Month: May 2010

Archival Storage Boxes – A Bookseller's Trusted Ally

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One of the things separating modern man from his mammoth-hunting, cave-dwelling ancestors is paperwork. Advancing glaciers and saber-tooth tigers kept early hunters and gatherers on their toes. Ice ages and large carnivores have been replaced by credit agencies and the Internal Revenue Service. The flint-tipped lance which protected and fed ancient hunters is useless in … Read more

A Novel Book is now Online, marketing tips appreciated!

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A Novel Book online bookstore

Well, finally after many stops & starts, A Novel Book is back up and running. I am much happier this time around – and the site is so much more user friendly than the last so hats off to the designers.

Now, what to do next?

I have started listing the books.

I have written my listings up. I have added synopsis. I have even added information about the authors I have a few books of. I’ve written up my Meta descriptions / keywords. Then I rewrote them. Then I did some more research, and rewrote them again.

Then I spent a bit of time googling some of my listings. A few came up on the first page or 2 which surprised me. The rest didn’t, which didn’t surprise me. I must’ve just fluked the few that come up high in the searches.

So I went back and tried to find out what I did differently to those listings.

NOTHING. They have ALL been entered the same way. Gee, this is harder than I thought. So I’ve left that alone for now. I have bigger issues.

Advertising!

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Bookstore Owners, Are Church Sales Your Enemy or Your Partner?

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Whether or not we want to admit it, local, charitable, nonprofit organizations are in competition for local dollars with businesses that need to turn a profit to stay alive. School bake sales take customers from the bakery, church fund-raising meals siphon diners away from restaurants, and amateur sales of arts, books and crafts, while they … Read more

Book Experience – from the inside out

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My first professional experience with books was learning the hard slog of making them. I was what they called a “Printer’s Devil”, a job that meant a lot of tasks way below the normal printers capabilities. Sweeping floors, cleaning up etc. This job was more or less a chance to see if I could become … Read more

Shipping A Container Full of Books Back to Australia

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Good Day,

From time to time we like to post profiles of used bookshops. If you ever find yourself in the area please pop in on these great little places, we need more of them and they need your support. Of course I don’t need to say this to other used book dealers,  you guys are crazy for these places and likely would drive a hundred miles if you find out about a new shop, but if you are a casual buyer of experienced books then please continue making the effort. The small shop owner needs more visits from you (and bring a friend).

We recently received a note from Therese Holland of McLeods Books, Melbourne Australia. She casually mentioned that about once a year she would fly to the US to purchase 10 000 books for her small shop. Holly Cow. I thought that was a little unusual and asked if she’d mind sharing the details with you guys. Here is Therese’s reply and please do pop in on her if you are in the Melbourne area.

Second Hand Books Melbourne

I used to buy Mbags full of books from sellers in the United States when it was a princely $1.05 per pound for surface mail print post but I heard through the grapevine that surface mail was going to be abolished in May 2007. A few of us had said we would go over and buy books and send them back but never did anything about it. I really, really wanted to go and I have a pocket full of frequent flyer points to get me there.I asked about coming over  on the eBay US booksellers board and got some really great responses with one ebayer sending me a message that if I wanted to come across her way she would take me round (in exchange for a little Aussie culture for her kids). We were able to go across school holidays so it worked out well. I had seen her post on the boards a few times and she seemed to be a really nice person -anyhow I took the plunge and found myself and my son in Iowa in April 2007.

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