is scheduled for a November 7th release, the year
marking creator Ian Fleming's 100th birthday anniversary.
The creator of James Bond,
007, licensed to kill, was born May 28, 1908.
Besides a new movie, a new James Bond
novel is being issued in May 2008, commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications, Ltd. Already, in January, the Royal Mail issued
a set of six special stamps honoring Ian Fleming and his creation, suave and deadly British agent James Bond.
Shaken,
Not Stirred
Ian Fleming wrote 12 novels and nine short stories that established a James Bond film
and merchandising empire.
The first James Bond novel was written over a two month period prior to the 42-year-old
Fleming's marriage March 24, 1952 marriage to Ann Rothermere. Casino Royale introduced the
suave super spy. Live and Let Die followed. James Bond's adherents grew as more Bond novels followed. From Russia With Love,
his fifth novel, got a boost in popularity in 1961 when President Kennedy listed it among ten favorite books
provided to an American magazine. In his sixth Bond novel, Fleming was inspired by his cousin Christopher
Lee's protrayal of Dr. Fu Manchu to create the villainous Dr. No and suggested Lee as Dr. No in the eventual movie. Incidentally,
instead of Sean Connery, Fleming favored Roger Moore as Bond.
During his recovery from a heart attack,
Fleming wrote a children's classic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, based on bedtime stories he told his son. He continued writing.
His last novel was another Bond book, Man With the Golden Gun, published in 1963.
Bond. James
Bond.
Fleming spent the years during World War Two in British Naval Intelligence, like Bond advancing to the rank of
Commander. Among his activities was developing Operation Golden
Eye, a plan for the defense of the British outpost at Gibraltar should Spain commit to the Axis. He also worked with Intrepid,
codename for William Stephenson, who developed training and operations
of British agents in Canada and the U.S. at a time when England was under imminent threat, Churchill believed, of invasion by the Germans.
In correspondence with William "Wild Bill" Donovan, Fleming offered valuable advice on setting up the Office of Strategic
Services.
In 1942, Fleming helped organize a British response to a specialized German operation with 30 Assault Unit,
tasked with intelligence-gathering while accompanying British Commandos during Allied raids on Fortress Europa. The 30 Assault
Unit grew from a strength of 60 to 450 by VE Day.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You To Die
Dr.
No was the first of the Fleming books to be filmed. Producers
chose the Jamaica-based story due to a relatively uncomplicated plot, only one big special effects set piece, and only one
location for shooting. From Russia With Love followed. Goldfinger is considered by aficionados the high-water
mark among Bond movies. Producers wanted Orson Wellse as Auric Goldfinger but hired German actor Gert Frobe who, as with Ursula
Andress in Dr. No, had his voice dubbed with the exception of a very few lines. Fleming visited the set as he had
on the previous two movies, but died less than a month before Goldfinger's release.
Fleming's association
with Jamaica began towards the end of World War Two when he visited the island for an Allied conference. In 1952, he returned,
moving into a house he designed dubbed Goldeneye on Jamaica's
north coast. Fleming's passions were books and golf.
Ian
Fleming died August 12, 1964. James Bond continues to thrill audiences with special effects-laden movies, new
novels, even spin-off books about Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary.
BOOK TREATMENT FAQ
by Pat Swann
I don't know how often people think about the resale value of their books, but the fact is they do wind up in garage sales
and on eBay or Half.com in many cases. But you have to take care of what you have. Do not underestimate the importance
of condition on the used book's value. It may not be worth much, but if it is ripped, torn, slashed, water-damaged,
soaked in java, or otherwise trashed, it will not be worth a dime. So here are some tips, many obvious, some less so.
1. Always use a bookmark. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. A scrap of paper works just fine. Folding over the page
corners or putting the book face down are both very hard on the paper and the binding.
2. Think before you lay your book down. You want to keep books out of the reach of young children and pets. They don't
mean to damage them but they can in a hurry. Also, be careful that your book is not where it can tumble off its perch into
water or dirt.
3. Water and dirt are potential dangers as you read your book. Care should be taken if you are eating or drinking while
reading. A spilled soda or cup of coffee can do a lot of damage before you can retrieve your book from the puddle. If you
must drink, use a covered container to help prevent spills. Also, you want to be careful that you do not get food on the pages,
either from your fingers or from the food itself. At best, you risk staining the pages and at worst you risk having the pages
stick together. No one wants to get to the exciting part of a book only to find that they can't turn the page because jam
or pizza sauce has glued it to the following page.
