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April 2010 Newsletter...
This newsletter is different from my others. It features my new book, How to start a home business on a shoestring. I have included the introduction, table of contents, and two chapters in this newsletter. The chapters are How to build a light table and Marketing books.
Work At Home
My latest book is finally published. How to start a home business on a shoestring is not just another book giving blue sky ideas, but rather tutorials on proven methods of how you can start a business on a shoestring.
Below you will find two sample chapters, the introduction, and the table of contents.
Among the tutorials are how to start businesses in the area of how-to, sports/hunting/fishing, a special interest publication, books, antiques & collectibles, etc. Table of contents is below.
My first book, Blueprints for Profits was dedicated to the graphic arts industry. It shortly became a best seller with over 20,000 copies sold to printers at $49 per copy across the world and Brother International purchased at $17.50 per copy an additional 5,000 copies that they gave to purchasers of their equipment.
How to start a home business on a shoestring is available either as a downloadable eBook for $19.95 or as a hard copy at $24.95 plus $5 shipping for the bound book for a total of $29.95.
This book is a "work in progress." The hard copy is 114 pages and will be updated two times a year. The eBook is now about 140 pages and is updated to add more ideas as I have the time. If you purchase the hard copy you will be given a link where you can download the updated eBook. Once downloaded, you can print a copy of the eBook.
New areas in the eBook that are not yet in the hard copy are: How to make a light table, Greeting Cards, Making handmade paper, Guest transportation, How this book was produced, and Specialty foods.
Acceptable methods are PayPal (info@cytreasures.com), MasterCard, Visa, Discover, AmEx, check, or money order (Cy Stapleton, Box 151107, Lufkin, TX 75915)
I lost the work I had done on this book when my computer crashed on November 1, 2009. I had to start from scratch with only a few notes from my research and a hard copy of an early rough draft. The publication date was supposed to have been January 1, 2010, but that was delayed until April 1, 2010.
The index is below. Please note that the page numbers may be different on your copy. My proofreaders felt that some chapters needed to be moved around to be consistent with the topic.
If you order an eBook you will be given a link to the download. If you order a printed and bound copy, it will go out by media mail within 48 hours of receipt of order.
Introduction and contents...
Your New Home Business And
How to Beat the Competition
By Cy Stapleton
Introduction
Thousands of books have been written about how to get rich on the Internet. Without question there have been many who have gotten rich using the Internet, but that number is almost insignificant when compared to those who have tried and failed.
This book is not about how to get "rich" using the Internet, but rather how to make a little extra money or even a decent living.
Everything in this little book is from my personal experience and the experiences of a few fellow entrepreneurs.
In reading this book you will need to think "outside the box." While I will discuss numerous examples, these may or may not be a good fit for you. Study the examples and come up with ideas of how they may apply to your areas of interest or expertise.
Competition is certainly a consideration and you need to study your compeition. You don’t want to copy what your competition is doing. In studying your competition you want to look for areas you can improve on. This will be covered in depth in other chapters of this book, but the first things I look for is the quality of both the illustrations and the descriptions. Look at the return policies, methods of accepted payment, the "contact us" page, etc.
The design of the site is also very important. I am amazed at the poor contrast on many sites. As an example, a site may have a black background with the text in blue. For many this is extremely difficult or impossible to read. While you can put your curser on the page and touch your Control + "C" key to make the text white, many visitors may not be aware of that.
Jot down the things you like and dislike about a number of sites before you start the design of yours. Follow some of the tips you will find in this book and your fears about competition can be put on the back burner.
Make certain your type is large enough to be read and is in a legible font.
Pricing is important, but is far from the most important element of your online store.
Do not expect to start making a lot of sales immediately. Like the vast majority of the brick and mortar stores, success takes time and effort. When I first opened my online store I was several weeks before I received that exciting first order. As time passed a few more came in but it was about two years before my profits consistently averaged over $1,000 per month and another year before they exceeded $3,000 per month. The $3,000 per month is the target I try to maintain. I could work to increase this, but I am satisfied with that target.
The bottom line is dedication and patience. Glean as much information as you can from this book and dedicate a couple of hours a day working on your new business. In time, you should see some nice results from your efforts.
Good luck,
Contents...
Your new business 4
Getting started 7
What are you going to market 15
How to market 16
Hunting/fishing/outdoor market 17
Baby market 19
Show market 21
Antiques & collectibles market 24
Book market 25
How to start a special interest publication on a shoestring 28
Buying wholesale for retail 58
Doorstep trash pickup 60
Giving added value 65
Writing descriptions 67
Pricing 83
How to market 84
Creating booklets 86
Shipping 88
Creating profitable displays 91
Booth location and layout 101
At the show 102
Other ideas 103
Miscellaneous 105
Scanning & Photography 108
Conclusion 110
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New chapters in eBook
How to make a light table
Greeting Cards
Making handmade paper
Guest transportation
Specialty foods.
