Sure, we’re all glued to our Kindles and iPads these days, but guess what? Physical books are actually thriving right now. 

Enter PangoBooks, a four-year-old startup that’s changing the game for used book lovers with their super easy-to-use mobile marketplace.

“The physical book industry is better than it’s ever been and continues to rise,” says Renee Powers, Director of Partnerships and Publicity at PangoBooks. “And then you add in audiobooks and ebooks, and it is wild. There are so many people going back to the written word, which is so lovely.”

From Textbooks to Book Lovers’ Paradise

PangoBooks was started by Grant, a software engineer and Navy veteran who just wanted to sell his old college textbooks. But it’s turned into something way bigger! 

“We’ve become a marketplace for all readers,” Powers explains. “Actually, textbooks are a very small part of what we do now.”

Think of PangoBooks like Mercari or Poshmark, but exclusively for books and bookish merch. What makes it so addictive? The ridiculous simplicity. 

“All you have to do is take a photo of the book and scan the barcode,” Powers says. “You get all of this information about the book that autofills for you. It’s just like four clicks, honestly.”

Make Actual Money From Your Bookshelf

While most people are making a few bucks per book, some sellers have struck gold on the platform. 

“We’ve seen transactions ranging from 80 cents to a couple thousand dollars,” Powers reveals. 

One of the most jaw-dropping sales? A signed first edition collection of President Chester Arthur’s speeches with a certificate of authentication!

PangoBooks has also become an unexpected fundraising tool for many groups. Powers shares her own experience: 

“I sing in a nonprofit choir here in Minneapolis, and our choir members have donated books to sell on PangoBooks. Just in Q4, we made $500 for the choir.” 

Plenty of libraries, arts groups, and schools are using PangoBooks to raise money for their missions, too.

Good for the Planet (and Your Wallet)

PangoBooks is big on sustainability. 

“We strongly recommend saving those Amazon bubble mailers, saving those Target order boxes and repurposing them,” Powers notes. “We want to make book buying and book selling as green, eco-friendly, and sustainable for this planet as possible.”

They’ve also created PangoBucks, a flexible system where sellers can either cash out their earnings or use them to buy more books on the platform. The company regularly runs fun promotions on social media, giving away PangoBucks for engaging with their posts or winning trivia contests.

Small Team, Big Dreams

Despite being tiny – just five full-time employees and one part-time consultant – PangoBooks is making waves in the used book market. They’ve built a strong following on BookTok and Bookstagram, led by their marketing director, Esther, who Powers describes as “an OG Bookstagrammer” with around 70,000 followers.

Their latest innovation? A search engine that lets you find multiple books from the same seller, saving on shipping costs. 

“You can put those titles into our new search engine, and it will filter sellers that have all three of those titles for you,” Powers explains. “It will also filter it by who’s got the best price, too.”

Powers can’t hide her enthusiasm for the platform’s future. 

“I really believe in it. I was a seller and buyer before I joined the team, and I really stand behind it. We’ve got big plans, and I can’t wait to see it really take off.”

So if your bookshelf is overflowing (we’ve all been there!) or you’re hunting for your next great read, PangoBooks offers a super simple, eco-friendly solution that might just fund your next vacation – or at least your next book haul!