3 Ways To Sell Books Online Efficiently
Do you love books? Do you love selling online? Then there’s no doubt that you can make a profitable full-time or sideline business from selling books online. What you need to do is carry out some research and be committed to your business.
Even in the face of fierce competition, the book industry remains quite successful. And that’s because we read our books in different formats such as audiobooks and ebooks.
Did you know that 675 million print books were sold in the United States in 2020? That's quite astounding! Statista conducted this research, and according to the same study, 74% of adults at least read one book a year.
That might not be much to you, but that's an average spending of $110 for each person per year on just books! Furthermore, 98% of consumers said that they read for pleasure, not for work or academic purposes. Hopefully, these statistics give you some perspective.
If you're interested in making selling books online your business, here's our helpful guide to proceed accurately and ensure your success.
Create an Online Bookstore
It's essential to know how you're going to sell books online, whether it's loose-leaf book, paperback, hardcover, rare and collectible, or out-of-print book. You can create an attractive e-Commerce store that's easy to navigate. That's highly essential.
The main goal is for people to purchase your books. So you want them to stay on your website as long as possible. The longer people stay on your site, the more likely that they’ll buy something.
That’s why you need to invest time and resources in developing a professional-looking and well-designed website.
Create a Separate Website
It's not a good idea to create your website from an existing blog. Or add your books to an e-Commerce online store that sells other products. Build a new website that is well-designed, easy to navigate, and where payment and shipping options are not headaches.
You can use Shopify for such a task, and it gives you numerous attractive templates ideal for online bookstores. They also have fantastic features for novice booksellers.
Traditional Bookselling Sites Can Help
As you probably know, there are bookselling websites that can help you sell your books to the ideal customers. Sites like BookDeal.com, Amazon, eBay, BookScouter, Etsy, etc., can help you sell your books and get reasonable prices.
Learn about etsy inventory management and the pros and cons of selling on eBay vs Etsy.
However, if you don’t want to pay any commission on sales, setting up your website is the best way to go. In the end, you have to make a decision. Selling your books on these bookselling sites is not bad or wrong in itself.
You can start with BookDeal.com, for example, where the selling process is easy. That can help you build your customer base before you move solo. It’s especially ideal if you are new to the bookselling industry. Sites like these can help you get on firm ground.
Alternatively, you can sell books online on eBay. More and more people are turning to eBay selling as a way to either add to their day-job income or surpass their day-job altogether and pull themselves towards full economic independence.
Incentivize Your Customers
Whether you sell on other bookselling platforms or your website, you need to incentivize your customers. It's essential. So you might have to check what your competitors are doing. No. We don't mean to copy them, but to get some sought of inspiration.
You should double-check if you can set discounts for your book stocks. For example, you can set up a percentage off if a customer buys many books by the same genre or author. Regardless of the type of promotion you run, the important thing is that you decide.
By the way, big websites like Amazon do this all the time. But it's pretty difficult for smaller stores to pull it off. So you need to make a smart move and start from somewhere.
If possible, you can run giveaways and competitions, in addition to the promotions and discounts. You can even organize events with authors to attract more customers from particular geographical areas.
Market or Promote Your Online Bookstore
Marketing your online bookstore is essential because that's why people are going to find your bookshop. One way to market your online bookstore is to make use of various social media platforms.
In the previous section, we talked about running promotions. You can use your social media platforms to run such advertisements and discount coupons. You can leverage referral marketing when you choose these routes.
For example, you can ask your friends to tag their friends, especially on Facebook and Instagram. It is a great way to expose your bookstore to a new audience.
You can also get your customer's names and email addresses. That way, you can customize the emails you send. You can keep them updated on various special offers and any new books you stock up.
Where To Get Wholesale Books Suppliers and Distributors
You will need to stock up when you run low. When that happens, you can try UsedWholesaleBooks. The company has more than seven million books for sale at any time. There is a wide range of books you can select from.
You can also try the following wholesale books suppliers:
- Bulk Bookstore
- Book Depot
- BetterWorldBooks
Final Thoughts
Selling books online has become easy compared to many years ago. You can follow the tips outlined in this guide. Use it as a stepping stone. If you want to sell your books online on good bookselling websites, try BookDeal.com, BookScouter, Amazon, AbeBooks, Half Price Books, etc.
These sites can get you reasonable prices for your books while you create your online bookstore.