From a May blog

Money is in the specialy or niche book field
I am reminded of the old saying "that a trip of a thousand miles begins with the first step"
So take a step! Action is the stimulus that begets growth of ideas for a bookseller niche.
If you have an interest area ,go for it ( * )

* Free idea
Green is in and should be long term . Start dealing in books about going green and polution ,healthy life styles ,the environment, conservation , global warming etc.etc.

If you are new or thinking about selling books online ask questions. You have to buy before you sell. Check prices on the internet before listing. Maybe a cell phone look up service might help. Maybe taking a $50.00 and buying books then trying to sell them is a cheap way to learn.

Take a step , it might lead you on a long enjoyable trip or short one leaving you saying." Glad I did not go there."

I am slowly learning how to blog! " enuff said".

I am writing about building a niche or specialty book business. Scarcity sells, quality sells and there are other good ways to make money selling books on the net - more about that later.

I once took a rare book seminar. The presenter told the story of a bookseller that had little interest in mountain climbing books . However, he lived in the Pacific Northwest ; there was a built in market for books about the subject. The market being both books to purchase and interested, motivated buyers. In a sense he was "fishing where the fish were."

He was offered a small, but nice collection of mountaineering books. Though,it was not his speciality, the books were clean, in good condition and a few had "the look" of something special. He bought them, priced them and started a section in his shop.

He told a fellow book shop owner of his buy and about the new section in the shop. That bookseller told him that he had a few mountain climbing books he could have a good price. He bought them. Over the next few months he bought any and all mountaineering books he could find from the other stores in the area. He built a large inventory of over a thousand books. When anyone came into the other shops asking for books on the subject, they were sent to him. He successfully operated his mountaineering section for a few years and then sold the collection to another dealer for a good profit. Over the time he had the mountaineering section, he also sold a few really scarce titles.

In my opinion, selling specialty books on the net can mirror that scenario with a few modifications.

1. Do not buy the lower priced common books; some will come in "buys", but weed them out quickly. Some may be bought as a part of the learning process; you will make mistakes - again part of your specialty education

The internet has changed bookselling because of supply and demand.To quote an eBay bookseller, "What was scarce is now common, what was rare is now scarce." Selling books at eBay auction can be giving an unintended discount to other dealers and to the collector because of time limitations. A truly scarce title, with good descriptions, pictures and good seller feedback will usually sell at a good price.

3.Using other fixed price venues such as an eBay store, prostore website, etc. might be a better way; and of course there are many other venus to sell books other than eBay.

4. As you build your inventory and knowledge, books will be offered to you and people will seek you out online so that they can buy from a specialist such as yourself.

Creating a specialty of a cultivated interest is the quickest way to begin - be sure to keep an open mind to the unexpected.

Learning any trade has a cost of either time or money - most likely both.
Posted by Bob at 5:24 AM
Labels: niche books rare books specialities out of print book
0 comments:

Post a Comment
Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)