How Some Bookworms Turn Pages Into Profits

Startup Journal:

After nearly 20 years as a journalist, Steve Weber found himself working harder than ever editing a banking newsletter and making about the same money he’d always earned. Frustrated and short of cash, he sold some books from his personal library over the Internet. “I was surprised about how lucrative it was,” says Mr. Weber, of Falls Church, Virginia. “And it was a lot of fun.”

When he’d unloaded his own unwanted volumes, Mr. Weber started haunting library sales and other sources of used books and selling them over the Internet. A few months later, he was laid off from his job. Rather than look for a new job, he decided to try to turn his new hobby into a full-time business. “I figured if I was making money doing it two or three hours a day, I could make a lot more doing it eight to 10 hours a day,” he says. “I was right.”

Five years later, Mr. Weber estimates he has sold more than $1 million worth of books through www.weberbooks.com. Profits match his $35,000 to $40,000 salary as an editor, Mr. Weber says, and his quality of life is vastly improved since becoming a lifestyle entrepreneur. “Even if I’d made a little less, it still would have made sense for me,” he says. “I had been miserable for a while and I’ve been really happy as a bookseller.”

Photo by Paul Watson.

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