Secret of Tate's Beach and Adventure of the Seven Keyholes by Augusta Seaman

In The Secret of Tate's Beach, Merwin is recovering from a bad illness, so she and her father stay at Tate's Beach in Mr. Tate's inn.  Mr. Tate's granddaughter is about the same age as Merwin, but at first, Peggy hides from her.  Peggy has had little education, and the one time she attended school, the other girls made fun of her.

Gradually, Merwin and Peggy become friendly, and Peggy shares her secret.  Peggy has a small cache of treasures she has found on the beach, and she keeps them hidden under an old figurehead.  The girls soon realize that Peggy's treasures may hold the key to finding out the truth about Peggy's past.

This is an excellent book with a really good mystery.  The book is just like some of the very best vintage series books.  Unfortunately, this is one of the more scarce of Augusta Seaman's books.

In The Adventure of the Seven Keyholes, Barbara's grandfather has died, and he left her an old brass key.  The will states that the key fits the first of seven keyholes.  To find all of the remaining keyholes, Barbara will need to follow clues that will be revealed behind each keyhole.  The clues are not easy to decode, but Barbara perseveres and finds that her grandfather willed her something more than just a brass key.

This book is aimed at a slightly younger audience than the rest of Augusta Seaman's books.  The book is a bit shorter than Seaman's other books, with just 150 pages and less text printed on each page.  The book is good, but I did not enjoy it as much as the average Seaman book.

The Edge of Raven Pool and Bluebonnet Bend by Augusta Seaman

In The Edge of Raven Pool, Antoinette's father has died, and she is penniless.  Antoinette is sent to live with her aunt in Savannah, Georgia.  Tony is miserable at first, since Miss Spencer is cold and distant.  Tony soon visits her cousin, Theo, on the family's island plantation, and the two become close friends.

Tony finds a paper hidden behind a picture in one of the bedrooms of her aunt's house, and Theo tells Tony about the strange behavior of Marm Debbie, who goes to Raven Pool in the middle of the night.  The cousins discover that the two mysteries are likely intertwined and hold the key to a missing treasure.  Finding the treasure would help Miss Spencer avoid losing her colonial home to foreclosure.

The story is very interesting from the very first page.  This is an excellent book.  I was enthralled and read it very quickly.

In Bluebonnet Bend, Katharine and her mother go to San Antonio to stay on Uncle Ezra's ranch, which is partly owned by Katharine's mother.  Uncle Ezra has some kind of scheme in mind, and he needs Katharine's mother to grant permission.

Katharine becomes friendly with her cousins, Elizabeth and Don.  She also becomes acquainted with Felipe, an elderly man who squats on the property.  Katharine soon senses that Felipe is involved in some kind of mystery and that Don knows about it.  The two girls search for clues.

In this story, a Mexican ancestor of Felipe's is named Alessandro.  The name is Italian, not Spanish.  This bothered me.

This is a very good book.

Thoughts on eBay, Etsy, and Facebook

My Etsy sales have outpaced my eBay sales in the last month.  It's because I have put a lot of effort into my Etsy shop in the last month and have listed a better variety of books.

The following graph shows that my eBay sales have fallen greatly in the last month.  Remember that you can always click on any image to see a larger version.

Now here are my Etsy stats for the last 30 days.

I removed the revenue amount from the image, but my Etsy revenue from the last month is twice that of my eBay revenue.  That's pretty impressive.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to list on Etsy.  You might recall that I came on pretty strong in 2009 when I started listing on Bonanza, and during that time, I was very successful on Bonanza.  I truly did feel at that time that Bonanza had the momentum to be a very successful sales venue, but the site later made some huge mistakes that ultimately destroyed the momentum.

My main motivation in focusing on Etsy is that the overall fees are much lower than eBay's.  Even though I have to pay $0.20 to list each item, I pay lower fees since the final value fee is much lower.

eBay is still the best choice for anyone who sells series books.  Etsy is a good secondary choice since the site is established, but sellers have to work at it in order to have success.  For that matter, sellers even have to work hard to have success on eBay.  It's not as easy as it once was to sell books.

