Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

We Have Liftoff… North by Northwest Kickstarter

February 8, 2018 /

Now Live…

This has been in the works for a time now. Wonderful to have it going. And lots of cool stuff as rewards, including discounts again on workshops and lectures. Just in time since some of you were running out of credits from the Pulphouse Kickstarter. (grin)

The reason we are doing this is to expand the store into four unused rooms. But wow do those rooms need work. We are planning to do it no matter what, but the Kickstarter will speed up the process a whole bunch.

And in the expanding, we will be starting up a system where indie writers and publishers can get their books into our store. (Right now we don’t have much room.) We want to focus a lot on indie books and hand-sell them. After all, the bookstore is owned by writers and run by writers.

And yeah, we know, the belief is that bookstores are dying. Nope. The bookstores that are dying are the ones run by people stuck in the old systems. North by Northwest Books has been profitable almost from day one since we bought it. We are selling books around the world through ABE, eBay, and Amazon. And shortly will have our own sales web site.

Modern bookstores carrying new and used and selling wide are doing great. And we don’t even care if you drop by and showcase our books and buy online. All we care about is helping customers find the book they want when they want it.

Link to the kickstarter here...

Here is our slogan on tee-shirts and book bags and such:

Buy Paper Books… Give Bookmarks Something To Do.

Here are some of the nifty rewards…

— You can give certificates to your local library or school for books and North by Northwest Books will work with the library or school to make sure they get the right books for their needs.

— You can buy a mystery box of either science fiction, mystery, or comics. Your choice.

— Discounts on lectures and workshops. You can get multiple of these if you want.

— Every major WMG book for 2018.

— A nifty book bag or a book bag full of books.

— A gift certificate in the store if you or someone you know is coming to the Oregon Coast.

And with every award you get the most recent volume of Fiction River.

So take a look and at least watch the crazy video below. And see what our bookstore on the Oregon Coast looks like inside. It’s nifty, I promise.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403649867/north-by-northwest-bookstore

And take a look at the entire North by Northwest Kickstarter here…

18 Comments

  • Gnondpom

    February 8, 2018 at 5:58 am

    Very fun video (Kris seems to be enjoying herself), and cool project! Best of luck with the Kickstarter!

    After reading your slogan for T-shirts and book bags, I was kind of expecting to see bookmarks amongst the rewards. Is this something you’re planning on doing later? That would be the kind of extra reward that wouldn’t increase the shipping cost of your physical rewards. And yes, I do realise that shipping them outside of the US would be prohibitively expensive, but maybe you could imagine sending a print-at-home version via email?

    And if I may, it might be an idea to add a link to the Kickstarter in your post (unless I’ve missed it)? I’ve seen that the K in the video is clickable, but it took me some time to figure it out.

  • Julie

    February 8, 2018 at 6:13 am

    Looks great – congratulations on having such a great store.

    But is it me, or is there not a link to the actual Kickstarter? Wondering if I missed it somewhere, both on the blogpost and on the video.

  • J.M. Ney-Grimm

    February 8, 2018 at 7:25 am

    Fun video! I visited the store when I was on the coast for a workshop in the summer of 2012. Shelley gave me a personal tour, with a focus on the antique medical implements and medicines displayed there, because I needed to know more about them for a novel I was writing at the time. So kind of him!

    It’s so cool that you’re making room for more books. I hope a few of my paperbacks make it onto your indie shelves. 😀

    • dwsmith

      February 8, 2018 at 6:11 pm

      Yes, you can use them for March, no problem at all. This ends on the last day of Feb, the March workshops don’t start until the 6th. So no issue.

    • dwsmith

      February 8, 2018 at 6:12 pm

      Kris came up with it. It will be on mugs, tee-shirts, and book bags at some point.

      Read Paper Books: Give Bookmarks Something To Do.

  • JM

    February 8, 2018 at 9:52 am

    Pleasant surprise to see the late Patrick Macnee at a signing as one of the pictures.
    Now to go check out the actual kickstarter.

  • Thomas Bennett

    February 8, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    Dean, you’ve finally done it. I backed to get another online workshop AND I’m starting a savings account so I can back your next kickstarter for three workshop credits. Best of luck, here’s hoping you get all your stretch goals!