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:

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