Let’s See Your Online Book-Selling Operation!

Posted by Adam on October 16th, 2009

Category Adam's Pick

I recently decided to take my iPhone and do a little walk through of my “warehouse”.  In the video, I show you an example of what I talk about in my eBook Used Books:Big Business about how you can start an online book selling business on a shoe string.  After you see my operation, you’ll see that I practice what I preach.  Nothing in my warehouse is fancy or worth over $20 except maybe my computer and printers.  I started out with a few dozen books and am eventually up to where you see it now.  All of the shelves were free or were thrown in with a book purchase, all desks and chairs were free along with the actual warehouse!  I know that some may not be able to get some of this stuff for free but I was fortunate enough to have a father that is a pack rat. icon smile Lets See Your Online Book Selling Operation!

With that said, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!  It’s not what you think though.  I want to see your online book-selling operation in video or by just snapping a few pictures.  I’m very curious about how others’ operations look like and might get a few ideas and pointers from others’ experiences.  Send me some pictures or videos of your operation and I’ll try to get them integrated into the blog so that others can see that we’re not all alone here!

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  • http://OglieOglie.com/ OglieOglie

    Wow, that’s actually a pretty big operation.
    How many items do you have? Around 20K?

  • http://OglieOglie.com OglieOglie

    Wow, that’s actually a pretty big operation.
    How many items do you have? Around 20K?

  • http://www.readingmontana.blogspot.com/ Catherine @ Reading In Montana

    Hi, here’s a link to some of the book castles we build, then list and ship out at Reading In Montana. I hope the link works right as it is a fb photo group.

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165577&id=192562500280

  • http://www.readingmontana.blogspot.com Catherine @ Reading In Montana

    Hi, here’s a link to some of the book castles we build, then list and ship out at Reading In Montana. I hope the link works right as it is a fb photo group.

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165577&id=192562500280

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com/ adam

    I wish. I’m approaching 5K listed.

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com adam

    I wish. I’m approaching 5K listed.

  • pat

    nice of you to show off your stuff, which a lot of
    sellers aren’t comfortable to do, I wouldn’t.

    Be interesting to hear about the other side of your
    business… benefit you get from selling your ebook
    and blog ad revenue. Is it worth it?

    I do think I will place an order in the future
    through the royal mailers ad in the side bar. I use
    another place regularly but this would save me a buck
    or 2 per order.

  • pat

    nice of you to show off your stuff, which a lot of
    sellers aren’t comfortable to do, I wouldn’t.

    Be interesting to hear about the other side of your
    business… benefit you get from selling your ebook
    and blog ad revenue. Is it worth it?

    I do think I will place an order in the future
    through the royal mailers ad in the side bar. I use
    another place regularly but this would save me a buck
    or 2 per order.

  • http://OglieOglie.com/ OglieOglie

    @catherine: those photos actually made me smile. :)

  • http://OglieOglie.com OglieOglie

    @catherine: those photos actually made me smile. :)

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com/ adam

    Why would you not show yours? I don’t do anything special anyone else couldn’t do. It’s a fairly straightforward process once you get it down. I think that’s what makes this blog unique. Yes, I depend on selling books online for a second income but I’m not scared to share everything I know about it. I am totally transparent and haven’t noticed even a slight decrease in sales from the supposed competition that other sellers are afraid of. In fact, my sales have been increasing as of late.

    I don’t think sharing information about the blog ads or ebook are relevant to the topic of this blog. Sure, it’s another very small source of income for me but I don’t believe people come here to read about blogs and ebooks. That’s simply a format I use to get my message about online bookselling across.

    That’s great to hear about using royalmailers. I’ve used them for almost a year now and have been very happy.

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com adam

    Why would you not show yours? I don’t do anything special anyone else couldn’t do. It’s a fairly straightforward process once you get it down. I think that’s what makes this blog unique. Yes, I depend on selling books online for a second income but I’m not scared to share everything I know about it. I am totally transparent and haven’t noticed even a slight decrease in sales from the supposed competition that other sellers are afraid of. In fact, my sales have been increasing as of late.

    I don’t think sharing information about the blog ads or ebook are relevant to the topic of this blog. Sure, it’s another very small source of income for me but I don’t believe people come here to read about blogs and ebooks. That’s simply a format I use to get my message about online bookselling across.

    That’s great to hear about using royalmailers. I’ve used them for almost a year now and have been very happy.

  • http://www.readingmontana.blogspot.com/ Catherine @ Reading In Montana

    @oglieoglie: they are supposed to make you smile, I’m always happy when there are book castles in the house, it means there is work to do.

    @adam & pat: I think sharing book business tips can help the profession improve and increase our customer’s trust in buying used from the 3rd party sellers. I recently helped my sister get into the business and am always willing to talk about what I do with curious folks. My competitors are folks that buy used books in my market area but I’m still polite and considerate to other local booksellers. Who wants to be the rotten apple in the profession, not me.

  • http://www.readingmontana.blogspot.com Catherine @ Reading In Montana

    @oglieoglie: they are supposed to make you smile, I’m always happy when there are book castles in the house, it means there is work to do.

    @adam & pat: I think sharing book business tips can help the profession improve and increase our customer’s trust in buying used from the 3rd party sellers. I recently helped my sister get into the business and am always willing to talk about what I do with curious folks. My competitors are folks that buy used books in my market area but I’m still polite and considerate to other local booksellers. Who wants to be the rotten apple in the profession, not me.