This week’s shop diary theme: focus, focus, focus. I’ve worked my way through about half of my business plan. Focused mostly on the market analysis this week. What is the target market, 2024 market growth and market trends for an independent bookshop featuring POC female authors and protagonists.
From what I’ve read 8 in 10 black-owned businesses fail within the first 18 months. So not the most optimistic of trends – but bookstores are apparently recession proof! So I’m going to focus on the positives of owning a bookstore, take things slow…and work my way to getting past that 18 month hill.
Remaining elements of the business plan are the marketing plan, logistics & operations plan and the financial plan. I’ve sort of started marketing casually with this blog and social media accounts. Making sure I’m on a good schedule to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays and maintain a consistent presence. Still working on an editorial schedule, so I can make sure topics are engaging.
Coming up for next week I’ll feature an end of year review for books that I read in 2023 – that will tie in with genres I plan to provide in the shop (need to work on narrowing my TBR list to be more intentional for 2024…the list just keeps growing).
Let me know what you’d like to hear about while I get the business up and running! Who are your favorite POC authors? What genre do you like the most?
Currently Reading:
