Christian Trade News Australia » Marketing

Encouragement for Independent Retailers

Karl Grice — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:02:01 +0000

Thanks to Paul from Searchlight Books Canada for this summary:
http://bookshoptalk.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/advice-for-independent-booksellers/

A book on non-books, and books to give away…

Karl Grice — Sun, 02 May 2010 10:39:05 +0000

In the May edition of The Briefing Tony Payne gives us a brief insight into Sherman Young’s book on the death of books. Ok, so everyone is writing about e-books replacing (or not replacing) books. What’s different here is that Sherman wrote a book (which is available in the traditional physical form) about how to judge books by their inner beauty – their contents, their story, their argument, the conversation between the author and the reader; rather than their physical (or non-physical) form.

You can read the article for free here.

Tony uses it as an opportunity to remind us (Christians) of the role physical books can play in the lives of others. That is, while we may read non-stop online and buy less books for ourselves, it may be worth buying a physical book to give to our friends. Of course, once we remember to try it out, we might be able to remind our customers to do the same.

Personal goal for this week: Give away a (short readable) book to a friend who might benefit from reading it.

Living Oasis – Moving from Maintainence to Mission Mode

Karl Grice — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:51:43 +0000

As 26 Wesley Owen stores face closure, one store is looking to the future by diversifying their stock holdings and providing a reason for non-Christians to visit their shop. This is a strategy that could easily be adopted by many of Australia’s regional bookshops, to help us develop sustainable businesses and to build important relationships with our local communities: Download Living Oasis Press Release

“Dear Valued Customer”: Don Watson on Corporate Speak….

Karl Grice — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:01:06 +0000

Not everyone feels safe…

Karl Grice — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:26:03 +0000

A humorous look at how some people cope with Christian bookshops…

http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2010/01/how-to-survive-a-christian-bookstore-1-embracing-the-fear.html

Hope for Christian Bookshops in the UK

Karl Grice — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:39:25 +0000

Phil Groom muses on the future of Christian Bookshops in the UK:
http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2010/01/17/a-future-and-a-hope-for-the-uks-christian-bookshops/

He concludes with an encouragement to Christian Bookshops to diversify their stockholdings.

Improve your bottom line by reselling free guitars…

Karl Grice — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:12:24 +0000

There’s no label on them saying “Not for Resale”!
(credit to: Jono Boer)

John Cleese on being Creative

Karl Grice — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:18:12 +0000

This is John Cleese in serious mode with advice on being creative.

(1) Sleep on a problem
(2) Make an oasis – set boundaries of time and space with no interruptions

Finished with the observation that it takes similar skills to know you are good at something as to be good at it. Similarly if you are hopeless at something, you are likely to be hopeless at recognising your lack of skill. And even if you can recognise creativity in others, if you are not creative you may not value that skill in others.

CBAA now on Facebook

Karl Grice — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:05:25 +0000

Click here to join the CBAA Facebook Group. Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with everyone else in the industry – and with your customers! You will also find more details about the NSW Regional Trade Show for 2010.

Case Study 001: Shop Newsletters

Josh Olson — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:25:05 +0000

“One of the things that we do here at GCBC is produce a shop newsletter. We mail these out and keep some of them handy on the counter. To check out our past newsletters we have them on our website – www.gcbc.net.au” – Christine

GCBC Newsletter Nov low dpi 09