When you’re opening a bookstore, probably the last thing on your mind is how to shelve your books. You just get some cases and put them on, right? Wrong. Particularly if you’re building your own cases, you want to determine HOW you’re going to display your books first. Otherwise you’ll get stuck with a shelving system that doesn’t work for you or your customers and costs you time and money to redo.
The key part to consider is what KIND of books will you be selling. If it’s almost all paperback, you’ll want to use a different system than if you’ll be carrying only hardcovers.
Brick and Mortar Thoughts
Some tips from the Pros on how to operate a successful bookshop.
Creating Demand in your Bookstore
Don’t Wait for Demand—Create It!
We all know that demand drives prices in out-of-print books and drives sales of new books, too, but how many of us realize that we can work to create demand? Let me take my example from my own bookstore.
Dog Ears Books in Northport, Michigan, has a small but concentrated selection of books on agriculture, both new and used. Farming might seem a strange specialty for a bookstore that survives year to year on the seasonal influx vacationers, but while it’s true that many more people walk into the store looking for summer beach reading, farming is near and dear to my heart, and I want to have a part in promoting sustainable agricultural practices. If this seems far-out and irrelevant to your store, think of your own favorite category, which might be easier to boost than mine. The question is still, how to do it?
Event Hosting – Bookshop Style
I have tidied up the shop, cleared out the rugs, moved the tables around, taken all the big books off the trestles and relocated the trestles, and I feel – well, almost refreshed!
A Small Town Book Signing
A guest post by: Christina Ambrosia Ambrosia’s Books and More www.ambrosiasbooks.com Ambrosia’s Books and More had its first author signing! I’m still learning so much. I had no idea how to do it. I didn’t think anyone would want to come to my bookstore in the middle of nowhere to do a signing so I … Read more
Making It Memorable with an Impromptu Salon
More and more, I am convinced that what we are selling in a bookstore—and here’s an area where the bricks-and-mortar business differs sharply from online selling—is a total experience. In my bookstore, philosophy is often the focus of an impromptu salon…
Advertising in the Used Book World
Advertising in the Used Book World Shane Gottwals Gottwals Books www.gottwalsbooks.com A recent article I wrote really got me to thinking about advertising and the small, independent bookstore. Is it just my experience, but do you never see bookstores advertise in any sort of medium that people actually see? I know that, obviously, direct sales … Read more
What Services Can Make Your Bookstore Unique?
As a writer for a blog that reviews independent bookstores, I’ve visited quite a few and taken note of some of the unusual services that the stores offer their customers. Here’s a review of what I’ve found in the last year, maybe something will strike your fancy as a fun addition to your store. Recommendations … Read more
Closing Time at the Book Store
a guest post by Jo Canham of Blarney Books
For information on becoming a contributor click here..
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It’s been a quiet afternoon with the last two hours completely to myself, the sky is turning an ominous grey-black colour, the small hand is moving closer to the five, and I start busying myself with pack-up. Switch off the music, the heating, pack my mobile in my pocket, and the front door swings open. In come a woman, a man, two small children, and a request, “Can we bring our dog in? He’ll bark if we leave him outside.” Wondering what they do at the supermarket, I agree that it’s okay if he stays on his lead, and I sit back down, glance discretely at my watch, and surreptitiously flick the heating back on. The kids run to the children’s section and start going through the toy-box, the dad sits down and opens his paper, and the mum disappears with the dog down the fiction aisle.
I’m just getting back into my book when the door opens a second time. This time I glance at my watch with less discretion. It’s after five. A middle-aged woman hurries up to me and asks, “You haven’t got a copy of People of the Book, have you?” Everything about this woman, this request, smacks of book club, so I have to ask, “Is it a book club read?” Of course it is. I deliver the bad news – she’s been trumped by another, more fleet-footed member. “I’m sorry, I sold a copy yesterday.” “Well, perhaps you have other copies out the back?” ‘Out the back’ I have a home, not boxes stacked with book club recommendations, Oprah or otherwise. “No, I’m sorry. At the moment I don’t have another. The new book shop will have several copies available.” “Oh, god, I don’t want to pay full price – I might not even like it!” No, perish the thought of forking out money for a new experience. I hunt around for a pencil, and take her details down in the unlikely event that another will turn up in the next few days. Somewhat calmed, she makes her exit as another couple enter.