Do you want to make money or have fun?

I'm struggling with a bit of a contradiction.

The "Best" bookstore I can have, the one that I'm happy to go to everyday, that I can be proud of , is NOT:

The "Most Profitable" bookstore I can have.

Oh, there's an overlap. If I was doing a pie-chart, I'd have about 50% of the two pies intersecting.

It took me years to realize that these two goals were in some ways in opposition.

The "Most Profitable" bookstore would be one where I simply crunched numbers all day. I'd order the new and best stuff I could get, but at "Sell Out" quantities. I'd skip most of the "Mid-List" titles. I'd look for publishers and product with the highest margins, and skip the lower margin titles. I'd buy in volume, meaning I'd buy higher quantities of best-sellers, but lower quantities of anything else.

In short, I'd sell the Newest and Best-Selling titles, with the highest margins, I'd order to sell out, and I'd order anything that was very cheap. I would sell on a yearly horizon, and not worry about 5 or 10 years down the road.

Which is fine.

But it leaves out a whole lot of what I deem "Worthwhile" books, that may not be "Best-Sellers" , that may have a slightly smaller margin, that may take a little longer to sell. It leaves out the meritorious titles I'm willing to carry for longer periods of time, perhaps taking up room that I could have devoted to the latest Dan Brown or Stephanie Meyer's book.

It leaves out personal tastes, and idiosyncratic choices, and unusual surprises.

So....I bet some of you have caught where I'm contradicting myself.

Haven't I always said that it's the odd stuff that makes my store different? That makes my store stand out from the run of the mill? Haven't I always said that I couldn't compete on the best-sellers with the big chainstores? Haven't I always said that one should plan for the long-run, not the short run?

Yes and No.

I could design a store where I got just enough of the quirky stuff to look different.

I could design a store that was diverse enough to spread the risk.

And still make more of a profit. Because it would be more marketing than substance. It would be a compromise.

To really be different and diverse, I have to invest heart and soul in the idea of being idiosyncratic, of going my own way, of having fun with it, and just being weird for weird's sake.

Anything else, and it just isn't as satisfying.

Sure, I could have both ways: look like I'm planning for the future, when in fact I'm squeezing the store for every dollar. Look like I'm different and diverse, when in fact I'm just trying to intrigue you.

The biggest element of this is probably counter-intuitive.

By going for the bucks instead of the satisfaction, I'd be lean and mean and I'd be out of much of the product much of the time.

I can't entirely explain why this is true. It doesn't seem to make sense.

All I know is, if I am ruthless in my buying, I make money.

If I indulge in my buying, I make a lot less money.

If, for instance, I had a budget to spend of 60% of what I earn, I might be able to get most everything I need. I'd make a decent profit on sales. I'd pay the overhead. It would still be the Best Minimum Wage Job a Middle Aged Guy Ever Had.

But if I budgeted say, 45% to spend, I would only get most pf the basic stuff, I'd might have a small drop in sales but my margin would increase dramatically. I'd pay the overhead. And I'd be Better than Minimum Wage....blah blah.

Better than Minimum Wage, but NOT the Best Job, if you catch my drift.

But doesn't ordering less hurt my long term prospects. Don't I lose sales?

To some extent, but not as much as you might think. Most people wouldn't notice if I was carrying slightly less. The fact that I'm 'Sold Out' (which happens even the best of cases) would just be slightly more everyday, but not so's you'd notice. I'd sell Other stuff.

Like I said, it's hard to explain.

Here's a single example.

Say I sell my copy of Stray Bullets. Now this hasn't sold in 3 years. But it's a great book; a crime noir graphic novel, with interesting characters and a neat plot, and something I really enjoyed.

I can take the entire 30.00 and stick it in my register, not reorder it, and it would be all profit.
Nobody would notice. Nobody would care.

But I'd know I didn't have it in the store. And it would bother me.

Thing is, I can cut back just slightly on my new experimental buying, shave just slightly my replacing 'prestigious but low selling titles, buy just enough of the quirky stuff that I can interest people, and so on. The little bits here and the little bits there would all add up to profit.

And they would be like little cuts to my self esteem. Yes -- Cerebus hasn't sold in 5 years, but I have the full run! It was a landmark series! There is always a chance that a customer will start picking it up!

Thing is, after the first couple of thousand graphic novels, I'm probably not significantly adding to my sales by carrying another three thousand graphic novels. It wouldn't surprise me, for instance, if the top 20 best-selling Vertigo, Dark Horse, Image, and to a lesser extent, Marvel, series, account for half of my graphic novel sales. And if the next 50 or s0 titles account for half of what's left, and so on.

I've gotten very knowledgeable and savvy in my buying. I could easily spend that 45% on product that would satisfy 80% of my customers, special order to satisfy 80% of the other customers, and make more money. I'd be selling down on in stock product. Not replacing the mid-list titles. I could do this for years, and no one would notice.

Except me.

It's simple pride of ownership. It's trying to have that store that surprises outsiders by it's depth and breadth. It's working everyday in a store that would be the kind of store I'd like to visit.

So far, I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too. I'm trying to merge the contradictions, make the store both profitable and satisfying. There is one loophole that seems to be working pretty well for me: I can buy stuff that's slightly dated, or slightly less in demand, or completely idiosyncratic on the 'liquidation' lists. So far, this has helped me keep my store diverse and interesting, without breaking the bank.

But I still haven't let go of reordering the "Stray Bullet" type books; the titles I think are great but sell very little. Until then, it's an uneasy balance between profit and fun.