Articles About Books And Publishing

Secrets to Selling Books by Mail

This is intended for informational purposes only.

Selling books by mail is one of the "ideal" spare-time business ventures that can be operated from your home, and with minimal investment. However, there's a lot you must know about this kind of business; a lot to learn, a lot to understand, and a lot of common sense required.

The first thing you need to know is where to get books - the kind of books - that sell best via mail order. Selecting your source of supply, deciding which type of books you want to sell, and arranging a working relationship with these suppliers is your first step. Be sure that you know which supplier has which books, the quantity discount prices, and the drop-ship requirements. It's best to set up a file for each of your suppliers; keep a copy of each of their latest catalogs, and some sort of record of all dealings you have with them.

Once you're organized with a source of supply, getting started is pretty easy. One way might be to acquire a series of money making reports that run two or three pages in length such as this one - that sell for a couple of dollars each. Then, you run a classified ad in some of the national mail order publications reaching extra-income opportunity seekers. Such an ad might read: FREE REPORT! $50,000 profit each year! Sparetime home-operated business. Details SASE. (your name & address).

Your secret to success in selling books by mail will lie in what you put into all those self-addressed and stamped envelopes you receive in response to your ad.

Of course, the first thing you have to put in those envelopes is the "free report" you promised in your ad. We have a number of reports describing a plan that can make $50,000 a year for an energetic and determined extra-income opportunity seeker, and have used all of them quite successfully in accordance with the plan we're describing to you here. Now then, in addition to the "free report", as promised in your ad - and in order to sell books - you have to include what is known as your "follow-up" package...

Actually, it's quite simple and should be almost automatic. You'll need a full page circular advertising one of the books you're selling. To see, and understand this ingredient, collect the advertising sheets you receive from all the book clubs, relative to their "featured selection" circulars. Remember here that the more original and different from the "other" advertisers you can maker your circulars, the more books you'll end up selling. Still, you may not want to undertake the work or have the extra finances to hire to have "featured selection" advertising circulars made up for you. In that case simply take one of the full page circulars advertising a particular book, sent out to you by one of your suppliers.

Following the successful methods used by all the Book of the Month Clubs, in addition to your full page circular advertising a specific book - a featured selection - you should include a sheet of other titles - alternate selections - for your customers to consider ordering. These are very important things to consider and to think about every time you send out a mail order offer.

Generally, you do not need to include either a separate order form or a self-addressed envelope with your order-solicitation package. However, we would advise you to have your featured selection circular, and your alternate selection list printed on colored paper - say your featured selection circular printed on white paper with red or blue ink, and your alternate selection printed on yellow or canary colored paper with black ink. This tends to give your mailing piece a bit of class, and at the same time tends to stimulate the prospects into buying more than just ordinary white paper with black ink. Give it some thought, try it, check your results and then decide from there.

I've just explained the "nitty gritty" of how to get organized, set yourself up in the book-selling by mail business, and how to operate it profitably. But, unless you have everything pre-planned, your fledgling business may die before you've even scratched the surface of your potential profit picture.

It's necessary that you have a different "featured" selection circular and list of alternate selections to send out, each time you send something out to your prospects or customers. Thus, before you begin, it will pay you to elect about 18 different books to call featured selections or say, "Best Buy Of The Month". Make sure you have a full page circular for each of these books - have a supply of each of them printed and in stock - then either number them or arrange them in the order you want to use them. You should have the same kind of supply, and arrangement for your lists or alternate selections.

With books, it will be necessary to always be on the lookout for new books you can use as featured selections in your customer follow-up program. A supply of 18 will get you started, but as your business grows, you'll find some of your customers ordering every book you offer, and thus, in order to keep them buying from you, you'll have to keep offering new selections to them. With your lists of alternative selections, this is not so important. Actually, you could start out with about a hundred or so reports, and from this list, make up an alternative selection list of about 25 titles for each list. After you've gone through 100 of these reports - 4 different alternative selection lists - you could go back and mix the selections from each list - 6 from list one, 6 from list two and so on...

It's important that you get your customer's order on its way just as quickly after receiving it as possible. When you're having a supplier dropship for you, the best thing is to accumulate all your orders - filling in your dropship order from each day's mail - and then on Saturday of each week, writing your check to each supplier, enclosing the dropship order forms, sealing it and getting it in the mail. At the same time, you should send out your order acknowledgment notes, and follow-up packages on the same day you receive them. It may sound a little complicated, but it really isn't - and if you'll plan your business in detail before you place your first ad, have your follow-up materials printed in advance, and work this plan as I've explained it you should have no trouble at all.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer

Note to editors:
To show my appreciation to the editors that use my articles, I offer a free solo ad. Simply send an email to me by using the form on the contact me page on my website to tell me the url the article was used on or send me a copy of the ezine it was used in.

