Managing the Prices at Your Book Table

Managing the prices at your retreat book table is key to having a successful book table.  It is not always possible to offer good deals if the books you wish to showcase are all new releases.  But we like to have a variety of books, including older and classic books, as well as a variety of price ranges.  Here are some of our ideas:

• We try to make available small, quality books in the $3-$4 range.  Sometimes you can find mass market paperback copies of classics that are available for a very low price, which can then be offered at a low price.
• If possible, we try to offer books priced below their retail price.  The two primary ways that we are able to do this is by shopping sales (both at retail stores and from online distributors) and by ordering through our church bookstore and passing their discount on to the women.
• We keep the prices as low as possible after factoring in taxes and any applicable shipping charges.  This is a service to our women, not a money-making venture.  Our goal is to break even.
• We always check Amazon.com to see if the books we want to order are available used.  This is tricky, because the shipping costs can sometimes be prohibitive.  However, if I do find books used (in very good condition only), I mark them clearly as “gently used” so no one is deceived into thinking that they are buying a new book.

One note:  Even though it is tempting, we would advise that you DO NOT lower book prices at the end of the retreat just to get rid of books.  This would be unfair to those who purchased the book at full price early in the retreat.  If ladies find out that by waiting they may get a better price, you will lose a lot of early sales.The exception to this would be if you had sold no copies of a specific book and wanted to lower the price on that book only.