The Times They Are A Changing

In part one of “Opening a Used Bookstore” we discussed choosing between selling books online or opening a brick and mortar store. In this article we will discuss purchasing books and inventory. If you are going to open an actual bookstore, once you are open people will start bringing their used books to you. One of the most important tips about accepting books is to “have a plan.” Know before a person comes in with their books how you will handle these situations. Will you actually pay the person up front for their books or will you offer them a commission after the books are sold?

Purchasing Used Books

Before you open your new bookstore, consider that you need to have enough books to fill the shelves. You don’t want your new shop to look like a project in progress, but the done deal. Call your local library(s) and find out when they have their annual sale. Be there, on the day, early so that you can collect the best books for your store. Check out garage sales on the weekends, here’s where you can get real deals. Place an ad in the paper. Place flyers in public places. All of these ideas for gathering books are good even if you have chosen to just sell online.

There are certain genres and types of books you will want to stay away from. Any kind of dated materials should not be purchased, if they don’t sell within a certain time period you will have lost money. Romance novels are not big sellers, believe it or not. Yes, you should have a small section, but watch how much of these you purchase. Also, new age materials are not exceptional sellers. Perhaps because people are always looking for the newest materials and by the time you get them in your store they are old news.

Book Inventory

It’s not just the book business that needs to keep good tabs on their inventory. It is at the top of the list of any successful business. You must know what books you have on hand. If a customer walks in your door asking for a particular book, and all you have to do is locate it on your computer and you can go straight to it’s location, you will have a return customer as well as word-of-mouth advertising that is priceless.

One of my big dreams in life has been to own a bookstore. I’ve always loved to read and write. But, it’s not just that. I love books themselves. I love the way a book feels in your hands, the way they smell and they way they look. I’m constantly thinking of how a book jacket could have been done differently after I’ve read the book. At this point, I’ve decided against opening a “new” bookstore. The expense is phenomenal and books just don’t sell as they used to with other entertainment venues available. So, a while back I started to think about opening a used book store and maybe adding new books along the way. It’s not feasible right now, but I still dream of it off in the future some time.

Online Used Bookstore

You can sell books to online bookstores on a sort of commission basis. Amazon, e-bay, ABE Books and A1 Books are just a few places to get started. For every sale you make, the selling website takes a commission. Sometimes they also charge a monthly fee. Another option would be to start you own used book website. This would come in handy when and if you opened an actual brick and mortar used bookstore. It would give you two selling outlets.

Brick and Mortar Bookstore

A physical bookstore will take quite a bit more money and planning to open. Besides gathering enough books to open your store (which we will talk about tomorrow), you need to find the right location. Be conservative on how much you can afford for a lease. It’s better to start out with a smaller building and a good location, than a larger shop where no one can find you. If you don’t already have experience in accounting, you will need to at least make an appointment with one and discuss what is involved as far as tax and bookkeeping requirements. You’ll need a sign, which can be a big expense, shelving, furnishings, cash register, counter and the list goes on. In fact, that’s a good place to start, with a list and while you are doing that do research, research, research. Know what you are getting into and if you can afford to see it through the first few lean years of the business.

Google is so big now that we can’t even remember who the “huge” search engine was before they came along. But, because they are so big, shouldn’t they be “giving back?” So, I went in search to see what Google gives for free. There’s Gmail, of course, but what else?

(1) Google Free Book Downloads: Personally, I’ll take the traditional book any day where I can read in bed or just snuggle up on the sofa. However, for what it is, comments from readers thought this site was not so great and a better site for book downloads was Gutenberg.com was a better and more user friendly site.

(2) Google Page Rank: Check where your page, blog or site ranks on Google. Just put your URL in and click.

(3) Google Maps: This works much like Mapquest in that you can get actual maps as well as written directions to a location.

(4) Google Translate: With just a click, translate different language websites or pages to your chosen language. If you have some text you need translated, just enter it into the box and away you go. Some of the languages available for translation are: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, English and there are more.