Etsy does have some advertising options, but I am not comfortable with using any of them.  I know of three people who dislike me, and there are likely a few others out there.  One advertising option on Etsy is for sellers to pay to have ads show at the top of search results.  If members click on those ads, the sellers are charged.  I worry that someone who doesn't like me would click on an ad a bunch of times.  That's why I don't use them.

Another advertising option on Etsy is to pay to have Etsy send coupons to people who fave an item or leave items in their shopping cart.  I tried that one for just a few days, then I turned it off.  Without getting into a detailed explanation, I felt that the targeted offers were not ultimately going to effectively raise my sales.

I finally tried the promotion that I currently have active on Etsy, which is free shipping on orders of $35 or more.  I am still getting quite a few sales for under $35, but I do feel that a number of buyers are taking advantage of the shipping promotion and that it is helping to raise sales.

The primary reason I quit selling on Bonanza was that my listings were no longer getting any interest.  On Etsy, I can tell that people are interested in my listings.  Etsy has a "recent activity" section in Shop Manager that shows when members have faved my items or my shop.  I see at least one fave each day, which tells me that people are reacting positively to my listings.

Finally, I do not want to sell on Facebook.  I tried it some last summer, but members want books to be extremely cheap.  Furthermore, I went to a lot of trouble to offer really nice books on Facebook and saw very little interest.  Since Facebook's primary purpose is not sales, members are way too easily distracted by everything else.  Selling on Facebook was not worth my time.  I would rather list my books on eBay and Etsy.  At least eBay and Etsy members are on those sites to buy, so they aren't distracted.

I also found that Facebook members ignore any notes about items that have already sold, ask to buy those items, and then have a strong reaction about that item being unavailable.  I would rather sell on eBay or Etsy where I don't have to send a message explaining that an item has sold.

Another problem with Facebook is that some members reserve a book and then do not follow through.  This happened to me twice, and I only offered books for sale a few times.  Buyers almost always follow through on eBay, and on Etsy, buyers cannot end a listing without paying.

I have listed many excellent books on Etsy recently.  I broke up several of my bulk lots from eBay.  Some of the books were moved to Etsy individual listings.  I have also listed some of the books from the bulk lots on eBay in individual listings.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Tranquility House and Sally Simms Adventures It by Augusta Seaman

In Tranquility House, Mr. Benham lives next door to Connie and Elspeth.  The girls regard Mr. Benham as an honorary uncle and spend lots of time in his home.  One day Connie falls down the stairs, breaking her ankle and damaging a bit of the woodwork near a window seat.

Elspeth finds an old box under the window seat and takes it to Uncle Benham, who seems disturbed by the contents.  Uncle Benham becomes ill, and meanwhile, his secretary, Mr. Cookson, appears to be searching for the box.  Elspeth and Connie hide the box while they wait for Uncle Benham to get well.

This book starts out slow and uninteresting.  The story finally captured my interest around pages 70 to 80.  The rest of the story is quite suspenseful.

In Sally Simms Adventures It, Sally travels to Bermuda as the paid companion of Miss Miranda, who is a crotchety old woman.  Miss Miranda prevents Sally from having any fun and makes certain that Sally must wait on her constantly with few breaks.  Miss Miranda also complains endlessly about how awful Sally is.

Sally becomes friends with a lively boy named Andy, who finds a hidden cave and clues to a possible treasure.  Later, Mr. and Mrs. Amory are brought into the secret, and they run interference with Miss Miranda so that Sally can have time to help Andy find the treasure.

This story reminds me of Charlotte Cross and Aunt Deb.

The very best and funniest parts of the story are the letters that Miss Miranda writes to her friend, who is apparently Miss Miranda's only friend.  Miss Miranda has a completely twisted view of everything, and her version of events is hilarious.

The book has lots of limericks in it, composed by Andy.  They are actually pretty good and enjoyable to read!

This is a very good book.

