I’ve got some inventory in place, some in a pile waiting to be listed, and more on it’s way. I’m making all these little decisions about which site and hosting to use and how to go about sourcing my books. I have my tax resale form saved and and copies of it completed and submitted to suppliers. I’m starting to look into advertising and promotion. It’s nice to actually have some stuff in the rear view mirror.
I actually need to start looking into expanding my storage for inventory. The decision at hand is whether to buy some shelving or get the some materials and try to build my own. With the way things are going right now, I’m leaning heavily towards just purchasing some at a good deal and having them delivered. Maybe I’m just older and lazy, but I think I have found some at a good deal. It’s all about efficiency, right?
It’s very appealing to continue listing on Amazon as they do have the vast share of the market exposure, but it does nothing for building my own brand. I need to break away from the third-party selling and become accustomed to running my own show.
Instinctively, I want to list things on Facebook shops and eBay and Amazon, but if I’m ever going to have my own shop, I need to build it. It’s got to start with me and I know it can be done. There are independent bookstore owners out there who are successful and have become an integral part of their community. I’ll never do that on Amazon, eBay, or Facebook shops.
I have definitely decided on the pre-made shelves at this point. Now the matter at hand, for the time being, becomes the best way to promote the website. I had a Zoom call with a guy that is the promotions guy for the Texas Legends ( the players one step away from becoming Dallas Mavericks) and he is going to get back with me about some promotional ideas. How much do you think it would cost to be the official book supplier to the Texas Legends? We’ll find out. That’ll be interesting.
Marketing and advertising is going to be the most costly part of this venture up front and will, hopefully, decrease (percentage-wise) from the overall expense list of running this bookshop. It’s hard to figure out where to spend advertising dollars. It’s definitely not a lack of options. It’s figuring out what’s going to get me the best ROI. I somehow thought I would promote the hell out of it on free-form social media alone, but I’m apparently not really great at that. I have a few more things I want to try along the lines of free social media promotion tactics, but I don’t know how far they will move the shop along. We’ll see. Stay tuned!
Kurt's Books 