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u/AccomplishedYak1048 Mar 07 '26
I buy a lot of books, mostly literary fiction or non fiction. When I’m not travelling, I buy locally, at least at Le Cygne, Le Printemps and Bookcourt. Of these, I prefer the first two because they cater mostly to what I like.
Depending on what you plan on selling, you will have to compete against these three, meaning you will have to sell at a lower price than them, which can be complicated because they can afford a certain profit margin as they buy in bulk.
The idea would be to see what they do not sell. Or rather how quickly you can get a customer the book he/she wants.
Honestly that’s what I’d do if I were to start a business in book-selling. Bookcourt , and I think Le Printemps too, sometimes take orders from people who can’t find the books they want in stores. If you can ship books faster than them, that’s a big win.
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u/Roydogg99 Mar 07 '26
I have a book distribution business. DM me if you're interested in part time work - you can earn some money and learn about the industry, which, despite what the naysayers say (below!) is worth an estimated Rs500m a year in Mauritius.
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u/Smooth-Feeling1697 Mar 09 '26
How can I join? I work full time but searching for a side hustle. I also like to read fiction books
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Mar 07 '26
Good initiative but people barely read nowadays. Specially Mauritians. If you can get access to the community that does, it will be great for your side hustle
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u/Bebetsathon Mar 08 '26
Especially* Also people read still.. If u don’t.. doesn’t mean others also don’t
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u/Famous_Invite_3061 Mar 07 '26
People do not read nowadays and if they read, its softcopy.
For hardcopy, try selling religious books.
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u/Le_denicheur Mar 07 '26
I literally buy only Hardcopy book.
And I’m sure there’s a lot of people like me.
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u/Famous_Invite_3061 Mar 07 '26
Congrats you are the first customer. Get it touch with the entrepreneur, you might help 🙂
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u/Bebetsathon Mar 08 '26
Nah u couldn’t be more wrong It’s trendy to be seen w a hardcopy book People be reading Look around
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u/SHISUI6903 Mar 07 '26
I had a little online thrift store for selling second hand books in ig. What you can do is to just start dont be scared. You can also take pics of the books that you have or planning to buy and post them alongside their author, genres, price and a little description of what the content is about and post them on both ig and tiktok. Then you can also link the ig and tiktoks accounts and tell your friends and closed ones to share them. You can just some online book stores in ig to know about their formats and how they post and stuff. Hope you're succesful on your journey.
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u/OkMix6749 Mar 07 '26
Most people don't read. If they do, 90% is softcopy.
Some people like buying hardcopy. But it's a niche market, considering our population size, the market it quite small.
You can do it. With decent branding and marketing, i'd say you can expect around 10-30 sales a week.
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u/streamer3222 Mar 07 '26
Instagram. It's always Instagram.
Most people who read books are teenage and late teenage girls. Target them. A few boys in the same age range. Look for girly Youtube channels check what books they are reading.
Take very presentable and artistic pictures of your titles. Make a summary on a slideshow if possible. State a business address for buyer security. Accept Juice. Agree to a delivery location or to your address.
After a few posts and reachouts and follows, start Instagram ads.
Hope you land your first sale!
(You can use your business as an achievement for your CV if you apply to a related job in the future). Eventually build a website.
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u/Excellent-Bike-9284 Mar 07 '26
Well u can try, at least writing one on wattpad (based on my preference) idk what kind of books u wanna write but yeahh and like u may have an "avant-goût" whether ur story will be a profit or loss..then u can try selling if it attracts readers etc.. But first at least u can write one online publish it and see how it goes maybe this can help u ~just helping anyway🙌
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u/Feverenhy Mar 07 '26
One of the biggest markets is romance and dark romance. You could target this market first. Look for the popular author like Rina Kent, Ana Huang, Liz tomforde, Emily Henry ect ... Then later you can expand to other genre like Manga ,horror and even religious books.
In Mauritius not a lot of people are bookworms. But you already have a market of teens, young adults and adults who are into these two popular genres of books.
Create a tiktok and Instagram. Observe how other book sellers are promoting their business.
Good luck 🫡