Book dropshipping 101: Start your bookstore online

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Always dreamed of owning a bookstore? With book dropshipping, you can sell pre- and self-published works without inventory. Your supplier prints and fulfills orders, so all you need to do is market, sell, and hone your customer experience.

High profit margins are possible when dropshipping books, and with enough sales volume, you can draw an income while leaving enough for marketing, new customer acquisition, and growth.

Worldwide revenue for physical books is expected to reach $70.19 billion in 2025 (Statista), with a 0.19% compound annual growth rate projected to 2030. But let’s be honest, regardless of stats, reading is an activity that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

So, what we have here is a proven market and a golden ecommerce opportunity. Join us below to learn how to dropship books, its benefits, and the best suppliers.

Is it possible to dropship books?

Yes, you can dropship pre-published books or self-publish and print books on demand with automatic fulfillment. Either requires an ecommerce store of your own to capture sales, and a supplier to fulfill orders on your behalf.

Decent profits are on the table with book dropshipping, provided you work out your margins, offer the right products, and have a marketing strategy that doesn’t just attract initial buyers but also retains them and maximizes customer lifetime value.

Benefits of dropshipping books

First, books will never go out of demand because people love to read. Second, there’s a genre everyone wants. And third, there is sufficient margin in books to run a profitable dropshipping business, even if it appears saturated at first.

Getting into selling books traditionally involves finding a supplier, purchasing stock, and either storing it at home or in a storage unit, or hiring a fulfillment partner who’ll provide warehouse storage, picking and packing, and postage.

With book dropshipping, you bypass the whole process of purchasing stock and finding a fulfillment partner. Your dropshipping supplier does all that, so you only need to win the sale, create a high-quality customer experience, and build your business.

Dropshipping is not a fast-track or guaranteed ecommerce model, but when you learn how to dropship books, it’s clear that it has fewer risks than traditional selling from inventory. Additionally, it’s more cost-effective and provides a gateway to holding stock in the future.

How to start your book dropshipping store

Follow these five steps to set up your books dropshipping store:

1. Choose your book niche

Amazon’s bestseller list shows which categories move volume, plus you can narrow down books by genre to find interesting angles.

These genres always sell well:

• Children’s books
• Biographies
• Cooking
• Business and money
• Fiction
• Comics and manga
• Self-help and personal development

Once you find an interesting book niche, search Google or ask an AI tool to find other dropshippers and small stores already serving it. 

You’ll no doubt find that most niches appear saturated, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity. Diving into sub-genres, such as public speaking for personal development, will help you ‘niche down’ and find your audience.

Additionally, consider that some niches succeed simply because other dropshippers offer subpar experiences. They might have poor ranges, generic storefronts, high shipping costs, and no gift options, all of which you can do better.

2. Pick your fulfillment model

Book dropshipping is a fulfillment model in itself, where you sell pre-published books via your storefront and your backend then sends orders to suppliers.

Another option is print-on-demand (POD), a self-publishing model in which your supplier prints your books and ships them to customers. Since you can legally print and sell works that are in the public domain, you don’t need to be an author to do it.

You can combine these fulfillment models in a hybrid approach. For instance, sell bestsellers on Amazon alongside classics with unique covers.

3. Set up your ecommerce platform

Your ecommerce platform will run your storefront and backend for managing products, customers, and suppliers. Consider these options:

• Shopify: Includes a website, hosting, the best dropshipping app catalog, and an active community. Best if you’re happy paying for a monthly subscription and don’t plan on doing any custom development.
• WooCommerce: Requires hosting, but it’s free and built on WordPress, so if you’re familiar, you’re going to appreciate it more than Shopify. Its app catalog is decent, and you have complete control over code.

Other platforms include Wix (ideal for service-based businesses that need ecommerce tools) and BigCommerce (which works best with extensive inventories). Crucially, Omnisend integrates with all these platforms to create professional email experiences.

