Working In An Online Bookstore

• Posted by Booksforever July 26, 2011 - Filed in Shopping - #books  #online  #australian  #bookstore  #buy  #sell  #specialist  - 148 views

  This blog entry came from our original blog post on our home website, Booksforever.

   

  Apart from general book questions, one question I get asked on occasion, is what it is like to sell books online. For many the online world is a mystery, and still feel unsure when it comes to online shopping. Even those who buy online regularly, or use the internet daily, can find those who have an online business very interesting. Well, maybe not the people who own the business per se, but find what ‘they do’ interesting I should say.

   

  Just about everyone knows what a walk in (bricks and mortar) bookstore looks like, they are everywhere around the world. But when it comes to an online bookshop, the interest grows.

   

  When this happens, I am more than happy to answer questions on the bookstore. But, the first and foremost point I make clear, this is no ’easy’ job! There are countless hours of book searching, buying, cataloging, book wrapping, and standing in line at the post office and so on. This doesn’t include the other areas you must gain some skill in, like learning about the website you work on/with, SEO (search engine optimization) and without this knowledge, you wouldn’t get found online. Or the other less exciting areas of running a business in general, e.g. book work (the accounting kind). It is not something you can do for a couple of hours a day (well maybe in some cases you can, but that usually ends up a hobby, not a business), or only Monday to Friday, with the weekends off. Remember, weekends are some of the busiest times online. This is when many people are off work and searching online, so you have to be online answering questions or updating your website and/or stock. It is not acceptable for a Customer to email you on Saturday morning, yet have to wait until sometime Monday to receive an answer. This can and does happen, and it is a mistake many online business’s make!

   

  As questions do come up on this business, I thought there maybe others, especially many book lovers who may be interested what this type of business might be like. These following paragraphs are of course only my opinion, experience, and my way of doing this job. Although I am sure many of these points are very similar to others, I am also sure many may not be.

   

  One major question I had to answer at the very beginning, was what type of bookshop I wanted Booksforever to be. Specialist Online Bookstore or general bookshop? This may not seem like an important question to ask, but it is! Both have their advantages and disadvantages. To sell books on just one subject or field, allows you (compared to a general bookshop), to focus your attention on only one field, but it can be very difficult.
  In one business decision you wipe off the table any chance of selling any title, on any other subject but yours. This may seem the easier way to go, and it could/can be, but there are not always a lot of quality books in large numbers out there on one subject at one time. The important keyword here is quality. Even when you offer both new & used books, it can still be very time consuming to supply your Customers with quality titles, day after day, for years on end.

   

  It of course can be done, and is being done by many booksellers. I should also say in fairness, the subject you decide on, does play a part in this. Some subjects just have larger followers than others. But regardless, overspecializing can force your business into a niche market, a very small niche market (which by the way is perfectly fine for a hobby, part time job, or if waiting years to get really well known, or spending a lot of money to get really well known really quick is fine!). WOW, but if not, over specializing can reduce the market, and can make it more difficult in some ways to succeed.

   

  Case in point, our Australian Online Bookstore initially started out as a general Military history bookseller. The Military history market is quite large, but we sell to 99% Australian Customers. So it was decided to sub-specialize in Australian Military History in World War 1 | World War 2 | Korea and Vietnam Wars for the most part, to cover the books most Military history Customers are after here. We also divide, or subcatorize each catagory doen to make searches even easier for Customers. For an example: WW1 Australian Light Horse Regiments, WW2 Anti-Aircraft & Search Light   or WW2 Australian POWs . When you do this, it makes searching not only easier, but more quick. This cuts down on Customers giving up before they find what they want! For us, this can be considered slicing the pie quite thin from a selling point of view, but it was a struggle day in and day out.  The unfortunate (but sometimes true) fact of the matter is, and especially in Australia where the market is smaller than say the United States, is there are only so many people at any onetime interested in buying books in one niche market, as mentioned above. You may lose needed and necessary sales in other areas. Sometimes it is better to expand just enough to avoid the ever popular saying of “don’t place all your eggs in one basket”!

  Due to the issues with finding quality books, on a continual and regular basis in this ‘niche’ field, it was decided to expand out to include other areas of Australian history including Colonial Days & Early Settlement of Australia . Our bookshop is still a ‘specialist’ area, but it is not a fine ‘niche’ business any longer. There is a difference, and that difference can make or break it.

