Carpe Librum Books and Art Launches Crowdfunding Campaign

Melissa Eisenmeier of Parkville, Md., has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help turn her online bookselling business Carpe Librum into a bricks-and-mortar store in Baltimore, Md., in February or March of next year. Eisenmeier is looking to raise $5,000 through her crowdfunding campaign, and plans for the physical store to be around 1,500 square feet in size with an inventory of some 5,000 titles, both new and used.

"I decided to start my own bookstore because I love books, and it seemed normal for me," said Eisenmeier. Many members of her family, including her father, her aunt and three cousins, were all entrepreneurs with their own businesses, she explained. "I grew up hearing stories about their businesses."

Eisenmeier started her online business, which is currently run out of her home, this past January. At the moment, her inventory is about two-thirds used books and one-third new, and she sells books for all ages and in all genres. Eventually, she hopes to have an inventory split about evenly between used and new books, and will sell art from Maryland artists such as Tara Fly and Joanna Barnum. Among some of the rewards for her GoFundMe backers are "paw-tographed" pictures of "senior staff cat Stan Lee"; gift certificates; and goodie bags featuring coffee from a local roaster, gift cards and original cat art from a local artist. --Alex Mutter

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