MySpace to the Rescue

PW reports this morning on a really cool item: Women & Children First, the Chicago independent bookstore, was experiencing some serious financial hardship until they posted a forthright account on their MySpace page, explaining that the owner had cut his own salary by 80% and they had had to reduce store hours just to stay in business.

The response to the posting was immediate, and overwhelmingly positive. Not only were sales Friday and throughout the weekend the highest Bubon and Christophersen had seen since Christmas, but 30 new members paid $25 each to join the store?s club, which entitles them to a 10% discount and a subscription to the store?s e-newsletter. Other nonprofit groups have contacted the store in the past few days, offering to host fundraisers. And the store?s Internet sales have "gone through the roof," said Bubon, to the extent that one employee has been assigned just to fill Internet orders.

Last month I gave a presentation at the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association on just this sort of thing - using Web 2.0 tools such as MySpace to boost sales and improve your community presence. In this case, Women & Children First used MySpace to stay alive.