Online Book-Selling Tips: Beating the Bushes for Books

The verdict is in: bookselling has made a successful transition to the Internet. According to a2008 Nielsen survey, books outsell every other product sold online. The same survey found that 41 percent of all Internet users had bought a book--a number expected to increase going forward. Simultaneously, of the total books sold annually in the U.S., the percentage sold on the Internet has increased from 12 to 20 percent.

New book sales alone amounted to $25 billion in 2007, according to the Association of American Publishers, a figure that does not take into account the enormous used, out-of-print and antiquarian book markets. Because so many book sales occur under the radar--at private sales, used book stores, flea markets and the like, it’s impossible to know exactly how much book-business money changes hands, but the numbers figure to rise if the common wisdom holds true that books, a form of cheap entertainment like movies, are recession-proof.

Anyone can sell books, but whether you dabble part time or are a professional seller with a trail of bookseller-association acronyms behind your name, you face the same problem: where to find stock. Here are some alternatives, areas to avoid, and finally, the choice of most booksellers:

New Releases and Best Sellers

This is actually an area where you do not want to sell since it is locked-up to the point that individuals and mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar stores cannot compete with the deep discounts offered by chain stores such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Walmart, among others.

Closeouts and Remaindered Books

These are books often obtained by the pallet-load from publishers, wholesalers and distributors, bought and sold on the cheap by vendors set up for low-profit, high-volume selling. Not a good candidate for an online business since sites such as Bookcloseouts.com, Dealdude.com, Shoppingagents.net, among others, seem to have a lock on the Internet retail market. Nevertheless, Business.com provides insights into, and a directory of, book distributors and wholesalers.

E-book Sales

E-books had a compound growth rate of 55 percent between the years 2002 and 2007, and though it’s still a very small market segment ($61 million at the onset of 2008), the future looks bright. The genre is generally despised by booksellers as not being ‘real’ books and for the frequently exorbitant prices, particularly for out-of-print and scarce books.  On the other hand, you can download classics in the public domain for 80 cents each. Beginning in early March, Amazon released free Kindle software that lets iPhone and iPod Touch owners download 240,000 e-books, including a majority of bestsellers.

Audio Books

This category is gaining acceptance and grew 19.8 percent between 2006 and 2007, although it’s still a relatively small market segment at $219 million.

Religious Books

This strong niche market ($719 million in 2007) has enjoyed steady growth over the previous several years.

Used, Out-of-Print, Antiquarian and Rare

Thisis the field that attracts most booksellers both on and off the Internet. Within the spectrum of used books there are dealers specializing in children’s, militaria, sports, nautical, modern first-editions, history, travel, reference, used textbooks, science, women’s and African-American studies, mass-market paperbacks and dozens of other specialties and sub-specialty fields. 

However, given today’s ferocious competition for books, becoming a specialist in any one field is increasingly difficult. Consequently, most used booksellers trying to make a full-time living are “generalists,” that is, selling across a wide range of fields regardless of age, rarity or topic. Whether generalist or specialist here are a few of the most popular sources for used books:

Flea Markets

This old chestnut remains a solid source for books bargains, because, among other reasons, many dealers of other objects can’t be bothered checking the value of their books. The early bird still gets the worm, and it rarely pays to hesitate when finding a good book, as the next person may well scoop it up. A good source of locating flea markets is Fleamarketmama.com with a hyperlinked U.S. map showing all the pertinent data on each state’s markets.

 Library Sales

These are a major resource for finding sellable books--with certain caveats. Avoid local libraries that have permanent or bi-weekly sales: the stock is tired and picked-through, where as libraries that hold annual or bi-annual sales stock up with donations for the entire year or half year and offer huge, fresh stock. 

In certain sales they will have “preview” nights before the general opening, and charge up to $50 for the first crack at the books, which leaves slim-pickings for those who follow. However, most large book sales offer up to 100,000 books at bargain prices. Further, large sales will have a “rare book” table where they offer special items, often overpriced, but reduced by 50 percent on the last day of the sale. 

People begin lining up before dawn for good library sales, and be prepared for an undignified atmosphere: Walmart sale days have nothing on the jostling competition and general animalistic greed of booksellers in the first hours of a sale. BookSaleFinder.com has a national map, click on a state to see a schedule of sales listed.

Garage and Estate Sales

While much offered at garage sales ranges from the pedestrian to outright landfill, the occasional pot of gold lies waiting for the taking. Most garage sales take place on Friday and or Saturday and are advertised in local papers. Many professionals set up a “route map” from the listings and begin the hunt early in the morning.

Many towns, neighborhoods and streets in large cities have annual or semi-annual sales which are worth perusing as the merchandise tends to be more interesting than what’s found at garage sales or thrift shops.  House and estate sales, often run by professionals for the owners, are on a first-come-first-serve basis, hence buyers frequently line-up in the dark. If the sale is run honestly (not pre-picked by the handlers), it can be a good source for books.

Thrift Shops

They’re fun but seldom profitable for book scouting at this stage of the game. This varies by locale, and if you live in an area where the books are not ‘picked.’ Before hitting the shelves it pays to wheedle, beg, bribe or cajole the employees the day(s) they place new stock up for sale.

Book Auctions

Theseare the only reliable source for acquiring scarce and rare books. Expect formidable competition at major book auctions such as Sotheby’s, Christies, Swann Galleries, Baltimore Book Co., Butterfield, California Book Auction, among others, where dealers and collectors compete for the rarest or most desirable books that come to market. You can obtain a complete list of the major book auction houses through the American Book Prices Current Web site.

The good news regarding up-scale auctions is that the Americana Exchange, which tracks auction sale prices, reports that the median prices of books, manuscripts and ephemera fell 21 percent in 2008 to their lowest point in five years. Optimists who believe the recession will end sooner rather than later may want to buy at auction in this “down market.”

A better strategy for the dealer who wants to build up stock at an affordable price is to root out local auction houses that handle books along with other items. They frequently sell books in box lots, which yield better value and often great finds.

Cultivate Good Will

Building good relationships withantique dealers, ‘house clean-out’ services and estate lawyers is always a good idea--at least to the point where they will allow you first crack at the books they remove from various premises.

ScoutPal

Hand-held book scanners and  other Internet connected devices are a recent trend for checking  values in the field. Many veteran sellers eschew them in favor of instinct and intuition, citing also that the time it takes to look up a book keeps them from a better book in  the next box or table.

For years booksellers have been lamenting that their sources were drying up, or their business was dying. Yet we have noticed they are all still in the business. The only difference is that today the bookseller has to work more diligently for stock than in the pre-Internet days when books seemed to fall out of the sky. Bookselling was never for the labor-adverse, but for those willing to do the work the rewards are there--even in tough times.

Frank Fortunato is a seasoned online book seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com.

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