Today, author Stephen Woodfin tells us about a very successful, 
but little known, Amazon program which is well suited to writers. Woodfin is a talented writer who makes it his business to study Amazon, learn as much as he can about the giant, and utilize those parts that make sense for him. He’s also an attorney, so he knows how to evaluate facts. Here is a gem for us – an Amazon program many of us could profit from. You’re on stage, Stephen.
Most writers are small business owners who focus on one line of products, the books they have written. However, they would be well served to broaden their horizons and think about selling other authors’ books.
What I’m talking about is a service Amazon offers called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
There are two ways a person can sell books on Amazon. The first is the traditional method known as Merchant Fulfilled (MF). In MF, a person lists books for sale on Amazon, and when a customer purchases a book the seller receives a notice of the sale and ships the books to the buyer. This process is laborious, time-consuming and requires the seller to warehouse the books herself.
FBA is a horse of a different color. Under FBA the seller acquires the inventory, i.e., the books, and ships them to Amazon. Amazon stores the books in its own warehouses and ships the books to customers when they purchase them. Books sold through FBA receive the Amazon Prime perks of free two-day shipping and the protections that come from purchasing directly from Amazon. In other words, the customer base for FBA books is primarily customers who have Amazon Prime accounts.
There are about twenty million Amazon Prime members, and many of them are avid book buyers.
This is a match made in heaven for sellers and buyers.
Combine this with the fact that many authors have a storehouse of books in their homes which they have acquired over a lifetime of book hoarding and one can see the opportunity FBA presents for authors. They already have an inventory of free books, many of which are good candidates for sale through FBA.
What books fit the FBA model best?
It is really quite simple: Used books, primarily non-fiction, with a good sales ranking on Amazon. For purposes of our discussion, a good sales ranking is from 1 to 1,000,000, although that is not a hard and fast rule. Books ranked 1,000,000 plus sell every day on Amazon. They just don’t sell as quickly as better-ranked books.
Here is a thumbnail sketch of the process to sell successfully on FBA.
- Create an Amazon Professional Seller account. This costs $39.99 per month.
- Learn how to scan books. What one scans is the barcode on the back of the book. The seller must acquire a barcode scanner and the software necessary to interpret barcodes. To begin with, the seller can use her smart phone to scan the barcodes. Apps are available for less than $10 per month, which provide sales data for the books when they are scanned.
- List the books on Amazon.
- Ship the books to Amazon using Amazon’s very favorable shipping rates.
- Wait for Amazon to sell the books.
- Get paid. Amazon pays every other Monday like clockwork.
Is there any money in selling used books on FBA?
A lot of money. A conservative estimate is that a seller can expect an average sales amount of $10 per book. After fees, the seller nets about $6 per sale.
That’s an amazing number. The seller makes $6 per sale on books that she has sitting in boxes in her garage, or for which she has paid $.25 to $1.00 at a Friend of the Library sale, a thrift shop or an estate sale.
I have only touched the tip of the FBA iceberg in this post. But anyone interested in learning more about the details can Google “FBA” and read blogs and watch YouTube videos about it.
So if an author is interested in supplementing her income by selling other authors’ books, she should check out FBA.
I mean, a little extra cash always comes in handy.
Especially for writers.
JIM: Stephen Woodfin is an attorney, author, blogger, and FBA seller. Please take a minute to check out his Amazon author page. I have read a number of his books, and do not hesitate to recommend them.
It’s so important to help for us for every Amazon seller about What Writers Need to Know About Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA
This is fine for old books that are out of print, but it cuts royalties to authors still in print. People already do this with free books for review. It’s a tough business when readers only buy used books or sell and undercut authors with new releases. Out of print, knock it out of the park. New release, be patient and give the publisher and author a chance to earn a paycheck!
Angela, I apologize for this late response, but I missed your comment when the blog was published. The primary books that are suitable for FBA are non-fiction titles that are not readily available in bookstores. I believe the vast majority of people who buy used books also buy new books. So I don’t see “used” versus “new” as in conflict with each other. Also, many customers simply can’t afford new books. I write books and like to sell them and make a buck or two. But even if a person buys one of my books in the used market, I’m glad he found one of my books, and I hope he may like it and buy one of my other books.
Great post. Thank you for sharing. Definitely something to consider. I did a question. How is one to make that much off a book(6.00) when Amazon is selling it for so little. I was thinking of all the fiction paperbacks I have that are being sold for .01 to 1.00. I always wondered how someone would go to the cost and time to sell a book for a dollar or penny. Though they typically charge 4.00 shipping, that would basically cover the shipping and what they may have to give Amazon. That is unless they get the full cost of shipping, Amazon getting nothing, which might give them a couple of dollars in their pocket if they ship media.
Kym, I apologize for this tardy response but somehow I missed your comment when the blog was published. The penny books you mention are not sold through FBA. Rather those are MF sellers who fill the orders out of their warehouses. They receive $3.99 for shipping and make their money by obtaining shipping rates less than that amount. FBA sellers on the other hand have a different target audience, Amazon Prime members. Those buyers don’t mind paying extra for a book in order to receive the Prime benefits and know they will have it in two days. They also prefer for Amazon to ship the books because Amazon has built the highest quality customer service in the industry. Thanks for the comment.