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is business slow for you too?

I used to run a distro in high school, and I barely remember how many orders I used to get, but I feel like it was more than I am getting now!

Maybe it's because I'm actually keeping track of my expenses, but it's freaking me out! Is this just because my distro is new, or is it normal to get so few orders?

It's so frustrating!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Colin Tedford on March 17, 2010 at 10:48am

I dunno! We hardly ever get web orders; I keep meaning to do a nebulous "something" about it (possibly regular updates & promotion would help). We do most of our business through stores and events.

Permalink Reply by Erin H on March 17, 2010 at 12:08pm

I've only received web orders so far, and I receive at least two orders a week. Sometimes more. How many orders are you getting?

Permalink Reply by Carlos Palacios Hidalgo on March 17, 2010 at 4:23pm

how much publicity are you doing for your distro besides in here? i mean is always good to do so much publicity when your zine/distro/record label/etc is new maybe do a flyer and send it by email

Permalink Reply by False Start Distro on March 17, 2010 at 4:51pm

Erin, I've only gotten 5 orders this month! Last month I had probably 12 orders, most of then at least $15. So it felt like a lot more.

Carlos, I've done a lot of advertising on FB, other messageboards and emailing friends & having them pass that along. I just made some fliers and sent them out to a friend in Chicago to put around for me, and am giving some to my friend in Brooklyn this week. I also left some at a bar my boyfriend's band played a show at, and will be putting them around in bookstores/coffee shops. I'm also going to try to send them out with more orders. I'm just feeling at a loss for what to do since it feels like the scene has gotten so much smaller these days!

I've been toying with the idea of setting up a Myspace for my distro but I don't know if that makes much sense. Has anyone had any experience with setting up mailing lists?

Permalink Reply by Carlos Palacios Hidalgo on March 17, 2010 at 4:58pm

i feel it too i donno is really hard to figth against blogspot and e-zines i do also a review blogspot but this is also a paper zine,if you want send me your flyer to put on my trades packges and in the new issue of my fanzine ;)

Permalink Reply by Mae Undead on March 18, 2010 at 3:55am

Yup. It's slow for me as well. It has been dying down these past years. I usually make all my money back when I table at zine fests.

Permalink Reply by NicoleIntrovert on March 18, 2010 at 5:07am

I think February was a bit slow. Click Clack had 13 orders in Jan, 8 in Feb and 7 so far for March.

Keeping track of the expenses is a pretty scary thing when orders are slow, i agree.

Permalink Reply by lizzy / marching stars distro on April 1, 2010 at 12:06pm

Business is absolutely booming for me and I have no idea why! I've taken over 10 times the amount I did in January - March 2009...
I'm not doing anything remotely interesting at the moment... distro physically looks a bit neglected... god knows why so many orders! I took an order a day in March, and that's unprecedented for me (even when I've had offers on)...

Permalink Reply by False Start Distro on April 1, 2010 at 12:16pm

Wow! Congrats! That's really cool.

I actually made about $5 more in March than I did in February, which to me, is a success! I was fearing that I'd make less money, but the fact that I made just a little bit more makes me happy. I am tabling at a design/crafts show this month so I am excited about that. I made a FB fan page for my distro too and I think that's really helping out. I'm trying to keep posi vibes about this!

Do you ever check your website stats? I always find it really interesting to see where people are getting my links from. Every now and then I see a blog that I never even knew about mentioned me and it's awesome when that happens. Maybe something like that happened for you and that's why you're getting all this new business!

lizzy / marching stars distro said:

Business is absolutely booming for me and I have no idea why! I've taken over 10 times the amount I did in January - March 2009...
I'm not doing anything remotely interesting at the moment... distro physically looks a bit neglected... god knows why so many orders! I took an order a day in March, and that's unprecedented for me (even when I've had offers on)...

Permalink Reply by Fluxxii on May 1, 2010 at 12:47am

This is kind of off-topic although you had mentioned it, but do you have to ask for permission before you leave your flyers around in bookstores, cafes, bars, and such? I have some printed up but am too wimp to just leave them there or ask the people!

False Start Distro said:

Erin, I've only gotten 5 orders this month! Last month I had probably 12 orders, most of then at least $15. So it felt like a lot more.

Carlos, I've done a lot of advertising on FB, other messageboards and emailing friends & having them pass that along. I just made some fliers and sent them out to a friend in Chicago to put around for me, and am giving some to my friend in Brooklyn this week. I also left some at a bar my boyfriend's band played a show at, and will be putting them around in bookstores/coffee shops. I'm also going to try to send them out with more orders. I'm just feeling at a loss for what to do since it feels like the scene has gotten so much smaller these days!

I've been toying with the idea of setting up a Myspace for my distro but I don't know if that makes much sense. Has anyone had any experience with setting up mailing lists?

Permalink Reply by False Start Distro on May 1, 2010 at 9:30am

I ask! So far everyone's always said yes. The only place I don't ask is at a bookstore where I cover shifts for people occasionally. When I'm working there I put my flyers right out by the register and then when I leave I put em over by the other flyers!

Fluxxii said:

This is kind of off-topic although you had mentioned it, but do you have to ask for permission before you leave your flyers around in bookstores, cafes, bars, and such? I have some printed up but am too wimp to just leave them there or ask the people!

False Start Distro said:
Erin, I've only gotten 5 orders this month! Last month I had probably 12 orders, most of then at least $15. So it felt like a lot more.

Carlos, I've done a lot of advertising on FB, other messageboards and emailing friends & having them pass that along. I just made some fliers and sent them out to a friend in Chicago to put around for me, and am giving some to my friend in Brooklyn this week. I also left some at a bar my boyfriend's band played a show at, and will be putting them around in bookstores/coffee shops. I'm also going to try to send them out with more orders. I'm just feeling at a loss for what to do since it feels like the scene has gotten so much smaller these days!

I've been toying with the idea of setting up a Myspace for my distro but I don't know if that makes much sense. Has anyone had any experience with setting up mailing lists?

Permalink Reply by NicoleIntrovert on May 2, 2010 at 3:28pm

What service do you use to get your stats from?

False Start Distro said:

Wow! Congrats! That's really cool.

I actually made about $5 more in March than I did in February, which to me, is a success! I was fearing that I'd make less money, but the fact that I made just a little bit more makes me happy. I am tabling at a design/crafts show this month so I am excited about that. I made a FB fan page for my distro too and I think that's really helping out. I'm trying to keep posi vibes about this!

Do you ever check your website stats? I always find it really interesting to see where people are getting my links from. Every now and then I see a blog that I never even knew about mentioned me and it's awesome when that happens. Maybe something like that happened for you and that's why you're getting all this new business!

lizzy / marching stars distro said:
Business is absolutely booming for me and I have no idea why! I've taken over 10 times the amount I did in January - March 2009...
I'm not doing anything remotely interesting at the moment... distro physically looks a bit neglected... god knows why so many orders! I took an order a day in March, and that's unprecedented for me (even when I've had offers on)...