Welcome to a new month, everyone! For the June 2024 monthly wrap up, I wanted to do a mid-year check in.
This year is definitely going by way too fast for me. I’m just having too much fun reading books, thinking about books and talking about books, so that there’s no time to do anything else. With that said, I’ve been thinking about taking a little break from the blog and my social media accounts to focus on in-person business tasks. Time to actually try to make money. May the rest of your 2024 be amazing!
here’s what I’ve accomplished for the business in 2024, so far:
- Joined California Independent Booksellers Alliance
- Became an affiliate for Bookshop.org, Libro.fm, Kobo and Amazon
- Started taking the Basic Bookselling course with the Professional Booksellers School
- Joined the American Booksellers Association
- Obtained a Business License and Tax Certificate
- Chose a POS System
- Opened a business bank account
- Opened a credit account with Ingram (so I can buy books!)
In June, I received my bookseller certification from Professional Booksellers School. This was a 2024 goal I set at the beginning of the year. It’s so nice to accomplish a goal I set for myself. It’s hard to break my obliger habits of meeting other people’s goals and none of my own. Since I’m the boss now, I need to make sure I’m keeping the boss happy and pushing forward.
My goal for July is to focus on setting up recurrent pop-up events for the bookshop. I have one more paperwork related item to take care of (my seller’s permit) and then I’ll be all set for networking and schmoozing…my least favorite activity. A wallflower needs to find some way to conquer her social anxiety. Anyone have any tips?
I’m thinking I may just post on my Instagram to see if there are any local businesses interested in partnering up. And then there’s just hitting the pavement and handing out business cards (note to self, get business cards). What comes first, ordering the books or scheduling the event? I’ve heard book shipments could take a while….and as an anxious person ordering books first is probably the way to go.
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Alecia, Wallflower Bookshop Owner
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I’ve heard a lot of gushing about Olivie Blake’s writing from Booktok. This book didn’t disappoint. It was an eye opener on how to keep the reader guessing and intrigued, without tiring them out with the variety of perspectives. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!
June 2024 Reads
Here are my finished June 2024 reads. I had a bit of trouble getting through all of the books I’d allotted to June. 6 books a month really does seem to be the sweet spot for my reading pace, so I’m going to stop trying to fight it.
No five star reads for me this month, but The Atlas Six and A Novel Love Story came pretty close, and I found We Should All Be Millionaires very inspiring. Tried my best to get through Children of Anguish and Anarchy, but once I got to the halfway point I couldn’t do it anymore (I’d given the book three chances at that point). I wasn’t a fan of the writing style and the story wasn’t moving fast enough for me. Maybe one day I’ll return to the story, but I would need to re-read the other books in the trilogy too. I feel like not re-reading the first two books did this series finale a disservice. The Next Best Fling was the perfect palette cleanser for the end of the month. The book was light and deliciously romantic.
In cased you missed it…here are a few book reviews from June:
- New Book Releases: Week of November 11, 2024
- Shop Diary: October 2024 Monthly Wrap Up
- New Book Releases: Week of November 4, 2024
We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers
Alecia, Wallflower Bookshop Owner
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I listened to this in a day on 1.25x speed…podcast veterans know 😉 Rachel was super easy to listen to and laugh with. Practical advice and action items to whip your finance’s and mindset into shape. Took notes and can’t wait to listen to the audiobook again!
July 2024 TBR List
This July TBR List is like a breath of fresh air after my June reads, in terms of a smaller list and possibly lighter fare (1 fantasy, 3 romances and 2 personal growth books)? The fantasy book, The Sky on Fire, I’ve already started reading. The book is entertaining so far, with political intrigue, swashbuckling adventure, a little flirting (not sure if there will be romance) and dragons! I’m guessing this one will be the heaviest lift for me of the bunch, so I wanted to start with it, process it a bit and then write a review. Of course, at this point I have a week until it publishes, July 9, so not sure how long I’ll really get to think it over.
Noué Kirwan and Emma R. Alban are both new writers to me, so I’m eager to see if they’ll be new fave authors. I’ve read some of Elena Armas’ books and have loved them all; I may need to start a ranking. I checked out Set Boundaries, Find Peace and Rich AF from the library as audiobooks. So they should be quick listens, and I’ve been wanting to read them for a while now. In the past I’ve either ended up having to shift my TBR list or I took too long to read the e-book (ahem, Set Boundaries, Find Peace). So ecstatic to be finally reading these two. I think it’s gonna be another great reading month!
What are you reading this month? Let me know in the comments.