For a long time, I’ve been trying to find software that would let me catalog my books AND help me to sell them.  I finally found one that does pretty much everything I need and for under $50:  Book Collector by Collectorz.com.

It allows me to just type in the ISBN of the book (either the 10 digit or 13 digit version), and it checks multiple sources to bring in the information on the book, such as title,  author, number of pages, publisher, year published, plot and much much more. It even brings in a photo of the cover(s) if available.  It also then allows me to override any of the fields, which is a good thing, as publishers have a habit of reusing some ISBNs, causing the information on some older books to come up wrong, including covers/dust jackets which can change frequently. You can also add some of your own custom fields if needed to cover anything they hadn’t already thought of.

The software then allows me to export my “collection” completely or 1 book at a time to HTML, helping me create quick and easy code for a website or my eBay listings.  If you’re handy with XML/HTML, you can even tweak the templates or create ones from scratch to change the output into whatever layout you need. (Check out my eBay store for some examples of listings where I’ve used the software to create the ads: Books-For-All-Reasons)

If you need something to help you catalog your own book collection, whether for your own personal enjoyment or because you also sell your books, I recommend you check out Book Collector.  They offer a free trial version to help you decide: Automatically Catalog Your Book Collection. Free Trial.

And if you’re an avid collector of other things, such as comic books, DVDs, video games and more, why not test drive their other software for free?:

Automatically Catalog Your CD Collection. Free Trial.

Automatic DVD Database Software. Free Trial.

Automatic Comic Database Software. Free Trial.

Automatically Catalog Your Video Game Collection. Free Trial.