4. Soiling the pages of a book is a constant danger. Many people do not realize that the oils on their skins, not to mention
soil that you may not realize is there, may damage the pages of books. This is true of all documents, in fact. Therefore,
it is important to wash your hands before rerading a book or handling important documents. Soiling can also take the form
of marks by pens, pencils, crayons, etc.
5. You should always turn a page by the top corner. This also applies to magazines and similar materials. Bending the paperback
book back and thumbing through it can cause creases and bends in the pages. It also can cause additional soiling as the pages
scrap[e across your thumb pad. Using the bottom center of the page can result in tears and should be avoided. Special acid
free tape which doesn't yellow with age is available for page repairs. (THIS ARTICLE MAY BE USED AS FREE CONTENT ON YOUR WEBSITE
OR IN YOUR EZINE AS LONG AS THE AUTHOR AND WEBSITE ARE CREDITED.)
20 ONLINE BOOK SELLING TIPS: QUICK eBAY CASH
by Nick Howes
1. Many category books, such as romance, Western, or science fiction, sell best on lots of 20 or more.
2. Some authors sell very well individually. Popular romance author Nora Roberts is one. However,
there's a glut of books by other popular authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz which only sell in a large collection
or as part of a more general horror lot. Low prices also apply to something like Star Trek books...you need a huge lot
to get even a small bid.
3. Some authors or themes do not sell at any price. I once gave away 80 routine Harlequin silhouette romances
for which I could not even get a $3 bid.
4. Children's books are considered very popular.
5. With lots, subcategories will generate higher prices. Romance subcategories, for example, include medieval,
Civil War, Western, time travel, occult, fantasy, American Indian, etc. You can come up with some specialized category for
which some buyer will salivate.
6. Do not underestimate the power of the word "lot" in your title when appropriate.
It is a top eBay search term.
7. Your ultimate information source is eBay itself. See how others list their sales, use description and
scans, and, above all, research what your book is going for. I'm amazed that people list books for $20 when everyone else
is asking $1 or $2 for the same title.
8. Check your own bookshelves for books to sell, then ask friends and relatives if they have books to get
rid of. My sister contributed five bags of paperback books she'd stockpiled. Then hit yard sales, garage sales, flea
markets, and, the best, library sales. Library sales are bargains, especially on $2 a bag day where you pay literally pennies
per book. You can also run a newspaper ad offering to buy paperback books.
9. Make your sales goal $1.00 per book when selling by lot. Ideally, the per unit expense will be .25 or
less per book. You can justify buying a few books for .50 or even .75 if it substantially increases the value of your lot. This
way the per unit expense averages out to more than .25 but less than .50.
10. Recycle packaging material wherever possible. Environmentally sound, it also cuts the handling charge
you must request. Check store dumpsters, ask friends to save their packaging.
11. Wrap single books or even a stack of 2 or 3 in clingwrap to waterproof, then in newspaper, brown paper
from paper bags, and seal with liberal amounts of wide brown packaging or clear cellophane tape. Makes a solid, tight package.
12. Take full advantage of eBay's rare reduced listing fee days. There's little warning but you can relist
books that didn't sell, accessible through your "My eBay" page.
13. Quality counts. You can sell books in lots that are of fair quality, but I would never list a book individually
if the quality wasn’t at least good or better. Honestly describe quality of the item. Your buyer will find out its true
quality when he gets it and if you are guilty of misrepresentation, he can leave bad feedback.
14. There are books that will sell at a better price on eBay-owned Half.com than at auction, although you
may have to wait for some time before the book sells.
15. At some point you’ll need to buy a postage scale. Also, be sure to have the post office's latest
rate card on hand for reference.
16. A scan of the book is important to sales success. In the case of a book that does not lend itself to
a cover scan, I have scanned an appropriate interior photo or art, or even the title.
17. When listing a book or lot, give a plot description. I’m irritated by sellers providing no book
description on the listing page but copious information about what to do after the sale. You can use the book description
from inside the cover or on the back cover, or you can check the Amazon listing under "product description." A Google search
might work too.
18. A low opening price encourages bids. List a starting bid you are willing to live with because no matter
what a bidder might be ready to pay, he gets it for the opening bid if no one else bids against him. Despite how great eBay
is, there are occasions when the people you want to look at your ad are not looking that week. Also, I don’t know
about anyone else, but I never bid on an item that has a reserve ... reserves irritate me because whatever the low bid
is, I know it is not enough to even get on the board.
19. I’d skip the bold, gallery, and other bells and whistles eBay offers. Even small fees add up. Just
do a straight-forward listing for .35. If and when you sign up for an eBay store, fees are better…a 30-day listing is
.02 and gallery is .01.
20. It can not be repeated often enough -- study what successful eBay sellers are doing.
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