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Karen W.
This Page Last Updated 04/08/2007
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Following is the email I received from Karen. Note that I have redacted information that tells where she is located.
Well!
Before I tell you how things have gone, I need to say that it was about 5.5 years ago that I decided that I really couldn't manage a newborn baby, a toddler, a home on five acres in redacted, the ups and downs of my husband's military career, and home schooling my older two children AS WELL as an online book selling business. I was making about $400 a month, kind of figuring out what sold...but too much was too much. AND...I couldn't drop packages over a pound into a mail box but had to schlepp myself into the post office....too much.
Fast forward to NOW....my poor Army husband flipped out, went in and out of psych facilities, and has now disappeared. I need to support these kids myself as a single parent. I am also an orthopedic massage therapist...but that is very unsteady work. The good news is, my youngest child is five-years-old and my little girls go to a great private school across the street from my house. The school costs $900++ a month. So, I thought about reopening my bookselling business...but EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW.
This was my business timeline.
Feb 2007 -- Read Stephen Windwalker's book. Very helpful, but I am concerned about selling on Amazon. When I sold, Amazon was just starting and Half.com was red hot. Takes me awhile to get use to the idea.
March 5th -- I order your book (about $46 including shipping...I am still kicking myself for not getting the best deal on that).
March 14th -- I order 300 bubble mailers (sizes 2,4, & 5), 1 Media Mail stamp, 1 Business Name Redacted stamp, a PDA from MediaScout, Dyno label printer, labels, & scale, 4 bookcases from IKEA, and colored tissue paper (because I love wrapping books in it..so pretty) and open accounts with Endicia, Media Scout, AMan Pro, and Amazon Pro Seller. I also put aside $500 to buy books. Total start up cost, $2,500. I know, you said not to start out with these accounts until you need them...but I know I will.
March 14-23rd -- Dying mother in unbelievable pain, four upset kids to take care of, really, really upsetting family stuff...only escape is zipping into the not so great thrift stores in my small home down of redacted to pick up books. I also popped down to redacted and redacted once. I figure out that I need to make $5 over the cost of the book which seemed kind of cheeky at first...but seems to be working out for me. I also try to avoid books whose ranking is over 1,000,000.
March 20th -- I check the pick up times at the mail boxes, and go into the post office to get the skinny on how often Media Mail is sent to redacted during the day (once, after 6 pm). To my delight, I find out that if I am using an electronic stamp service, I can throw packages over 1lb into mail boxes. This doesn't matter anymore anyway, I don't have small children and I am in a smallish town, so popping into the post office is no problem. It is just nice to know!
March 23rd -- I start listing the books my daughters and I have hunted down. My goal is to have 350 books listed by April 1st. I fail. I only get 200 books listed by then.
March 24th -- First sale.
March 30th -- Mom dies. The next day, I have 30 orders...and still don't have the stupid Dyno labeler. It takes a long time to clean, wrap and package 30 books.
April 2 -- In nine days I have sold 80 books totalling $1053.66. My gross is $825.03. Most books cost $1 - $2 each. Not including the cost of the services, total cost to me has been about $325. I just sold a paperback psych book I got for $1 in a thrift store for about $73. UNFORTUNATELY...I only have 120 books in stock right now!
This the coolest thing...I use to go out to check out books and buy a bunch. About 30% use to be worth anything...the rest were basically penny books that I made 70 cents mailing out. NOW...every book on my shelf is worth at least $5 profit to me. I am going to keep it that way until I get these cases filled up....about 1000 books.
Another cool thing is this....I am working on a list of ongoing library sales, FOL bookstores, thrift stores, used bookstores, around the Bay Area. Then I will have a path. Monday will be redacted and perhaps redacted day. Today, I went to the thrift stores I was sure I picked clean last week...and got another 30 worthwhile books! Yea. Tuesday & Wednesday will be redacted days. Thursday will be redacted County. Friday will be redacted County and redacted again. My plan is to put my nose to the grind stone until I have filled these shelves. THEN I will lightened up.
Anyway, thanks for your book...it gave a fairly desperate family hope. Later, I received the following tips from Karen: I want to also bring a couple of things to your attention!
1. I am doing quite well with cookbooks. In fact, I just got one that I have listed for $154! I come from a family of rabid and inveterate cooks and cookbook readers. So....I can glance at a cookbook shelf, and quickly turn up my nose at most of them....unless something is unusual. But...you have to be fairly familiar with cookbooks to know what is unusual!
2. Psych books. I also come from a family of sophisticated users of psychology and self help books. Our self-examination knows no bounds! So...I was glancing through a psych section in a thrift store in redacted (not bothering to scan 99% of them) and snatched up one titled something like "Treating Sexualized Children and Children Who Molest" for $1. I just sold said title for $74.41. I felt bad about it...obviously some poor shrink in Dallas has a really icky problem on her hands and I wondered if I should just donate it and thank God someone is dealing with it...but MY shrink told me that it was a professional expense and not to worry about it.
3. What women should wear when scouting. This morning, I just put my wallet down while scanning sports books...and someone stole it! Women need to wear something with POCKETS large enough to keep their PDA's, cell phones, and checkbooks in. No reason to tote around a PURSE. I think being able to sit as comfortabely on the floor (as possible) is important so jeans with lycra or spandex in them work for me.
4. Asking questions on the Amazon seller's forum. THINK TWICE. Lots of really offensive people there. I asked whether it really was reasonable to list a cookbook I got (Kona on My Plate) for $9.98 for over $150...the low price on the two available on the internet was $162 or something like that. Since I was new...it seemed outragious to me! So, I ended up listing it for $154...and accidently listed it as NEW. It actually was new, in that it was clear that no one until I got it ever even opened it! Those creaky endboards. So...all of a sudden I am being lectured to and someone is asking me how much integrety I have... Honestly, I will never post on there again! I really WANT to change it to "Like New" but I am still too MAD and I think I can defend it just fine (I did buy it with my resellers number) but I am squirming uncomfortably because I generally low ball my descriptions. "I'll do what I want, even if you say I have to."
Doesn't it kind of scare you to share so much info about bookselling? I read your stats about how we don't really compete...but I feel afraid that someone in redacted is going to buy a databased scanner and take all my books. I KNOW that I actually had the NERVE to shell out $900 for one because I already sold for many years...but it still worries me a bit! I also know that the kind of people that would have that kind of disposable income might not be comfortable crawling around the floors of a thrift store.... Thank you Karen for the update. You are visitor:
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