An accessible & inclusive deep-dive into the ecosystem of bookselling in America and beyond.

Text: the Business of Bookselling with BrocheAroe Season 2: Working with Publishers
Image description: A fair-skinned woman with a black-and-white checked headscarf wears black-and-white headphones. One hand holds the headphones against one ear; the other hand holds up her phone, showing an image of her own podcast, season 1

Welcome to The Business of Bookselling with BrocheAroe, a live-workshop and interview-style podcast about business and book culture. This podcast uses a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens, combined with triple-bottom line sustainability business principles, to offer actionable advice, bookselling basics, and deep dives into the book ecosystem.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all cities, towns, and even neighborhoods are in need of an independent bookstore. And yet, there is no one single way to accomplish this. But, there are some universal truths about opening an independent bookstore, in America at least, that each new bookstore owner should acknowledge. Here are the first five things to do when starting to consider opening an independent bookstore. 

Once upon a time, someone had the brilliant idea to open a bookstore. For the purposes of this podcast episode, it’s not really all that important when and why and where someone else did that. The important part is when and why and where YOU want to open an independent bookstore. We’ll explore motivations and legal business structures, BUT if all you want to do is start selling books tomorrow and the rest will figure itself out, save up about $300 for various filing fees, and here are the first five steps you need to take!

Sometimes, people with dreams of opening an independent bookstore of their own don’t have access to a traditional brick-and-mortar space. Novel model, or nontraditional bookstore business models, are all the rage! Learn more about the different types of novel model bookstores in this podcast episode.

Learning about the bookselling industry includes learning a whole new language! Here are the definitions of some key standard industry terms, such as backlist and frontlist; the difference between a publisher, wholesaler, distributor, and imprint; and what exactly publisher “terms” are.

In this season, we’re going to explore working with publishers, why publisher-bookstore relationships are so important, and how they can become a mutually beneficial relationship, even as it is, by nature, a transactional one. What’s up first? The benefits of ordering directly from publishers and how to open up your first publisher accounts.

the Business of Bookselling with BrocheAroe, Episode 201: Opening a Publisher Account
Text: the Business of Bookselling with BrocheAroe Episode 202: Buying Schedule and Cashflow Considerations Image description: A fair-skinned woman with a black-and-white checked headscarf wears black-and-white headphones. One hand holds the headphones against one ear; the other hand holds up her phone, showing an image of her own podcast, season 1

In the first episode of this season, I went over opening a publisher account. And why do most stores open publisher accounts? To place direct orders, of course! So in this episode we’re going to go over ordering schedules and three things to do to make sure you’re making ordering directly from publishers work for your store’s cashflow.

Is there a specific topic or question you’d like me to address in a future podcast episode?
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