I'm selling books directly again.  The URL of the store can be found here: https://aalbc.com/store/

 

What makes the store viable again.  First I have a group of people, the Go On Girl! Book Club who are committed to buying books, on their reading list, from Black owned, independent, bookstores. 

 

More importantly they recognize that I can not sell books at a loss they way "The Big A" can.  But the are willing to do patronize AALBC, because they recognize that we need independent booksellers.

 

Now I can offer Go On Girl! a decent dea deal, free shipping and in the most cases no sales tax (I operate out of FL).  I also give a discount for bigger orders and I have committed to contributing 1/2 of my profits to their scholarship fund!  It is win-win-win!

 

I also sell @David Covin's upcoming title Raisins in Milk.  David is selling his book for $10 ($5 off the regular price) to book clubs who buy his book before the June 1st publication date.

 

Of course more books will be added along the way and alliances, partnership, and more creative strategies are developed.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

20 hours ago, Troy said:

Of course more books will be added along the way and alliances, partnership, and more creative strategies are developed.

 

Thoughts?

 

@Troy 

Special Sales!  Before Academic Marketing and Sales at Penguin USA - I worked in Special Sales G.P. Putnam's Sons...

As a Special Sales Assistant, it was my job to do most of the customer service work for special sales and institutional accounts - such as catalogs, library appearances, specialty accounts and stores such as those that would appear at a yacht club etc. 

 I learned how to sell books in nontraditional ways such as those looking for premium incentive products and of course retail stores that would also sell books on the side... You know, like those psychic  tellers - who have spell books for sale ..

 

All this to say,  yes, it's a profitable business model for this type of selling... And you already have 2 coveted accounts.   

 

I remember  Barbara O'Shea, my former boss, got so happy when she would land an account like a large book club  - or McDonald's, who wanted to put one of our children's books in every happy meal.   G.P Putnam had so many imprints, we had a book for every type of lifestyle.  

Anyway, she was quoted in the New York Times article talking about her role as President of  a non-trade sales at Penguin.  (Yes she also started at G.P Putnam's Sons) .  This is also an excellent article for an overview on special sales.  

Oh! does this replace the google tag manager?

@Mel Hopkins this is important, probably one of the most important things to keep in mind and a good way to differentiate one's product and reach a new audience.

You know what, "F" Google's tag manger and Google too.  You know they are pissing me off now. recently I noticed AALBC dropped to age two of Googles ranking on the search term "african american books."  I'm blogging about his now...  

 

1 hour ago, Troy said:

I noticed AALBC dropped to age two of Googles ranking on the search term "african american books."  I'm blogging about his now...  

 

@Troy  Yep.  Google has gone commercial and eCommerce - happy.

I just noticed that yesterday when  I was looking for a aphorism about fishing poles. All I could find on the first couple of pages were places to buy fishing poles.  Net Neutrality sunsets in June - so I guess google changed their algorithm to feature the sites that will be accessible.    It looks like it will be old-fashioned marketing of websites again - if people know about your website - they will have actively choose to visit it - and hope it will load properly😐

Oh God, I can't even think about the ramifications of the repeal of net neutrality.  The cost of running a website can, and likely will, go up.  As we will have to start to paying a premium for providing fast access to our websites.  This will accelerate the move 0f people to social media as their primary web presences.

 

The repeal of net neutrality poses an existential threat to independent websites, like AALBC. 

On 5/7/2018 at 9:28 PM, Troy said:

The URL of the store can be found here: https://aalbc.com/store/

 

The best!