I think Pegasus Books is in a unique situation. We really don't have people coming in seeking the latest bestseller. I see other bookstores getting large numbers of the big books and selling them right away. Whenever I see their "new releases" wall, it's full of books I don't carry even a single copy of.
Meanwhile, shunted off to one side in those stores is a shelf of slightly older books, and that's the shelf that looks like my store.
These are proven sellers. Almost all of them are books I've sold more than once.
I've always said, we order about 20% new releases and 80% backlist books, whereas most other stores seem to do the opposite.
What am I missing and how can I change it? Should I even try to change it?
I had a customer come in who'd been referred to us by Dudleys for a SF book. Sure enough, we had it in stock.
"I didn't think you were a bookstore," he said.
"Yeah, a lot of the locals just don't see us that way," I start to say.
"I've never been the Bend before," he says. "I saw your store walking by, but didn't think you'd have what I wanted."
"But all I have in the windows is books!" I say.
"Yeah, but it doesn't feel like a bookstore," he says.
Like I said, I don't know if there is anything I can do to change that perception, except by taking away from the 35% of the store that isn't books. I mean, I could do that, but I've learned over the years to never let go of viable product lines because someday you will probably need them.
Games, toys, and cards are all viable parts of my business, but even more importantly, I can't deny the pop culture slant of our store. Yeah, you go into Dudleys expecting "literature." Now, I may have the exact same books, but that's not the impression I apparentlygive.
On the plus side of this, I'm not having to outlay a large part of my budget on hardcover books that may or may not sell. I know that almost all the books I'm ordering will sell. I'm so sure of it, that we forgo the option of returning unsold books in order to get a higher upfront profit margin.
The other advantage to this is that I can order books more or less on the day they are released. I can tailor my budget to what's happening that moment in my store.
The downside of this is when a new bestseller sells out in advance. This means those stores that ordered bestsellers weeks or months in advance will get them and I won't.
This is relatively rare, but is starting to happen more often. I believe that books like the "Fourth Wing" selling out for weeks is being done on purpose to drive up demand.
Hey, guess what. I played that game for most of my career--sports cards, comics, games, toys: ordering in quantity in advance in order to make sure I have a supply. I still have to play that game with Pokemon and Magic (though this is fading), but I quit playing that game with everything else.
It's gambling, in hopes of a big payoff.
So when a competitor tells me they sold 80 copies of "Black Flame," (the sequel to the "Fourth Wing), while I can't seem to get a single copy from my wholesaler, I console myself with the knowledge that I'm not gambling on books but ordering proven titles in small enough quantities that I can turn a reasonable profit without a unreasonable risk.
If I'm going to sell large quantities of new bestsellers then I'll have to change the store and wait--or rather hope--that people will come around.
Ordering larger quantities in advance makes it very hard to control the cash flow. It's very hard to predict months in advance how well business will be on the day a product arrives.
Ordering this week's books this week make it all very easy to manage. So I may be missing some large sales, but the lack of risk is worth it.
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