May Overview // my book shop updates

I’m already over May so I consider this last week a new start. I’ve had som rough anxiety this month especially and I want June to be where I focus on my health and relax 🙂 It doesn’t sound like much but I’ve gotten out of my depressed den twice to walk to the park every week.

Besides the heavy state of things I can celebrate that I’m having a nephew in November. And this was the best month for my book shop Hyla Brook Books.

Honestly getting furloughed pushed me. I immediately improved my listing photos, I signed up for eRank, an SEO tool, shared more of my bookmarks on my social media pages, and aimed to get new inventory every week. From May 1st – today I had 14 orders on  etsy and 9 orders on the side.

I think technically you have to report any earnings over $400. In the last 30 days on Etsy (so April 25th to today May 24th) I had a revenue of $196.53. In my PayPal piggy bank, I made $160.90 after fees. This doesn’t include packaging and any thing extra I had to pay in shipping or the costs for the books.

Honestly if i didnt have this chronic pain i dont think id try so hard. i want to be happier and that might mean leaving the job ive been doing for 5+ years.

Next month I must invest in a printer so i can print labrls and keep track of shipping through Etsy. I also tol myself I need to try to have 100 listings. It seems like my sweet spot is around 40 listings and I start seeing weekly sales. Well, as long as it continues this way. I hope I’m not jumping the gun. I know a lot of people are at home due to COID-19 and they want to spend their stimulus checks on small businesses or save money since more people might lose their job.

i have a feeling ill be back to work soon though. Watch theyll rocketship call volume and bring people back.

Everythin in my shop is 15% off until Tuesday for memorial day weekend. im taking a break since its raing and my arm hurts. i/m going to try to focus on my fairy story i want to have some kind of outline for the characters and setting.

I also shared a book haul in my Facebook group where I showed some of the books i got this week and a special shop update. i’ll do another live video soon to share the new books i got today.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HylaBrookBooks

This includes my poetry chapbook and if your from the blogosphere and leave a review for my shop not only do i super appreciate it BUT i will refund you the money for the review. This is just an offer for my wordpress followers. Reviews mean a lot on Etsy you could even share a link of a review to your blog. Etsy buyers love seeing indiepments makers.

Also, just have to give a shout out to Etsy. They’ve been advertisting like crazy and have made some great tweaks to the website. My favorite change is on the side – when you click on the listing Etsy recommends similar items from your shop to get together, to get free shipping.

I’m not in a huge hurry to get sales in May because there is no shipping supplies. I’m still waiting for the stuff I ordered from Amazon to get here. I was thinking about doing a separate post on using kraft paper supplies, since i only had access to the family dollar.

my arms have hurt this entire post. i stopped halfway. recording this since hands don’t seem to get better and it’s like keeping a pain journal.

chronic pain sucks

but i think if i made 250 orders a month, i could make a living. eventually i dream of going to school to be a teacher. follow your bliss.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hylabrookbooksVIPs/