Books & Whatnot was launched to the world (of bookselling) on January 1st of this year. You surprised us by not only opening the email, but also responding… on New Year’s Day! That prompted our first Quick & Dirty Survey question: Is your store open on New Year’s Day?

Most responding stores were closed. A few were closed to the public, but had the staff on hand for inventory. And some were open and had great fun.

One of my favorite New Year’s Day bookstore ideas came from Readers’ Books in Sonoma, CA:

Yes to New Year’s day from noon until 5 pm with 50% off on calendars and used books for one day only–we also encourage folks to bring in their fruitcakes and leftover cookies to share the calories.  We serve Virgin Marys (byo blood), aspirin and promise “NO FOOTBALL”–it’s a big community party and it works very well.

Another Quick & Dirty Survey questions was: Does your store maintain a blog?

Most responses were “no” with a “but I’d like to” attached. Some stores that do have a blog do not post consistently, and From My Shelf Books & Gifts in Wellsboro, PA said:

Yes, we have a blog, but it is mostly our posting the weekly book-related column we write for the local newspapers. Still, it’s fun; it’s almost exclusively about books, and manages to recommend many books that way; and it automatically posts to Facebook and Twitter, so that’s helpful. It just reinforces what we’re already doing in our local papers, but gives it a different venue.

And the last Quick & Dirty Survey question we’re looking at today: What POS system does your bookstore use?

There was a tie for most used among the respondents between BookLog and Anthology. And the most common thread among the comments had to do with the customer service provided by the POS companies.

If you’re into charts and graphs, you should enjoy this infographic.

More responses to come next week!