A reader of this blog asked me if I thought selling physical books online might not be a good business to get into with the Kindle & various other eReaders gaining in popularity. While I don’t necessarily think I will still be selling physical books in 30 years – I don’t think the entire business is going to fold any day now. These are my 2 cents on the topic and I would love to hear your thoughts – thanks for the question Luigi!
Yes, ebooks and digital items are a serious threat to take over for physical books. Amazon has reported that in 2009 it sold more Kindle books than physical books (I would assume that they mean actual Amazon books from their inventory – not 3rd party sellers on their site)
How far off is the steep decline in physical book purchases? Probably several years at least. I consider myself a tech person & I read a lot – I would much rather buy and read a physical book than an ebook. Plus – with physical books you can get a better deal sometimes as most Kindle books are $10 and can’t be resold at a lower price later on.
Even when ebooks do take over a huge market share, there will be A LOT of people who will never make the switch from physical books. There are still people who not only buy CDs despite digital media, a lot of people still buy CASSETTES & VHS!!! I would think that physical books would far outlast cassettes and vhs in terms of loyalty.
When it gets to the point where most people buy ebooks – collectible and rare books will probably increase in value even more as physical books will stop being printed – at least in huge numbers. This means that mass produced fiction would probably be the first to go all digital (which isn’t worth much in the first place), but non-fiction and books of higher value will probably still be printed long after that.
As for me, I will be selling books for the next 10 years or so I am sure… but I am always looking for additional income streams. Right now, I am experimenting with selling physical products on Amazon as well and will probably even incorporate this into my blog when I become good at it. If you are new to book selling, I think it is still a great thing to get into, as it is a low investment, easy entry, and easy to learn. Plus, when you learn to sell books, you can apply that knowledge to other products as well.
Finally, isn’t pretty much every business going to change dramatically from one decade to the next? Books are no different, it’s just more obvious to observe the switch to digital media coming.
We are heading towards summer. While this should be one of the best times for my book selling business – with library sales, yard sales, and nice weather to shop for books- this is usually when my mind starts to wander. Should I go look for books today or go to the beach? Soon I will have friends and family staying at my house and will be even more distracted from buying books.
If you are like me and have trouble focusing on your business at times, is there anything you can do about it? I’ve put together a few ideas or “slump busters” as I call them. Try out a couple and see if they help – also let me know if you have any of your own slump busters!
Have a written schedule: This works in all forms for me. I’ve written it in a day-timer, entered it in my cell phone calender, and even just scribbled something on a scrap sheet of paper. If I have a written schedule or to-do list, it’s a great feeling when I can check off items and actually accomplish something!
Travel: Sometimes I will look for some thrift shops or a library sale in an area an hour or two away. This way I get to look at fresh scenery. Plus, if I am away from home I know I HAVE to look for books.
Read Motivating Blogs:
SellYourBooksOnline.com – Adam Bertram is a seasoned book seller. He sells on various platforms and gives unbiased reviews of them. Adam is also the master of the analytics of book selling and has the Excel spreadsheets to prove it!
WeberBooks.com/selling – Steve Weber is a big-time online book seller and author. His blog contains the latest news in the book selling world and entertaining posts as well. Steve posts like a mad man so there is always fresh content.
SmartPassiveIncome.com – While not a book selling blog, it is a very motivating home business blog. Pat Flynn makes a living with passive income and has great content, tools, and even podcasts!
Read my FREE report “Where to Find CHEAP Books for Resale”. Shameless plug but it may help!
I have been trying to branch into selling more media items (non-books) lately. One of my reader’s Scott has just been selling on FBA for a few months but already has had some success with media items. He let me pick his brain & post our conversation (the italics text is me):
1) What media items sell best for you?
So far, besides books, I sell DVD’s, CD’s, VHS and a few games. I guess what sells best might be dependent on the titles, but I’d have to say that generally DVD’s sell best. But do not ignore VHS. People still buy these and you can get them very cheap. Try to stick to new/sealed copies. Also, in your description, type VHS at the beginning just to make sure people see it. I’ve had a few refunds by people who did not realize they were buying a VHS.
That’s interesting, I see VHS everwhere and totally ignore it, I used to sell some on eBay – I will have to start looking into VHS again.
2) Do you find less competition with media items compared to books?
Yes. I recently went to a library sale that was held in a relatively small sorting room and there was at least four other sellers there, so it was hard to get a spot to scan books. After a few minutes of being a bit frustrated, I noticed a couple boxes of CD’s (50 cents each) right in the middle of the room and nobody was looking through them, so I went and did so. This prompted one of the other sellers to come over and start looking through the other end (which I’d already scanned). I got at least eight items worth sending to FBA, one of which sold for over $27.00.
So, now I always go straight for the DVD’s, CD’s etc. At another recent sale, I didn’t see any CD’s or DVD’s at first. Then I found them after about an hour (and most sellers gone). Sure enough, I got some great stuff including some CD audio books, one of which is now on its way to Amazon, where it’s selling by others for $59.00.
3) What sales rankings do you look for with media items?
I’m still experimenting with this, but at the moment my general rule when out scouting is that I buy only items ranked under 90,000. For VHS, and PC games, I stay under 30,000. This is just a guide. I’ll buy higher ranking items if they are worth a lot, but I might hold them and self fulfill. I sold a rap CD from the 80’s that was ranked over 225K for $69.00.
5) Where do you find your items?
Well, this is my current main problem. Like everybody else, I go to thrift stores, used book/music stores and library sales. But you can only get so much from those places on a continuing basis. I’m now looking into buying from closeout and wholesale companies. So far I have not found much in those areas.
That seems to be the biggest issue among booksellers – where to find inventory. I am actually working on a report about where I find good CHEAP inventory and I will make that available to my readers in a few weeks.
I have been trying to expand my Amazon FBA inventory into other product areas besides books. One of the free apps I have been using with my Android phone is called “Pic2Shop”. It’s marketed as a Comparison Shopping app but it can be used nicely to help with your FBA business. There would be 4 main reasons to use the app:
If you don’t have a book scanner or already subscribe to a scanning service.
If your current subscription service doesn’t cover some types of merchandise (as is the case with my subscription to Scoutpal)
If you don’t have your scanner with you but do have your smart phone.
If you need more in-depth info on a product that your scanning service doesn’t provide – such as product description or FBA listings.
If you have an Android or Iphone you can download “Pic2Shop” for free. Some nice features include comparisons of prices of many shopping sites (not just Amazon). Another nice feature is that the cell phone barcode scanner works surprisingly well and fast (and I don’t even have auto focus or a flash on my cam).
The way I have been using it is to scan products that my Scoutpal subscription doesn’t list (products aside from books, media, toys, and tools). I can then see the lowest prices on Amazon, click on the listings to check for FBA competitors and then decide if the product will be a good resale item for me.
I have posted a Youtube video demonstrating the app below. Special thanks to Steve Weber and his great new book “Barcode Booty: How I found and sold $2 million worth of junk on eBay & Amazon, and you can too, using your Phone”. I highly recommend reading the book if you are interested in selling products besides books on Amazon.
