The first book I can remember reading was Tootles the Taxi. Well strictly speaking my Mum read it to me, when I was about four. I’ve always loved words, reading and writing. Here is my brief story of my book reading and trading side hustle. English language was my strongest subject at school. My reading became more ‘sophisticated’ through my childhood. I devoured science books, books on the paranormal, science fiction and horror.

Bury market

But almost all of a sudden, I stopped reading when I left High School. My only writing was essays at college and university. As any poor student knows, one needs cash for essentials – beer and cigs in the Student Union. I remember being particularly skint at the end of one Autumn term. I was back home from university for Christmas and my Grant and Summer job savings had long since gone.

As I walked around the World Famous Bury Market that Winter touting for some casual work, I noticed a little second hand book stand.

The proprietor was a little stout fellow, who reminded me of Arthur Lowe. I asked him if there was any part-time work going. He said no, but if I was really desperate, that he also bought books to re-sell.

Two hours later I was back at his book stall with carrier bags stuffed with all my old book collection. I can’t remember how much money I sold them for, but it was enough for a couple of nights out down the pub with my mates.

Much more valuable than the money, though, was that this was my first realisation that people will pay you money for things you no longer need. This was 1990, Amazon was a river and ‘online’ sounded like something to do with trains. However this episode, which was repeated over the next few months with old records and toys, was to stay with me.

Iceland Boss

“So tell me about your thesis”.

This was Bill Wadsworth, the Technical Director for Iceland Frozen Foods at the time. I was now aged 26 and sat in my second interview for a job in a technical position in their buying department.  Bill then let me ramble on for the next 10 minutes as I pontificated about the effects of invasive species of plants, such as Indian Balsam, on over-wintering insects of the British Isles.

The next words out of his mouth were, to me, the most profound and life-changing words that anyone has ever said to me before or since.

He said,

“That is a complete and utter waste of time.”

“My advice to you, even if you don’t get this job is to go down to your local library, get a library ticket, use it and learn something useful.”

Now just let that settle for a moment.

I got switched on

I did get that job at Iceland and as you can probably guess I did get myself a library ticket. It had been a decade since I had read anything other than University textbooks, The United Review or the New Musical Express.

My first lot of books were practical self-help, things that I could read and apply right there and then. There were books on Time Management, Communication Skills and Public Speaking. Then later I was drawn to authors like Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Susan Jeffers. This stuff was great. It struck a chord with me. I knew that anyone could achieve anything they believe. But here were people showing you how.

Avid Reader

The more I read and applied, the more I developed; but the more I knew that I needed to develop. (I still do). Very soon I outgrew my little local library. By the late ’90s, the internet was taking off and you could buy anything online.  You could even compare prices to get the cheapest. People would also review the books, so you actually knew if the book was worth getting or not.

Too many books to store

My personal library grew and grew and grew until I had four bookcases full. It was getting ridiculous. There were boxes of books I hadn’t read. My collection was like the Hydra. After every book I read, seven more would appear. Something had to give. I needed a cull. I remembered Bury Market.

Selling my unwanted books on eBay

Both Arthur Lowe and my little friend on Bury Market are sadly no longer with us, but their memories stay with us. I was desperate again. This time it was space I needed.

I’d already done some small scale decluttering and made a few quid on eBay. Why didn’t I sell some of my books on eBay? EBay has just recently added fixed pricing, so you weren’t at the whim of the auction. Some of my books were worth a bit. I didn’t want to list them for £0.99 and have some cheapskate get a bargain at my expense. I go into more depth later on the mechanics of selling on eBay in my book How to Make Money from Your Reading Habit, but suffice to say it was a god send.

Then Selling on Amazon

One of the downsides to EBay is that you have to keep re-listing your item. You can also only list about 20 items free of charge, before you get charged a listing fee.

With Amazon however, you only get charged a fee when the item is sold. You also don’t need to relist it. Once it’s up, it stays up.

So Amazon became my go to platform for selling books

I Realised I could buy back cheaper

All this selling was damn addictive. I found it very satisfying getting shut of things you no longer needed or had room for, to people who wanted it, whilst getting paid a price the buyer was happy with. Beautiful.

That is until I accidentally sold something I wanted to keep. Now with both Amazon and EBay you can always cancel a sale and refund the buyer. However that didn’t sit well with me so I used to go through with the sale reluctantly. Then one time, I looked back on Amazon a few months later, to look for Getting Things Done by David Allen (Recommended), which I’d accidentally sold, with a view to buying it back again. Low and behold, I discovered that a used copy was on sale for less than I had sold it, including all the postage and fees.

It was a light-bulb moment.

I’d sold a book I didn’t need at the time. I bought it back when I did need it and I still had a few quid left over from the first sale. I go into more detail on the maths side of things in my book, but for now, just realise that you can rent out your books, of a fashion.

If you would like to find out more check out my book How to Make Money from Your Reading Habit.

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