How Much I Made in September 2009 Selling Books

Posted by Adam on October 5th, 2009

Tags

Category selling-more-books

It’s time for yet another one of my monthly sales reports!  If this is the first report you’re seeing, I release my actual sales numbers every month to let you know what I “eat my own dogfood” which means I practice what I preach in regards to online bookselling, give you an idea on the amount of money you can make and also, at the same time, give me a public goal to shoot for the next month so that you guys can hold me accountable.

Without further ado, here are September’s sales numbers and my impressions:

online book sales1 How Much I Made in September 2009 Selling Books

online book sales

The total numbers ended up being $3816.64 right on the nose for total sales with $1615.36 in total shipping reimbursements making the total revenue this month at $5432 even.  The middle of the road sales numbers for this month are from the influx of a huge number of new books near the end of the month last month that carried into this month.  Also, for some reason, a TON of my low priced books (<$5) have been selling well.  I don’t mind, but it’s sure easier to pack 2 $50 than 10 $10 books!  Always have a combination of these because the low priced books will typically make up for days lacking high dollar book sales numbers.

These numbers are disappointing to me partly because of some of my last reports.  If you want to check back on my previous month, check out August’s online book sales.  I am slowly noticing the only major factor in generating more income is pure quantity of inventory for my business model.  More inventory means acquiring more sources as the sources that I currently have do not last me throughout the year.  As time rolls by, I’m constantly trying to acquire more book sources and am doing a pretty good job at.  I talk a lot about how to acquire new sources of inventory in my eBook, Used Books: Big Business if you’re interested in some of my techniques.

I buy books in large quantities typically from 5,000 or more at a time.  I take a rough estimate of what’s in store for me and decide how much I think I can make off of them.  I’ll then take them back to my warehouse, price them, sell what I can online and discard the rest going to other offline sales methods.  The biggest factor for bigger sales for me is sheer quantity.

My goal for next month is another $7,000+ month.  I’ll be able to do this because I’ve lined up October’s book acquisitions already and know I’ll be getting around 12-15,000 more books in this month.  Fresh inventory typically means big sales numbers.  Buyers skim the cream off the top and then it’s the high sales rank numbers that fill in the gaps in between.

How are you guys’ sales doing this month?  Also, are you preparing for the Christmas rush?

- Adam

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

    I agree that quantity is the No. 1 factor that affects sales. “If you’re not listing, you’re not selling.” is another version of this I’ve heard online. Sales are extremely slow after the start of the school year rush. I’d love to be preparing for the Christmas rush but we are also currently suffering from a dearth of new inventory to provide our customers. But looking at my sales figures over the last few years I know things will pick up after Halloween.

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

    I agree that quantity is the No. 1 factor that affects sales. “If you’re not listing, you’re not selling.” is another version of this I’ve heard online. Sales are extremely slow after the start of the school year rush. I’d love to be preparing for the Christmas rush but we are also currently suffering from a dearth of new inventory to provide our customers. But looking at my sales figures over the last few years I know things will pick up after Halloween.

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

    I haven’t gotten to the point to where I see major
    declines in sales. It seems that whenever I’m running
    a little low on inventory, I always find somewhere
    else to get more and it boosts up again. It’s also
    hard to tell when a slow time is because as a
    book seller, I have thousands of low demand books
    and, at the same time, high demand books as well that
    typically balance one another.

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com adam

    I haven’t gotten to the point to where I see major
    declines in sales. It seems that whenever I’m running
    a little low on inventory, I always find somewhere
    else to get more and it boosts up again. It’s also
    hard to tell when a slow time is because as a
    book seller, I have thousands of low demand books
    and, at the same time, high demand books as well that
    typically balance one another.

  • http://www.angietheant.com/ Rob

    thanks for sharing your sales report.
    Great information. I will keep an eye to see how
    October sales go. We usually give our books away
    for library sales and occasionally trade used
    books at http://www.abundatrade.com for merchandise.

  • http://www.angietheant.com Rob

    thanks for sharing your sales report.
    Great information. I will keep an eye to see how
    October sales go. We usually give our books away
    for library sales and occasionally trade used
    books at http://www.abundatrade.com for merchandise.

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

    Have you had alot of luck trading inventory for others?

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com adam

    Have you had alot of luck trading inventory for others?

  • John

    Do you use a service to list to all those sites at the same time or do you list one by one?

  • John

    Do you use a service to list to all those sites at the same time or do you list one by one?

