HELLO!! As I began writing this blog I decided to take a look back at my most recent post - May, I tell you, May!!!! I'm so sorry not to have put my ramblings down sooner, a small business, flexible working and 3 children always seemed to mean that my blog got put to the bottom of the list. I have grabbed half an hour to collate some of the things that have been happening here at Bring a Book to Life over the last few months that I'd love to share with you.
Those who follow me on any of my social channels Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, will know that over the last 6 months or so lots has happened including an encounter with a dragon and a new structure for the subscription service we offer!
Let me take you back to September where I was fortunate enough to be selected by Theo Paphitis and his team to take Bring a Book to Life to the retail market. I was offered a trade stand at the NEC's Autumn Fair, where buyers from all over the world come and look at products to consider for their retail outlets. It was a brilliant 4 days and I learnt SO much. I took large orders from four garden centres and a selection of gift shops around the country! I'm also now listed on two global marketplaces for retailers to access my products and sell them themselves. Since September I have shipped boxes to Spain, Malta, Germany and America! Here's Theo and I having a chat about the Dyslexia Friendly boxes - being Dyslexic himself and a huge supporter of many Dyslexic charities and initiatives, he showed a keen interest!
Whilst I'm on the topic of the Dyslexia Friendly boxes, you may have noticed that since June I haven't released any new lines. The reason for this sadly was that they just weren't selling. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong really in marketing them but after six months of creating them I decided to put them on pause for a bit. I'm delighted to let you know that as of January, they are BACK!! A wave of new demand from schools has come in and I'm hoping that seconf time round they may just get the traction they need to stay a regular box.
In other news, I have decided, after many months of procrastination, to reduce the amount of boxes made. They will now be released every 3 months with an added box at Christmas. The 4 categroeis will remain the same and there will still be theme to them. There are many reasons for this - firstly I'd really like to develop the subscription side of the business and at the moment most of my boxes are sold on a singular one off basis. Why is this? Well, cusotmer feedback has shown me that perhaps a box a month is too much. Each box is expertly curated and contains lots of goodies and gifts. Customers were telling me that they love the boxes but felt too many gifts too regularly wasn't something they were keen on for their children. Fair enough point. I'm hoping that by releasing a box every three months may entice people to sign up for the year, thus helping me plan and predict how much of everything I need to buy beforehand.
I have also foud it SUPER hard to market the boxes effectively and it's seemed that just as one is curated and finished I'm moving onto the next! It feels as though I'm not doing each one justice enough!
By releasing 5 a year at a cost of £110 delivered for a single annual subscription I'm hoping that it may be an afforable 'big present' for birthdays and Christmas, time will tell!
So boxes will now be released in January, April, July, October and December. Boxes may be released at other times throughout the year in line with demand but for now this is how the sructure will be.
We were also shortlisted for an award this year that promotes products to families. Sadly we didn't win but it was good to be shortlisted nonetheless. It's taught me a little lesson in terms of what these awards mean. By no means do I wish to appear to have sour grapes but I think its worth letting people know the background behind many of these award structures. You are asked to stump up an enormous entry fee (£275) plus send, in my case 9 boxes, to various judges. This is all made very clear to you when you sign up for it and that's fine. What I'm not sure the general public know is that you are not hand selected and many many wonderful small businesses don't get the recognition they deserve because of the risk involved in such a large outlay. I had hoped for at least some feedback to help me improve my boxes from the judges but I wasn't even notified that I hadn't won. A lesson learned for me and one I won't be repeating! Well done to all those that did win, I really hope that the risk has paid off!
I thought I's summise my blog by highlighting my 12 Boxes of Christmas!! I'm hoping that each day from the 1st December I will post a video to my social channels ad through email (this is all dependent of how crazy family and small business life get of course!!) Each day there will be 15% off each box featured so do watch this space!!
So if you're undecided as to which box to buy tune in and see a little walk through each day!
Here's the line up!
I'll sign off by wishing you all a healthy few weeks, the news over the last few days has made me a feel a bit edgy, I do hope you are all ok too!
Best wishes and thank you so much for your continued support with Bring a Book to Life!
Kate x
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