Are you curious about joining Usborne Books & More? Are you looking to expand your home library? Maybe you just want to make some money from home? Or supplement your other income? In this post, I’ll answer some of the most frequently asked questions I get about being an Usborne Books & More consultant!!

Want to just jump around to specific questions?? I got you

The Basics:

What exactly IS Usborne Books & More??

Usborne Publishing, often called Usborne Books, is a United Kingdom-based publisher of children’s books. Its direct-selling division in the U.S. is called Usborne Books & More. It is a well-established company that has twice been recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of The 200 Best Small Companies in America and three times by Fortune Magazine as one of America’s 100 Fastest Growing Small Companies, and has been in existence for over 30 years.

In late 2008, Usborne Books & More expanded to include Kane Miller Publishing, an internationally known publisher of children’s books with over 20 years in the industry (it’s the “& More” in the name!)

Today, Usborne Books & More distributes books through thousands of independent consultants who sell directly to the consumer via home shows, direct sales, book fairs, and web sites.

How much does it cost to join Usborne Books & More?

There are usually two options for starter kits: a mini kit or a full kit. You can find more details on all available kits here.

October 2022 ONLY – Join for just $10!! Valued at $68, this limited time High Five kit includes 6 month eBusiness package AND a $20 book credit!

The Mini Kit is just $59!!! (Plus tax, if applicable) and comes with 4 popular titles and 6 promotional mini books. These mini books make great prizes for your customers! Plus, a $15 book credit to pick out whatever you’d like in the catalog!!

The Full Kit is $99 (plus tax, if applicable) and comes with 10 books and 6 promotional mini books. Plus a $30 book credit!

Do I get a discount as an Usborne Books & More Consultant?

Not exactly. You get a commission! Specifically, you get at least a 25% commission on all of your sales, including your own purchases. Which means you’d see that 25% savings in your paycheck the following Wednesday.

What are the minimums?

Short answer: There are none. You can sell nothing and it never matters (except to you, because that means you also make no money 🤣). There are no quotas; you don’t ever have to buy anything if you don’t want to!

Longer answer: For your first 6 months, your online website is free. After that, it costs $8/mo to keep that website active. Your shopping website looks like this: h6089.myubam.com (this is mine). You aren’t required to keep it live! If you want to take a break, you just don’t pay it (it’s never automatically paid; it’s not a recurring charge you’ll forget about and regret – I hate those). I log in and pay for six months at a time since I’m not great about remembering to pay each month! But, other consultants only pay for the website for the months they know they’ll be throwing parties/selling books. Its’s totally up to you.

Do I have to keep inventory?

NOPE. Which was a big reason I joined. I didn’t want to ever be left with a large stack of product to sell.

Are there hidden costs I need to know about?

No! There are no secret fees.

Like I mentioned above, your website (the one where you sell your books, like this one), is free the first 6 months after joining. After that, it’s $8/mo. It’s NEVER automatically deducted from your card, you have to log in and pay it. You can let it lapse when you know you wont be working, and pay it when you want to throw a party. It’s entirely up to you. I have it up all the time because one-off sales happen and I don’t want to miss them! Well, sometimes I forget to log in and pay, thank you mom-brain, but once I see it’s down, I pay it!!

Also, I’m pretty cheap, let’s be honest, but I’ve never once resented having to pay for my website to be up. It takes just one $32 order for that to be paid for!

How do I get paid as an Usborne Books & More Consultant?

Speaking of paychecks, how do you get paid!? I’m so glad you asked. You’d get paid by direct deposit every Wednesday. So 25% of every sale you made in one week (Sun-Sat), gets paid out to you the next Wednesday. So, say you want to make an extra $100/mo. You’d just need to sell $400 in books each month! In my experience (to be clear: no financial promises are being made here) – that’s basically 1-2 parties a month!

But wait, there’s more! If you sell $1000 in a month, you get an additional 4% bonus in commission. That bonus payout is SO FUN. It’s paid near the beginning of each month, for the previous month’s sales. I LOVE that extra pay day!

If you promote (to Team Leader and above), you ALSO get 8.5% on your sales AND your team’s sales! That translates to 33.5% commission on your own sales and 8.5% of all sales from your immediate team. It pays to promote, in more ways than one!

Is this a pyramid scheme?

Well, no, those are illegal. For good reason. But I get why you’re worried. MLMs and direct sales companies have a bad rap. You can find several articles (and even Facebook groups) dedicated to bashing MLMs for preying on women and being secret pyramid schemes. But, a pyramid scheme is where you get paid to recruit others, rather than paid to sell product. With Usborne Books & More, you are paid on commission for selling the books! You never have to recruit, if you don’t want to. Your goals with this business are up to you.

Can you make more if you recruit? Yup. But that’s based on your team doing well. Nobody makes money off somebody signing up (e.g., there is no cut of the starter kit), so adding 100 people to your team doesn’t make you money, unless you help them to succeed. AKA, you’re a good team leader. Like, ahem, a manager. Managers make more money at a “regular” company. If you build a team, anywhere, and manage them, you get a raise.

I personally think many MLM and direct sales companies get the bad reputation from the mandatory quotas or minimums to keep certain ranks. Or pressure from within the company to purchase the products! Now, I am probably one of my best customers haha but that’s because I genuinely love the books and want them for my family. Not one single time in my 5+ years with this company, has anybody urged me to buy a damn thing.

But I hate sales! I don’t want to be salesy! I don’t want to spam my friends!