4. Add your products with compelling descriptions and photos

All your books need unique descriptions. No way around it. Do add the blurb, but also create these content sections when relevant to provide additional value:

• Why our editors love it
• What other readers say
• Similar works lists
• Author backgrounds/bios
• Reading level and age ranges

Another way to stand out is with photos of your books. Most dropshippers use stock photos, which and causes their product listings to disappear in search results. At least photograph your bestsellers to help customers visualize their purchases.

5. Market your store

You need the right mixture of marketing strategies to reach your audience immediately and sustainably over time. Efforts should go into capturing transactional traffic and building your audience early to generate sales and loyal customers.

That means this mix from the start:

• Email: Install an app/plugin with list-building, segmentation, and automations for welcome series and other touchpoints. Omnisend customers achieve an average marketing ROI of $68 for every dollar spent, and its free forever plan is good for 250 contacts and 500 emails/month. Email marketing opportunities include:
  • New releases in your niche as they come out
  • Booklists grouped by theme or season
  • Cart abandonment reminders
  • Follow-ups after purchase with related titles
  • Discounts on categories
  • Monthly picks based on what sold well
• Paid ads: Google Ads is the de facto here, but Microsoft Advertising is cheaper with equal targeting features. Meta and TikTok sit well on the social media side. The best ad platform is the one with activity around your book niche.
• Organic search: You don’t pay for organic traffic, so it’s fantastic for keeping your customer acquisition costs low. Use Ubersuggest, Twinword, and Ahrefs for keyword suggestions, and add Search Console to your site for visibility into your performance.

Best suppliers for dropshipping books

1. BooksRun

BooksRun handles fulfillment and ships orders directly to your customers within one day. You can integrate through API or FTP files to submit orders, and it only charges your payment method once the order is confirmed. 

The landing price includes shipping, with no additional handling fees or hidden costs to eat into your margins. International shipping is available, and you set your own markup on whatever titles you list from its catalog.

2. Lulu Express

Consider Lulu Express for print-on-demand. It integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix via apps or through its free Print API. You can also use its Order Import tool to manually upload bulk orders or dropship books as needed.

Books get printed when orders come in and ship directly to your customers with white-label fulfillment, so there’s no inventory to manage. It handles single orders or bulk runs via its global print network, and you set your own pricing on top of their print costs.

3. Book Printing UK

Book Printing UK prints your books upfront and stores them at its warehouse with no storage fees. Upload a CSV file of orders through your online account by noon, and they pick, pack, and ship everything the same day. 

It can include marketing materials with orders if needed, and you will have a dedicated account manager. The model differs from print-on-demand since you’re printing bulk stock in advance, rather than per order.

4. Amazon KDP

Amazon KDP publishes your books through Amazon’s marketplace, where most readers already shop. Print books get produced when someone orders them, and Amazon ships directly. 

Ebook royalties go up to 70% depending on pricing, and print royalties cap at 60% after production costs. Enrolling in Kindle Unlimited adds per-page payments on top of sales. Your book goes live within three days of uploading it.

5. AliExpress

AliExpress hosts suppliers who ship books directly to your customers once you list their products in your store.

An app such as DSers is the easiest way to pull products and automate orders. You can then set your own markup above the supplier’s price. 

Your most significant barrier is the shipping time, which can take up to 20 days, and you’ll be competing with other retailers selling identical titles.

Ready to start your book dropshipping business?

Books have excellent margins, and if you price right and keep your marketing and ecommerce costs down, there’s an unbeatable profit opportunity.

The best books for dropshipping are unique works, which can be achieved through self-publishing or creating new covers for works in the public domain. 

Additionally, you can allow customers to create bundles, gift sets, and upgrade to premium hardcovers to differentiate yourself from competitors in your niche.

The quality of your email and SMS is also crucial to your success, as it provides touchpoints throughout your customer’s journey, from sign-up to post-purchase. You need to nail these channels to create a professional store.

Your next step is to research book niches, find suppliers, and select an ecommerce platform that enables you to build the customer experience you desire.

Book dropshipping FAQs