In my last post, I said it's best not to go with your gut...but it's a good place to start. Unusual titles, high-quality bindings, antique editions—these things are bound to catch your eye.

And that's when you pull out your cell phone. I won't go into all the different programs/apps/tools available to use on your phone as it seems like they are changing all the time. Get opinions on selling tools at Amazon's forum for Third-Party Software & Services. Before I got my iPhone, I relied on ASellerTool's simple and inexpensive ISBN lookup tool. The text-only format is ideal for non-smartphone users and their subscription service is only $6/month, which will quickly be paid when you score a copy of Atlas of Killifishes of the Old World, a book I bought for $2 and sold for close to $80 a few years ago.

We've never made that major score, but other nice finds have included:

1) Winnie the Pooh, A Reproduction of the Original Manuscript
2) An 1880s edition of Memoirs of Robert E. Lee
3) Space is the Machine (when we sold that one, no others were listed and our copy sold in a matter of minutes to a buyer who was waiting)
4) Get a Grip on Physics (though the prices are nothing spectacular now, shortly after the Tiger Woods scandal broke, this out of print volume was selling pretty high)

With the exception of No. 4, all of these books were purchased for $2 or less at a local thrift store. (The fourth my husband received for the cost of postage in a book swap.) I wonder what book treasures are waiting for you?