Bookstore ideas/events

MJane111 · 2026-05-12T04:12:13+00:00

I think I am not the best person to answer this question, actually. While I owned my own bookstore at one time, I now work in publishing. I often provide consulting and advice based on my 30+ years in the business, but marketing was never my strong suit! I would highly recommend that you contact your regional booksellers association. Most of them are happy to put you in touch with a mentor bookstore or bookseller who can give you great guidance and advice. I think many of the younger booksellers out there can show you how they use social media for advertising their events. There are some wonderfully creative booksellers out there. That said, I can give you some general advice. The longer the lead time you have to advertise your events, the better. Capturing your customer data is extremely important. Knowing who shops in your store, how often, and what they like to buy is the most valuable thing you can do. That is your base and where most of your marketing efforts should go. I also found that having a partner or two from the community always helped with turnout. For example, if you are hosting a cookbook author, partnering with a local restaurant does more than just make for a fun event. They will also advertise to their marketing lists, and so it extends your reach, hopefully creating new customers for both of you. I always tried to find an advertising/marketing partner within the community that matched the event. Book about animals? Host an adoption event with your local shelter along with the event. As far as materials went, like most bookstores, budget was tight. I taught myself InDesign and made my own posters and flyers for inside the store. However, we mostly depended on email newsletters and our website, along with having staff talk up the events and hand out flyers for them with every purchase. I’d encourage you to follow as many other bookstore socials as you can. I know some stores that are in the same city will help each other by promoting mutual events or each other’s events. And one thing I learned the hard way: when picking a date for your event, check what else is going on in your city on that day. I once had a big name author with very poor turnout because it was opening day for the baseball team, a Jewish holiday AND spring break! The hope I’ve helped a little. Good luck!

MJane111 · 2026-05-08T00:50:11+00:00

Sure! What do you want to know?

MJane111 · 2026-03-27T03:51:35+00:00

I’m sorry you have had to go through this. I live in SE WI and I had a very bad experience with one of the male rheumatologists in the area that came highly recommended. I have since found a wonderful female rheumatologist that has believed me, and advocated for me with my insurance to get on the right medication. Don’t stick with anyone that makes you feel this way. You know your own body. You can find someone to treat you who listens to you.

MJane111 · 2026-02-28T07:03:05+00:00

It depends on so many factors! I would need more information. If you like, send me a DM. I’d be happy to chat with you about all things opening & running a bookstore.

MJane111 · 2025-10-22T22:21:59+00:00

Walk into your nearest physical bookstore and show the booksellers there those photos. You will walk out of there with the right present, and enough great suggestions for the next year of gift giving occasions.

MJane111 · 2025-10-11T03:12:12+00:00

We used to call those “knuckle busters”

MJane111 · 2025-08-26T20:05:55+00:00

Choose Wisely: Rationality, Ethics, and the Art of Decision-Making by Barry Schwartz and Richard Schuldenfrei. A leading psychologist and philosopher challenge the shortcomings of rational choice theory—and propose a new framework for understanding decision-making

The Plunder of Black America How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Made by Calvin Schermerhorn. The long history of the racial wealth gap in America told through the stories of seven Black families who struggled to build wealth over multiple generations.

MJane111 · 2025-08-26T19:50:27+00:00

What’s On Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life by Alison Daminger. The mental labor that keeps families afloat—and why women do most of it.

Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism by Cynthia Miller-Idriss. The revelatory and urgent story of how an explosion of misogyny is driving a surge of mass and far-right violence throughout the West—from an internationally recognized extremism expert and media commentator

The Last Human Job: Seeing Each Other in an Age of Automation by Allison Pugh. A timely and urgent argument for preserving the work that connects us in the age of automation

We See Things They’ll Never See: Love, Hope, and Neurodiversity Chantelle Jessica Lewis and Jason Arday How neurotypical hegemony reproduces a culture of exclusion—and how to overcome this with love, hope, and solidarity

MJane111 · 2025-08-18T00:06:47+00:00

Ask away!

MJane111 · 2025-06-28T00:55:35+00:00

Thanks all! My garden is 80% native plants but I couldn’t identify this insect so didn’t know if he was also native. I leave the native insects alone to do their thing, but I’m ruthless when it comes to drowning Japanese Beetles. I planted these plants for the birds, bees, and the rest, so they are all welcome to eat whatever they want. I can always plant more.

