If you’re a true collector, chances are you don’t just have boxes of your object of love around your house. You probably have a bunch of magazines about the topic lying around too.

Of course, today, collectors can network with other collectors and complete their collections online. We browsed around the Web to see what some niche specialty publications offered their readers online.

Beckett Media (http://www.beckett.com) serves up sites that are dark and suitably “manly” looking for their audiences of presumably traditionally male sports memorabilia collectors. I checked out the baseball area, where there were contests, products for sale, message boards and a “My Collections” area, where members could scan in their card collections. Why you would want to do that, I don’t know. Insurance reasons, perhaps?

Linns Stamp News (http://www.linns.com/) was a decidedly brighter and less cluttered site. There were headlines (the only news story—on baseball stamps set to debut at Yankee Stadium—could only be accessed by subscribers. But there was lots of fun free stuff—a glossary of Philatelic terms, a directory of local stamp collecting clubs, and a listing of stamp issuing entities around the world.

A sister publication to Linns. Coin World (http://www.coinworld.com/) also limited news access to non-subscribers (now I’ll never know where to get my American Buffalo gold coin), but had depth when it came to general collecting background data. If you need info about mint marks, how coins are made or the history of the U.S. Mint, you’ll find it here.

Of course, if you want to find out a little about everything, pop on over to Krause Publications online home (www.krause.com). Cars? Check. Comics? Check. Records, antiques, crafts? Check, check and check.

Krause offers non-subscribers more editorial content—for example, the Goldmine record collector site highlighted full length features with Chick Corea, Jon Anderson and Jeff Watson of 80s band Night Ranger, as well as reviews of CDs and records in a wide range of genres.

Business-to-Business Internet Marketing Barry Silverstein, president/founder of Lexington, MA agency Directech, has written “Business-to-Business Internet Marketing” (Maximum Press, Gulf Breeze, FL), a combination book and Web site.

A password necessary for accessing the title’s companion Web site is included with each book. The site features Web marketing news and updates to the book, which covers five “proven strategies for increasing profits by DM to businesses” online. Chapter topics include a crash course in B-to-B direct marketing, ways to create and qualify leads online and generating orders on the Internet.

Uncommon Marketing Techniques Uncommon Marketing Techniques” by Jeffrey Dobkin features something of interest for people who are crunched for time-“the one-evening marketing plan.” (And, he claims, you can finish your entire PR program the following day, all by yourself.)

The 270-page volume (Danielle Adams Publishing, Merion Station, PA) also includes chapters on increasing advertising response, marketing tips for small businesses, how to write a classified advertisement and how to buy a great mailing list.

Dobkin is the author of “How to Market a Product for Under $500,” also from Danielle Adams Publishing.

A Daily Dose of the American Dream If you’re seeking inspiration in your business life, maybe the tome to turn to is Alan C. Elliott’s “A Daily Dose of the American Dream” (Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, TN).

This collection of 366 inspirational five-minute readings-“one for each day of the year”-tells stories of people who have been “successful in business and in life.”

One thing can be said about the entries-they certainly run the gamut.

As one might expect, there are plenty of anecdotes focusing on celebrities-Michael Jordan, George Lucas, Rosie O’Donnell, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey-whose tales are common knowledge to anyone who reads People magazine.

But plenty of direct marketing names and faces show up throughout the book to offer their success stories as well. The list includes Lands’ End, Stew Leonard’s, Quad/Graphics, Lane Bryant, Richard Sears, Digital Equipment Corp., Reader’s Digest, the Leo Burnett agency, Eddie Bauer, Roger Horchow and Neiman Marcus.

Our favorite? Sorry, but it’s not a direct marketer. The honor goes to Aug. 7-the story of Bernie Kopell’s heroic rise from failure as a vacuum cleaner salesman to sailing to stardom as Doc on “The Love Boat.” Admittedly, in 1998 it’s no longer exciting and new. But getting to work with future Rep. Fred “Gopher” Grandy? Now that’s truly something to dream on.