August New Moon is Out--Check Your Inbox!

For those of you who currently subscribe to our email newsletter for booksellers, The Moon, you may have noticed a few changes.

We've streamlined the look, included new features, and christened it with a new moniker: The New Moon. As with this blog, our goal is to really connect with you, our selling partners, each month and offer support, guidance, and resources with the aim of helping you grow and thrive in this ever-changing market.

Our August issue of the New Moon was mailed this morning. If you did not receive a copy in your email inbox, you can also view it here: The New Moon, August 2011 Issue.

You can also visit our website to subscribe to The New Moon, ensuring that it reaches you each month (please note that you will need to log in/register to be able to join our mailing list).

Marketing on a Budget

Experts advise businesses to ramp up marketing during tough economic times. So how can you increase promotion when cash is tight? This smart and timely article from New Age Retailer offers inexpensive and effective ways to advertise. Here are some highlights from “Shoestring Marketing: Creative, Budget-Friendly Ways to Get Your Store Noticed,” written by marketing consultant Megy Karydes.

• Send regular press releases to the media, along with a tip sheet.

• Write for your local community newspaper. Include high-resolution photos.

• Keep a database of customer information for postcard mailings, event announcements, and more. Or save on printing and postage by switching to email campaigns.

• Launch a website if you don’t already have one. Another option is a simple “brochure site” with your company’s information.

• Write a blog.

• Host events at your store or in a neighborhood coffee shop or café.

• Send thank-you notes to customers, vendors, and media editors. They will remember this rare personal touch.

• Mention that gift certificates are available when a customer is checking out.

Tips for Hand Selling Tarot: Part 2

Barbara Moore — tarot expert, author, and consultant to publishers — continues her insightful series on hand selling tarot. This week, she discusses the all-popular Rider Waite Smith tradition and its significance in the tarot community.

Tips for Hand Selling Tarot: Know the Various Traditions
By Barbara Moore

Being familiar with the various traditions in tarot deck design will help you put the right deck in the hands of your customers. There are three main styles. The Marseilles style is the oldest but also the least popular, at least in the United States (it remains popular in Europe where the cards still used for game playing). This style has the familiar 22 Major Arcana cards and the four suits. However, the numbered cards, also known as the pips, are not illustrated. They simply have the requisite number of swords or cups, etc., on them. These are not popular because they don’t match our current method of reading, which includes psychological and intuitive responses to the art.

The Thoth tradition is based, of course, on Crowley’s Thoth Tarot. Again, this one is not as popular. Most of its fans use the Thoth Tarot, although US Games has recently published the Sun and Moon Tarot, which is a nice alternative.



The most popular tradition is the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) tradition. Most of the decks published in the U.S. follow this tradition. You have to be careful, though, when reading descriptions of decks. Many publishers will say that a deck is in the RWS tradition if they have 22 Majors and 4 suits, which, as you have seen here, describes ANY tarot deck. When a customer asks for a RWS deck, they mean something quite specific. A true RWS style deck is one that can be read “out of the box” by anyone familiar with the RWS cards. This means the images evoke the RWS images in terms of theme and/or composition. If a customer asks for such a deck and you hand them, for example, Lo Scarabeo’s Elemental Tarot, they will be disappointed. A better option would be Tarot of Pagan Cats. Some decks that fall into the RWS category take more freedom with the images. This is fine as long as it is mostly recognizable. The Wheel of the Year Tarot (again, from Lo Scarabeo) fits this category.

It is best to steer newbies toward RWS decks. First, most beginner books are based on this tradition. Second, if they are working in classes, meet ups, or online forums, these decks will allow them to participate more easily. These are good considerations to point out to new customers when advising them about deck purchases.

Then there are tarot decks that are completely unique and break new ground. These are for more adventurous readers. These decks include the aforementioned Elemental Tarot as well as other popular decks, like the Tarot of the Sweet Twilight. There is nothing wrong with these decks . . . just know that they are not RWS decks.

***

Next week, Barbara discusses significant factors that advanced tarot enthusiasts want to know about a deck before buying it.

Barbara Moore is the author of the guides to Mystic Faerie Tarot, The Gilded Tarot, the Mystic Dreamer Tarot, and Shadowscapes Tarot. She also wrote Tarot for Beginners. Her new book Tarot Spreads will be available in April 2012 and her latest deck, The Steampunk Tarot, will be available in Spring 2012.

In addition to teaching tarot classes and providing personal readings, she works as a consultant for tarot publishers Llewellyn Worldwide and Lo Scarabeo. She also contributes to Llewellyn’s Tarot Pathways blog, keeps a personal tarot blog, and a blog documenting the creative process of The Steampunk Tarot.


Don’t forget to check out our new Tarot Catalog, featuring a complete list of Llewellyn and Lo Scarabeo decks. Also featured are divination tools, such as pendulums, runes, and more.

NEW - Tarot Catalog for Booksellers

Have you seen Llewellyn’s new tarot catalog?

Check it out! Our new full-color catalog contains new 2011 decks from Llewellyn and Italian publisher Lo Scarabeo, including The Law of Attraction Tarot, Wheel of the Year Tarot, Gaian Tarot, Wizards Tarot, Voice of the Trees oracle, and more.

