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A first post by a new writer here at The Bookshop Blog. Scott Davis runs an Amazon Store as well as an eBay Store. Check out his sites..

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What Doesn’t Kill You Only Makes You Stronger

As an online bookseller on Amazon, I’d grown used to perusing the local thrift shops at my leisure; my area was not exactly a hotbed of booksellers. Of course, there were many Ebay sellers who sometimes grabbed obviously expensive books, but until recently, my smartphone and I had our way with the locally available “inventory.”

Until late last year …

A competitor showed up, complete with fancy phone and a scouting service. And she was buying “my” books. I was flabbergasted, and, after some thought, more than a little worried. After all, I was a small seller, comparably, and got a good portion of my inventory from the local thrift shops. To share the wealth, so to speak, would greatly reduce my wealth.

I was not a happy scouter … until I remembered an incident when I first started selling online.

I was in a thrift store, looking at the books, saw a set of six Left Behind books, and grabbed them. A gentleman who also was looking at the books asked me if I was a reader or a dealer. Feigning innocence, I said reader, and asked him what he meant by “dealer.” He went on to explain to me about book selling, Amazon, etc., information that I already knew. I innocently asked him how much he made selling books. While I don’t remember the exact amount he told me, I remember being astounded, and, to be honest, somewhat skeptical. But, I decided at that point, that if good money was to be made selling books, I was going to get a piece of the proverbial pie. After several months of heavy book scouting at that location and others, I realized that I had never seen that gentleman again.

Did my entry into the marketplace force him out of the online book business? I don’t know. However, with the situation now somewhat reversed, I could either meekly accept the increased competition, and lower income, or I could use this perceived adversity to kick my business up a notch.

I chose the latter, and haven’t looked back.

Next time, we’ll talk about scoping out your competition.

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I just spent the weekend with my family and the excitement about the Giants making the Superbowl for the first time since 2000 was palatable. So I decided to do some research and see what my hometown team could do between now and next weekend to ensure a win. I found Michael Gleeson and Ronald J Maughan’s The Biochemical Basis of Sports Performance had my answer. Their book describes the biochemical processes involved in energy provision for different sports events and the way in which limitations in the energy supply can cause fatigue and thus limit performance. Below is an excerpt I hope will help the Giants! (more…)

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