How to Organize a Book Sale
How to Organize a Book Sale
Book sales can be a great way to raise money or spread awareness for your favorite charity. They give the charity the opportunity to reach people at every step of the process. They can also be a lot of fun for the volunteer and a chance to meet a lot of people. It is best to have a few friends to help out, but one person can manage them with a little time. If you would like to host a book sale in your community but would like more information or help organizing the sale, contact us at
www.booksanddreams.org.
To get started, you?ll need some materials from the charity to show people while collecting and selling books. They let people know a little more about the cause you are supporting and may even help to find a few people to help with the sale. For our book sales we use flyers, bookmarks, and brochures. This is also a good time to start finding a place to hold the sale. Your local shopping mall is a good start, but anywhere there will be a lot of people will also work. Your charity can help contact a place in you community or you can go directly to the management. Explain to them that you?ll only need enough space to set up a few tables and your sale will attract visitors to the mall. Finding a location for your sale early allows you to let people know about it when you are collecting books. A Saturday or Sunday, or both days, usually works best. Plan on holding the book sale for at least six or seven hours as this will give people time to work it into their schedule.
Now you are ready to begin collecting books to sell. There are a number of ways you can do this. The easiest ways are contacting businesses and churches in your area. Explain that you are hosting a book sale for a charity and would like to place a book donation box in their lobby or cafeteria. Usually, they will want to see some materials from the charity and will need to talk it over with someone, so you may have to call back a few times. If they will permit you to place the donation box, thank them and find an area where it will be noticeable but not in the way. Staple some informational material on the sides and make sure you check it for books at least once a week. You may also go door-to-door to collect books. This also gives you the chance to pass out flyers and bookmarks about the charity.
Plan to collect books for at least a few weeks before the sale. As the date of the book sale nears, contact area churches, businesses, newspapers, or radio again. They may be able to advertise the sale or may even offer a donation to the charity. Remember, it really isn?t about the book sale but about raising awareness and donations for the charity so use every opportunity to do this. The day of the sale, remember to get there early to set everything up. Place your brochures, flyers, and bookmarks on the table along with the books.
You can name a price for your books or really draw a crowd by having a ?name your price? book sale. Often, people will offer more for the books because the money is going to a worthy cause. Of course, any rare or expensive books would be an exception and you may want to limit the number of books any one person can buy unless they are willing to buy them for a reasonable price. Be sure to gather everyone?s contact details (name, email, telephone, address) so an official receipt can be sent to them for their donation. If you have books left over after the sale you can always sell them to a used bookstore or save them for a future sale.
After the sale, you will need to ship the unused marketing materials and donations back to the charity. Feel free to distribute the remaining flyers, bookmarks, and brochures, but if you don?t plan on doing so, sending them back to the charity can save them a lot of money in printing costs. You will not want to send cash through the mail so it is best to buy the necessary postage before buying your money order to send to the charity.
If you would like more information, or would like to host a book sale, contact us at
www.booksanddreams.org
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