The Bookworm's Guide to Flirting (The Bookworm's Guide 3)

“So you pick your nose,” I said after a moment.

“Every Thursday at three p.m.”

“So no making out on Thursdays. Got it.”

Dylan squeezed my hand before releasing it. “Maybe in the mornings.”

I raised my eyebrows. “But not Friday mornings.”

“A twenty-four hour no-touch period.”

“Perfect.”

***

“I’m just not entirely sure how it works,” Kinsley said, looking at all the papers laid out in front of us. “How are we going to get people to do a reading challenge when we don’t really have an engaged audience on social media?”

“That’s the whole point,” Holley said. “If we can engage our audience, we’ll sell more. This is a fun, free way to potentially do it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

Kinsley looked at me. “Say?”

“All it takes is our time. If it’s written into our scheduled posts anyway, I don’t see an issue in it. We could even combine it with a monthly giveaway. A book or a tote or something.” I fingered the new tote bags that’d been delivered that morning. “Shipping isn’t expensive for them, and even if people only join for the freebie, that will still gain us exposure. If we find it’s not working, we’ll stop.”

Holley motioned to me as if to say she agreed.

Kinsley sighed. “Okay, we can try. I like the giveaway idea to make it visible.”

“It’s fine. It’ll be summer soon, and we can launch a whole new summer line in time for the tourists,” I reassured her. “We’re smart and savvy. We know what we’re doing with our merch this year. If that means we have to clear out some of the books to showcase it more effectively, then so be it.”

“That we could do,” Kins said. “It’s all in one place right now. The window is great, so is front of the store, but I think we would do better if we spread it all out through the store.”

An intrigued look passed across Holley’s face. “Like mannequins with the shirts next to shelves? Mugs with books?”

“The ‘I get my THRILLS from my books’ shirt next to the thriller section?” I offered.

“Yes!” Kinsley clapped her hands. “We have a huge store, and we’re not utilizing it properly. Does it matter if we have to get a few books off a shelf for the mugs? Our merchandise is becoming a huge part of who we are, and we need to sell it correctly, especially in time for summer.”

Holley opened her laptop. “Let’s see what else we can get that we can gear toward summer.” Her fingers flew across the keyboard and she expertly navigated the website with her thumb. “Water bottles; that’s a given. There are things like solo cups here and they’re always popular…” Her voice trailed off. “Beach towels can be custom made.”

“That’s fun.” I leaned over as Kinsley came with a notebook and a pen. “Oh, notebooks!”

“Yes! Why haven’t we done that?” Kins scribbled it down on the notebook. “What else, Holley?”

“Uh… there are lip balms? Little round ones, not just the normal stick ones. They have SPF, if we bought them in bulk they’d be cheap to sell at the register.” She tapped on them. “We’d have to get three hundred of the little ball-type ones, but they potentially work all-year-round with our winters.”

“How much are three hundred?” I waited for her to toggle the slider and winced. “Ouch. That’s a lot.”

“But we could offer them discounted with purchases over a certain amount,” Kinsley said, wiggling her pen. “Fifty percent off with every purchase over thirty dollars or free for even higher.”

“Would that work?” Holley asked, scrolling another page.

I nodded. “How many times when you’re online shopping do you check your basket and shipping is, like, six bucks, but you get free shipping at fifty? You’re at thirty-five, so you may as well just go spend another fifteen to save six.”

They both froze.

“Why are you calling us out like that?” Kinsley asked, staring at me.

“Oh, I’m calling myself out, too. And every other woman ever.” I snorted.

“I like the lip balm idea. Yeah, it’s expensive to get going, but how many times do we go out and need lip balm?” Holley looked between us. “And that’s the store’s logo that would go on it, so really it’s quite simple to do.”

“Maybe small things like lip balm that we can use as a similar selling device might be worth investing in.” I reached for my coffee and sipped. “Lip balm works because it’s useful. There has to be other things like that we can offer.”

“Definitely.”

The store door opened with a trill of the bell that hung above it. A woman I didn’t recognize in what I assumed to be her late fifties stepped inside with a shiver. She was very well to do, as Dylan would say, with her perfectly coiffured curls and tailored coat. She looked over us with wide eyes.