Fountain Bookstore's Pre-Order Campaigns: Lessons, Tips, Part 2

Yesterday, Shelf Awareness took a look at how Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Va., handles its pre-order campaigns and what owner Kelly Justice has learned from running them for nearly a decade. Today, we look at how Justice and her team get these books to their customers.

Justice said that putting together a pre-order page that "looks decent" takes her only a few minutes. Once the page is live and Fountain Bookstore is officially accepting pre-orders, Justice and her team do most of their promoting online, and much of it is driven by the book's author and publisher. And thanks to Fountain Bookstore's longstanding partnerships with several authors, the store is now being seen as a destination for pre-orders.

For major pre-order campaigns--those with around 500 or more books involved--it becomes impossible to process, package and ship them all from Fountain Bookstore's 1,000-square-foot storefront. Justice and her team rent temporary office or warehouse space on a monthly basis as needed. She advised against renting or buying anything long-term, noting that the pre-order business works in bunches: between massive, large-scale campaigns, things can be very quiet for months at a time.

There are lots of details to consider when leasing a temporary space or hiring temporary staff, including extending business insurance coverage to make sure that inventory and staff are covered in the new location. She also recommended booksellers audit their shipping costs every three or four months and keep an eye out for rate increases, especially when doing things a year or eight months ahead; she added that Fountain Bookstore learned this the hard way, when the store lost $1,600 in one day due to shipping costs.

Justice said her operations manager Carl Kranz manages the staffing to handle these campaigns and makes sure that there isn't a lack of customer service at the main store during the busiest times. Given Fountain Bookstore's size, one or two booksellers can cover that space "pretty well," and when asked if she worries about the store experience being diminished while the staff is all hands on deck for a pre-order campaign, she answered that she didn't.

"What diminishes the experience is a store full of cartons and people packing stuff," Justice elaborated. "We know because we did that already. We realized it was not a good experience."

Justice added that it's important to "take care of your people," especially during larger campaigns, which can be "quite stressful." And while some people do enjoy the "mind numbingness" of packing and shipping, it is hard work and the hours are long. Making sure everyone is taken care of and that all the books still get out on time, she said, requires a robust internal communication system.

In addition to temporary staff, there is a contingent of local authors, book lovers and volunteers who often help out with the biggest campaigns and "enjoy being part of the party." Justice described it as a "celebration" when one of these hugely anticipated books comes out, with Justice and her team sharing photos and videos of the packing and shipping process on social media, and customers sharing photos and videos of them opening their books and pre-order bonuses with the store and author. 

"People think it's different from regular bookselling, but it's not," Justice said. She's found some of her industry colleagues to be "very resistant" to the idea of selling books online, as if it's not legitimate or not real bookselling. "These are real relationships. It is independent bookselling and if done properly, it's a beautiful experience that's very fulfilling for all parties involved."

When asked if her own staff members were ever resistant to the idea of doing pre-orders, Justice answered that her staff "never saw it as anything other than making customers happy." She continued: "It's not about being an online business. It's about being in the joy and delight business." --Alex Mutter

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