Are you prepared for the biggest selling period of the year?

By Sharon Fussell, October 30, 2013

I’m not one to wish the year away, but in just over a week it’ll be November. That means that increasingly, people’s thoughts will be turning towards Christmas and buying gifts and making Christmas-related purchases.

For the bookseller on Amazon, this means thinking about sourcing new Christmas-related stock.

Remember, although new media items are always in demand, used items are still wanted.

The more niche the subject the most likely your books will fetch higher prices.

Also condition is very much ‘king’.

Look for the following products to resell:

Sport biographies: football; rugby; music; motor racing.

Celeb biographies: reality shows; TV shows; film stars. Try and apply the ‘more niche the better’ rule with celebrity biographies too. Think Katherine Hepburn rather than Katie Price.

Crafts books: knitting; sewing; embroidery; machine knitting; needle point.

Gardening: container gardening; allotments; what plants? Encyclopaedias of flowers and plants.

Christmas topics: children’s stories; religious nativity topics; Christmas cooking; making Christmas decorations.

Cookery books: well-known chefs; vegetarian/vegan; special diets.

Children’s books: look for classics…

• Rainbow
• Wombles
• Post man Pat
• Fireman Sam
• Super Ted
• Inspector Gadget

Christmas annuals: the older the better – usually must be in good condition….

• Dandy
• Beano
• Jackie
• Roy of the Rovers
• Rupert the Bear

Hobbies: fishing; gardening; woodworking and wood turning; car repairs.

Music/CDs: carols; Christmas songs.

DVDs: children’s /family classics; cookery DVDs; fishing; gardening.

If you stumble across any of the above when you’re out and about on your charity shop or car boot or jumble sale sourcing trips, you’re likely to make money from them when reselling on Amazon.

I must reiterate again though, that condition is paramount with these niche products. Many people will be buying them as gifts and even if they’re not, they’ll probably be buying them as a family activity over the festive season – or at least for their own use on the run up to Christmas – and as such they’ll want the item to be in top-notch condition.

The general rule of thumb is to think ‘non-fiction’ and ‘niche’ – the more niche the better.
Remember to look out for my brand new home-business venture – out soon!