Ok, that wasn’t really a question, but I GET IT!! I hate being salesy, too!!! So, I’m not!! I’m an attorney, I’m a mom, I’m a knitter – I’m not a salesperson. What I do is share my love of these books, authentically, in every party I throw. I recommend books based on the provided interests and ages of guests’ children and help guests navigate the website. That’s it! And, guess what? Sales happen.

I don’t bombard my Facebook profile with ads, sales, or pictures of my books. My Facebook is limited to pictures of my kids and pets, #sorrynotsorry. I have a Facebook group (feel free to join!!) where I share new releases, sales, do giveaways, but it’s all in there and not on my wall. People in the group WANT to learn about the books!! But, even there, I don’t do sales pitches all the time because that’s exhausting for everybody. Myself included.

Look, nobody wants you to bother your friends. Not me, not this company, not the internet.

What are the age ranges for the books?

Usborne Books & More sells books for newborns all the way up to age 115. In the current catalog, the highest reading level is 7th grade, going by AR levels. Which means, plenty for adults to enjoy, too. When you think about it, most adult books are not written above an 8th grade reading level. I may be guilty of buying the Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow and 48 Hours for myself. We have awesome coloring books with inspirational quotes, art books, and encyclopedias. There are thick board books, picture books, excellent and engaging nonfiction, and activity books for all ages. If you’re looking for something in particular, don’t hesitate to email me! I love pointing readers in the right direction!

How do I find an Usborne Books & More consultant near me?

I wish there was an easy way to do that. Unfortunately, there is no directory available to find this out. BUT, if you really want to see some books in person or connect with a local seller, I totally recommend asking in a local Facebook group! Maybe you’re in a moms group for your town, maybe your town has a general community page. Ask there!! You will make a local consultant VERY happy to help you!! In the meantime, I’m always found here 🙂 If you’re local to Newberg, Oregon (or even Yamhill County), you are happy to stop by anytime and browse the books I have on hand.

The Nitty-Gritty:

What happens after you join as a consultant?

When you join as an Usborne Books & More consultant, you’ll be emailed your very own shopping link that you can share with whoever you like! Your sponsor and team leader will then start helping you figure out your launch party! For your first 8 weeks as a consultant, you are able to offer double free books to any host with parties over $250 in sales (plus another party scheduled). This is SO APPEALING to hosts, it’s better than any monthly special UBAM offers regularly. Take advantage of this and book up some parties!! When I joined, I had just hosted, so I couldn’t throw my own launch. Instead, two friends offered to host for me. That was all I needed to jump start my business! Within one party, I was outside of my “friend circle.”

The first 8 weeks are also full of incentives for you as a new consultant! Called CLIMB: Consultants Learning to Ignite and Maximize their Business. Free books, cash, and gifts are offered to encourage you to achieve sales goals (and recruiting goals if that’s your jam). See graphic below for more details!

What if I don’t want to recruit anybody?

Then don’t!! I joined because I felt the same way. I never wanted to have to “build a team” or harass people to join under me. I just wanted to make money from home!! So…I do! I run parties online, I share books in my Facebook group, I share on my instagram page, but I don’t ever badger people.

My only goal with regards to recruiting is: I don’t want to be the reason somebody doesn’t join. I want to make sure people know that the opportunity is there! There are people who need this opportunity. When I joined thinking it would just be for extra money, I had no idea how much I needed the personal development, the friendships, and the community, too.

How much support do I get as an Usborne Books & More Consultant?

You get all the support you need! To start, you’ll get training to help you throw your parties (including awesome templates!), how to navigate the websites (the front facing one customers see AND the back office version that only consultants see), and other nitty gritty details.

We have group hubs on and off Facebook to help with graphics, making book recommendations, your specific team support, etc.

You also get one-on-one support through whoever sponsored you and your team leader! (They may or may not be the same person). If you join with me, I try to make sure I give you the support you actually need. I don’t bombard with information, but I also don’t disappear. Joining can be SO overwhelming, so it’s my job to make sure it doesn’t feel that way. At least, not overwhelming because of meeee. I hold weekly office hours and any time you want to schedule a one-on-one, you can! Would you like to chat via zoom?? Schedule a meet up here.

Are the parties online? Or in person?

Both! Either! When the direct sales portion of Usborne Books & More started 30 years ago, it was all in-home parties. As the internet progressed, the focus turned to online parties. The majority of the parties I throw are on Facebook! There are other online avenues available – Sqweee, Instagram parties, Zoom, email catalog parties, basically anywhere people are found online – you can host a “party” there.

You can also do home parties! They are SO fun and I wish more people wanted them!! But the convenience of an online party (hanging out with friends, no cleaning up the house, partying in pajamas, no quieting down the kiddos), can’t be beat.

What if I don’t want to do parties?

You don’t have to do any parties if you don’t want to! There are other ways to make money with Usborne Books & More. Vendor events (where you sell the books in person), book fairs (at preschools or, if you become an Educational Services Representative, libraries and K-12 schools), fundraising with Cards for a Cause or Reach for the Stars, and more.

How do you even go about making book recommendations when the catalog is so big??

I know, right!? There are over 2,000 books in there!!! It’s very, very overwhelming at first. But, guess what? There is an amazing, private, Facebook group where thousands of consultants share their knowledge on books! There are videos, pictures, reviews, commentary on virtually every book in the catalog, all in that Facebook group. So, you will not be thrown to the wolves. Just search in there, and if you can’t find it, ask in there! I’ve asked several times saying “AAAH I’m in a party and a guest wants a book like _______ and I don’t know what to suggest!!” and other book bosses have come to the rescue.

Why did you join?

Oh that’s so nice of you to ask. I did a whole post on that over here!

Did I miss a question? Is there anything else you’d like to know?

Leave a comment, or send me a private message, and I’ll update this post!!