With Writing Show host, Paula B.

Welcome to the original Writing Show series, How Not to Run an Online Bookstore, Episode 1. I’m your host, Paula B., and this is my story. Do not follow in my footsteps. Such a journey will only lead to misery and humiliation.

In 2003, my husband Alan and I decided to open an online store. What a foolish decision that was! It’s obvious now, but at the time, scales covered our eyes. We weren’t cut out for such an endeavor. Alan is a techie and a business executive. I am a writer and self-employed researcher. We should have stuck to what we knew, but we panicked. The software company we had started just as the tech bust hit had run out of money, and our financial situation had deteriorated. Jobs weren’t easy to come by. We were so freaked out that we didn’t follow our own advice: do your homework!

Our logic was flawed from the get-go. We thought, “This will work–everyone sells stuff online.” Online retail is booming, and many businesses are run by one person. How hard could it be? Trust me—it’s hard.

We liked the idea of spreading our risk. Before, I’d put a lot of eggs in just a few baskets, spending up to three years writing one book. Our startup software business had been vulnerable too. If one thing goes wrong, that’s the end of it. Better to let other people take the risk and make the stuff. We’ll just sell it. If one product doesn’t do well, the others will make up for it.

Wrong!

At least we didn’t go with our first idea: a store selling British merchandise to Americans. Being English, Alan knew the field, and since I love English culture, I could get inside customers’ heads. But we soon realized that there wasn’t a strong enough market. Not to mention the issues of shipping charges and currency fluctuations. Considering how the dollar dropped a year later, we made the right decision. Gosh—one thing we actually did right!

So we decided to sell stuff we loved and knew: books and software. But not just any books and software. We’d have a niche. We’d sell to creative people like us: artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, animators, game developers. Our collection would wow them, and our knowledge and enthusiasm and extra features would keep them coming back.

Wrong again!

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Continues....

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