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When he does give good information it's too brief or incidental; for instance, his list of genres to pick is this general: WWI books are to be eschewed, but business and financial books are great. I've been selling for under a month and some basic googling told me almost everything Weber includes. His inventory sources are fairly obvious, or too much for the beginner who might not want to expend a huge outlay (i.e. One major plus is that he's realistic; there are very few of the details many of this genre include about how you're going to one day find a Fitzgerald first edition and so forth. Weber's book is quite short, too general, and tries to include too many areas without discussing them.
I appreciated how rarely I saw him mention books he bought for $1 turning around to $200. His section on grading repeats information that Amazon gives in their help guide, when it could mention tricky cases (he doesn't even mention ex-library books, which you'll frequently run into). Instead, his examples talk about turning $1 books into $8-10 sales. He does have some suggestions for other books to read that look good, but I'd save your money and look elsewhere. Vintage science books all do well. When do these categories fail.
It's mostly lists: where to sell books, how to package a book, what genres to look for. His information on packaging can be found easily through googling -- and you'll find better suggestions. Consequently what you're paying for is a collection of resources rather than the bookseller-mentor's training. This sounds like a good thing, but when they are unaccompanied by the thoughtful advice 5 years of experience should bring, they just tell you information you could easily google. There is no discussion about the nuances or tricks that a seasoned bookseller should be able to impart. Weber doesn't even address such a concern.
money for a lot of 400-800 books). He suggests meeting the lowest price as your pricing strategy without discussing the nuances involved -- for instance, why would you meet the lowest price if that person has an 88% feedback rating.
I've recommended this book to all of my friends to encourage them to "do the amazon.com thing." Simply the best book on amazon.com selling. His information gave me a better understanding of this business (ideas, hints, helpful websites) and confirmed what I have learned on my own.
It was a good value. This book was an easy read and to the point on a variety of issues regarding opening a home based bookstore. It pointed me in the right direction in a number of areas without getting bogged down in too much general business questions.
The book is well written in a very clear style. I wish I had this book when I started out selling books back in 2005. Weber. Thanks for writing this book, Mr. I know this book would have saved me a lot of time and money. After selling books online for four years I totally agree with the author that fiction titles by famous authors are not good sellers and it's best to find a niche market for the types of books that interest you.
I especially enjoyed the chapters on where to find books and how to price them. Doesn't mention such mega booksellers as betterworldbooks, that seem poised to undercut all sellers and how individual booksellers can compete against non-profit booksellers who rely on donated (aka "free") books to sell. The Home-Based Bookstore is a good introduction to online bookselling. The chapter on Where to Sell Books was too short and probably overly optimistic. All in all, however, I would recommend this book for anyone thinking of getting into online bookselling. However, needs more detail and could do a better job of guiding beginning booksellers through the maze of online bookselling. I realize, however, that it's hard to keep up-to-date in this fast moving market.
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