How this book was produced
Home made light table
A light table can come in handy with a lot of projects, the problem is that they are pretty expensive. Below you will find the details of how you can build your own for around $50.00
Requirements:
5 pcs 1/2" x 4" x 24" oak - available from Lowes
3 Sylvania Miniture Opale 60 flourscent bulbs -13-watt - electric supply house
3 screw in sockets for bulbs - electric supply house
3 pipe clamps to hold sockets in place - electric supply house
1 rocker switch - electric supply house
Small roll of electrical wire - electric supply house
A length of lamp cord and a plug - any hardware store
Tempered glass about 14" x 18" - I got free from a junk copy machine at a local service company
1/4 or 3/8" plexiglass cut to same size as tempered glass - Lowes or glass shop
1 piece 3/8" x 2' x 2' plywood - Lowes
Plain bond paper or engineering velum cut to size of tempered glass - Office depot - large format paper
Router with dovetail attachment and router bits
Glue - hardware store
8 small sheetrock screws - hardware store
2 screen door handles - hardware store
Can of white spray paint - hardware store
Small can of clear varnish or stain
Paintbrush or rag go put on stain - hardware
Tools:
Screwdriver
Router w/dovetail attachment and router bits
Wire cutter
Saw
Note
When the box is complete, but before affixing any of the electrical components, spray the inside sides and bottom with white paint as a reflector. Use a clear finish on the outside of the box to make it look more professional.
Directions:
Cut two pieces of the oak planks 1/2" wider than the tempered glass
Rout a groove 1/4" wide and the exact depth of the glass and plexiglass so that the two pieces will be flush with the top edge of 4 of the planks when in place.
Cut one of the 4 planks to fit inside the box. Rout a small groove so that it will slid in place and the glass will fit into the routed edge.
Cut a hole in one side of the box that the rocker switch will fit in and glue the rocker switch into place
Cut the top and bottom planks to the proper width and dovetail all 4 corners
Put the box together and then cut the plywood to size.
From the scrap planks cut three small rectangles long enough to screw the screw-in sockets using the 3 pipe clamps. Lay these small squares on the plywood, with the bottom two sockets about 4" apart and the third one centered above them, with the top of the socket even with the top of the other two bulbs. These blocks are to lift the bulbs off the bottom of the box.
Drill a 3/4" hole in the plywood under the center of each bulb as a way for any heat to get out.
Wire the bulbs and the lamp cord to the rocker switch.
When the box is complete, turn it over and drill 3 pilot screw holes on each side of the plywood and one at the top and bottom. Use 8 small sheetrock screws to affix.
Screw one screen door handle to each side of the box to make it easier to move.
When complete you will have an excellent light table/box that you can use for any material up to about 11" x 17". It will have a box at the end where you can put your tools. All you will need now is a T-square, razor blades and any other tools you might want to use. A hinged cover can be put over the little tool box if desired.
Book Market...
This is one of my favorite areas. I try to limit my books to those that are militaria related, signed and multi-signed books, and first editions.
I never have a problem finding books to sell.
Garage sales and Friends of the Library are a great place to start. Occasionally a real treasure will turn up.
What I am looking for at these sales are militaria books and first editions. It is rare to find a signed book here. Unless it is a truly special book, I am interested in only ones that are in excellent condition with a dust jacket.
I will open the book to the copyright page and determine whether or not it is a first edition. When I find one I will set it aside. After going through all of the books I will ask for a price if they are not price marked. I try to get the books for $.25 each and rarely will pay more than $.50 each.
I stay away from the mass produced sets - like TimeLife series. They are a lot like National Geographic collections. You find those at many garage sales. I will make an exception on National Geographics if they are WWII issues or some pre-1930 issues.
I have a number of sources for my signed books. There are several "remainder" warehouses. Often these warehouses will have books that the authors signed in advance for book signings or through the mail. These you can normally get at 5-10% of the cover price. I also write best selling authors telling them I am a bookseller specializing in signed books and will send them a dozen or so bookplates I designed to be affixed to the title page of their books. As an example, I got 20 signed bookplates from Tom Clancy. After I received those bookplates I checked my inventory for any Tom Clancy books I might have. I then went to abe.com - a huge website where thousands of booksellers list literally millions of books - and searched for books by Clancy. Since his first book was The Hunt for Red October, that was my first choice. I found three. One was a first edition 6th printing. After affixing a bookplate to that one I sold it for $200. I ended up finding enough copies of Clancy’s books for all of the bookplates I had and paid between $1 and $3 each for them except for the first edition which I paid $20 for.
More recently Sarah Palin has been in the news and has written a best seller - Going Rogue. I wrote her and sent a dozen of the bookplates I created. She was kind enough to sign and return them to me. See below.
I then searched abe.com and found a dozen like new copies of her book for between $6 and $9 - most were first editions. After affixing the signed bookplates to the books, the books sold for between $80 and $125 each.
Among the better known authors I have written in the past and still have bookplates for are: Stephen Coonts, Sue Grafton, Margaret Thatcher, Alex Haley, Malcolm X, and Mickey Spillane.
Contact information is much easier than you might think. Many authors have their own websites and others can be located through their publishers. Don’t expect a prompt response. Sarah Palin and Mickey Rooney responded in a couple of weeks. Others have taken months. Some never respond.
One of the more interesting one was from the Governor of California. Rather than signing and returning my bookplates, he sent me a handwritten note saying he simply did not have the time to sign autographs. That note in itself is highly marketable.
Most of these from the well known authors I am holding back until I can find affordable 1st editions and 1st printing editions.
Pricing books is a lot easier than you might think. Simply go to abe.com and search for the author and title. Go through the found listings and find a few that are in the condition your book is in and the same edition as yours. I price mine at about half way between the least and most expensive. In the case of signed books, be sure to check "signed" in the advance search.
I list my books on abe.com as well as a few other similar book sites and on my website.
Like anything else, good photos of the cover of the book, the signed page and the copyright page are as important as is an excellent description.