Safe holiday decorations for the bookstore

Yew looks pretty but is toxic if eaten. Keep it away from kids.

Maybe it’s your first year decorating your brick and mortar, or this year it’s finally YOUR turn to handle the decorating, or with the slow economy, you want to do something really eye-catching. You have such plans!  But first save yourself a lot of headaches by making sure your plans are safe and won’t cause you headaches, literally.  Many popular holiday decorations can be fire hazards, are poisonous to children, or can even induce seizures! Items that are fine in a home setting may be inappropriate in a shop because of the amount of handling they’ll receive, because unsupervised children may get their hands on them, or because you’re a public shop you may have people with special health concerns come in.

PLANTS

I normally go for a natural pine bough wrap around the front banister rather than an artifical one each year since I don’t have to store it and I can compost it to feed my spring flowers.   Live or cut natural materials can be a good choice for decorating, but beware of a few popular items.

Pointsetta

Pointsettas are from the same family as latex and can cause allergic reactions in individuals allergic to latex. Skip these if you have employees you know are allergic. They’re also mildly toxic.  It won’t kill someone to eat them, but will irritate the digestive tract of children and animals and may result in vomiting.  Keep them out of reach of children and store pets.  Pointsettas can also stain things red if crushed.

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Four of the Top Autobiographies

People have always been fascinated by the lifestyles of the rich, famous and influential. Top autobiographies carry a large demand, and the reasons for the success of these books are pretty easy to grasp. With money and fame comes the luxury of being able to lead an interesting and inspiring life. Top autobiographies feature the … Read more

So You Want to be a Novelist

We received a nice email from Corinne Reidy yesterday letting us now about a list of resources for the aspiring novelists out there. 25 Blogs Every Aspiring Novelist Should Read is the name and I’ll be giving it a good look through later today. If you want to write, you have to read. Period. But … Read more

Getting Started Selling on Amazon

By Stephanie Samek

If you dream about having an income-producing bookstore without the massive overhead of a bricks- and-mortar business, then online selling is definitely the way to go. For the beginner, an Amazon bookshop offers the easiest way to get your store started in a highly visible marketplace filled with millions of shoppers. But in order to sell there, it’s important to know how to co-exist with Amazon’s TOS (terms- of-service) while keeping your customers happy. At our bookstore in Michigan, we’ve spent six years learning how to grow an online business with Amazon. Read on for our suggestions on how to assemble and run your own bookstore professionally.


It begins with 2nd hand books, of course, something you might know a little about. If not, don’t worry; there are devices which will help with your education. If you don’t already have a stash of books set aside, you need to start gathering your stock. One of the best ways to accomplish this task is to sign up with a book-scouting service. The most inexpensive andscouting for 2nd hand booksversatile service we’ve found is at Scoutpal.com. Scoutpal allows you to look up the value of books with an internet-enabled cell phone or PDA during your book hunting. Simply type in the ISBN number (if available) to have the software present you with the lowest used prices of that book, based on condition, plus the Amazon price and the sales rank. This information is important to have while searching for salable books. You can also invest in a scanning device to hook up to a cell phone, to increase the speed of your hunting.

Of course you won’t be scanning or inputting every book you see. Not only will that slow you down, but you might attract unwanted attention in certain locations. Here is a general rule-of-thumb guide to help you along.

The Bad: Anything with outdated information or an expired fad topic needs to be dodged in nonfiction. Old computer books, old political books, old fitness books, old self-help books, old reference books, old textbooks and the like. Stay away from most mass market paperbacks and hard covers in fiction, any reader’s digest or book club books, advance reading copies and encyclopedias. Books must also be in good condition to sell, so no missing pages or strong odors. Mildew or water damage is not allowed.

The Good: Out-of-print or in-print titles that still have an audience or an interest factor, and haven’t flooded the market with millions of 2nd hand books. Unusual, specialized or hot topics like whittling wood, racing cars, or organic gardening, for example, might fly. Brand-new popular bestseller fiction or non-fiction may be salable, but usually only briefly. Some sellers specialize, or develop a ‘niche’, for example, in children’s books and non-fiction topics like technical manuals. There is no need to specialize if you don’t want to, but be aware you’ll have to study more items until you develop a nose for what sells.

Here are some examples of titles that sold well for us recently:

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