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

    I use a service called FillZ that lets me list on all those different sites. I can run a report that spits out those graphics.

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com adam

    I use a service called FillZ that lets me list on all those different sites. I can run a report that spits out those graphics.

  • AnonyMous Rezolution

    @John

    You can batch upload your items using
    spreadsheets and a barcode scanner or handheld device with a scanner

  • AnonyMous Rezolution

    @John

    You can batch upload your items using
    spreadsheets and a barcode scanner or handheld device with a scanner

  • AuntieM

    I sell on Amazon, but didn’t know it was ethical to list on more than one site at a time. Have heard pro’s & con’s about this issue. Any ideas?

  • AuntieM

    I sell on Amazon, but didn’t know it was ethical to list on more than one site at a time. Have heard pro’s & con’s about this issue. Any ideas?

  • AuntieM

    PS: I am a low volume bookseller with only about 1200 listings, and sales have for all purposes quit with maybe one or two sales every week or two. Would love to hear from other booksellers on multiple listing sites.

  • AuntieM

    PS: I am a low volume bookseller with only about 1200 listings, and sales have for all purposes quit with maybe one or two sales every week or two. Would love to hear from other booksellers on multiple listing sites.

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

    I sell mostly high sales rank books because they are mostly all “leftover” books from sales, but have a pretty good quanity at around 4,500 right now. I averaged about 13 sales/day. With 1,200 books, I would assume if you have everything else is line such as your prices, good feedback and books have a decent sales rank, you should be selling at least 1-2 a DAY instead of a week.

    I’ve been listing on multiple sites for 8 months now. It’s by no means no ethical and is typical practice for larger sellers. Listing on multiple sites is a great way to increase sales because there are a lot more people looking at your books. Sure, there are the only occasional double sales to where you have to cancel an order but those are few and far between since I’m using FillZ to sync my inventory across marketplaces. Sometimes, the same book sells on two different sites within 5 minutes of one another and you can’t help it. Since the books that I sell are typically lower demand books, I can get away with a low cancel rate.

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com adam

    I sell mostly high sales rank books because they are mostly all “leftover” books from sales, but have a pretty good quanity at around 4,500 right now. I averaged about 13 sales/day. With 1,200 books, I would assume if you have everything else is line such as your prices, good feedback and books have a decent sales rank, you should be selling at least 1-2 a DAY instead of a week.

    I’ve been listing on multiple sites for 8 months now. It’s by no means no ethical and is typical practice for larger sellers. Listing on multiple sites is a great way to increase sales because there are a lot more people looking at your books. Sure, there are the only occasional double sales to where you have to cancel an order but those are few and far between since I’m using FillZ to sync my inventory across marketplaces. Sometimes, the same book sells on two different sites within 5 minutes of one another and you can’t help it. Since the books that I sell are typically lower demand books, I can get away with a low cancel rate.

  • AuntieM

    Adam, I have a high rating 5* over the last
    12 months and only 2 refunds. Yet have had
    to this past month unsubscribe from Pro-Merchant
    at Amazon because of 2 months in a row of being
    in the red. My feedback has been wonderful…so
    I cannot understand why sales have just stopped.
    My last sale was Oct. 20, and that was a refund
    as the buyer wanted a hardback instead of PB.

    Sounds like I need to list multiple to get sales.
    I am a senior on limited income, and need all the
    ideas I can get. Thanks for being there for us.
    Happy Holidays!!

  • AuntieM

    Adam, I have a high rating 5* over the last
    12 months and only 2 refunds. Yet have had
    to this past month unsubscribe from Pro-Merchant
    at Amazon because of 2 months in a row of being
    in the red. My feedback has been wonderful…so
    I cannot understand why sales have just stopped.
    My last sale was Oct. 20, and that was a refund
    as the buyer wanted a hardback instead of PB.

    Sounds like I need to list multiple to get sales.
    I am a senior on limited income, and need all the
    ideas I can get. Thanks for being there for us.
    Happy Holidays!!

  • Charles

    Hi Adam,

    Love your site. What’s your Amazon storefront so we can take a peak at your inventory?

  • Charles

    Hi Adam,

    Love your site. What’s your Amazon storefront so we can take a peak at your inventory?

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

    If your feedback is great it sounds like you need to start listing more books that are in demand. Try to list more books every day.

  • http://www.sellyourbooksonline.com adam

    If your feedback is great it sounds like you need to start listing more books that are in demand. Try to list more books every day.