The week
has been filled with choosing and gathering together all the books we
are taking to the book fair this weekend. What a chore!
We have
two separate lots of books to deal with. There are the better books,
which include the more scarce, out of print and the collectible, which
are my spouse's area of expertise. With those it's not as if you can
just grab anything off the shelves, and throw it in a box. One has to
ponder what they mood of the crowd might be, what collectors might appear,
what's popular in collectible books right now... and so on. It takes
a lot of thought and a fair amount of time. And in the end it's really
just a crap shoot. You just hope you are fortunate enough to have the
right mix of books and buyers.
This year,
as an adjunct to that business, I decided to have my own little book
selling enterprise for the Printer's Row Book Fair. All year we have
been collecting and saving books especially designated for this.
These are
what I call --“just good reads”-- those quality books which, while they
may not be collectible, are definitely salable at the lower end of the
book chain, most priced well at $4.00 or so each, or a real *bargain*
at 3 for $10.00. Wouldn't you snap up one of the latest books for that
price, or try a new author you have not yet read, or try a new cook
book? Sometimes it's hard to spend $24.00 in a book store on a brand
new book by an author you never heard of, isn't it? And even though
they are always available from the library, a lot of people simply prefer
to own their books to have them available to read at their leisure.
So all
this week, I've priced books, created a name for my new little business,
designed a new logo and business card, and made signs.
I
have about 35 boxes ready to go.
It is a
bit of a risk. For one thing, we have to pay a hefty booth fee to have
the extra space there. But even more that that, I have done the almost
unthinkable, I have given up one of my old favorite long standing fairs
to try this new venture. That's scary!
For the
first time ever, I asked for a sabbatical from my season opener art
fair. Its a great one, too --one which I have always looked forward
to doing each year for almost 20 years. It feels a little sad not to
be there. It's usually the first time in the year where I see many artist
friends from other parts of the country. We all come out of our studios,
ready to face another season of shows, and it's great to see everyone
again. Some of them I won't have seen since last winter at the holiday
shows.
But, I
thought a lot about it and I felt that I could likely make as much money
selling the books as the jewelry. And there's a lot less labor involved.
I don't have to make the product, after all. Besides, I have become
so burned out on the jewelry that I am feeling guilty about having been
there the past couple of years showing, yet again, the same things,
with nothing new to offer this year either. Since it is only a sabbatical,
I will be able to return next year if I want.
Change
is not easy, and the transition from one business into another is a
little scary. But if we don’ t take the risk, then we will never find
out if the rewards are worth it. And we have always been risk takers,
mostly with good results. Besides neither of us could stand to work
a real job, so we have to make our lives up as we go along.
So here's
hoping there's no rain and that the addition of Bug Hill Books to our
strange conglomeration of other businesses will be worth it. I'll let
you know!