This article may be redistributed freely on the Internet as long as the resource box remains intact.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
DeAnna is the publisher of the ezine, Prospecting and Presents.
Subscribers get one free ad per week.
Subscribe today by visiting http://www.pnewsletter.com
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Other Article Sites

findabook.com  moneycd.info  a-mortgage.info   about-lemon-laws.info  aboutstudentloans.info
all-about-publishing.info  auctions-articles.info  bestcollege-university.com  bestispconnection.com
biblefolder.com  blogger-website.com  books-used.info  brokers-guide.info  buywindows.info  cable-dsl.info
career-miner.com  carpel-tunnel.info  cashinaflash.info  cashloanreviews.info  casinobell.com  chat-house.info
clearmycredit.info  collegeloantips.info  crones.info  depression-articles.info   dirnic.net  dishguides.info
divers-below.com  expodog.info   financewizz.com  fire-insurance.info  getgood.info  handleit.net   it-idea.info
health-supplies.info  hosting-right.com  insidealert.com  insurance-facts.info  jobs-employment.info
justgood.info  lookgold.net   lowcost-travel.info  money-source.info  myhostzone.info  numisblog.com
peoplesearchfinder.info  pr-articles.info  realeas.com   refinancing-guides.info  spyware-remove.info
telelot.info  the-law.info   toppaid.info  travel-deals.info  travelcorrect.com  wedding-guide-site.com
your-blog.info  your-credit.info

MORE ARTICLES:

Present Print Catalogs, Magazines and Brochures over the Web with INM Reach
The elegant and intuitive way to display high-quality print documents directly within a web browser, without using third-party software.

How to Write and Publish a Better Newsletter
Writing and publishing a newsletter is one of the most satisfying ways to promote your business, get involved in your community, or exercise those creative muscles. Imagine it: you at the helm of your very own publication, organizing the content, calling all the shots. Sounds great, right?

More African American Authors Can Publish Books Under New Prestigious Imprint Utilizing Breakthrough 'DIY Publishing' Technology
Using state-of-the-art technology from world leader Author Solutions, Inc., HBF Publishers (HBFP) is leveling a digital cultural imbalance by giving African American authors opportunities never before available: control of the content and delivery of their books with immediate access to a growing and profitable African American reading market, cultivated over the years by QBR The Black Book Review and the Harlem Book Fair.

WebWorks.com to Unveil Publish To Wiki Functionality at RoundUp Users Conference
Leading Publishing Platform Software Developer Automates Publication of Content to Popular Wiki Formats.

BigUniverse.com Adds Children's Picture Books In Eleven Languages
The Reading Corner, a publishing division of the International Step-by-Step Association, will showcase its broad spectrum of multilingual books.

NBA Star Ricky Pierce Bounces Into Children's Books With Release of First Title
Outskirts Press announces the publication of "Bouncing Billy: A Learning Adventure," a sports-themed children's book with a message of acceptance by retired NBA legend Ricky Pierce.

How to Write For New Magazines as a Freelance Writer
Roughly 1,000 magazines are launched every year, according to Samir "Mr Magazine" Husni, a magazine consultant and chair of the journalism department at the University of Mississippi

Local Author Announces Book Launch Party and Reading Tour; Christine Whitmarsh to Read, Sign Books at Reno Area Coffee Shops
Local Reno author and business owner Christine Whitmarsh will host the official launch party for her first book, One Citizen's Words, on Wednesday, July 18th at 5 p.m. at the Jib on the Sparks Marina. A series of local coffee shop appearances where the author will read and autograph her book are also scheduled throughout the month of July.

How To Avoid POD Publishing Confusion - Instant Book Writing Kit (Revised Edition) Offers An Online Alternative for Authors and Self-Publishers
A newly released book/ebook offers an alternative approach to book publishing for authors and/or self-publishers who are confused about the entire "POD Publishing" issue. Shaun Fawcett's recently released Revised Edition of Instant Book Writing Kit - How To Write, Publish and Market Your Own Money-Making Book (or eBook) Online details how authors and/or self-publishers can take control of their own publishing destiny and use proven online channels to print, publish, market and distribute their books and/or ebooks while bypassing the dysfunctional traditional publishing model. Fawcett has dubbed his unique approach, the Online Publishing Model.

Choosing Children?s Books
?If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book.? ~ Author Unknown

2.5 Million Photo Books and Calendars in Two Months: Leading Photo Services Print Record Volume Using HP Indigo Presses
HP today announced that more than 2.5 million photo books and calendars were printed worldwide on HP Indigo presses during the 2006 holiday season.

Trade Magazines And Trade Organizations
Trade magazines are an inexpensive way to learn about your industry. It is one of best methods for finding up to date information about your industry. Reading through them, you will find companies with which you want to correspond. Keep an eye out for companies that might offer the products you are looking for.

Guide for selecting the right Home decorating magazines!
There are very wonderful publications available right now for the readers and enthusiasts in home decorating. Let's see how to choose the right home decorating magazine. What are the bare minimum factors that a magazine should include?

How To Publish Great Articles
The internet is getting more and more complex every day but it is still a really useful tool for you for so many different kinds of things that you will really just end up being amazed by it all once you see how it works. If you have an online business or are thinking of starting one then you need to start learning about the internet and the ways in which it works. Doing this will really allow you to start understanding how to succeed with online businesses by means of simply utilizing what the internet already has to offer you and possibly embellishing on that a little bit. If you have started doing any research at all then I bet you have found things that look promising but also some things that look like they are basically scams out ther...

Odimumba Kwamdela, Norman Alexander Alkamal Jemmott and Makeela B. Amani release new poetry and afrocentric philosophy books from Kibo Books
Kibo Books, LLC. an independent press in Brooklyn, NY, released three new books at a unique book launch event on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at BRIC Studio. The books featured were Potions and Plots Unraveled from my Locs and Conversations with my Violent Side from poets, Makeela B. Amani and Norman Alexander Alkamal Jemmott respectively, as well as, Small Black Book of Mighty Thoughts by writer Odimumba Kwamdela. In addition to the book releases, the event was punctuated by spirited performances by the featured authors reading from their newly released books, as well as readings upcoming poets Essence Lamonde (who also served as host) and newcomer Krysten Edmund. Food and beverage sponsorship was provided by bushbaby® coffee-house in Broo...