About
My name is Michael and I started Sell Books Blog to help educate anyone who is interested in online bookselling, from beginners to established professionals. I’ve been selling books online for a decade, learning the ins and outs of bookselling in the changing technological landscape, and building a successful business along the way. I consider myself something of a hybrid, one foot in the world of old-time Book Scouts and the other on the frontier of possibility that the technology of today and tomorrow represents. After the initial frenzy at the start of a library book sale, I can leisurely find gems often overlooked by the “scanner” people.
I founded Sell Books Blog on the philosophy of sharing information, to provide a resource for strategies, tips and basic information about bookselling. I did this for the same reason that I have helped 4 other booksellers set up their own businesses. Most of the basic information I share here is no secret, it’s available to anyone willing to seek it out. There’s numerous how to books you can purchase from Amazon, e-book downloads for a small price and various online forums that after sifting through the rants you can pick up small tips or clues. Sell Books Blog collects that information in one place, and comes with the additional benefit of my experience, expertise and yes, even some of my opinions.
As a native Californian with a degree from UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School, I started my career working in sales and marketing for a Fortune 50 company. However by the late 90’s I was, working as a software engineer/instructor riding the wave of the dot-com bubble. When the bubble burst, I was among its casualties. Finding myself without a job, I decided to focus on a recently discovered hobby: selling books online.
What started as something to explore until the next job came along quickly grew from a one room operation into my company, Beagle Books. At first housed in a small, 600 square foot warehouse, it soon became necessary to move to a larger warehouse, and then into an addition onto that warehouse, then to two warehouses and finally into the 18,000 square foot warehouse I have been operating out of since 2005.
Along the way I have learned a lot, and Sell Books Blog is my way of sharing the lessons and knowledge and practices I have picked up over the past ten years. However, I hope it isn’t a one way street. Sell Books Blog is also an open forum for questions and discussion. I welcome any questions you might have, and will do my best to answer as many of them as I can. I hope you find this blog to be a valuable resource.