Perfect for browsing, this annual, full-color catalog features a complete backlist of tarot and oracle decks, nicely organized into eight categories, including Celtic, Pagan & Goddess; Faeries & Fantasy; and Esoteric & Egyptian. You’ll also find tarot books and a full selection of divination sidelines, such as tarot cloths, bags, runes, pendulums, journals, and more.

A print version of Llewellyn’s tarot catalog is available upon request (while supplies last). Please send your request to maryr@llewellyn.com.

COVR Award Winners

Each year, the Coalition of Visionary Retailers (COVR) selects winners that best represent mind/body/spirit products. The Visionary Awards are judged by retailers and seasoned professionals who evaluate each title based upon content, presentation, and their own knowledge of the industry. At the INATS banquet in June, four Llewellyn titles were honored.

WINNER, Wicca/Paganism


Witchcraft on a Shoestring
Practicing the Craft Without Breaking Your Budget
by Deborah Blake

From homemade tools to frugal feasts to thrifty home decoration, Deborah Blake offers economical tips and suggestions for stretching your dollar while enriching your practice. She gives clear, simple instructions for making your own magickal oils, runes, tarot cards, candles, jewelry, charms, and wands, all using inexpensive materials. Choose from over fifty ways to practice Witchcraft that cost little or no money, and try more than forty recipes for tasty sabbat dishes that cost ten dollars or less.

With a sprinkling of imagination and a touch of magick, you can add to your inner wealth of spirituality. After all, the best parts of being a Witch are always free.






Biting Back: A No-Nonsense, No-Garlic Guide to Facing the Personal Vampires in Your Life

by Claudia Cunningham
1st Runner Up, Conscious Living/Self-Help

Modern Wicca: A History From Gerald Gardner to the Present
by Michael Howard
1st Runner Up, Wicca/Paganism


Planetary Spells & Rituals: Practicing Dark & Light Magick Aligned with the Cosmic Bodies
by Raven Digitalis
2nd Runner Up, Magick/Shamanism

Tips for Hand Selling Tarot, part 1

Tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore’s personal and professional life for over twenty years. As a tarot expert, author, and consultant to publishers, she brings a unique and interesting perspective on the subject of selling tarot and what customers – from tarot enthusiasts to newbies – are looking for when shopping around for a new deck. Here’s part one of Barbara’s insightful three-part series on selling tarot.



Tips for Hand Selling Tarot, Part One
By Barbara Moore

A few decades ago, there were only a handful of tarot decks on the market. Now there are thousands available, from mass-market decks from large publishers to some print runs of handcrafted collectible art decks. Such variety and selection can be a mixed blessing, particularly to a beginner. For someone trying to pick out their first deck, the number of choices can be overwhelming. How can we help customers select the best deck for them?

Show Off the Art!
At Llewellyn, we know that the art is the main selling point of the deck. We carefully select the image that appears on the kit box cover. We design the packaging to show off as much of the art as possible. Tarot is a visual medium and if the art does not resonate with the customer, then that deck is not the right choice. Tarot speaks to us on several levels. One is the symbolic level. Here tarot works the same way as dreams. The images and the symbols create a bridge between the conscious and subconscious selves. This is how we access the wisdom of the Divine and our Higher Selves. Shelve your kits and decks so that the covers are face out. Shelf space is valuable, but this is one way to put it to good use.

Sample Decks

Buying a deck or kit is an investment for the customer, both of money and magical or spiritual energy. No one likes to buy a wand or a crystal or other magical tool without touching it. The same goes for tarot decks. Tarot, indeed any form of divination, is a magical and spiritual act and tarot cards are magical tools. Like shelf space, having sample decks, and I mean full decks not just a few cards, is an investment for your store, but it is one that will pay for itself in increased sales.

Being able to look at all the cards helps newcomers to tarot as well as more seasoned readers. Newbies can get a good sense of the images and how they relate to them and therefore feel more confident about their purchase. Seasoned readers usually have cards that are “make or break” ones in a deck. These are the cards they always go to first. If they click with them, they are more likely to buy that deck. If not, they probably won’t. If they cannot see those images, they are more likely to pass.

It may be argued that customers can look up images online and thereby save you, the store, such an investment. However, if they are online anyhow, they are more likely to purchase from Amazon, where they can get the product at a lower cost. Moreover, tarot is a tactile experience. There is something about holding the cards that is important. The weight of the card stock, the way they shuffle, how the size of the cards fits in your hands. Again, think of other magical tools. Touching them, connecting on a physical level is important.

***

Next week, Barbara discusses the all-popular Rider Waite Smith tradition and its significance in the tarot community


Barbara Moore is the author of the guides to Mystic Faerie Tarot, The Gilded Tarot, The Mystic Dreamer Tarot, and Shadowscapes Tarot. She also wrote Tarot for Beginners. Her new book Tarot Spreads will be available in April 2012 and her latest deck, The Steampunk Tarot, will be available in Spring 2012.

In addition to teaching tarot classes and providing personal readings, she works as a consultant for tarot publishers Llewellyn Worldwide and Lo Scarabeo. She also contributes to Llewellyn’s Tarot Pathways blog, keeps a personal tarot blog, and a blog documenting the creative process of The Steampunk Tarot.






Here’s one easy way to show off your tarot decks. Check out this Lo Scarabeo tarot counter display (ISBN-13: 978-0-7387-0857-7) that holds twenty decks -- FREE to stores that have a business account with Llewellyn. For more info, call us at 1-800-843-6666.