Every reason books lose their resale value: Understanding the “5 Destroyers Of Book Profit” that cause used book prices to drop on Amazon.
Video: The 5 reasons books lose value on Amazon
Less than 1 in 200 used books are worth money on Amazon
Here’s a fact that’s sobering for newer Amazon sellers, and grates on even the veteran sellers: Over 99% of books are worthless on Amazon.
You’re at a book source. You’re looking at a shelf or table of books. You can expect, on average, that less than 1 in 200 books will be worth reselling on Amazon.
This basically destroys what most people assume when they enter the business. Most people enter Amazon bookselling with beliefs like:
- “Hardcovers have a higher cover price, so they must be worth more than softcovers.”
- “The popular authors must be worth the most.”
- “The more mainstream the subject matter the more people who will want the book and the higher the value.”
Literally the opposite of each of these is true. How is this possible? The answer is the Five Destroyers Of Book Value – five timeless principles that cause values of books to plummet.
In other words, when you detect any of these Five Destroyers (as assessed by a quick glance), the chances are over 99% that the book is not worth money on Amazon.
Book value is not random
One of the wildest parts of this business to me is how many Amazon sellers think value is some completely random thing, left to the whimsy of the Gods.
Value (when it comes to books) is not random. There are principals that drive value, and principals that destroy value. When you understand each, it becomes much easier to look at a shelf of books and spot the ones worth money.
To which the amateur seller would say: “But why would I want to? I have a scanner and a scanning app.”
Take pity on the bookseller who thinks they can rely entirely on their scanning app. They simply don’t stand a chance. Here’s why:
- You usually don’t have time to scan everything.
- You shouldn’t want to scan everything.
Amazon sellers who can spot value before they scan a book have a huge advantage over sellers who can’t.
I call this concept “pre-scanning,” and it’s a major factor in successful vs unsuccessful Amazon sellers.
The crucial skill of “pre-scanning” books
Pre-scanning is the science of filtering your options before picking up a book to scan.
If you don’t learn pre-scanning, you’re simply left to either:
- Scan every book.
- Selectively scan based on arbitrary criteria (i.e. what “looks” valuable).
Since most sources have more books than you have time to scan them, not learning the science that drives profit (i.e. pre-scanning) is disasterous for your profits.
Book values plummet on Amazon fast
Most books have at least moderate demand once they’re released. That demand can be artificial and unsustainable.
This article is about what happens after the first 6 months: Why do 99%+ of books plummet in value so vast? How can you go through a shelf of 250 books with $15+ cover prices, and not one is worth any money on Amazon?
The purpose of this article is to get you informed on the ingredients of books that lose value, so you can focus on the books that are likely to have retained their value.
With an average paperback book, an FBA seller starts to lose money selling below $8 (average). But you see a ton of books priced below $8. A huge percentage of books have so little value, people will sell them at a loss just to get rid of them.
If its not obvious yet, understanding what’s in this article will directly translate to more profits in an Amazon bookselling business.
The Five Destroyers Of Book Profit
Remember the most important thing about this list: The opposite of each one causes books to hold their value (hint hint).
Value Destroyer #1: Mass supply (that exceeds demand)
In a sense, this is the umbrella that includes the other four.
This one is simple: More people selling than buying. The demand for the book has peaked, and the market is simply flooded with used copies.
This is the #1 reason that “popular” / bestselling books are the worst books to resell on Amazon. A book sells a ton of copies, then a year or so passes, those copies enter the second hand market, and prices fall through the floor.
One exception is if the demand for a popular book remains steady, or actually increases, over a long period of time. This is a relatively rare scenario. With most books, eventually, the demand will start to wane, and that’s when used copies flooding the market and force the price down fast.
Value Destroyer #2: Mass appeal
Books do not hold their value when their subject matter isn’t “niche.” Generally, for a book to have stable value, it’s content has to be specialized. E.g. Jujitsu Training For Teenage Black Belts vs Complete Guide To Classic Rock.
Internet has allowed people to find previously impossible-to-find titles, creating new demand for “weird” and niche subjects, while decreasing demand for for “broad” subjects.
Value Destroyer #3: Mass-accessibility
Similar to #2, but very different.
If #2 is a byproduct of buyer search habits, while Value Destroyer #3 is a byproduct of buyers having fewer options.
Books that hold their value most contain knowledge that is difficult or impossible to find anywhere else.
The more options people have to learn about a subject, the less demand there will be for a book. The less scarce the knowledge, less likely a book will hold its value. As a mostly immutable rule: The narrower a book’s subject matter, the more it will hold its value. And the options a reader has to access a book’s content elsewhere, the quicker it will lose value.
When it comes to books holding their value on Amazon, all roads lead back to niche, specialized, and narrow subjects. The narrower, the more likely it is to hold its value.
Value Destroyer #4: Trend-sensitivity
Many books are sensitive to trends, and have fleeting relevance to the book buying public. The “trends” can either be the subject matter, or the author. But when either is vulnerable to trends, its value will plummet – usually sooner than later.
Books that hold value long-term are immune to trends. Anything else is ripe for cheap- book status.
Examples: Almost all books by celebrities are trend-sensitive and lose value fast, since celebrity itself tends to be fleeting.
Value Destroyer #5: Total obsolescence
Some books decrease in relevance while still being somewhat relevant (see #4 above). Then there are books that become completely obsolete.
When the contents of a book are literally irrelevant in the present day, or have been replaced by new editions / titles that have more current content – that book is obsolete and its value is likely to be non-existent.
(Note: You’ll still see obsolete titles with exorbitant prices on Amazon. These values are usually artificially high, i.e. propped up by low supply, and not actually reflective of what buyers will pay for that book.)
Examples: Travel guides with multiple newer and updated editions, or textbooks with the same.
What do you do with this information?
Understanding the clues that tell you a book has no resale value on Amazon is crucial to succeeding as a seller.
With a minimal amount of effort, you’ll internalize these 5 clues to the unprofitability of a book (if you haven’t already), and be able to filter out the 99.5% of worthless books with major accuracy. This will have a massive impact on your book sourcing efficiency, and consequently, your profits.
-Peter Valley
The #1 reason: repricing software, lol
That’s what I wanted to write, but couldn’t.
Brilliant! So many don’t understand this. When I see someone scanning every trash book I want to scream! If I could help them I would but sort of a hard thing to explain. Good joblo
This question is related to the subject matter of the article: What’s the minimum you’ll sell a book for, FBA and FBM? This is especially impactful for individual booksellers as myself who timewise have to make each sale count the most. In my 20+ years selling online (Half.com, Amazon, eBay), among the best advice I received early on was to raise the bar. I’ve continually done so incrementally through the years and not regretted it. I’d like to know what you think though, and other sellers also. Thank you.
Great question. My rule is 3x my investment, with a minimum $3 payout.
Do you keep a detailed account of every book’s cost? If so, how do you keep track of it all?
I’m the worst with accounting. I don’t track book cost at all.