Rating: 
Summary: Great if you're a beginner - Not Bad if You're Not - Pros No
Review: Having sold books online for several years merely as a hobby, I would have gotten a good deal from this book before starting that endeavor.But after trial and much error-learning, most of what's in this book is material I already knew and perhaps even have new and better insights on myself. Having said that, there was some information in the book that was worth the price of the publication --- though it may be free somewhere on the web as another reviewer said. And I don't doubt it. There was some unnecessary material in the book I felt. Like how to run a business. I don't think selling books in most cases calls for information on insurance, getting a license and all that other sort of business-related stuff. If you're going into it big time, you'll need a much bigger book written by someone else. Most of the stuff was pretty basic. Like where to buy books and that sort of thing. But there were some gems, as I said. So while I was a bit disappointed, I got value from the book and I do recommend it to someone just starting out. In fact, you really "should" read this or a book like it and save yourself lots of problems. Don't expect this book to be great. It's good. And most sellers or want-to-be sellers can't help but gain something from it. If you're a pro --- skip it altogether. You don't need it. If you have time to research the web, you can get the important stuff for free. But the book is quick and easy to buy and it's nice to have things handy just in case. And hey --- you can always sell it as a collectible. The author signs it. But then there are lots of copies for sale. Susanna K. Hutcheson
Owner and Executive Copy Director
Powerwriting.com LLC
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty basic. A disappointment
Review: I bought Mr Windwalker's book after all the glowing reviews I read on Amazon and I just wanted to make some things clear. This book is great . . .if you are a beginner at the book selling business. If you dont know how to begin, then here's the book for you.
But if you are looking for a resource that covers online sites besides Amazon marketplace, then this books is a sad disappointment. I dont sell on Amazon (although I love shopping here) and Mr Windwalkers biased coverage of Amazon had me skipping huge chunks of the book. Ok Maybe he really feels that this is the most profitable place to sell but this book felt like a lightly veiled sales pitch! Amazon should give it free to everyone who joins Marketplace!
There is some good info here about online resources but there's nothing that you couldnt find yourself with a halfway decent knowledge of the web and search engines. And if you dont have that kind of knowledge you are going to need a lot more than this book to get you started selling books online. By the way. I really hated the promotion of the shipping supply stores. I was really surprised that instead of giving us envelope and box dimensions for items he suggests, the author chose to give us catalog item #'s from the store he uses! Not too subtle.
It would be nice if there was a book out there that did a good job of covering the Tax and records side of things. This book does skim over the topic but that is one area where I feel we sell-from-home booksellers are really in the dark.
Rating: 
Summary: Good resource
Review: I completely enjoyed reading this book, finally somebody who relates to me with a great sense of humor! Windwalker offers a lot of great advice and suggestions. A must read for any bookseller A++++++++
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I completely enjoyed reading this book, finally somebody who relates to me with a great sense of humor! Windwalker offers a lot of great advice and suggestions. A must read for any bookseller A++++++++
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new
Review: I didn't learn anything new in this book that I didn't learn in the other online auction business books. Was very disappointed, I wanted to learn about selling books inparticular.
Rating:
Summary: Useful for basics, but becoming dated
Review: I first read this book two years ago, soon after it came out, when I was first starting my online book selling business. The book is useful in laying out the basics of the business model and the nuts and bolts of Amazon.com Marketplace selling. It goes through where to find books, how to list them for sale, how to fulfill orders, and how to manage your inventory. This is the best and most specific book available on these topics. It also goes into some basics regarding accounting and future business growth issues, but these topics are treated much more cursorily. The biggest weakness of the book, however, is that the information is becoming dated.
A number of third party services have become available since 2002 that help sellers in book scouting, inventory management, and order fulfillment (e.g., Scoutpal, Sellerengine, Aman, Mail Extractor, etc.). These have altered the way most successful sellers run their businesses. Most high volume sellers don't edit individual listings when re-pricing but instead use one of these new tools to batch edit large portions of their inventory. Most successful sellers don't guess when buying books at sales but use Scoutpal to check the price before buying. In all likelihood future innovations like these ones will continue to alter the landscape of Amazon.com Marketplace selling and online book selling generally.
So, this is indeed the best basic primer for the nuts and bolts for selling books on Amazon, but let's hope that the author considers issuing a revised edition sometime soon that takes into account new seller tools and changing practices. He would also undercut the used market for his book...
Rating:
Summary: Thorough, wise, and well-written
Review: I have been doing reasonably well as an online bookseller for about a year now, but I found this book very helpful just the same. I do wish it had been available when I got my start because it would have saved me countless hours and my share of mistakes along the way. The appendices and "tables" will probably save me countless hours in the future, as will a number of computer related suggestions and suggestions for how to get good book inventory without too great an expenditure. I read this over the weekend and frankly I expect it to make me my [money] back every week I am in business. My hat is off to Stephen Windwalker, he has done an excellent job here and made it a very readable book as well. In fact, the second chapter in which he discusses the current changes and state of affairs in the bookselling and publishing industries is a bulls-eye that will make anyone who's interested in these topics stop and think. I wouldn't want the job of trying to keep this up-to-date in the future, but it is right on the money in June 2002. There are plenty of people who have probably considered writing a book about this; I'm just glad it was Windwalker, somebody who knows the business as well as he does, who wrote it.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book for someone exploring a home business.
Review: I have enjoyed this little book. As someone who is exploring the idea of a home business, I find it very helpful. He gives, I think, a very realistic idea of the amount of work and money involved in starting a small business at home selling books online. Although the online world changes so quickly, I find, as we transition from 2002 to 2003, the information is still relevant. I would like to see more information on tax issues. I will definitely have to search for a book or two on that subject.
Rating:
Summary: Not as great as the rest say it is
Review: I have to agree with the one reviewer who said it was just OK, and that he had not done enough research. This is a very cursory review of selling on Amazon ONLY and you can find most of the information you need on the Seller Resources bulletin boards. He gets credit for compiling the book, but there are many typos, the book lacks an index and chapter headings, etc. It appears as if perhaps at the time of print he had not used any other online selling services. He simply lists them and their own website blurbs, but offers no information as to whether you should try them, like ABE, Alibris, Half, etc. And the information is very very surface, not indepth. In some places he appears to have just copied and pasted pages from other sources like the IRS site into the book. And it doesn't appear as if he knew at the time of printing how online postage works or even how to make packages move quickly thru. It lacks some really useful information about shipping. I guess I was disappointed. I was expecting a book to tell me all about the other sites I could sell on, the ins and outs of Amazon, etc. But instead I got pretty much what I had already read about online. If you don't want to spend the time reading the various bookselling web sites, then this book is for you. If you're trying to take your online bookselling a step further this is not the book.
Rating:
Summary: Sine Qua Non!
Review: I'm not sure everyone fully appreciates the writing ability (and vocabulary) of Mr. Windwalker. How many other book sellers know the meaning (and practice) of "Arbitrage" or "sine qua non" ? (Arbitrage means taking advantage of gaps between bid/sell prices in different markets; sine qua non means "the thing that you absolutely must have.") A very useful book--and lots of fun to read! A few ideas for future editions: 1) Provide more complete discussion of Z-shops, and ways to achieve good placement. 2) Provide more complete discussion of tax issues. There was only a very sketchy discussion of IRS schedule 'C'. Altogether, well worth the money. I'm glad I bought it! I hope there is more to come from Mr. Windwalker.
| 