   

  One other reason we needed to make an early decision on the specialty of the bookstore was concerning the design or feel of the website. You see by the banner below, our original market area was military history. Although this changed down the line as just mentioned, these are considerations that needed answers at the beginning.

   

  

   

  New or Used Books?

  We sell both, mixed in together. As we are in a specialized area, many of the books our Customers request (Book Wants), are now long out of print and rare. As book lovers well know, sometimes finding and hunting down rare books, is half the fun. This is where another question comes in:

   

  Where do you get the books from?

  ‘New books’ are ordered in from publishers or distributors. One of the harder parts of ordering your stock from publishers/distributors, is simply finding them. On more than one occasion, it was by pure chance/luck! Once that part is over, you can request opening an account.

   

  Publishers & Distributors usually have their own online catalogue of books they publish, or even send out catalogues for booksellers to browse through. For a bookseller this is great, and it allows us to order quickly and easily without problems. The only downside to selling new books (but not terrible of course!) is that many other bookstores also offer the same easy to get books. So we love to order from smaller publishers also, and even privately printed titles to ensure we offer something a little different.

   

  ‘Used or Second hand books’ are purchased online, and from other booksellers. Many of our best books have come from other booksellers, and as mentioned above, this type of book searching can be most enjoyable. There are also countless other places to find used books, including markets, garage sales, etc. The problem with used books, is finding quality books, in good condition, often. Easier said than done. The simple truth is, most books are quite common and easy to find. It may be easier for us and other booksellers with experience, but for the most part, we look in places anyone with a computer or local used bookstore could look also.

   

  Wrapping Books?

  One of the most time consuming areas of online book selling (and this would go for any item as equally well), is wrapping the book/s. Several hours in a day, can be used just on packaging alone. To keep the postage costs down, we use recycled cardboard, rather than ready to use mailing slips. The mailing slips are very time saving, but do add more to the overall postage cost, so for now we recycle. The downside to this, is getting the cardboard to shape/size, labelling, and then the even more fun part, standing in line at the post office. It’s all part of the job, but not every part is fun!

   

  Can you really make money from that?

  I think this is one of the more common questions, yet the hardest to answer. The simple fact is, this question is equal to any business. The problem where books are most concerned, is they are quite easy to find (to begin with), and for this reason many people sell books online. Some are registered business’s (like us), and many more are weekend sellers, or part time hobby sellers. So competition is high, but, and this is very important and makes or breaks it: quality booksellers, selling quality books, at good prices can make it work! But remember paragraph 3, this is not easy.

   

  How do you price books?

  This is easier than the other areas, simply due to the fact most publishers, if not all add an R.R.P (recommended retail price), to each book. This is only a recommendation as the name suggests, it is not set in stone but a guide. So new books are easy to price if you follow the R.R.P closely. Used books are best priced on several key areas, and these areas do make a large difference in success. One way is to refer to other copies available, and use this as a guide. If no copies exist online at that time (and this happens often with rare books), a fair market value is used. But many factors can alter this price up or down, even if we see other copies on the market or none.

  - Edition?

   

  1st editions are the most popular and most wanted by collectors. In some cases a 1st edition may have also been a limited edition, and or signed edition. But either way, this is the copy most wanted. A 1st edition in good condition, still beats a reprint in excellent or new condition.

  - Condition?

   

  Condition makes or breaks a book price. For example, a near perfect condition 1st edition book may land at $500.00, whereas a poor condition (water stained, pages falling out, no dust jacket etc) may land at $50-$100.

   

  Another area where we combine our books is rare and more ‘off the shelf’ titles. This allows us to offer many more options, on top of the basic new & used label. These books ‘can’ be where the better profit is made. Upon saying that, some may say when you combine the time to search, and longer time to sell a higher priced book, the profit may not look so great. That is of course up to each bookseller to decide.

   

  Selling books online is not easy if the target is to make a business. Many fall short, as the work is continual. But like any market, there are people waiting to buy books from professional booksellers, who offer a professional service.

   

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  Booksforever

   

   Specializing in the War, Military History of Australia & Early Australian History