Pictures of items are a valuable tool when it comes to internet sales. Where possible, AbeBooks includes a stock image with a book listing if the bookseller has not included their own. When books are particularly expensive or collectible, pictures of the actual item are reassuring to the buyer.
Having your 35mm film developed digitally
Using a scanner
Using a digital camera
We ask that you save the files in JPG or gif format and limit the size of each image to:
Maximum height of 600 Pixels
The width should not exceed 160 pixels when the height is scaled to 130 pixels. (AbeBooks will automatically scale images to fit different sizes on the Search Results, Listing Details, and Larger Image locations; if the width far exceeds the height, the images may look “squished” in the Search Results and on Listing Details.)
Maximum file size of 100 KB
72 dpi (dots per inch)
This is probably the easiest way to get your photos online, however you do need to have a computer with a CD ROM drive. All you have to do is take your regular film into a developing station and request a digital processing service. You end up with a CD ROM of your photos ready to post on the Web.
Scanners can be used to either make a digital copy of a photograph or to scan the cover of the actual book. The scanner similarly to photocopier, with a glass plate, but instead of making a paper copy, the scanner creates a copy as an image saved in your computer's memory. Once the scan of a book or photograph is complete, save it to a file on your computer. You can then send us the digital photo via email.
Using a digital camera to take a photograph of your book allows you to immediately see the photo you have taken. You don't have to worry about blurry photos as the results are instantly available and bad photos can quickly be deleted. Photos taken with a digital camera can be transferred quickly to your computer and therefore uploaded to AbeBooks more quickly.
The filenames of your images need to match the corresponding book ID number. For instance, if your picture was of the book you had numbered as 001, the image filename should be 001.jpg or 001.gif.
The easiest way to upload your picture is to go to the [Your Books] section of the Members Menu and click on [Manage (upload/delete) book pictures (gifs and jpgs)]. Please read our detailed instructions on how to upload picture files to AbeBooks.
Pictures can also be deleted using your AbeBooks account: