The Stupidity of Bookselling
This post is about the folly of trying to make a living from selling books
WARNING ! If you are thinking of starting as a bookseller - don’t bother !
Edit 08.05.07 - after reading please do scroll down far enough to check the comments by George
Should anyone out there have the delusional idea of aspiring to be a bookseller or book dealer they should do so only if:
They have an independent income or the plan to do it as a hobby or sideline !
It is a ridiculous way to try and make a living. If you were to go to your bank with a request for funding, as many start up businesses do, and explained how it works and what happens you’d be laughed out of the office.
In a bookshop today I was discussing this with a very experienced bookseller, having sold books for a living for nearly 30 years he is clearly well placed to comment. The shop is located in a town with a population of 4,500, the shop has a stock of some 20,000 volumes. That equates to 4 stock items for every person in the town - can you imagine any other business holding that stock ratio ?
Add to that the other sellers there the ratio rises to 10 books for every person living there - how does it ever work ?
I have made a living for some years now from dealing in books but I still do not know how it works.
The internet is regarded as the saviour for many sellers - but look at those ratios.
Some 90% of secondhand booksellers now sell online but I believe only about 4% of secondhand books are bought online ! And people wonder why their internet sales are not what they used to be.
Many sellers on ABEbooks now find that their gross sales do not even cover the monthly site fees let alone give them a profit !
Sales rates and prices achieved on e bay have collapsed - making the site unviable for the majority of stock
I forget the exact figures but read somewhere how much money Americans spent on used books last year, it was quite a large sum, quite impressive, until it was pointed out that they spent even more on microwave popcorn, not just popcorn in general but microwave popcorn only !
On a final point, or nail in the coffin, it was pointed out to me that the district the bookshop I was in today is located in has an official illiteracy rate of 25% ! A quarter of your market cannot even read.
What chance do booksellers really stand !
Witches of Eastwick said,
February 27, 2007 @ 4:39 pm
Rod,
We were thinking of starting a popcorn business ….. free book with every bag. It makes sound business sense as the Witches already have a machine that pops with great gusto. The power to supply it will be free after the coven windmill project gets going with two washing-up liquid bottles, some stickyback plastic and 50 acres of corn. What thinkest thou?
WoE
Frank said,
February 27, 2007 @ 4:53 pm
We opened a used book store in a small kansas town and closed it a little over a year later. We spent thousands on advertising, yet no one came in, and those who did didn’t buy enough to cover the utilities, let alone the rent.
I think it was a problem with believability–none of the townsfolk could believe that anyone would try to open a bookstore there.
Frank
A Retired Bookdealer said,
February 27, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Saves the Day ! …. Yes its true ?
Moved here http://www.rodcollins.com/wordpress/guest-article
Rod said,
February 27, 2007 @ 5:34 pm
Frank
thanks for taking the time to contribute, much appreciated. Sorry to hear you had to close the bookshop, they are such a benefit to a local community I cannot understand why they do not receive greater support.
Whenever a bookshop closes everyone chimes in with what a shame and how sad etc - if those people had just bought a book there from time to time it would still be open !
Regards
Rod
Rod said,
February 27, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
Age is a consideration here with new young blood not coming into the game.
These stats are of interest, they are based on the ages of sellers on abebooks:
1% under 25
18% 26 - 42
53% 43 - 65
28% over 65
Talk about a job with no future !
A Retired Bookdealer said,
February 27, 2007 @ 6:19 pm
Hello All.
I have spoken to a few sellers this week, all of which have different views on the current state of the market, generally though good quality, rare items are selling, general stock is doing nothing, when I say general stock I refer to what was once our bread and butter £5 -£20 books, with this taken away a lot of professional full time sellers have little left to work with,
this I would imagine has been a major blow to shops.
The top-end of the trade is still though very viable, but how many genuinely rare books can one find in a week, not many,
some bookdealers are lucky but not that lucky, for the past couple of years a lot of us have been questioning the viability of bookselling, which leads me into something that is constantly niggling away in the back of my mind,
“What do I do Next”,
the majority of us have been self employed for a number of years, as such it will be hard to have to go out there and get a normal everyday job, even harder when you have bookselling in your blood, the thought of one day not being able to make a living from bookselling is hard to cope with, should the day ever arrive it will be even harder.
Rod said,
February 27, 2007 @ 6:27 pm
ARB
I agree !
£1,000 books are easy to sell still but the £10-£45 bracket is difficult.
I have one specialist website which can sell these books but they do not sell on the likes of ebay, biblio and abe etc, where they once readily did.
I think the loss of this market is due to the lack of spare money in that demographic and also a lack of interest !
As to another career, any long term professional book dealer must be all but unemployable now I would have thought.
A Retired Bookdealer said,
February 27, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
Hello Rod,
Yes”, I must agree the line below does not look good in black and white,
certainly not one I like to think about or dwell on,
any long term professional book dealer must be all but unemployable,
A Retired Bookdealer said,
February 27, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
Some do not make the job easy - or sadly help themselves.
A recent phone call.
Ring- Ring ……..
Me - Hello”.
Hello ……” I have a PGW you may be interested in, its the Luck of the Bodkins in a dust wrapper.
Me - Does it have 7/6 on the dust wrapper spine.
“Yes”.
Me - What condition is it in.
“Well there are a lot of closed tears, loss to the edges and some tape to the back.
Me - Nasty.
“I have been online and someone wants £1200 for it.
Me - Yes but not in that condition.
“Does it matter, a PGW is a PGW.
Me - well I would only sell that in that condition, if I could that is for £300 tops, its not worth any more than that !.
“Oh No, I want at least a thousand, they are more than that online.
Me- Oh, well sorry I could not use it in that condition.
A classic case - sooner than using a dealers instinct and valuing a book on its condition and rarity, they follow the Internet ….. hardly a recipe for success in this game.
Rod said,
February 28, 2007 @ 8:51 am
ARB
certainly not one I like to think about or dwell on
I take some comfort in the fact that if the worst comes to the worst I could be a stripper or a male escort
sooner than using a dealers instinct
I would say anyone doing that loses the title ‘book dealer’ and is simply a bookseller - amateurish one at that.
Best
RC
Witches of Eastwick said,
February 28, 2007 @ 10:44 am
Rod,
Would you be kind enough to let us know when the worst comes to the worst …… it’s just that we already have bookings for you from disgruntled Rodini admirers!
On a dealership note, surely our colleagues in the antiques world would say the same. Not so many years back we remember hearing lots of foreign accents as buyers flooded into town but business is slow these days apparently. Even our car dealership boss says “don’t get into this business …. things aint what they used to be”.
Lincolnshire looks set to become the male escort capital ….. it’s an ill wind etc etc …
WoE
Rod said,
February 28, 2007 @ 1:15 pm
WoE
everything seems to be on the way down, except takeaway food and coffee shops - thankfully for me the war is over !
I’m concerned the male escort market could become flooded in light of what you say - I’m only worth a fiver in the current sellers market - that could drop to £1 in a bearish market !
Witches of Eastwick said,
February 28, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
Rod,
Now, now, we’ll not have you thinking of yourself as a cheap date …… we’ll put a reserve on you for £2.50 and hedge our bets!
WoE
p.s. mind you for that we’ll want a full structural survey …
Rod said,
February 28, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
WoE
thanks I also bring a bottle of wine so the £2.50 should provide good value however disappointing I turn out to be !
No structural surveys I am afraid - I’m now a Grade II listed building
AtB
RC
George said,
May 2, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
I do appreciate your website and admire your diligence and obvious devotion to your subject.
Although I can see the value in the comments made thus far I suspect the book business is often not really a business in the traditional sense.
I have been operating in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for 19 years (started as a 48 year old in October, 1988) and presently have 15 family members and 5 other staff operating 3 stores.
Even though I quickly grasped the fact the gross margin in the business is quite exceptional, it took me years to fully realize it is very difficult to process books in sufficient numbers to justify the limited remuneration available at the end of the day for the so-called “owner” of the business.
Fortunately, by the time I figured it out, my son, daughter, numerous grandchildren, nieces, nephews and in-laws were all earning(?) incomes sufficent to meet their needs and I had adjusted myself to a lifestyle which required little (and sometimes no) income.
Had I known when I started the business it would take me 7 1/2 years to be able to draw a fairly regular income from the business I am sure I would never have started in the first place.
But about 3 years later I started having heart problems and was surprised to learn that I was no longer required to work 5-7 days a week in the business - in fact I wasn’t needed at all!
The business turned out to be a proverbial snowball which seemed to have a life of its own!
Now, 8 years later, I realize I have been blessed with a wealth beyond my dreams (as long as you don’t count wealth in the coin of the realm … smile).
Customers from all over the world express their appreciation of our inventory and our stores and almost no one under 25 years of age can ever recall a time when we weren’t around to buy, sell or trade their books.
I have told my children never to sell the business because even their children and their children’s children shouldn’t be able to screw this up with the foundation we have laid.
But, I definitely agree, this sort of business is no longer for hobbyists or people who want to sit in their own store reading a book and smoking a cigarette.
It is also no longer strictly a domain for pseudo intellectuals and bibliophiles - people who are smart seldom have the will or the stick-to-itiveness to do all the mundane (yet somehow surprisingly stimulating) work involved in processing books by the hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands.
Only workaholics have a ghost of a chance in this business but if they are at all socially inept even they will have severe problems.
Rod said,
May 2, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
George,
thanks for taking the time to leave a great comment. It is especially nice to hear of bookshops thriving when so many have closed, or are about to.
Unquestionably, the easy ride enjoyed by many booksellers is over. The only people that can survive are those that do it properly, your case clearly illustrates this, or those that do it as a hobby/secondary income.
I have long held that one must either specialize and deal in rarer books or operate high volume. Just having a few thousand general books no longer works.
The real world of business is now upon what we do, the laws of business are those of the jungle, only the strong will survive.
Thanks again for such an interesting post and I hope you’ll find time to return and comment on other posts.
All the best
Rod
George said,
May 7, 2007 @ 10:38 pm
Thanks Rod,
Calgary has long been the city in Canada with the highest dollars spent on book buying per capita so we are in a prime area (I was born here).
Calgary is booming right now, the population went over the one million mark last year, the family income in this area is the highest in the country and we live in a throw away society so each of our 3 stores probably gets to look through a million books a year - last year we handpicked and bought a total of just over 223,000 books.
In 1988, when we started, I estimated the total used book market locally as being around $2,000,000 and told the other booksellers that I thought we could eventually do $1,000,000 a year (I always quickly added - “by increasing the market to $3,000,000″ - but they never heard the last part of the statement) - they thought we were hellbent on trying to take over the local market.
The local market now is probably well over $5,000,000 a year but we think there is a real possibility of each store we open doing a minimum of $400,000 a year - we are opening a 4th store this year, hopefully another one the year after and a warehouse facility the following year to serve as a distribution facility.
It is probably needless to add but I do confess to possessing a large dose of the eccentricity I have noticed in other booksellers - my dreams and almost all my waking moments are spent trying to figure out ways to improve various phases of the business.
I long ago gave up trying to run the business by concensus - all the other parties involved in our business wanted as much personal income as possible as soon as possible and seemed to have a sense that if there was a downturn in business income well - that is Dad’s problem and it is up to him to work it out!
it is only during this last year the last of my children has fully come aboard and grudgingly conceded that an ongoing business requires a constant influx of money going into (not out of) the business.
It was a heck of a fight for three years (especially with family members working in the business) trying to computerize the business but during the past year everyone except for one person (my son’s father-in-law who really is determined to remain computer illiterate) has started to realize the computer is a lot easier to train than people and it remembers everything… smile.
We have had a programmer working full time for just under five years building a point of sale program from scratch and by adding barcodes to most of our inventory have seen it gradually evolve toward being a knowledge based system with reporting capabilities about everything we buy and sell in the stores, both individually and collectively.
It used to take 2 solid weeks of training to acquaint a new employee with all the categories and subcategories of books we use (about 100 of the former) so books can be put away and retrieved quickly. Then it was 3-6 months before the person was a somewhat fully functioning book person.
Now, on the second day a new employee can determine if we have a particular book in stock and exactly where it should be (almost 95% of the time).
I think one of the biggest disappointments to oldtimers in the business has been the ability of a relative newcomer to gain access to almost all the knowledge the oldtimers had spent years studying and working hard to build up.
I am quite certain in the near future everyone who enters the business will first look at the business systems, programs available and computers almost before they even start going out to accumulate a saleable inventory.
I have helped other people get started in the business in the past and told them that they could do it all on their own without any help from me but if they paid me $1000 for a week’s training I would save them 3 to 5 years of hard, knowledge seeking, work.
I never had a disappointed customer but I know only one who really heeded my advice - He is very successful as the operator of Second Story Books in Canmore, Alberta. He has the greatest two attributes of all - he is a workaholic and he listens to his customers.
The first thing I tell everyone is - “Be thankful all this business needs is hard work - not brains!”
As you infer, most of the smart people drop out of this business.
Sorry to prattle on but this business needs more evangelists … smile.
Hopefully you and your readers don’t take any of this as self-aggrandizement. I am thankful I had the stick-to-itiveness required and the ability to work this hard and this long at something I love so much. I am truly humbled by what this business has brought me. My customers told me what to do and then they heaped praise on me for following their instructions.
My family and anyone who knows my roots would tell you I have always had every right to be humble … smile.
I am well aware there is no great feat or intelligence required to buy a book for 25 or 50 cents if you think you have a decent chance of selling it for $5.00 during the year or paying $2.00 for it if you are sure it will sell this week or month.
Our average book last year sold for under $7.00 so we have to turn a lot of books over the pay our bills.
If anyone still is thinking about going into the book business - my advice would be to go for it! You will meet the nicest people in the world and they will all teach you something. If that isn’t being rich - nothing is.
Rod said,
May 8, 2007 @ 8:30 am
George
thanks for coming back and giving us this incredible insight !
This truly is bookselling on another level. It is so refreshing to hear of expansion and success rather than contraction and ever decreasing interest.
Clearly, the way you have structured your business must account for much of your success. Interesting to be able to use words like “structured” and “business” when talking about secondhand bookshops - this is something missing from most bookshops I suspect.
I hope when others read this, and literally 1000s will, they don’t just see the size of the market, location and disposable income etc. The success here, it appears to me, is a result of keeping the original doctrine and style of bookselling but bringing a proper business approach to it.
It is an inspiring story George and I am grateful you shared it with us, especially in so candid a fashion. A lot of booksellers visit this site and I am sure they too will find this both interesting and inspiring.
Long way it continue George
All the best
Rod
George said,
July 20, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
Hi Rod,
I last commented on your topic in May and since that time have been wrapped up in setting up our 4th store in Calgary - we opened it June 26th.
I was interested to see if any other comments would be made on the subject in question because most of the booksellers in Calgary would seem to agree with the previous respondents - that there is a large degree of stupidity in thinking anyone can make a living in the book business.
There has been at least 2 stores close down here after 5+ years in the business and now - our customers tell us - the other booksellers are wondering how we can be opening another store when 3-5 of our competitors are expecting to be closing their doors this year.
I wish I knew the answer!
The bookstores which closed were both good operators with good books. Most of the others that are rumoured to be closing don’t seem to be as well operated but they have all also been in business for several years.
The one reason I can think of is - the cost of rent in this city - it has skyrocketed during the past couple of years.
If there is one common stupidity among us booksellers it is the entrenched notion that we have to have low rents in order to survive.
One of my competitors said to me, several years ago when we were having a discussion about rents - “Rent is worth it!” At the time rents were generally low and acceptable throughout the city and although I didn’t fully understand what he meant at the time - I do now.
Our new location, our smallest store in the city, is in a shopping mall and we are paying a rate of almost $40 a square foot - but - before the end of the 4th week (24 days in fact) we have generated enough sales at that location to pay the rent.
We were sure it would be a good location eventually but it has exceeded even my expectations (and I am definitely an optimist).
The other thing is - the overwhelming enthusiasm customer after customer has expressed (we have never heard anything like it)! They are absolutely thrilled we are in their neighborhood and say they can hardly wait to tell their friends and neighbors about the new store. The response has been far beyond gratifying - closer to dumbfounding … lol.
So - as my astute colleague stated - “Rent is worth it!”
How stupid are we that we constantly hear epigrams, pithy sayings and universal truths bandied about constantly and yet somehow don’t connect them to our lives?
Here is a classic - “Location! Location! Location!”
Anyway, as you can see, I can go on and on about the book business but our business is changing and growing in many directions right now so I better get back to it.
We are all really excited about the tack we are about to take.
I wish you all the best - keep working hard.
George
Lorna Moravec said,
August 1, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
I am not a book seller, nor do I operate any other kind of business, nor plan to. I found this site because of a posting on the Blandings PGW group at Yahoo. I wanted to comment on George’s comments:
George, you are a wonderful writer. I was able to grasp the gist of what you are saying about how you make the used book business go. It is similiar to the kinds of things I have read business people say who continued to thrive through the Great Depression of the early thirties. Your words contain universal truth. They apply not just to the book business, and not just to business. They hold significance for me as well, and I want to thank you for taking time to share your wisdom. ~ Lorna Moravec
Nigel said,
June 21, 2008 @ 7:35 am
If you are the organised type of seller, like George, but don’t have the location, etc, and are considering other avenues, I would have thought these were some jobs where the skills were transportable: 1) inventory management, 2) …so that includes any other shop, especially shops that similar product, like newsagents, or similarly categorised product, like DVDs/CDs (one might also consider adding such to the “bookshop”), 3) archive management, 4) assistant librarian, 5) mobile librarian, 6) (if you really want to get into a high-paying “now” occupation, it’s called information management, and one can even be a high-priced consultant. If you’re able to think laterally, can readily apply what you already know, and have self-confidence in your ability and presentation, it should be possible. And none of these jobs absolutely necessitates qualifications.
Back to adding new lines like DVDs/CDs, it offers something to everyone, and you don’t have to read. It also offers the ability to please all members of the family. Junior drags mom or dad in to the shop, because s/he wants a DVD, mom/dad buys a book, or the other way around. Of course, it likely means relocating for additional space and pessimistically throwing good money after bad, but I think the business theory is sound.
I also think there’s probably difference between village and town/city selling. And I suspect book-selling is following the same pattern of other businesses in the UK, where village shops struggle against the proliferation of chain stores, hyper markets, and online shopping. I would have thought getting rid of the bricks and mortar was an option, but Rod seems to disagree that selling secondhand books online is generally a viable way of making a living without another regular source of income.
I must also say that I was recently reading some not too dissimilar articles to Rod’s blogs by an American guy who wrote a book about online secondhand book selling, via the likes of Amazon Marketplace, and who runs a private forum for those who bought his book, and he claims that one can readily build up to selling US$60K pa as a sideline, which if true, and on the basis that several of you seem to think booksellers are more honest than the general population, wouldn’t seem to be too bad to me. Although of course, I’m pretty sure this is gross sales, so let’s say US$40K, which I think would be conservative based on my recall of his suggested model and margins, etc.
Something else that just popped into my head is that the downside of home-based businesses is naturally the limits to stock space, and I’m thinking that if, say, the local bookshop, video shop, and music shop got rid of the bricks and mortar and went into business together as a partnership or co-operative/collective, they could each manage online stores for their respective product interests and expertise, and rent a single warehouse between them, which facilitates staying put residentially and commercially, but much reduces fixed costs. Of course, there’s no walk-by traffic, or browsing, etc, unless warehouse was also opened as a shop, but then the complaint is that such custom is grossly insufficient anyway. So, the question remains whether online sales is viable.
Anyway, really, I’m largely brainstorming here. But it would be good to know your respective perspectives, as to whether I’m off my trolley, or possibly on to something.
Of course, I can certainly see that someone who can develop a highly specialised “high-end” business, ie, someone who has the expertise, contacts for both buying and selling such books, etc, would more readily be able to transition to a home-based business than someone who currently runs a secondhand book exchange (never quite understood how money is really made there, anyway), but Rod’s cautions are well noted, and as he’s managed to semi-retire at a young age, he’s clearly done something right.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that the business model must adapt and be adapted to the commercial realities, but I know there’s still an interest in buying books, and collecting books, and the fact that there are fewer people getting into selling books should mean that there’s more business to go around. As George has pointed out: even in his buoyant market, as others are closing down, he is expanding, and he estimates that his local market has increases significantly in value.
Somehow tapping into what must not be a declining market overall, becoming more efficient, more friendly, more specialised, switching specialisations, etc, must also be viable options to exploiting a market where it is claimed there are fewer and fewer competitors, even though one must readily face the reality of Amazon and Abebooks, etc,…and Kindle.