The Dragon's Secret and The Mystery at Number Six by Augusta Seaman

In The Dragon's Secret, Leslie and her aunt are staying in a bungalow on a secluded beach.  Another bungalow is near theirs and is vacant.  Leslie is shocked to see a glimmer of light from behind the shutters of the vacant bungalow.  Who is the prowler?

Meanwhile, Leslie's dog discovers a buried burlap sack on the beach.  Leslie and her new friend, Phyllis, open the sack, finding a strange locked chest with a dragon carved around all sides.  As more odd events unfold, the girls realize that someone is hunting for the chest.  The girls keep the chest hidden as they search for clues to the chest's owner.

This is a very good to excellent story.

In The Mystery at Number Six, Bernice has recently come to live in Florida.  Bernice and her cousin, Sydney, visit abandoned phosphate mines while Sydney fishes.  The young people discover a farmhouse near phosphate mine Number Six, and a strange young girl lives there.  Bernice and Sydney learn that the girl's name is Delight, and her past is a mystery.  Delight seems quite frightened of Jerry and his wife, who are the people who take care of her.  Strangely, Delight likes Jerry even though she is afraid of him.  Mystified, Bernice and Sydney hope that they can help Delight.

The word "cracker" is a pejorative term for white people.  Seaman uses "cracker" to describe Jerry's wife.  I was puzzled about Seaman's use of the term, since I doubted that she was using it in a pejorative way.  I looked it up to try to figure out exactly what it means in this book.

At first, I thought that the word is used to mean "redneck," which is what makes the most sense to me.  However, that cannot be right.  I discovered that Floridians who are descended from colonial Florida settlers are "Florida crackers."  The word is not pejorative in that context, and I believe that is the intended meaning in this book.  However, Jerry's wife is a bad person, so I like interpreting the meaning as derogatory.

The book does have other obvious racial stereotypes.  On page 49, Indians are referred to as an "ignorant lot."

I did not find this book as interesting as Seaman's other books.  I skimmed the last few chapters.

The Slipper Point Mystery and The Crimson Patch by Augusta Seaman

In The Slipper Point Mystery, Sally is bored and without friends until Doris arrives at Carter's Landing.  Sally is a bit of a tomboy, while Doris is very much a lady.  Sally is so taken with Doris that she begins to care more about her appearance.

Sally has a secret, which is a small room hidden in a nearby hillside.  Sally wants to share her secret with Doris, but she is afraid that Doris will abandon her for the other wealthy girls.  When Doris declines to leave Sally to go with the others, Sally realizes that Doris is a true friend and shares her secret, including a cryptogram that she found in the hidden structure.  The girls puzzle over the cryptogram and stumble upon a mystery that concerns an elderly woman who lives nearby.

From page 43:

Like many girls of her age, and like many older folks too, if the truth were known, Doris loved above all things, a mystery.

This is an excellent book.  The story is simple but entertaining.  The mystery is very interesting as it unfolds.

In The Crimson Patch, Patricia's father is home after being held a prisoner of war in Europe.  During the Captain's imprisonment, he learned about a German secret that is of great value to the United States.  Patricia and the Captain are staying at a hotel while the Captain works on a project involving the German secret.  The Captain has warned Patricia not to trust anyone and to tell no one about his story.

Patricia soon becomes friendly with Virginie, a girl who is staying across the hall with her aunt.  One day while Virginie visits, the Crimson Patch disappears from the Captain's room.  Two other people had also been in the room, so any of them could have taken it.  Patricia is heartsick about what happened and worries about whether Virginie could have been the culprit.  Chet, the bellboy, helps Patricia get to the bottom of the mystery.

This story is set up very much like the series books of the late 1920s and later, like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.  The story is improbable, just like in the typical series book.  Patricia and Chet take matters into their own hands against the Captain's wishes.  They go off on what sounds like an ill-advised expedition to retrieve the Crimson Patch.  On pages 217 and 218, the Captain realizes that he should have told Patricia everything in the first place, especially since she did a better job of solving the mystery than he did.

