Kurt's Blog & Podcast about Books
Yes, I knew running around in public with a Bluetooth scanner scanning used retail books would eventually get me in trouble, but it just happens when you least expect it, and by the most unusual suspects. Alright. The first time was last week. I was going to a library sale, not the regular sale, butContinue reading “I got yelled at…twice.”
If you’re familiar with Gary Vee (Gary Vaynerchuk, Head of VaynerMedia), then you have probably seen one of his numerous social media productions called Trash Talk. It’s a series of videos about Gary running around town on a Saturday morning and checking out garage sales. Now, if you know anything about Gary, you know he’sContinue reading “Humble Beginnings”
It’s been about eight months since Baker & Taylor announced they would no longer be providing wholesale distribution of books to retailers. Ingram Books is the only remaining major wholesale book distributor. Yesterday, I received an email inviting me to The Bookshop. I haven’t thoroughly checked it out, but it’s apparently a new wholesale bookContinue reading “Finding Books for Retail”
Marketing and branding and advertising are all hard to get right and we don’t get them right when we first start out. It’s practically impossible because determining whether we get it “right” depends on feedback and results from our earlier efforts. Hell. Quite a few of us can’t even define a distinction between marketing, branding,Continue reading “Hustler vs. Hassler”
So, the new year is just about 4% over and what have you done so far? I’ve spent a good bit of my Sunday afternoon looking into the intricacies and pros and cons of being an Amazon Pro seller. Of course, I have been doing all of my research on the second largest search engineContinue reading “Considering Arbitrage (Fancy Word for Selling Used Stuff)”
I made beef stew last night. It is thick and warm and hearty. I made a fresh pot of coffee and found a day-old loaf of olive bread for ninety nine cents. I just had a bowl of stew, a chunk of bread and a mug of coffee. We are set up in the livingContinue reading “Why Aren’t You Reading?”
I truly am. I’m in a Paradise Bakery in Dallas at the moment with a coffee and my favorite proprietary Paradise muffin: The Mandarin Orange muffin. Alright. Apologies for the clickbait title. Technically, it’s true…and it is a damn good muffin. The purpose of this post is to tell you of an opportunity for WorldContinue reading “I’m in Paradise!”
I’m reading The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell, a conglomeration or anecdotes and adages about bookstores and their owners. Each of the stories averages two a couple pages but they are all quaint and entertaining. The content of this book meets or exceeds the minimum criteria for quaint bookstore anecdotes which make the reader wantContinue reading “The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell”
My wife had her birthday celebration a couple days ago. I took the day off. We started with homemade waffles. We went to a neighborhood nail spa and got her a mani-pedi. We went to see Jojo Rabbit, an award-winning movie with an amazing cast. I fixed a seasoned steak dinner with baked potato. TheContinue reading “The Birthday Bash!”
Someone in the bookstore owners group recommended a title for book retailers wanting to operate pop up stores and I had to check it out. I found a couple more titles along the way which pertain to pricing and the economics of owning a bookstore. The book industry has been a trade of narrow margins.Continue reading “Got Some Books for Me!”
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