bookstores

Book profits.

Well, I know where my profits are coming from.

I found out through the reorder process.

I successfully stuck to my budget in August. I still have ten days to see what sales will turn out to be. There wasn't the big dropoff in the middle of the month like there was in June and July, but there is often a big dropoff in the last week of August, as attention turns to school -- especially if the weather changes, so I still need to be careful.

So far, it's staying hot, and there is the added plus of school resuming later than usual this year.

Anyway, I started with a fresh (Sept.) budget this week. Because there is enough time still in the summer to affect sales, and because it all comes due on the credit card at the same time, I weighted half my orders into the first week. 15% will be next week, 35% the third week, and nothing on the week of Labor Day. (School starts, and tumble weeds will waft through my store for a week or so....)

If this all seems obsessive, it's how it's done.

So I made my reorder for graphic novels, and replaced pretty much every book I wanted. I made my reorder for games, and replaced pretty much every game I wanted. I made my reorder for cards, and replaced pretty much every card I wanted.

All within budget.

I did my new book order the next day, because I knew it was going to be much bigger. I decided to double my order for books, because I had a record month in new book sales in July and was on pace to beat that record in August. I always leave a certain percent in my budget for whatever category needs to be increased.

I had intended to spend on 50% of the budget on books this week, and 50% in two weeks.

Well, I hit 50% and I wasn't even close to replacing all the books I'd sold. I kept going until the entire allocated amount was spent, and I STILL was only 70% toward replacing all the books I wanted replaced.

Much less adding any new titles.

So that's where the profits are coming from. It was hidden, because the sales velocity, the momentum, hasn't slowed the least. As I said, it appears I'll have a record month in new book sales again in August. Despite having sold so many significant titles.

I've mentioned before, it appears that having, say, 2000 great titles sells nearly as much as having 3000 great titles.

Obviously, though, I can't keep running down the inventory forever. And much of the sales momentum has been maintained by out-of-towners and tourists. When Fall starts, individual book sales are going to matter more, and shortages are going to impact more.

So I want to get back to the beginning of summer inventory -- plus.

How do I do that?

First thing I'm going to do, is see if August stays good. Right now, my average would result in profits about 1000.00 over estimate. So, I've decided, any profits over the projected estimates will be used to buy books.

If I don't end up with 'extra' profits, I'll have to contemplate buying more books on credit. I started off the year with a 5000.00 charge on books, which I've paid down at 500.00 a month and I am down to my last 1000.00. If I added another 1000.00 in books, and kept the 500.00 payment schedule, I'd have it paid off by the end of the year.

I always want to enter the 'dry' season with as little debt as possible.

It's important to reinforce successful products. And even more important not to let the momentum fall. (Building momentum from a dead start is ten times harder than keeper current momentum going...)

So either way, I'm going to make more orders.

Finally, I think this year will probably end without me making the big leap into 'frontlist' ordering -- (see Aug. 8 entry). I'm still concentrating on the 'backlist' -- books I know are good. Either favorites, cult, or classic. More than uses up my budget.

Was at my sister Tina's house last night, and the stack of new books that she has on her table always remind me of what I'd be up against. They all have Costco tags, and are half the price. Not sure when or if I'll go head to head with Barnes and Nobles and Walmart and Costco on 'frontlist' books.

I guess when I run out of 'backlist' books I want to carry....

Books and Games

Years ago, there was a store in the Mountain View Mall (a mall which has since been torn down) called Book and Game.

They always seemed to be struggling, gaining and shedding partners, even in the good times. When the malls started going downhill, it proved the end.

But I always wondered why. It seemed like a great model; it seemed to have a good selection.

But of course, I was looking from the outside. It always seems easy from the outside.

Years later, as I slowly morph my store, I find that it is more or less becoming -- a book and game store. A different kind of book and game store, maybe, with graphic novels and comics and used books in the 'book' mix; and, of course, I have toys and dvd's and sports cards.

Book stores are still struggling, by all accounts. You need only google 'bookstore closing' (a suggestion from the Inkwell Bookstore blog.)

I've been coming at the books in a very selective way. I pay no attention to the 'best sellers.' I pick up what I consider to be 'good' books; how I arrive at that determination can vary, from my own reading, from reviews, from suggestions. On games, I have more or less taken the tack of ordering the top 50 games on the Boardgamegeek.com website.

What I'm finding is --- good books sell.

Good games --- sell.

Seems simple enough. But then again, I'm not depending on them to generate the majority of my revenues. I've been able to pick the low hanging fruit. It isn't hard to sell the Chuck Palahniuk books. It isn't hard to sell The Zombie Survival Guide. Settlers of Catan almost sells itself.

Over the next year, I'm going to continue to try to pick low hanging fruit, and make more room for books and boardgames. I've got some ideas about how to make space, without cutting into my other revenue streams too much.

This all seems like a rational response to my downtown location, my own love and knowledge of books, and the business plan of 'blending' books of all kinds together. The suggestions I made to that graphic novel store guy a few posts ago, are more or less what I'm pursuing myself.

Speaking of the graphic novel store guy; he has a goal of making 2.5 million in sales per year. So forget everything I said. I didn't realize he wasn't a serious person.

