The
total number of books sold by small, part time mail order
entrepreneurs
is growing each year.
Total
sales each year for the past five years have increased by 50
per
cent over the previous year's sales.
Two
"new angles" have greatly contributed to this phenomenal
growth
in total sales.
One
is the practice of offering a wide selection of books via
"mini
catalogues".
The
other "angle" is the practice of sending these "mini
catalogues"
to prospective buyers as "inserts" in printed
materials
the prospect has already ordered.
Mini
catalogues are usually printed on A4 sheets of paper, then
folded
in half along the length and simply slipped inside the
covers
of a magazine or the folds of a newspaper.
Often
a mini catalogue is folded and sent out as a self mailer.
Both
of these methods of obtaining circulation are very
profitable.
A
book selling a "mini catalogue" is made up of a "full page
Commercial"
on the front page.
This
is your main sales thrust, or primary attempt to sell a
"featured"
book with each of your mailings.
The
second, third, and half of the last page of the mini catalogue
should
be two columns of listings of other books you have to
offer.
Each
listing should consist of the title of the book offered,
followed
by a short description of either the book itself, or how
the
book can benefit the buyer.
This
is then followed by the catalogue number of the book, and the
price.
The
bottom half of the last page of your mini catalogue should be
devoted
to your customer order coupon.
The
mini catalogue should be typeset, and printed on a different
colour
paper for each mailing.
Recent
sales analysis indicate that the better quality paper your
mini
catalogue is printed on, the more sales it brings in for you.
Once
you've got a mini catalogue with which to advertise your
books,
you must bring all your efforts to bear on the problem of
obtaining
maximum circulation of your mini-catalogue among the
prospective
book buyers.
The
easiest and least expensive method is as follows: Check at
your
area newspaper offices for a listing of all their
distributors.
Contact
these people and ask them to give you a price they would
charge
to include one of your mini catalogues with each paper they
sell
or deliver.
Determine
how many "mini catalogues" you'll need for this kind of
distribution,
have that number printed, hand them out to your
contracted
distributors and newspaper carriers, then sit back and
prepare
to fill book orders.
It's
simple and easy, but best of all it really results in big
profits
for your book selling business!
Another
simple method would be to line up students from different
schools
in your area, and pay them $10 per thousand to deliver
your
mini catalogues door to door.
If
you have school age children, this could be the easiest and
least
expensive method of distribution for you.
Most
towns also have professional distributing services which
deliver
advertising material to the residents.
Check
your local phone directories for their names and addresses.
The
orders which you develop through the local distribution method
can
be filled by mail.
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