The “gun to my head” test: A guide to spotting the biggest profits in every book category, and knowing what books sell on Amazon for the biggest profits
How to know what books to sell on Amazon – without a scanning app
Several recent articles have focused on how to find spot valuable books before you pick up your scanner.
There are two skills I would say are tied for first place on the list of things that Amazon sellers stand to make the most money with, yet that the fewest sellers master:
- Knowing what books to look for.
- Pricing strategy.
This past week has been dedicated to the first one: How to know what books sell on Amazon profitably – without dependence on a scanning app or looking up books on Amazon.
Free report: Knowing what books to look for when sourcing
To get you on the fast-track without a lot of “studying,” I put together a crash course on knowing what books to sell on Amazon.
Basically this guide covers what I would be looking for if someone put me in a room of books, put a gun to my head, and told me I had 60 seconds to make $10.
None of these are “titles.” Titles come and go. These are book categories within book categories that are profitable a disproportionate percentage of the time.
Here’s the deal: Not everyone can pick up my book sourcing video course. So this report is for those people (and sellers who want something they can print out and read in the bathtub).
So here it is, for all current or aspiring booksellers: A (very quick) rundown of the #1 thing to look for in every major book category, and how to know what books sell on Amazon for the biggest profits.
Epilogue: Spying on another Amazon seller while book sourcing
This should have been an outtake from the Book Sourcing: 1k In A Day course, but I decided to leave it in.
The backstory of this clip:
While filming “Book Sourcing: 1k In A Day,” we pulled into the parking lot of the second book source of the trip: A crazy overstock store with thousands of books. This was one of those weird, sketchy sources full of things that fell off the back of a truck somewhere.
Anna, my videographer, refused to go in. She kept calling the place creepy, and dangerous, and asked if we could please not go inside. Eventually I turned the camera on her for an explanation, resulting in the course’s least instructive but most comedic moment.
Oh, and the scene that comes after happens inside, where we find another Amazon bookseller keying books into his cell phone and we spy on him for a minute.
Watch:
PS: Get the whole course here.
Great job as always!
Thanks!
Solid info that is pretty consistent with what I’ve seen in my last year or so of scouting. The only thing I would argue with is the Havard Business Press books. I’ve scanned maybe a hundred of them in the last year, and I’ve only found one or two that weren’t duds. I always expect good things when I see them and then get disappointed when I look at the scanning results.
One other thing I’d like to add about fiction titles: look for books marketed to teenagers. These seem to hold value for some reason. Also fantasy topics in the same vein as Game of Thrones, or vikings, or Nordic themes. I’ve been able to scour some money out of these in bulk lots I’ve bought.
With Harvard and other business books, being an FBA seller factor’s heavily into their likelihood of value. With books that appeal to a more sophisticated audience, I find the FBA offers sell more quickly, which keeps the FBA prices high.
“It looks like a place you go to die. . . “, Ha ha ha! – looking forward to watching these videos.
She at first begged me not to leave this clip in the DVDs, but I talked her into it.
The best part is Peter walking into the store right after she says it.
Business is business.
I never miss your posts! You are a refreshing gem in the midst of our more typically furtive, get-outta-my-way bookscanning brethren 🙂
‘Just want to says thanks for your genuinely excellent tips and for all the funny stuff you share. And I also want to second your motion that the weirdest and more esoteric books can be goldmines. I just today sold a beautiful book for over $130 that I paid a dollar for: Picture Showmen – Insights Into the Narrative Tradition in Indian Art. The rank was over 5.5 million when I listed it…and it sold within two weeks! The key on selling these higher-ranked ones, I think, is making sure they’re in very good or like new condition and that they seem like something offbeat that someone might need for research/study. In any case, keep up your good work, Mr. Valley…
Looking forward to the new DVD set.
I’ll offer a totally unsolicited commendation of Peter’s previous works – there’s some great information available on-line, but I’ve learned more stuff from his books and column than I have from anywhere else, and his advice has brought me some serious money and helped me make the leap from a book-selling hobbyist to running a professional business.
Plus, he’s a really good writer and always fun and enjoyable to read. His column always charges me up and motivates me to get out and source!
Awesome man! I love hearing my writing has helped you out. Appreciate the feedback & testimonial.
Peter, I would like to get the book on Amazon Arbitrage. How much is it and how can I get it? Please advise.
P.S. Love your stuff! Very informative!
-Jan
Here you go:
https://courses.fbamastery.com/amazon-altitude
Peter, question re: Amzn Autopilot…your pricing strategy, p. 79. Are you matching condition usually? Ie rank100k-600k, price up to $10 above lowest MF price? If your book is VG are you using MF VG ? Or are you going up to $10 above even if lowest is, say, acceptable? Thanks….BTW I bought the whole package and have read the 5 ebooks once already, but I am really looking forward to the DVDs. Also am loving ZA. Every morning before I go to my regular job, I do ZA sourcing, and usually buy 3-8 books ranked under 100k, in about 15-20 minutes. Now, if I can get that efficient with my regular sourcing….
Thanks man!
To answer your question, I don’t match against same condition – just “used” and “new.” That’s my approach.
OK…well that explains why my sell thru is so low. Well that, and having a bunch of junk that I sent in my 1st few months. Ok, I will get more agressive with my pricing. BTW Peter, per the seminar & the quickstart guide…was just at a library bag sale and they had a bunch of thin arts and crafts books, quilting and sewing mostly, and mostly new. Well, I just loaded them all without scanning as they took up no space. I am listing now and about 1/2 are over $15. Cool deal. Thanks.
Those Leisure Arts books are golden. Glad the webinar helped.
If you are matching price on an FBA seller do you match on same condition? If there is a FBA seller with the lowest price at $10 and his condition is new, and there is another FBA seller selling a new one at $20, are you matching the used or new? I guess this would apply to the lower ranked books. >600,000
I don’t go by condition. I just match the price without regard for that personally.
I have a question regarding pricing strategy that you go over in your books. You talk alot about when to match prices of other FBA sellers. But, what is not clear to me is are you matching FBA sellers with the same condition you have? In other words, if you have a new book and there is one FBA seller selling a “Good” copy for $15 and another selling a “New” Copy for $20, are you using matching the or pricing behind the “Good” copy or the “New” copy? Hope that makes sense.
Also, when you talk about pricing according to the lowest non-fba seller do you mean their price with shipping or without?
Thanks
Great information Peter. I am new at selling and probably much older than most of your students so I have to ask about something that may be helpful to me and others or I may have missed it. Are there dates on your posts so I can differentiate on what is the latest and greatest information?
Thank you for your help
They’re all in chronological order, so the newest are always at the top. I would say nearly all of it is still relevant.