Oh yeah, I’m going to have to have a way to ship all these books…

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Just think, as a self-publisher, by the time you finish all the writing, editing, re-writing, proofing, designing, laying out, securing endorsements, developing a marketing plan, and generating publicity, the work has only begun! Next comes the day-in-day-out job of processing all the orders and making sure that you provide prompt and excellent service for your customers. Since I have never had any involvement in a product-based business, I am pretty clueless about how to set all of this up for the greatest level of efficiency. I’ve met with several friends who have experience in this area, and received some helpful tips, but I have a suspicion that the bulk of my learning will come from actually doing it. (Why do so many things in life have to be that way?!)

For starters, I just finished ordering bubble mailers and labels. I still don’t have an actual book yet, so I determined what size to order by perusing my bookshelves until I found a book that is the same dimensions and has approximately the same number of pages as my book. Then I dug through my Dad’s stash of mailers (the ones he has received over many years and saved for reuse – I guess being a pack rat does have some advantages…) until I found one that seemed like the ideal fit for the book. Plenty of room for it to slide in without bending the cover, but tight enough so that it won’t get beaten up during the delivery process.

I did some price comparing on-line at different office and mailing stores, and eventually ended up at ebay where I ordered a case of 200 #2 Poly 8.5″ x 12″ Self-Seal Bubble Mailers. While I was checking out, I also decided to add a package of 200 mailing labels that were considerably less expensive than several other outlets I checked. I really have no idea if these items are going to best meet my shipping needs or not, but I’m eager to give them a try in a couple of weeks when I start sending out the Advance Review Copies of Pajama School – stories from the life of a homeschool graduate. Hopefully I’ll get the system tweaked at that time so that I am ready to roll when all the other orders start pouring in! 🙂

4 Responses to “Oh yeah, I’m going to have to have a way to ship all these books…”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Have you checked into the “selling books by the truckload” webinars? I bet a lot of companies that sell to homeschoolers would be willing to offer your book as a bonus.

  2. Natalie Says:

    Margaret~

    I’ve never heard of that…will have to research it! (Do you happen to have a link?) Thanks for the tip!

  3. Margaret Says:

    I can’t find the webinar link but here’s A link – http://www.sellbooksbythetruckload.com/main.html

    I’m not pushing the pricey coaching program but I learned a lot from reading the sales stuff on his site from other people’s successes. Somehow I found out about a webinar and got a lot from that as well. I’m not sure how I found out about it.

    Anyway, I’m enjoying reading about your journey. You’re so organized!

  4. Natalie Says:

    Thanks for the info, Margaret, and for your kind words! The truckload selling idea is very intriguing!

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