Business Basics
This page is designed to get you started as a Barefoot Community Bookseller and to be an easy reference for running your business. We recommend that you review each section below. Come back regularly to check for new information.
Edit Your Account Details
It is important to keep your Community Bookseller account information up-to-date. Visit the My Account page to edit your personal information:
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Profile Picture
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Legal Name
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Email Address (used for login)
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Billing Address (used to identify your location in the US or Canada)
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Shipping Address
You can also change your account password and manage saved shipping addresses from the My Account page.
Provide Your Financial Information
Barefoot Books requires the following information from Community Booksellers:
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Bank account for commission and bonus payments
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Social security number
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Reseller information (for US Community Booksellers that operate licensed businesses and remit their own sales tax).
To add or update your financial information, go to My Account > Financial Information.
Create Your Public Profile
Your Community Bookseller profile is visible to your customers and to other Community Booksellers. Don't leave it blank!
Sharing a message about yourself is key to establishing relationships with customers and other members of your community. We suggest you write a short paragraph explaining why you chose to become a Barefoot Books Community Bookseller and how you draw upon your personal strengths to share books with children. To create or edit your message, visit My Account > My Profile.
Don't stop there! Add a profile picture by visiting My Account > Account Dashboard.
When Customers visit your Community Bookseller profile and click “Start Shopping” or “Join My Team,” they will be linked to you.
Find Your Mentor
Community Booksellers who work with a Mentor gain a treasure trove of support and knowledge. You lose nothing by choosing a mentor, and you gain so much!
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Assistance outside of Barefoot Books Home Office business hours
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Personalized training and tips
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Shared wisdom and on-the-ground experience
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Support from someone with a vested interest in your success
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Encouragement and friendship
If you aren't sure whether you have a Mentor, visit My Account > Referral Information.
If you would like a Mentor but aren’t sure where to start, you can browse Community Bookseller Profiles.
Check Your Email Preferences
In order to receive account updates, notifications of new releases and sales, challenge prize information and training invitations from the Barefoot Books Home Office, you must subscribe to emails from Barefoot Books. Be sure that the box is checked next to “General Subscription” on the Email Preferences page in your account.
If you accidentally unsubscribe by clicking on a link in an email, contact [email protected] to re-enable.
Your First Book Fair
If you became a Community Bookseller to run a book fair in your own school or nonprofit, you are ready to schedule your first event! If not, start making inquiries to find local organizations that would benefit from a Barefoot book fair. Hosting schools or institutions earn 20% of event sales in free Barefoot Books, and you earn a 20 - 30% commission on all online orders.
Once you are ready to begin, review the Book Fairs page and click the LEARN MORE links under each of the three options for details. You may find it helpful to follow this Book Fair Checklist.
Start By Creating an Online Event
As soon as a book fair is scheduled, you can set up an online Barefoot Books event. As a Community Bookseller, you can create online events for any organization or individual. Orders placed toward their event earn them 20% in free Barefoot Books.
Get Started: Visit My Business > My Events. Click the button to CREATE A NEW EVENT, and follow the prompts.
Event Type: If your event is to be hosted by an organization or educator that already has a School & Nonprofit account with Barefoot Books, select “Book Fair” under EVENT TYPE and search by School or Organization name. Otherwise, select “Other” to create the event using the host’s email address.
Editing Events: After your event is created, you can go back and edit the event name and dates if needed, but the host cannot be changed.
Start and End Dates: As soon as an event is created, orders placed using that Event ID or event link will generate Barefoot Bucks for the host, even if they are placed before the designated start date. After the end date passes, orders will no longer be credited to the event.
Event ID: When you submit a new event, a unique 5-digit Event ID is assigned. The easiest way for customers to shop at the online book fair is to enter the Event ID at barefootbooks.com/find-a-book-fair.
Event Link (or URL): You’ll find a unique event link by clicking on the event name in the My Events list. If you share this link on social media or in an email, shoppers can click straight through without needing the Event ID.
Order a Book Fair in a Box
Book Fairs can be held entirely online, but adding a display can dramatically increase participation and sales. We have created the Barefoot Book Fair in a Box for you to use as a display during your book fair. It contains an eye-catching selection of top-rated books for children 3 - 7, a Barefoot Books table sign, 25 catalogs, and a bright branded carrying box. As a Community Bookseller, you can order this set for 50% off with free shipping!
To extend the age range for your fair, you can also order the Barefoot Book Fair Add-On Packs for Infants & Toddlers (Ages 0-2) and for Upper Elementary (Ages 8-10+) .
Our book fair display sets coordinate perfectly with our Book Fair Flier and Book Fair Ordering page so that parents can easily order the books they want. After they have started shopping at an online book fair, customers can order anything on the website toward their school or organization’s book fair.
Planning for a Traditional Book Fair (Selling On Site)
We recommend that all Community Booksellers start out offering online book fairs with a Book Fair in a Box display. After you have a few events under your belt, you may decide to expand your book fair offer to include books that can be purchased during the event. Sometimes called a “cash-and-carry” book fair or “selling off the table,” this type of event requires an upfront investment in inventory.
