How to Develop Alternative Revenue$treams For Your Library(or, For a Few Dollar$ More)

By Mary RaymePioneer Memorial Public LibraryRandolph County, Harman, WV

Does your library need money?(If not, this presentation is not for you.)

• Methods we will explore today bring money into your library from your locale and (potentially) from all over the country.

• With a minimum investment money can be earned for your library in continuous streams that don’t require a lot of work.

PayPalEver heard of it?Do you use it?

How secure is PayPal?

• Place a donation button on your website.

• This allows your patrons to donate any amount that they wish via credit card.

• PayPal sends you a notice and the cash is directly deposited into your library’s bank account.

“I tried being reasonable, I didn’t like it.”

Have you ever heard of the Kroger Community Rewards Fundraising

Program? (Or, Kroger Cares.)

• There are about 46 Kroger stores in West Virginia.

• You can set up a gift card program that you and your patrons may use to benefit your library.

• Patrons purchase a Kroger gift card from the library for $5.

• Every time you go to the Kroger load up the gift card with more cash at the customer service desk.

• Five percent of all groceries purchased goes back to the library or nonprofit of your choice.

• Pluses: You don’t have to do a lot. Promote the cards to your patrons. Watch the cash roll in.

• Negatives: Patrons have to remember to go to the Customer Service desk to refill their cards when they spend all the cash on groceries.

“They say marriages are made in Heaven, but so are thunder and lightning.”

Better World Books - pluses

• Keeps books out of dumpsters

• They resell books for you on 50+ Internet outlets

• Your library gets 15%, plus 5% donated to a charity. (BWB has 4-5 charities from which you may choose.)

• BWB pays for your books to be shipped: at least 6 boxes, and up to 25.

Better World Books - minuses

• You don’t get as much profit as if you sold yourself on Amazon or half.com.

• You have to pack up books and ship them.

Google Adsense – Using Blogs• Start a blog for your library.

• Blogger.com is a great place to start and it is free.

Link to your blog on your library website

Post blog entry links on your library’s FaceBook page.

(And remember: Blogs have nonmonetary value in that they help communicate with your patrons, and promote your library.)

Google AdSense

• Apply for a Google Adsense account once you have a handful of blog entries.

• By linking Google AdSense to your blog, Google places ads on your blog pages.

• If and when someone clicks on an ad from your page and buys something, your library gets a cut.

• You can edit certain content of your ads. So, for example, I have removed all ads for dating and alcohol from my library’s AdSense account.

• Write your blog entries with a meaningful link, source materials, and good SEO.

What is SEO? • Search Engine Optimization is all about

getting Google to rank your pages better

• The better your page ranking, the closer to the top of a Google search your review will go. (which means more pages hits)

• Learning to write with good SEO is all about understanding how people search the Internet

More Blog Ideas • Amazon Associates

• Become an Amazon Associate by reviewing books with embedded links.

• Every time someone buys a book based on your link your library gets a share of the profit.

• Patrons or friends may write book reviews for the library.

• Use good SEO to write your reviews“Let's not go and ruin it by thinking too much.”

Using SEO – An Example• If you are writing a book review of Janet

Evanovich book you will want to include phrases like:

• American mystery writer

• Funny mysteries

• Good beach read

• Even using a keyword with a misspelling may yield page hits, such as “Evanovitch”

• These are all phrases that Internet searchers would use to look for a book like those of Janet Evanovich.

Google Analytics• Google Analytics won’t garner any income

but it can show you which blog entries are the most popular.

• Use Google analytics to track your blog traffic including page hits and bounce rate.

• Analyzing these stats may help you become a better blog writer, which in turn, could generate more income and page hits.

Google Analytics - Example

Sell Books on Amazon• Books that are donated that you

don’t want to add to your collection• Books that are weeded out of your

collection but are still in Good condition (at least)

Selling on Amazon • How to get started

• Invest in bulk bubble mailers.

• Seller obligations

– Mail sales quickly, within 1-2 days

– Mail via Media Mail

– Get delivery confirmation for books sold over $40 or so…

• Tweak inventory once a week or once a month

Selling on Amazon - Pluses

“I would never have been able to pass the Bill Clinton-Gary Hart test. No one short of Mother Teresa could pass.”

• Reimbursed $4 for shipping

• Profit goes right into bank account

• Keeps books out of dumpsters

• Creative book recycling

Selling on Amazon - Minuses

• Amazon take a 20-30% cut

• Customers may be unaware they are not buying direct from Amazon and are more likely to ask for returns

• Have to go to Post Office regularly.

• Book inventory takes up space and has to be managed well.

Other Selling Venues• Half.com is another place to sell books

online

• Half.com makes a much smaller cut than Amazon. The catch is that they are not as a big a name and therefore you are less likely to sell here.

• You can list the same books on both Amazon & Half.com, you just have to be vigilant about deleting sold inventory.

Tips for selling books online

• Most books have little to no resale value.

• It can take years to hone your book buying and book selling skills.

• Nonfiction generally sells better than fiction

• Bestsellers usually have little or no resale value

• Small press/academic press books may sell better

• Textbooks that are more than a year or two old probably have no resale value

• Don’t sell large, heavy books. You lose money in shipping.

• Don’t sell books that are marked in or are in questionable condition.

One Fiscal Year – Pioneer Memorial Library

• Amazon (selling used books) = $1,000

• PayPal = $0 – easy to set up a donation button

• Kroger = $500 – easiest method

• Google Adsense via library blog = $8, first year

• Amazon Associate = the more reviews you have the more income potential you have. Volunteers can write reviews which garners cash, engagement, and free PR.

Create Products for Sale• CafePress.com is a great place to create

items for sale.

• People buy library-themed or region-themed merchandise directly from CafePress.com

• CafePress creates the products and mails them.

• Your library gets a chunk of change.

• You don’t need space for inventory, CafePress does this for you.

The Last WordThere are many other ways to set up revenue sources using the Internet.

Be creative with ways that you use to promote your library and make money all at the same time.

The work you spend may be well worth it…for a few dollar$ more.