Shine On You Crazy Bookstore

I hobble down the main street in my neighborhood, going from one bookstore to another (there are only two). One is a used bookstore which stocks plenty of bargain to fill in the gaps. The other is a new bookstore. Back when I was a sales rep I tried a few times to sell to the new bookstore, but the owners had no interest.

Despite my constant cajoling, I do get it. You have built your reputation on all new books, frontlist and backlist, author events, the ability to return most inventory for credit, preorders, and everything sparkling clean and brand new. Bargain can be daunting. Here are another 30,000 titles to sift through, looking for what will work in your well-curated store. And you must have the courage of your convictions -- no returning for credit. So keep doing what you're doing and make it the best book experience you can for your customers and staff. I still think you're crazy, but good on you. 

You knew there would be more cajoling, so here it is. I was looking for Silent Cavalry by Howell Raines. The used bookstore didn't have it, even the public library didn't have it, at least that day. The new bookstore also did not have it. They offered to order for me, but I decided to wait. 

This was a weekday morning, maybe 11:00. The used bookstore had about 15 people shopping and two buying books. When I went to shop in the new bookstore, I was the only customer there. 

If you had one bargain table with short stacks of between 30 and 50 titles, and then 2 each of another 50 titles to shelve in your sections, you will have invested enough to give bargain a fair shot and you will not break the bank to do it. 

And don't worry about the time it takes to parse those lists and websites. Some of the best sales reps in the business are working for bargain wholesalers. At least for the first order, let them put it together for you. They are motivated to make sure your first order is full of their best sellers to indies. 

Price everything 50% off list price to start. If you're paying $4.00 for a $25.00 book and selling it at $12.50, your margin is good, and you can afford future markdowns if necessary. I would advise marking these with stickers and entering them in your inventory system, "R" before the ISBN, but if that's too much, just dot them and make sure your customers and staff know that these are 50% off list price.

This is just a start, getting your toes wet before jumping in the pool, but you will be pleased enough with the results to come back for more. 

Big Box Detox

Strange what motivates me to write my first post in how many years:

Costco's decision to stop selling books. 

This might be bad for publishers. Print runs will be smaller, especially for blockbusters. My favorite book of 2023 was The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. I wonder what the Costco quantities were for that? In any case, the thing I thought of first was how this shift will impact the only businesses I care about, independent and used bookstores.

The first thing that comes to mind is that it won't, much. The unfortunate loss of a venue where people can buy real books will, also unfortunately, not drive crowds of customers to your doors, at least at first. You will get some increases, more as time goes by. It does present a marketing opportunity where you can tell your community that you're still there, selling way more titles than Costco ever did, and you're there year-round. (Costco is going to sell books during the holidays.) The idea is to make sure that the customers who did shop Costco for books, not just because they happened to be there to pick up a 144 pack of sardines, know you are there.

It would be so nice if publishers suddenly wake up and say hey we should treat these indies better, but don't hold your breath (as if). They are more likely to go full(er) throttle at Target, Walmart, B&N, and other brick and mortar behemoths. They really have to.

Finally, if you're buying from remainder wholesalers, most of what you're buying from them are returns, and a percentage of those returns flow through the publishers to the remainder wholesalers. There will be some changes in the content of their lists as the big flood of Costco returns hits and then quickly subsides. You may not even notice. Costco returns are in better shape than others, but otherwise not so wonderful in quality of titles.

So why am I writing about this if it's not going affect you much? Because it reminded me that I have not nattered at you enough about what I always natter at you about, and that's how buying bargain increases your selection and customer traffic.

Looking at Costco's book displays, you see huge stacks of titles, sometimes double or triple stacked. With so many books per title, selection can't be what yours is. You might have 10,000 titles in your bookstore, or 25,000, or 100,000. This is an advantage you have over any and all of the big box retailers. You can point at exceptions (B&N, maybe), but overall you have the ability to offer a much wider and better curated selection than any of those corporate giants. 

Throwing bargain into the mix increases the depth and breadth of your selection dramatically. Your cost goes down and your profits go up. If you are not buying bargain, you are competing with the big box guys on their playing field. They can't buy bargain the way you can. When they try, it's always minimal and perfunctory. Again, there are clearly exceptions, but they prove the rule.