Thoughts On Selling Bookish Items Using Widgets...

Hello,
I have been following the dream of making money selling items using widgets. People make all sorts of wild claims. Make a $1000 a day online selling hair cream, make $10,000 a month with megabucks words. I checked my adsense for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised, I had earned 96 cents. I was expecting nothing. So, it is remotely possible after a year or two you could make a hundred dollars to two hundred a month with very high traffic from adsense. At least it is something.

At least adsense guarantees you make something when people look at your site. I have earned nothing from my widgets which attempt to sell things. However, I cannot give up hope. People have actually looked at the widgets. 17 people looked at my widget bucks site for comic books, and 17 people looked at my widgetbucks widget for bestsellers. Maybe, they even went back and supported their local bookstore. That is it. Please support your local bookstore.

They told the local bookstore worker, lets name him Bob.

Customer: "Hi Bob, I saw this wonderful graphic novel on this blog called V for Vendetta could you get it for me."

Bob, "Sure thing, we have it right here, that will be $17 dollars, cash, debit or credit."

Customer, "I have a twenty right here. One second." Customer fishes in his pocket and releases some lint, then pulls out a twenty dollar bill. "Oh and can I have that Harry Potter bookmark."

Bob, "Yes, that will be two dollars more for a total of $19. Here is your change." Bob hands the customer $1.

Customer, "Thankyou."

Bob, "No, thank you for coming by, have a wonderful day."

Customer leaves.


I think five people looked at my audiobooks widget. Also, a number of people looked at the Powells store site, but nobody bought anything. Maybe, they came back later to purchase it, or maybe they went to Amazon to purchase it. Once again, if you can go to Bob, your local hypothetical bookstore owner if you can. Support independent bookstores. They are part of your community and many of them are struggling to survive. I take the time to read the American Booksellers Association website. It is the site for independent booksellers.

I tried to add an ebooks widget today, Ebooks.com, maybe someone will buy an ebook. I am really not sure about this though. Ebooks are the hardest bookstore type item to sell.

The next widget which I added was something called Cafe Press, a free store, which allows you to sell things with a logo you put on them. I put a logo on some items "Book Calender, A Blog About Books" in a hideous yellow on some mugs, a datebook, a few stickers, and other kitschy things.

I now have my widget bookstore, many items you would see in a bookstore in a little corner of a blog. I really don't expect you to buy anything. It is more an experiment than anything else at this point. I will be looking around and listening to the wonderful promises and glitter of monetizing your blog. Maybe, I will even reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and earn $20 in commissions by the end of next month. If I do, I'll buy myself a cup of coffee in celebration.