Are people still buying books?
I'm about to close up shop. I was never high volume, but I used to have 10-15 sales per week, now I go for days without a single sale. I have new and used but nothing seems to sell any longer.
Are people still buying books?
I'm about to close up shop. I was never high volume, but I used to have 10-15 sales per week, now I go for days without a single sale. I have new and used but nothing seems to sell any longer.
51 replies
Seller_MyXY4Myx9zVcR
You have probably already done this, but try searching for one of your books as an Amazon customer.
What shows up first is any Amazon Kindle edition.
Then the paperback, if available, and after that the hardcover, if Amazon sells them.
Buried 5-8 screens later, if the buyer has not already purchased, and is quite persistent, are the books of Amazon 3rd party sellers, many of whom have been selling books here for10+ years.
Good luck selling any used books on Amazon now.
This scheme has been in place for several months, and you are not the only suffering bookseller.
If you have not already done so, consider additional online bookselling sites.
Seller_O6YWkDReQ90FK
Amazon went from one of the best venues to sell books on, to one of the absolute worst in just 4 years. For 11 consecutive years, I could bank on my monthly book sales to total $2000.00 or more. Three years ago, the drop began, and it wasn't just a gradual drop; it was an Airline Disaster PLUNGE. Mods are useless, and they know what's going on. Now, it's a struggle even to reach $200 a month. Luckily I began selling on other, more professional sites and they are picking up some of the slack. I hope to dump this trash site soon; and will definitely quit giving Amazon the $39.99 monthly fee since they do absolutely NOTHING to solve the problems.
Seller_IMsC7YIe1vuDn
Yes, people are buying books. But you have to have the right kind of books.
Seller_VQbP3pHGEgs6f
Like you I'm a small seller and have been here a long time (16 years). The pandemic years saw record sales, but they collapsed in the aftermath. Last year was my worst year since 2009!
Then in August sales began to pick up. And September has also been good. So I'm not sure that physical books are the dinosaurs Amazon seems to think they are.
But it's true that certain types of books sell better than others, and suddenly the size of books matters. More importantly, I have a hunch that people may be starting to realize what my ophthalmologist preaches to all his patients: screens are toxic to your eyes. Not to mention that the reading experience with a real book or audio is different from, and superior to, that of an electronic version.
Seller_FcJ62CpbWSlbK
Yes, but you have to sell for less, pay more fees and shipping and hope they take longer than 30 days to read and return. Of course, during holiday season, they have til Jan. 31st to finish up and return for a full refund.
Seller_2rzQbBE8iYQEz
[Moderator Edit: removed personal solicitations]
Seller_8heIxAf1mLwgp
Can't sell many books on amazon now without publisher invoices.
Seller_y8fstCWJ57u0o
I had 10k sales on Amazon alone last month. I sell on other platforms as well.
Seller_dkvNFPkFjSVLg
YES.
We are selling more books as a raw number than the last 3 years and a higher % of all media sales have been books this year compared to the last few years.
To give reference, we have almost 20K SKUS and are a professional seller.
I will add, that if you are not adding new media daily, your sales will slow. It would seem that there is a background algorithm that favors media sellers who are active and continuing to list new items over sellers who are not active (as it sounds you are not).
All that being said, media sales are way down this year, IMHO greatly due to the economy.
Net/net - if you are not a large and active media seller, you will struggle, especially during this economy.