This is a very good to excellent story.

The Girl Next Door and Three Sides of Paradise Green by Augusta Seaman

In The Girl Next Door, Janet has come to visit Marcia, who is staying in New York City with her Aunt Minerva.  Marcia has become fascinated with Benedict's Folly, an old mansion that is next to the high rise apartment building.  Miss Benedict still lives in the family home, but she keeps all windows shuttered and seldom leaves the house  When Miss Benedict does leave, her face is completely covered with a veil.

Marcia and Janet watch the house and are shocked to see a girl her own age looking out of a window.  Later, the girls realize that this girl is confined to the old mansion, possibly against her will.  Marcia and Janet persist in their investigation and finally make the acquaintance of the girl, learning her strange story.

On pages 180 and 181, Marcia talks about how gossip can ruin other people's lives.  "It just goes to show how unhappy we can make people by talking about them and their affairs."  And later, Marcia adds, "What an awful thing—that two people's lives should be spoiled just by unkind gossip!"

Parts of this story have a lot of racist comments directed towards the Chinese.  On page 193, a man writes that "the Chinese language is the most confusing and idiotic jargon ever invented by the mind of man."  I cringed.

There is some speculation about an Englishman who might have married a Chinese girl and had a child.  This is said to be "horrid" on page 205.  Quite a few other remarks are made that are quite derogatory towards a person who is a mixture of Caucasian and Chinese.  I usually read racist commentary in old series books in a detached fashion, since I view it through the context of history.  In this case, I found it quite distressing.

This is an excellent book.  The story is very absorbing, and this is such a good mystery.

In Three Sides of Paradise Green, Sue, Carol, and Louis each live on a different side of Paradise Green.  Two roads meet at an angle, making up two sides of a triangle.  Another short road connects the other two sides, making a triangle.  An old man comes to visit Louis, and he treats Louis like royalty.  Louis considers himself an American through and through, and he does not understand why his guest wants him to be like a French nobleman.  Sue and Carol try to solve the mystery, but Sue's younger sister, the Imp, knows more and will not tell them.

Most of this book is written as a diary.  I overall enjoyed the book until two-thirds of the way through, then I completely lost interest and skimmed the rest of the story.  This book is not very interesting and is my least favorite Augusta Seaman book so far.

The Boarded-Up House and The Sapphire Signet by Augusta Seaman

In The Boarded-Up House, Joyce and Cynthia are neighbors, separated only by an old boarded-up house.  The girls frequently play on the property.  When a neighbor's cat gets inside the basement, the girls follow it and explore the house.  They keep their exploration a secret and try to piece together the story of who the former occupants were and why they left.

The girls discover that the dining room table is set with dishes, and the chairs are awry.  A dinner party must have broken up abruptly, and the girls find partially packed trunks in an upstairs room.  Joyce and Cynthia speculate about what might have happened, and finally, they come up with an idea of how they might find out.

This book was published in 1915 and is set in 1905.

The story is quite simple but plausible and interesting to read.

In The Sapphire Signet, twins Bess and Jess have a sister, Margaret, who is stuck at home in her invalid chair due to a bad back.  Bess and Jess bring home a new girl from school, Corinne, who quickly becomes friends with Margaret.

Corinne loves antiques, so the twins take her up to the attic, where she discovers a journal hidden under the false bottom of a trunk.  The journal is written in code.  Margaret suggests that the girls form a secret society that is dedicated to uncovering the mystery.  Corinne cracks the code, and the girls spend hours deciphering the meaning of the journal.  After some research, the girls follow clues found in their own neighborhood as they search for the sapphire signet.

This book is fascinating because it seems impossible that the girls could track down the sapphire signet or the Bermuda family to which it belonged.  They only have the diary, which was found in two parts in different locations.  The original house no longer exists.  Nobody knows what happened to the girl.  I read quickly, wondering how this would all get pieced together.

The backstory has to do with the plot to kill George Washington.  So this story is kind of historical fiction.  I enjoyed this book.