(5) Google Adwords: For easy SRO send your page/website to adwords and it will give you word and term suggestions of the most popularly searched. You can also put in your article, in full, before you post it so you can make changes that will make your writing keyword rich.

(6) Google Sites: Create a free webpage. Although, I haven’t checked into this too much. It looks like a good place to have a free personal webpage (club, school, teams, family), whether it’s good for commercial use or not ???

I’m an avid reader, have been ever since I can remember. I’m sure it was because my father read everything he could get his hands on and at a young age I wanted to emulate him. I have a favorite book. Of course, I have a lot of favorite books. But, I think our real favorite book is the one that may have come along at a younger age, an impressionable age. That book for me was “The Good Earth” by Pearl S Buck. I remember in later years going to the library and reading all her books one by one.

My favorite book of this year is “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein. Any book that has me crying by page six, I know, has something to say to me. There is a quote I remember that I think about when I have three different books going at one time. Sorry, I don’t know who actually said it or if I have it completely right. “First I buy books. If I have a little money left over I buy food.”

Best Books of the Year

These are books from other people’s list in consideration of putting them on my own “want to read” list.

Amazon Top Picks

(1) The Northern Clemency
(2) Hurry Down Sunshine
(3) Nixonland
(4) The Forever War
(5) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Publisher’s Weekly (top nonfiction: How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People)

(1) When Will There Be Good News
(2) 2666
(3) Hold Tight
(4) The Brass Verdict
(5) Master of the Delta

New York Times (top nonfiction: The Dark Side)

(1) Dangerous Laughter
(2) A Mercy
(3) Netherland
(4) 2666
(5) Unaccustomed Earth

Herald Tribune (Same as New York Times)

What if, by just telling your glass of water how beautiful it is, how much you loved it and how much you appreciated it, it would improve in quality? And what if you said these things a few more times and it improved “greatly” in quality? Wouldn’t that water be better for you than before you uttered the words? What is the hidden message in water?

A while back I read the book, The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto For me, this book was life changing. How often can you say that? Dr. Emoto discovered that water crystals in frozen water have the potential to change when certain thoughts or words are sent to it. He found that water from fresh springs or water that was exposed to kind words, when frozen, changed into beautiful crystals. On the other hand, if the water is polluted or negative thoughts or words are sent to it the water forms disassembled crystals or none at all.
This book, The Hidden Message in Water, contains many before and after photos detailing differences between certain words directed to the water. After the word, “thank you” was spoken to the water, in different languages, all the crystals were beautiful, but different. When the same water was given negative words, like “fool” or “you make me sick” the water would form no crystals when frozen. In one of Dr. Emoto’s experiments he had children say, “you’re beautiful” a few times to a container of water. When frozen, crystals were beginning to form. He had the children say the same phrase, to the same water, several more times. And the crystals were beautifully formed when frozen. The most well formed and startlingly clear crystals appeared when using the words, ” love and gratitude.”
We’ve all heard that playing quality music to your garden or house plants will improve their health and growth. Well, apparently it works with water as well. Dr. Emoto played Mozart Symphony No. 40, Chopin Prelude in D, Tchaikovsky Swan Lake and others to form beautiful crystals. Interestingly all of the crystals looked different in shape.
When Dr. Emoto, as shown in The Hidden Message of Water, used distilled water with crystals already formed when frozen and heated it in the microwave oven and a separate experiment with the water exposed to a cell phone, the crystals were obliterated. Well, that certainly says something about those two devices and what their use must be doing to our bodies.
Because, the thoughts and words spoken were found to make such a change in the water structure, Dr. Emoto tried just writing the positive or negative words on paper and attaching it to the water container. The results were the same as if the words had been spoken to the water. Then he decided to try attaching beautiful pictures, you guessed it, the water loved it. He even tried using pictures of some well known cities. You might think all cities would be like negative words to the water, but not so. Venice, Rome, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Paris all gave a negative reaction to the water, forming no, or incomplete, crystals. However, New York and Washington DC water made beautiful crystals when the water was frozen. He thought that the reason may be from results of protecting water, such as cedar tanks in Manhattan. The most beautiful crystals came from Switzerland.