More than ever, readers are turning to used books. The increased popularity of online shopping venues such as Amazon.com and eBay is fueling the boom in used book sales.

Convenience is another reason why consumers are turning to online bookstores. Special orders produce just 1 percent of sales at brick-and-mortar bookstores, due to the inconvenient, time-consuming ordering process. For example, economics researchers from MIT ordered the same book at a Barnes & Noble superstore and through its online store, bn.com. The purchase at the brick-and-mortar store took nearly an hour to place, cost $37.45, and took eight days to arrive. By contrast, the online required just three minute to place, was delivered in three days, and was $5.46 cheaper. And don’t forget the travel time required in visiting a store, that took 21 minutes of round trip driving.

Internet customers now have easy access to more than 2.5 million unique titles, while the regular mall-sized bookstore carries just 20,000 and the chain superstores carry about 100,000 titles.

Selection is better online, and the better online stores such as Amazon use several "product recommenders" to advise customers on what additional books they might be interested in. Already, 55 percent of used book sales take place on the Internet. Internet sales account for just 9 percent of new book sales, although the share is growing.

The efficiency of buying online has increased overall demand for more obscure titles not usually stocked by brick-and-mortar retailers. A 12-percent boost in backlist sales is directed attributed to increased availability of these scarcer titles by small online vendors, according to the MIT researchers. They estimated that about a third of the volume of Internet book sales involved sales of those titles not normally carried by a typical mall bookstore. All of this bodes well for the online used bookseller.

On top of the price savings and convenience factor for buyers, bookstores are just a horrible place to try to find a book. They might be great for browsing, but there is no easier way of finding a specific title than typing it into a search box on your PC.

See a real-time list of the most highly sought after used and collectible books.

Read more free articles on selling used books profitably online: http://www.weberbooks.com/selling/selling.htm

Steve Weber is author of "The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site" (ISBN 0977240606). Got a question for Steve? Send to: steve_weber@yahoo.com