I've realised with a quick Google and a credit card the whole world of distributors is out there - then through a few orders, you can begin establishing a relationship.

In my ignorant opinion, motivational books (personal) seem to be lucrative but Finance books (professional) can make it easier to establish a club/group following.

I wish I had jumped out of bed and said I want to "start a bookshop".Been thinking about it for a while. I googled a lot, and I have done some research on "street" and bookshop prices.

For instance, at amazon.com and Barnes and nobles(http://www.barnesandnoble.com/), rich dad poor dad goes for at least $10(kshs 800/-). they offer free shipping for orders over 25. even if I was to go for that offer,and sell at no profit at all I would still not beat the street prices of Kshs 500/-(and these guys are selling at a profit).

Losing my virginity(richard branson)(a book that I would recommend to anyone), goes for atleast $13.72(kshs 1120).International shipping is $5(ksh 320/-) At bookpoint, it goes for kshs 1210/-.

This is what led me to ask the question.

@muganda. Thanks for the reply. I will look into the independent distributor

The price at kalahari for both books is minus delivery. Below are the delivery costs from kalahari



Losing my virginity and rich dad poor dad will cost kes 1532 and kes 1591 respectively. this is way above the prices at bookpoint(kes 1210 for losing my virginity) and the prices on the street(tom mboya) for rich dad and poor dad(kes 500.)

I want to start small and focus on leading motivational and investment books from different publishers.

If I were to order 10 copies from kalahari(delivery costs quoted below post), it wuld cost me 982 kshs per book. Add 16% VAT, the cost comes to kes 1139 per book. Assume we make a markup of kes 100/-, this comes to 1239/-, still more costly than bookpoint(I think they make more than 100/-) per book.

This is what led me to ask where(how) the guys at tom mboya bring in their stuff.

@chaka...who are those?

@Tucs chaka is right. Unfortunately their online retailers only sell in Indian http://www.firstandsecon...tle=losing+my+virginity
and i remember there was a cheaper one i wanted to use to buy technical books for my course and they were <1/3 of the amazon prices but they dont send outside india and 2 they usually dont have glossy paper which is the standard back home!
So best bet fly to india either put send through plane expensive or ship them. There is no duty on books which is a great advantage.
I eventually sent my indian pal who goes to visit and he bought the book for 1/3 of the price but he charged me the excess he had to carry cause the book was 4Kgs despite not being glossy paper!!!
Advice for you is go the indian way for new books!
PS: The street sellers just sell second hand books which have been donated and they buy ya camera. Their used to be a place near Kenya cinema eons ago im not sure if they still exist! Hizo za streets ni kubahatisha!!!
I wasn't going to post anything. @ pharo vocalised what i was thinking about you but you proved us wrong!!
PS: Kuna some somali guys who ship things from abroad for very cheap takes 2 weeks and somehow does not go through KRA so i think. Wako eastleigh can try and find you there number. Im sure they ship from UK, US, Nigeria not sure about India??
Good luck!!!