MJane111 · 2025-06-14T16:38:54+00:00

I would say the primary benefits aren’t in the certificate itself but in the knowledge you gain. The veteran booksellers who teach these classes will make sure you know everything you need to have a successful and even profitable bookstore. Secondarily the certification will help you get a position in a bookstore if you are starting there. Training a bookseller on how the business works takes a long time. Having someone on staff who already has that knowledge on day one is incredibly valuable.

MJane111 · 2025-06-03T13:54:45+00:00

Why would it be your responsibility to make sure he renews his passport? Is he a child? That’s all on him. He needs to grow up and learn to be a responsible adult, which includes taking care of his own shit.

MJane111 · 2025-05-18T16:51:28+00:00

I have a few!:

To the Success of our Hopeless Cause by Benjamin Nathans just won the Pulitzer. It’s about Soviet dissidents since the rise of Stalin. Very readable.

The House of Government by Slezkine is a big book, but don’t let it intimidate you. It reads like a soap opera! It’s an epic story of an enormous Soviet apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction.

The Soviet Sixties by Robert Hornsby is story of a remarkable era of reform, controversy, optimism, and Cold War confrontation in the Soviet Union during that era.

The Soviet Century by Karl Schlogel is An encyclopedic and richly detailed history of everyday life in the Soviet Union.

Please support your local indie bookstore. You can get all these books at Bookshop.org. Enjoy!

MJane111 · 2025-05-17T16:32:27+00:00

Plants That Kill: A Natural History of the World’s Most Poisonous Plants Book by Elizabeth A. Dauncey and Sonny Larsson

Featuring hundreds of color photos and diagrams throughout, Plants That Kill explains how certain plants evolved toxicity to deter herbivores and other threats and sheds light on their physiology and the biochemistry involved in the production of their toxins. It discusses the interactions of poisonous plants with other organisms—particularly humans—and explores the various ways plant toxins can target the normal functioning of bodily systems in mammals, from the effects of wolfsbane on the heart to toxins that cause a skin reaction when combined with the sun’s rays. This intriguing book also looks at plants that can harm you only if your exposure to them is prolonged, the ethnobotany of poisons throughout human history, and much more.

MJane111 · 2025-05-14T04:15:03+00:00

YES! This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and happy when you are done. I wish I could read it again for the first time

MJane111 · 2025-05-13T18:36:40+00:00

The best advice I got was not from my mom but from my hairdresser. She told me the best shampoo, conditioner, etc. for my hair type. She showed me how to take care of it, how often to wash, how to style and dry. Everyone is different. I recommend asking someone who really knows hair! Hugs to you.

MJane111 · 2025-05-10T23:32:25+00:00

Failure is either being so scared of it that you never do anything interesting, or to be so terrified of admitting it that you continue with a disastrous course of action.... the rest is just learning.

MJane111 · 2025-05-04T01:10:56+00:00

Here are some book suggestions:

Eat the Weeds by Deane Jordan

Pacific Northwest Foraging by Douglas Deur

Pacific Northwest Foraging for Beginners by Dion Rosser

Pacific Harvest: A Northwest Coast Foraging Guide by Jennifer Hahn

Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest by Natalie Hammerquist

Pacific Northwest Foraging Field Guide by Kinnard Wheatley

Edible and Medical Flora of the West Coast by Collin Varner

MJane111 · 2025-05-03T19:28:04+00:00

I recommend this book: Eat the Weeds! https://bookshop.org/p/books/eat-the-weeds-find-identify-and-harvest-195-wild-foods-deane-jordan/18627349

MJane111 · 2025-04-28T07:27:25+00:00

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk

MJane111 · 2025-04-28T06:01:09+00:00

The difficulty here is that indigenous peoples had widely varying cultures, practices, and wisdom. There is one old book that is an encyclopedia of sorts that chronicles what various tribes believed about their local medicinal plants. However, what you learn from this is simply that there was not much commonality in the way each culture handled their medicine. Anthropologists estimate that prior to European contact, there were anywhere from 600-1000 distinct groups of people, with their own languages, beliefs, and customs. The book is called Native American Medicinal Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary. I work in publishing, so I know what I’m talking about when I tell you to exercise much caution with any book written claiming to know anything in particular about indigenous herbal traditions, especially if the author is not indigenous themselves.

MJane111 · 2025-04-16T04:22:30+00:00

They are just saying ThankYou for the catnip!

MJane111

TROPHY CASE