Hold Your Head On: Strategies for Independent...

Hold Your Head On

Strategies for Independent Bookstores

Maintain Your “Presence of Mind”

Part 5 of the 36-part “Book Wars” series of articles

by David A. Rozansky, Publisher, Flying Pen Press

April 24, 2009

(Note: This is the 5th article in the “Book Wars” series of articles, a series of articles where the author interprets the strategies taught in The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene, and applies them to the business of the independent bookseller, in the arena of the difficult book trade. The first article in this series can be read at http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977657920.)

This series of articles discusses how war strategies can be applied to the book trade for the benefit of the independent bookseller. In previous articles, I have discussed the Warrior Spirit and the strategies of Defining Your Enemy and Nonrepetition. Now I will discuss Robet Greene’s concept of “Presence of Mind,” which he describes so carefully in his book, The 33 Strategies of War.

A general who is fighting a difficult battle will find himself in difficult situations, filled with bloodshed, violence and the greatest of horrors. The enemy will seek to surprise him, to outflank him, to box him in. It is often said that the first casualty of war is the battle plan. Generals have to think on their feet, change their strategies in the heat of battle, and never, ever panic.

So, too, it is with business. Anyone running a business, whether it is the CEO of a large multinational conglomerate or the local hotdog vendor, must constantly face change and hardship. It goes with the territory.

When the bills are overdue, the customers are going elsewhere, and the staff are leaving for better jobs, it is easy to panic, to sit and worry the day away. Yet this is the very time that the storeowner must keep her wits about her and think through the situation. She must develop a strategy that will turn things around, and at these times, emotions tend to stand in the way of the necessary creativity.

The difference between workers and business owners is that business owners must be able to hang on to their sanity and not let emotions sway their decisions.

This is true in any business, and it is my intention to interpret Greene’s war strategies specifically for bookstores, and here I would like to introduce the concept of Core Business. Every company has a core business, that thing they do or sell that is the very core of their being. Should the business fail to do or sell this thing, the business will instantly fail.

Here are two examples. Think on the question: What is Disney’s Core Business?

It is not what you might expect.

It is not the film industry, though this is where Walt Disney started. It is not theme parks or media outlets. It could lose any or all of these product lines, and still succeed.

No, the Core Business of Disney is its trademarked characters. Disney is a Mickey Mouse factory, and it makes Mickey Mouse…and Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh and Grumpy and Pocahontas and Simba. Every time someone puts one of these characters on a watch or a T-shirt or baby pajamas, Disney gets a cut, without spending a single dime on production, research, or staffing. It is pure profit. Everything in the business works to support the Core Business: movies create new characters, media continues to promote the character images, theme parks are the vestigial home of these characters.

Take another company: Coca-Cola. What is Coca-Cola’s Core Business? Cola?

No.

If Coca-Cola lost all of its production facilities, patents, even its secret formula, it would lose very little as it developed new products. But if everyone in the world suddenly forgot the name Coca-Cola, the company would fail instantly, even though it might continue to produce the same product. Change Coca-Cola to Fizzy-Wig Cola, and you have no company. Here, Coca-Cola’s Core Business is its very name.

Look to yourself and to your competition, and ask: What is the Core Business?

For most independent bookstores, the obvious answer is likely to be “books.” But as my examples point out, the obvious answer is rarely right. So look deeper.

Is your Core Business “information and entertainment?” Is it “school supplies?” A religious bookstore may find its Core Business is “spiritual enlightenment.” Or the answer for your store may indeed be simply “books.”

And what of the competition? Let’s look at a few and I will try my best to guess:

* Barnes and Noble’s core business is a “Shopping Experience.” It is also simply “Books.” Take the books away, and perhaps sell music and stationery instead, there will be no business left.

* Borders’ Core Business is also “books.” I feel that Borders in many ways has forgotten its Core Business and tried a number of things to boost its bottom line, to the detriment of the Core Business.

* Amazon’s core business is “Internet Shopping.” If Amazon lost its book division, it would survive. Take away its internet platform, it dies.

* The public library’s Core Business is “free access to information.” In some cases, it may be “archives of official information.” Note that these two products could easily be placed entirely on electronic media; printed books are not necessarily essential to a library’s mission statement.

Maintaining presence of mind means maintaining the focus on the Core Business. If you truly know what your Core Business is, and you also know what the competitor’s Core Business is, you can keep your wits while all about you is falling apart. You will know what you can sacrifice and what you must protect at all costs, and also what your enemy will stand and fight for and where he will give up ground to you.

Flying Pen Press’s Core Business is “a connection” (between authors of quality writing and readers of discerning taste). Take the authors away, we will find others. Take our books away, the authors will simply write more. Take the printed page away, we can still do business by electronic means. Force us to do business without Borders, Barnes & Noble or Amazon, we will survive.

But Flying Pen Press’s relationships with independent bookstores are part of our Core Business, and that makes them invaluable to us, part of that connection that is the primary basis of our company, and that is why I fight so hard for independent bookstores.

Maintain your focus on your Core Business and keep your wits about you, and you will be okay.

So, Book Warriors, let me know, what is your Core Business?

This is just one article in David A. Rozansky’s column, Readers, Writers & Royalties, a blog column about the book trade, from writing and publishing, to selling and reading. This series of articles—“Book Wars”—is an interpretation of the strategies listed in Robert Greene’s The 33 Strategies of War, as they apply to the independent bookseller. In his next article, Mr. Rozansky will discuss doing business in a very scary place, known by Sun Tzu and others as “Death Ground.”

Readers may find archived articles or subscribe to Readers, Writers & Royalties at www.ReadWriteRoyalty.Gather.com. Subscribe to all of Mr. Rozansky’s articles at www.FlyingPenPress.Gather.com.

David A. Rozansky is the publisher of Flying Pen Press. He has been in publishing since 1987, and has more than one million published words under his byline. Flying Pen Press is at http://www.FlyingPenPress.com. He is available for speaking on the subject of writing magazine articles, public relations, marketing and book-length material.

The book mentioned in this article is The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene (Penguin Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-14-311278-5, trade ppb, $18.00).