You can earn a greater profit selling books from inventory because you purchase stock at 50% off and resell it at full price. You can also offer to donate some or all earnings to the hosting organization. Choose the option to place a Personal Order to obtain your 50% Community Bookseller discount, and don’t forget that shipping is free when the order total after discount is $150 or more! Plan carefully, as unsold books are not returnable.
What should I order? If you have never done a Barefoot Books book fair at a particular school or organization, it can be difficult to predict what to order and how much inventory to bring. Therefore, we recommend you consult a mentor who is experienced doing this type of event before placing your first inventory order. As a general rule of thumb, you will need 2-to-3 times as much inventory as you plan to sell in order to provide a wide selection of books throughout the event. Once you have begun to carry an inventory, you should seek out additional schools and organizations who are interested in hosting book fairs, and you should plan to order new books regularly to replenish your supply.
Announce Your Book Fair
Work with the school or organization hosting the book fair to promote your event and to make it as easy as possible for people to order. We have provided the following tools for you:
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Printable Book Fair Flier
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Book Fair Graphics (search by keyword = book fair)
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Suggested wording for emails and social media posts
Teachers can be some of your biggest allies in promoting a book fair. Invite them to create Classroom Wish Lists prior to the start of the event, and then post the lists near your display. Parents love to see the books that teachers recommend, and teachers win by getting the books they need while the school earns even more free books!
Running Your Book Fair
Online Only: Running an online only book fair is easy. The most important task is making sure that announcements are sent out before and during the fair with ordering instructions. You can watch for incoming orders by logging in to your Community Bookseller account and either visiting My Events or watching for incoming orders on the My Orders page.
Online with Display:If you have added a Book Fair in a Box display to an online book fair, it’s a good idea to be present at the display during high traffic times or recruit a volunteer from the hosting school to do so. You can encourage customers to support the book fair in the following ways:
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Encourage people to pick up and explore our beautiful books
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Hand out book fair fliers and point out ordering instructions
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Draw attention to teacher wish lists and mark off any items that have been ordered
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Help customers place orders while browsing the display using a smartphone or tablet. Visit barefootbooks.com/find-a-book-fair and enter the 5-digit Event ID to start an order.
Traditional (On-Site Sales): If you are allowing customers to purchase books from your display, you will need a way to take payment and provide receipts to customers. Many Community Booksellers use Squareup.com to keep track of sales and collect payment by credit card, but there is no requirement for you to use any particular system. Whatever method you use, customers will need to pay you personally for any books purchased from your inventory. If you were charged sales tax by Barefoot Books when ordering your inventory, you will need to add that percentage to book fair purchases to offset your cost. At the conclusion of the on-site shopping portion of the book fair, any earnings promised to the school or organization are to be paid out of your profit.
Book Fair Host Rewards
If the book fair received any online orders, Barefoot Bucks in the amount of 20% of event sales will automatically be added to the account of the hosting organization or individual. They can redeem these earnings toward their next Barefoot Books order during checkout. The Barefoot Bucks balance will be shown on the Payment screen and can be applied before submitting the order.
If the book fair involves sales from your inventory, you are responsible for supplying any free books or cash earnings to the hosting school or organization directly. This expense is covered by your profits. We recommend offering 20% in free books or cash to be consistent with online earnings, but Community Booksellers have the discretion to offer any amount they choose.
About Selling Online
As a Community Bookseller, you can earn commissions for online purchases made through your Barefoot Books website. There are two types of online orders:
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Event - Orders placed through online events you have created
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Referral - Orders placed through your website that are not associated with events
Your commission rate is 30% for event and referral orders (consumer and school account holders). Online commissions are paid out after the end of each calendar quarter to your bank account on file.
Your Personal Website Link
All Community Booksellers have a unique link (URL) to the Barefoot Books website that includes their name. You can find yours by logging in to your account and going to My Account > Referral Information. Personal URLs follow the format barefootbooks.com/firstname-lastname to make them easy to remember.
If your name has a special character such as an apostrophe or if you share the same exact name as another Community Bookseller, email [email protected] to inquire whether you need a modified URL.
Signing Up a School or Nonprofit Organization
After you have established a relationship with a school or nonprofit organization either through an event or other meeting, you can invite a contact from that organization to create a School/Nonprofit account on the Barefoot Books website. Follow the instructions above to create an Affiliate link to the Schools and Nonprofits landing page.
School accounts receive a standing 20% discount on all orders, and as the referring Community Bookseller you will earn a 30% commission on the net amount of those orders.
To apply for a School and Nonprofit account, the customer must upload either a tax-exempt certificate (if applicable) or other documentation of association with the organization. The Home Office reviews and approves requests manually.
Promotion of this program is optional and does not prevent Community Booksellers from offering book fairs, selling directly to educators or offering their own discount to a school or nonprofit organization.
Beyond Book Fairs
You can run a rewarding business as a Community Bookseller offering only book fairs. If you decide to go a step further, there are a lot of ways you can earn money promoting literacy in your community.
