The New Way to Sell Books
The new way to sell books is actually selling to people. Folks are so hungry right now for authentic, genuine and transparent relationships. As amazing as one click buying is, it leaves out the fun part, talking to other people. That's what is so brilliant about this new business by our friends Denise and Doug Spicher. Full disclosure, both our kids worked together at a cafe and wanted us to all meet. We instantly connected and low and behold, we started talking about books!
Denise is literally like no one I have ever met with books before. Upon entering her home, she has a wall of books and ran over to me greeting me explaining some books. The smell, the touch, the feel, the cover's....it was so fun to see.
Later the same evening they shared with us their business idea. Book Bound....a wondering book shop. I plan on posting two blogs about their business and encourage any book lovers world wide to hit up Denise on Instagram. They've hit the road all summer long, making friends, building community and helping share their love of books!
Here is a start to the interview with Denise - the back story of her and Doug with books and how Book Bound came about.
When did you first realize how much you loved books? Do you recall? I don’t have a specific memory of when I started liking books and reading. I feel like it has always been there. My parents both loved to read so they always had books around and as far back as I can remember I recall being read to by my mom and dad, especially at bedtime. I loved all of the Dr. Seuss books with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. And a really big favorite of mine was The Little Engine that Could. My dad used to like reading that to us and, as young as I was, somehow, I got the messages of courage and tenacity which have served me well my whole life. Some of my fondest memories as a kid involve reading…I loved reading outside on a blanket if it was nice out or at the beach on a towel. Also, I loved reading if it was a rainy afternoon. I would bring books or comic books wherever we went. I loved reading our set of encyclopedias as well; so much information about so many cool subjects. My great aunt was a librarian and I recall visiting her at her library as well as visiting the Danbury Public Library almost weekly growing up. To be surrounded by books and have my choice of reading so many subjects and genres was the best!
I didn’t start collecting books like I do now until maybe 10 years ago. I have always had books around and kept books I enjoyed but at some point, my book buying started to out-pace my reading speed. 😊 Buying books, collecting books and reading books are 3 different things to me. I just basically love to be around books and that feeling has gotten stronger over the years. I love collecting books because I am such a mood reader, so I like to have many books at my disposal to fit whatever mood I am in when it is time to choose my next read. And there is something about being surrounded by so many stories and possibilities that brings me a lot of joy. I also have a lot of non-fiction books because I am interested in so many different subjects. I am just a very curious person by nature.
The idea for Book Bound started percolating in my brain about 5-6 years ago. I was probably searching for stats on opening a bookstore or something and came across this article by a woman in Alberta, Canada who had a traveling bookshop out of a box truck. I bookmarked and “favorited” that article on my computer and the idea stuck in my brain where I would pull it out from time to time to ponder if I really thought this idea could stick. At the time, we lived in CA and our kids were still in college so I knew I couldn’t open a traveling shop then since I still needed to provide a higher income to our family (than a traveling bookshop would allow) until our kids were both out of the house. I also knew we were planning a move back to the East Coast (where my husband and I grew up) in the next few years, so it just didn’t seem like the right time then. Fast forward a few years and our kids are on their own, we made our move back east and I could consider the idea of the traveling bookshop again. Seeing that we moved to the Seacoast of NH I had a strong feeling that this would be a great place for a wandering bookshop. The Seacoast has such a strong community of small businesses and I just love the community aspect of partnering together with other small business owners.
