I started up Withywindle Books six years ago this past October (2011), and I’m pleased to say that it’s still up and running and I have plans for this late fall and early winter to grow our available inventory again.
Over the past 6 years, I’ve also been contracted out occasionally for natural history programs and presentations. I recently decided to put a name out there for myself – Withywindle Nature Programs – and will share more about this venture in future posts. But the fact that Withywindle Nature Programs now exists has started me thinking about the two businesses I run and how they are alike and different.
Keeping the name Withywindle for my natural history programs was a way to keep the two entities connected. Plus we offer nature photographs for sale, and since the site for WWNP doesn’t have a store-front component, they’re sold through links to the bookstore’s site. And I anticipate within the next year expanding my offering of nature books, making the link between the businesses that much stronger (and clearer).
My passion for books and reading doesn’t seem incongruous with my passion for the natural world (and sharing it with others through my programs), although I suppose the genre I specialize in (sci-fi/fantasy) is. But they’re both still me (assisted by my wonderful nature photographer and book-hoisting husband & occasional volunteer friends) and it’s important (to me) to have a connection between the two that is apparent to others.
Which, in a round about way, brings me back to this blog.
I started the Withywindle Blog as a resource for the bookstore; posting news, new book arrivals and happenings in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. My personal blog was where I shared any of my naturalist observations, along with personal/family postings. But given my desire to have the two businesses share some resources and connections now, I would like this blog to be devoted to both WWB and WWNP, and my personal blog can remain for personal and family writing.
If that is to be the case (and I’m moving rapidly in that direction – giving the blog a look different than either of the two businesses, and posting on a wider assortment of topics) then I need to seriously think about the purpose of this blog in a more concrete way. The folks at Problogger.net said that one of the first things a blogger should do is to develop an ‘elevator speech’: a short blurb that describes your blog in the amount of time you would spend with a stranger in an elevator (roughly).
Hmmm… nope, don’t have one. To me, the blog is the “Withywindle” part of my businesses. The place where the two converge because they share a name, and an owner. If this is starting to get a bit out there (or just too lengthy) for you, feel free to move on to a different post. I promise not to be offended – this blathering is really more for me to get my thoughts down and sorted out about all the components that now make up the ‘Withywindle universe’. Where was I? Ah, the blog’s purpose…
I don’t think I’m quite at the elevator speech yet, but this is my first step towards it. Will the blog lean more towards the natural history side of things, or the bookstore? Or will I achieve a nice balance between the two? I still need a venue for presenting our store’s new arrivals, and I can’t imagine not posting information about upcoming nature programs here (although I do have a posting section on the WWNP site for just such a purpose). If it’s just Withywindle, what does that mean to me? Does it need to be more focused than just being a source of postings relating to WWNP and WWB?
I will continue to ponder, and research what other bloggers have made of their blogs. Any thoughts or feedback (especially from bloggers and small business owners) would be most welcome.
