How to make money selling books

Unless they were released very recently, bestsellers are usually too plentiful on the Internet to be worth your time. Once the sellers outnumber the buyers, prices drop like a stone. For an online marketplace, maintaining good sales volume will depend on having a competitive low prices, or having books that other sellers don’t have. Out-of-print books should be a mainstay of your business. One economic study conducted in 2004 showed that used books that were previously on the New York Times bestseller list sold for only 15 percent of their original retail price on Amazon Marketplace.

Finding just a few scarce books per month can provide a substantial income for your business. For example, Cards as Weapons, a 1977 book by Ricky Jay, regularly sells for $250 online but if you know to look for it, you can occasionally find a copy for a dollar at a yard sale. The book teaches card scaling, the fine art of throwing simple playing cards, and is constantly in demand by magicians, card sharks, and hobbyists. Look for quirky books, or specific scholarly works.

Unless you are already knowledgeable about book collecting a good organizing principle for your business is that nonfiction usually sells for higher prices, yet will cost you about the same to acquire.

Nonfiction is worth more because our customers need nonfiction books. Nonfiction books instruct the reader on how to get a job, fix their car, or use their computer. The nonfiction book saves the reader time and money, and thus has value. Fiction books, on the other hand, compete for the reader’s leisure time. Perhaps the reader will decide to go to a movie or go out do dinner instead of buying that novel.