Around here you can get books in great shape for 10 cents or 25 cents at garage sales. 

Let's say that you wanted to get some books that are likely to be requested on PBS.  What kinds of books would you choose?

Anyhing in really good shape....cookbooks......chick lits.............anything currently on the WL-check it befoe you go......................

Al, go to the community link, then the top 50's link, then the wishlist.  It will show you what books are wished for and how many people are wishing.  That should give you a place to start. 

Memoirs - especially recent ones. Travelogues/travel essays. Recent Christian fiction. Recent chick lit. Harry Potter books and other YA fantasy novels. Books about books. Books about writing. Hardcovers and trade paperbacks published in the past 12 months - you go much farther back than that, you'll end up with books that there are already many copies in the system.

I've had great luck with craft type books - quilting, needlework, that sort of book.   Community cookbooks are very popular but you might have to post in the bazaar and the cooking forum that you have them.   

I'll agree with newer trade size books, newer cozy/mystery, & paranormal romance (my fav).

Wacky suspense kids books go too or try a couple of newer "new age" if you can find them.

(In contrast to an earlier comment, I've never really noticed biographies or memoirs requested)

Manga!   IE, non-Marvel non-superhero non-ForAmericanTeenBoys comic books.

I don't read many of them, but anything vampire, werewolf and etc. I've found a good bit lately and they go really fast. Also I look for anything copyrighted like from 2006-2007.

History books fly off my shelf, especially military history.  And, any NF books about the Crusades or Ancient Rome (gladiators) are popular.

Books by Chuck Palahniuk , Hunter S. Thompson and Christopher Moore are usually WLed.  If you don't mind erotica, anything by Zane should go quickly.

Historical Fiction is extremely popular too. Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick, Nigel Tranter, and ESPECIALLY Jean Plaidy.

I agree on the vampire fiction...I've picked up quite a few vampire novels and romances at my local thrift store and come home and listed them and sent them out the very next day! (I don't bother reading them, LOL.)

You can almost always unload a Jodi Picoult book, I've found. And most recent best-selling non-fiction. I think more people hang onto non-fiction books, making them harder to come by at PBS. Historical fiction goes pretty well, too, especially stories about old royalty.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[quote]the WL-check it befoe you go[/quote]

Yes, but there are tens of thousands of books on the wish list.   Just think if I could download the wish list database to my Palm, I could probably get tons of wish-listed books every weekend.

Look for the top 50 requested and/or wished for books!  That narrows it down a lot!

I love Alexander McCAll Smith.  I noticed there are a lot of his books on WL especiall in audio form. 

You've gotten a lot of good suggestions.  I would also add cozy mysteries.  They are popular on PBS and LIGHT (so less $ to mail).

Avoid any books by the following popular authors like the plague because there are already many, many of them in the system (unless published within the last 12 months, then you should be OK):

• Nora Roberts
• James Patterson
• Stephen King
• Dean Koontz

Also avoid bodice ripper omances from the 80's and early 90's - again there is too much supply and too little demand for them at PBS.

Nora Roberts also writes mysteries under the pen name of J.D. Robb (they all start with Born In....).   If you see those in good shape, BUY THEM, they are very popular on PBS also.