A ton of books.

I ordered a ton of books. Over 400.

I'm getting more and more comfortable that they will sell. I'm assembling a track record of books that have already sold. Once I identify a novel that people will buy, it's a simple matter of reordering that novel every time it leaves the store.

The trick continues to be; order favorites (Name of the Wind, Game of Thrones); classics, (think anything that would fit the Penguin imprint); cult (Vonnegut, Palahniuk, Bukowski, Kerouac); and quirky (Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter); and a smattering of best-sellers -- especially if connected to a recent movie or a subject that fits the store: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, The Sherlockian, Freedom.)

My biggest problem isn't really whether the books will sell or not. It's whether I have room for them, especially room to gives them any kind of decent display. (Art books only showing spine out are a hard sell obviously.)

I just keep trying to be creative in how I put them out. Necessity being the mother of invention.


Meanwhile, the store is now in the February billing period, and I have a clean slate with the budget.

I'm going to be making a massive boardgame order this week, as well. Basically, these are quarterly orders -- made toward the beginning of the quarter and then paid back during the next three months. Frontloading, if you will.

This takes faith -- in the economy, in my store, in the product, and in my own judgment. Paying off the debt at Christmas has really freed me up to take some chances -- that plus having adequate cash reserves.

Sales so far in the first half of this month have been pretty good, though I have to be careful about the usual second half slide. So far, I'm about 10% above my projection (what I budgeted for) and about 10% below last year (which was in the midst of a seven month increase in sales).

All I know is -- I'm pretty proud of the store right now.