Community Events
A community event is defined by Barefoot Books as a rented space at a convention, exhibition, craft or book fair, farmers’ market, educational conference or any other venue in which Barefoot Books products are displayed for sale. All Community Booksellers are eligible to participate in community events provided they follow the rules and regulations defined by the event.
As a Community Bookseller, you are required to follow policies laid out under Registering for Community / Vendor Events in the Reference Guide.
Community events often have registration fees that must be covered by the Community Bookseller. It is not necessary to set up a community event in the Barefoot Books Event system, but you can choose to do so if you are taking orders during the event.
Educational Conferences
Educational conferences are a great place to meet teachers, curriculum specialists and school directors to introduce them to Barefoot Books. The cost to attend these types of events can be very high, but they can be a good source of leads for future book fairs. Community Booksellers are permitted to attend local and regional educational conferences as exhibitors / vendors, provided the policies for Registering for Community / Vendor Events events in the Reference Guide are followed.
National and international level conferences are coordinated by the Barefoot team. Prior to inquiring or registering for educational conferences of this type, you must email [email protected] to inquire whether Barefoot Books is already represented at the event.
Fundraisers
Fundraisers are events where customer purchases generate funds for a school, organization or cause. As a Community Bookseller, you are free to offer any portion of your earnings during a fundraiser. A good starting offer is 15-20% of sales.
It is recommended that you use the Barefoot Books Event system to track sales if you are offering online ordering. When offering a cash fundraiser, you should use or create a customer account for yourself using a different email than the one in your Community Bookseller account. You will gain the free host credit earned through orders (for later use), and then pay the event host in cash.
Use the Online Fundraising Checklist to plan your next event.
Home Shows and Online Parties
Home shows (or “home parties”) are intimate events with small groups of people where you can present Barefoot Books and offer personal recommendations. Typically there is an event host who earns free book credit based on orders generated at the show. To set up a home show, you must create an online event and enter all orders through that event and/or invite customers to order online through the event link.
When scheduling constraints or distance prevent you from presenting Barefoot Books in person, you can offer to hold an online party. A successful online event usually involves a short, live presentation by the Community Bookseller. Schedule your private Facebook event to last 45 minutes to 1 hour. After your live introduction, plan to post a series of literacy tips, interactive posts and book recommendations with a link for ordering. There is no set format for an online show, but you may wish to connect with other Community Booksellers who hold this type of event for tips and tricks beforehand.
Branded graphics for online parties may be found in the Resource Library under Marketing Graphics > Facebook Party Images.
Current Promotions and Marketing Initiatives
The Home Office Team will inform you about current and upcoming promotions during our quarterly Community Calls, via email, and in the Community Bookseller Facebook Group. Use this information to formulate your marketing plan.
Brand Guidelines
Before you prepare your own marketing materials and images, it is important to understand how Barefoot Books Community Booksellers are permitted to use the Barefoot Books logo. Find downloadable images, rules for using them, and appropriate color palettes on the Brand Guidelines page.
Marketing Resources
Barefoot Books Community Booksellers have access to several online and printable resources to help you set up a successful business.
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Order catalogs, order forms and more through the Barefoot Books Sales Aids section of the online store.
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Order professional business cards, signage and other branded items in the Barefoot Vistaprint Pro Shop . Once you create an account to access the site, you’ll be able to create your own custom marketing materials using our Barefoot-branded templates.
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Print order forms, signs, activity sheets and more in the Barefoot Resources page.
Browse our library of digital marketing images in the Resource Library.
Requesting Marketing Materials
Is there a marketing resource that would benefit our community and it's not currently available in the Resource Library? Submit your suggestion to [email protected].
Signing Up a New Community Bookseller
Congratulations! You’ve found someone who would be a great Barefoot Books Community Bookseller and you are ready to be a mentor.
To ensure that you two are linked at registration, instruct your potential team member to sign up through your website. We recommend that you share the link to your Profile page and instruct your lead to click the JOIN MY TEAM button to begin the registration process.
While you can help someone sign up for the program, it’s important that all registrants review and agree to the Community Bookseller Terms & Conditions during registration and that they use their own credit card to purchase their starter kit.
You will be notified by email when someone chooses you as a mentor.
Leadership & Team Mentorship
Any Community Bookseller can be a mentor. When you introduce the Community Bookseller program to new people, you are helping to grow the Barefoot Books community and advance our mission to promote literacy with high-quality children’s books.
Mentoring individuals can be one of the most rewarding parts of running an independent business. When you answer questions, you learn where to find the answers quickly. When you work with others who have different strengths, you see things from a new perspective. When you check in regularly, you feel more engaged and accountable for your own business.
To compensate for the extra time it takes to mentor other Community Booksellers, Barefoot Books offers a 5% Mentor Bonus. To see eligibility requirements, visit the Community Bookseller Reference Guide.
Team Metrics
Team metrics may be found in the My Barefoot tab of your Community Bookseller back-office. You can see a list of individuals you are mentoring, access their contact information, and review order totals on your My Team Sales Summary report.
To view details of individual team orders, visit the My Team Sales Detail report.