And about the other store I mentioned, Greenlight Bookstore (the one in Brooklyn), they just posted this message:

"And if you're wondering about the status of construction itself, as Fred puts it: "Demolition is now complete and we're pausing for a moment while we wait for the NYC Dept. of Buildings to approve our construction application and grant us a permit." We've gotten quite a ways, and now we just have to sit tight for a bit and wait for the (good, kind, compassionate, tasteful) folks at the DOB to give us their final approval. We're still on track for our hoped-for opening in September, though -- we'll let you know when we can narrow down that window a little bit more."

They just finished "demolition" and they think they can open in September? Good luck with that.

They go on: (A bit of bookstore jargon: "backlist" signifies the books you keep on the shelves in the sections, that have been published already and stay in print. "Frontlist" includes all of the new books published this season -- the ones that get most of the media attention, and that you'll display in stacks or face-out until their moment has passed, or they become backlist.)

This is a useful dichotomy of terminology for me. What I've been concentrating on is the 'backlist'; those books that have a history. Easy to pick the good ones. I've done very little in the way of picking 'frontlist', except to maybe clip the 'bestseller' list out of the Bulletin and see if any of them appeal to me.

When I feel like everything is ready, I'll probably make the leap into that territory. More risk, but seeing as how most bookstores seem to depend on them, possibly more reward too. I can take my time about it, make sure I don't get caught in product I can't sell because the mass market has them.

All these years, I've struggled to sell enough comic books to make a living. Frankly, I've never really succeeded; even at selling the average number a community the size of Bend should sell. It wasn't through lack of trying, or knowledge, or selection, or service. Anyway, no more than any other store.

It wasn't until my wife's store began to perform that I realized -- I gave myself the explanation -- that it wasn't ME; it was the product.

Books and Games are just great, because they aren't a fad. They are challenged by technology and competition, to be sure, but compared to comics? They seem relatively responsive to my efforts. This has really recharged my interest in the store, and probably insures I'll be engaged to the end of my career. Because all I ask is a decent reward for my efforts.

Pick on someone your own size.

One of the reasons I started writing this blog about Pegasus Books, is that several years ago, I got caught up about reading the rise and fall of a new comic store called Riot Comics.

I knew from the first entries that the guy was going about it all wrong, but I was fascinated by his bullheadedness. It was a disaster waiting to happen. Generally, it's not all that difficult to get a strong sense of whether a store is going to make it or not make it.

Talking about it on a blog just makes it all that much clearer. (There's a lesson there, I suppose....)

He was very disdainful of all the other comic shops, which is common enough among fans. But of course, these shops have been existing in the real retail world and it seems foolish to dismiss everything they are doing.

The guy had a vision, to be sure, and he was entertaining and candid in his lead up to the store. He designed a very nice looking store.

And then fizzled.

Because he went about it all wrong.

In fact, the most fascinating aspect of all was watching him change his mind about each of the things he had made fun of about other stores. He brought in back issues. He had to buy some more functional fixtures. He found that having an "anime" club didn't do a thing for his anime sales. And so on.

He forgot he was a store, and not a 'model.' He forgot he needed lots of inventory. He narrowed his focus to such an extent there was simply no way he was going to make money.

He come into retail as a purist with a vision, and left disillusioned that people liked the look of his store, but didn't buy anything.

He seemed to spend most of his time designing business cards, and logo's, and signs, and t-shirts. Describing the colorful Ikea furniture, and showing off the 'art' on his walls.

But nuts and bolts, you need inventory and lots of it. Design doesn't pay the rent.

Anyway, I've found two new blogs about start-ups, and they seem equally misguided and bullheaded.

One is called Rocketbomber. He's gained some notoriety for writing about his book customers in a mocking way. But he's entertaining to read. He certainly has put a lot of thought into his store.

But his 'vision' is fundamentally flawed. The 'vision' of a Graphic Novel store. No comics, no back issues, no toys, no cards, no books even, except as they tangentially relate to graphic novels.

The question is -- why would you cut off all possible revenue streams but one?

I started with comics -- and it wasn't enough.

I added sports cards -- and it wasn't enough.

I added games -- and it wasn't enough.

I added card games -- and it wasn't enough.

I added toys -- and it wasn't enough.

I added graphic novels -- and it wasn't enough.

I added used books -- and it wasn't enough.

I added anime and manga -- and it wasn't enough.

I added new books -- and.......well, I can't add anymore. I've at my wit's end in space, time, energy and money.

In the midst of all this trying, I also handled Beanie Babies, and Pogs, and gave up any idea of being a 'purist.'

Pogs are about as widgety as it gets -- if I'm willing to sell Pogs, I'm willing to sell anything.

The other start-up is Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y. They got the go ahead on June 1 or so. A couple of days ago, they had a party in their still untouched store-space, for their friends and neighbors. Had a great time sipping wine and tasting cheese.

The architect's drawings were on the wall.

WTF?

An architect? You hired an architect? It's an empty space! Slap a coat of paint, scrounge up some bookshelves, but some damn books and get rolling?

You sign a lease on June first and you're still staring off into space six weeks later?

No, they've 'designed' some bookshelves. Custom made bookshelves.....

Hey, if I'm an investor, I'd be looking to get my money out of this disaster. They are going to sink a ton of money into this store, and it will be a marvel to behold, and it will even generate a lot of sales at first.

But they will spend most of their career trying to dig themselves out of debt. And if they are as pie in the sky about their day to day operations as they are in their planning stage -- their career won't be long.

But they'll leave a beautiful corpse.