The business of selling used books can feel pretty risky sometimes, especially for new sellers. After all, you’re forgoing the security of a steady paycheck to go into business for yourself. A lot of people self-employed or small business owners are justifiably nervous, given the current state of the economy.
But according to an article published Friday in Business First of Columbus, at least one small business owner, Phil Smyres of Ohio, is feeling secure despite the recession. The good news? He does what we do. He sells used books.
Specifically, he sells used textbooks, both online and from his two brick-and-mortar locations. Smyres has been selling since 1993, and over all that time in the business, he’s learned that textbooks are a recession-proof business.
The article quotes him as saying “When times are good, there is more money for students to spend, when times are bad, more people go back to school.”
With 15-plus years of experience in the textbook business, he should know.
It makes good sense too, of course. While most readers don’t need books, to college students, textbooks are a necessity. They can’t just choose not to buy textbooks. It’s a captive market. As long as there are colleges, you will be able to make money selling used textbooks.
Smyres has another major observation that bodes well for booksellers. Although he sells both new and used textbooks, he says (more…)
Selling used books is, by its very nature, environmentally friendly. Obviously books are made of paper. Every book that is created has an environmental impact both in terms of trees being cut down, and in terms of the fossil fuels burned in manufacturing, shipping, etc. Every time a person buys a used book instead of a new one, it chips away at those impacts.
Selling used college textbooks is a major segment of online bookselling. If you deal in used textbooks you may have noticed that a growing number of them proudly proclaim that they are made from “100% recycled materials”. Does this mean that the textbook industry is becoming “green”?