Once Upon a Bookshop: The Middle - Part 1
Book Ordering, Bookkeeping, and Book-Loving Ghosts
This is a continuation of Once Upon a Bookshop: The Beginning - Part Four.
Please note that due to the amount of time each post takes to write, I will be posting this series once a month instead of every other week.
Book Ordering & Bookkeeping
From what we gathered, a lot of bookstores were using Ingram as their primary ordering platform, but we decided to take advantage of the higher discounts provided by publishers. So, to start, we set up accounts with Scholastic, Harper Collins, Hachette, Penguin Random House, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan. We also set up an account with Ingram to order from small presses and, later, for special orders.
Next, we signed up with Edelweiss to work with publisher sales reps, browse catalogues, and place orders. By ordering directly from large publishers, we were able to get an extra 5 to 10% percent discount (the industry standard is 45% but often Ingram’s discount is 40% depending on the publisher), plus free shipping for orders containing a minimum number of units (books), which is a big deal. Shipping is expensive.
Lastly, we set up an account with FAIRE to order our sidelines. We were able to get 90-day terms with FAIRE, but most of our publisher accounts were due upon receipt, net 30, or prepay, since we had not yet established our credit. I’m sure this barrier makes it impossible for those starting out with little to no budget. Luckily, I was able to invest $150k at the start, so we were in a good position to buy what we needed. When all was said and done, our initial opening orders cost about $45,000, which provided us with enough books and sidelines to fill our shelves.
Those orders did fill our shelves, but they also filled a lot of my time with bookkeeping tasks. It turned out that even though we placed one big order with each publisher, the invoices were generated when the books shipped and only included the books in that shipment. This created a lot of extra work as shipments could contain as many as fifty books, or as few as five. So, in addition to all of the other things I needed to do to get the store ready, including helping to receive and shelve almost 5,000 books, I had to enter and pay about 80 invoices just for the first eight opening orders alone, and I’d soon find out that would be the norm.
*In 2022, I learned about Batch For Books at a bookselling conference. Batch offered a platform that allowed you to connect your publisher vendor accounts so that all of your invoices and credits would be available in one place and could be imported into your Quickbooks file. Unfortunately, at the time, they had only partnered with three publishers: Macmillan, Harper Collins, and Penguin Random House, and while we could view invoices and mark them as paid, we still needed to pay those invoices elsewhere. I’m not sure if they offer the ability to pay the invoices directly on their platform now, but I do know that they have partnered with more publishers. I regret that I didn’t set up an account with them back then, but I just couldn’t imagine adding one more step to tracking and paying invoices.
To figure out how many books we’d initially need to order, I calculated the number of books we’d need by the number and width of bookshelves and the display space we’d have. I did this by going to Barne’s and Noble and taking note of the width and depth of their shelves and the number of books on each, then I made adjustments for varying book sizes and arrangements (we decided that we would have at least one face out book (two for picture books) on each shelf. I hated the idea of empty or sparse-looking bookshelves and wanted to ensure our shelves were always brimming with books.
Book-Loving Ghosts
The floors of the space were warped, and the layout was awkward. We had planned to remove the walls to the back room, but our contractor wasn’t sure we’d get the permits before our rent abatement ran out, so we decided to keep the back room and work with what we had. Due to the warped floors, though, buying pre-made shelves was out of the question, and custom bookshelves were expensive. So, to ensure we were able to take advantage of every inch of space, I designed our bookshelves and the cash wrap myself—I was working with a talented carpenter who agreed to build the shelves for a reasonable price if I provided the specs.
While measuring, I suddenly had the feeling someone was standing behind me, looking over my shoulder. I froze, then spun around, half expecting to catch a person standing there, but I knew that was impossible as the space was one big open room (aside from the small back area) with very loud and heavy doors. I would have seen or heard someone coming in.
Nobody was there, but I could still feel a curious presence. It felt as if it were trying to figure out what I was up to—I’ve always been able to feel the presence of what we call ghosts or spirits (before you call me crazy and close your browser or email and whatever you are using to read this post, I’d like to remind you that I started this series reflecting on how I found the space by attending a psychic fair in Niwot, so, this story shouldn’t surprise you in the least).
Thinking that I needed to explain myself, I put down my measuring tape and phone, stood in the middle of the space, and said, “We are going to turn this place into a children’s bookstore. I promise you’re going to love it.” Then, I continued what I was doing, comforted by a sense that whatever was in the space with me, understood what I had said and approved.
That sense of having gained the ghost’s approval was proven one winter night a few months after we opened, when the sky would start to darken at 4 pm. I was working alone in the shop when a girl walked in. A teenager, not much taller than me, with blond hair pulled away from her face by a white bandana. She was wearing a matching white miniskirt and a sky-blue top. There was nothing especially extraordinary about her appearance. She looked like a typical teenager but she had a strange, almost etherial energy.
I greeted her and said to let me know if she had any questions or needed help finding anything. She was standing across the shop in front of the middle-grade section.
She turned then and looked at me, directly, it seemed, into my soul, and said, “Have you ever felt anything in this space?”
I was flabbergasted, but she didn’t need to say anything else, I knew exactly what she meant, and so I said, “Yes, I have.”
She nodded thoughtfully then said, “It’s a woman, I think. She’s happy this is a children’s bookstore. She’s very motherly.”
This statement further floored me, as I had felt the same about the ghost that seemed to happily haunt our shop. I then told her about the day I was measuring and how I felt there was someone watching me. She listed with a small smile and asked if we’d ever consider holding a séance in the shop. I told her we might, but I knew I wouldn’t. I’m a patchy tarot practitioner, but I’d had a bad experience with séances and I knew I would never host one the bookshop.
In the end, she left without buying a book, but what she gave me was far more valuable than any sale. The bookshop had a ghost and she was happy we were there…
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t stay happy.