Etsy Seller Interview with Sharon of TheHandBoundBookCo

How TheHandBoundBookCo got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

My name is Sharon, and my lifelong love of books led me to establish The HandBound Book Co., a bookbinding business, over a decade ago. I made my first taped-together pamphlet when I was seven, which I called "My Happy Book". It wasn’t until I took a bookbinding course in my thirties that I learned the secret of how to bind a book properly. My inner seven-year-old rejoiced!

When I began to seriously think about bookbinding, not just as a hobby but as a business, I had already noticed a lack of variety in the guest books available in the shops and thought this might be a niche I could fill. As I live in Scotland, I also wanted to support local industries. My idea was to offer custom guest books and photo albums covered in handwoven Harris tweed and customers’ family tartans. These proved popular items for weddings, remembrance services, homes, guesthouses, and for tourists who wanted to remember their visit to Scotland. Sourcing quality materials at the best prices from reliable suppliers was my greatest challenge. I’ve tried to stay as local as possible; almost all my materials are bought from Scottish or UK suppliers. I had quite a big outlay on equipment such as nipping presses and tools. It was something of a leap of faith at this point, but I had already had some success in local stationery shops and been approached by people with bespoke book orders, which was encouraging. Etsy was the ideal platform to take my business further by selling online.

Browsing shops and the Etsy website provided more inspiration for further book designs. The main thing I noticed was the popularity of anything personalized. This inspired the idea for my personalized linen baby album, where I print a customer’s baby photo, name, and date of birth onto the cover. It also prompted me to invest in a small hot-foil stamping machine, which allows me to emboss customers’ personalization onto books. It’s been one of the greatest assets for my business.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My best-selling items are personalized A5 and A4 ring binders, particularly gingham-covered recipe binders. I love these because the idea didn’t come from me but from a customer request. I had been making gingham-covered recipe journals and was asked if I could make a binder in this style. They took off during the pandemic when many people were at home making sourdough! Their popularity got me through this difficult time when my business may not have survived otherwise, and they’re still my best-selling product.

Another favorite and steady seller is my personalized marble and leather notebooks. This is what I made when I was training as a bookbinder. Traditional hand-bound books like these aren’t that readily available, so it was another case of spotting a gap in the market that seems to have appealed to lovers of old-world books. It gives me the thrill to be continuing in the old traditions of this type of bookbinding, the techniques and materials of which have remained relatively unchanged for hundreds of years.

Most of my items are mid- to high-end in price due to the time they take to make and the cost of quality and custom materials. I wanted to offer some products at a lower price point, and I designed my tartan bookmarks with a ‘message of love’ leather dog tag with this in mind. They’ve proved a popular Christmas gift.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

I think it took one or two weeks to get my first sale. I remember the thrill of it. Even more so when it received a five-star review. This first sale gave me confidence that there was a market out there for my products. My task then was to figure out how to make my items more visible to potential customers. on Etsy.

Tagging: It took me a while to get the hang of tagging, but when I did, the sales really started to come through, so it is definitely worth spending time on. I also like to list the same product multiple times under different titles and tags to target different customers. These will also go under different categories within my shop, such as "notebooks," "A5 notebooks, "lined notebooks, personalized gifts," and so on. I try to get the attention of as many customers as I can.

Etsy Ads: Etsy ads are a great way to get seen. I have the Etsy ad budget set at just £1 a day (£30 a month), which keeps things ticking over nicely without costing me too much. I will increase this to £2 if things are slow.

Etsy sales and coupons: These are also a good avenue to boost sales in the slower times or to promote new products. I send a coupon code for a discount to customers who follow my business on Instagram. Etsy also allows you to set up automated discount offers to people who like your products or who have abandoned their cart.

Mailchimp Website: Over the years, I’ve tried various websites for my business and have settled on a free Mailchimp website. Rather than selling directly from the website, I link products to my Etsy shop. I find this less complicated than running two shops online, and I like the security of selling through Etsy. I use my website mostly to explain the different customizations I offer and how the process of a bespoke order works. Mailchimp offers an automated subscribe and save pop-up, which helps generate sales. You can also run email campaigns directed at your subscribers, all for free. My website has helped me attract sales to my Etsy shop as well as gain larger wholesale orders from the Scottish Government and Heriot-Watt University, among others.

Free Shipping or Express Shipping: I offer free shipping within the UK for most of my products. This is quite a commitment for me as books are heavy and the postage can be costly, but it has paid off with an increase in sales. I am taking a small reduction in profit, but it’s attractive to customers when they see only the one price they’re paying at checkout instead of being put off by an added shipping charge. It also makes things simpler for sellers, with fewer shipping settings to do. Adding an "Express" shipping option is worthwhile too. It lets customers know you can get their product to them super fast if they choose this option.

Managing TheHandBoundBookCo

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

A kind family member helps me with things like filing and cleaning up my mess, but every book is made by my hands. Because of this, I try to keep things as simple as possible.

Wave is a free online accounting software. They have recently stopped connecting UK bank accounts, but as I use this in a very simple way, it works well for recording my income and outgoings.

Lightroom: Photos are an important part of selling on Etsy and another skill in themselves. Fortunately, Adobe Lightroom is a big help with sub-standard photos and is my go-to for tweaking pictures. You can buy presets for Lightroom on Etsy to create certain moods or looks, such as ‘warm wood’, which I like.

Adobe Photoshop: I use Photoshop for things like bespoke personalization for linen baby albums, as well as creating my business cards and Etsy banner. I’ve recently been trying out digital backdrops for some of my product photos. You can buy some great ones on Etsy at a low cost, and there are also some free ones on websites such as Pexels, Unsplash, Pixabay, and Dreamtime. It can take a while to understand how to use Photoshop, but there are some good tutorials on YouTube. I pay a monthly fee for Photoshop, which I find worth it.

Canva is a fantastic website for creating free Etsy logos and banners, flyers, and all sorts of other digital and printable marketing materials. I use this a lot online. There is also a Canva app. There are lots of ready-made templates you can use and tweak to your own needs. It’s simple to use and a great, free alternative to Photoshop if you just want marketing materials.

Etsy Seller App: I have this on my phone, which I find an essential tool for keeping track of orders and responding quickly to customers on the go. I couldn’t do without it.

A Business Domain and Email: I have my own domain for my website and a free business gmail address. These are helpful in reassuring customers that I’m a legitimate business to be taken seriously. It costs me just £15 a year to have my own domain.

Royal Mail Click & Drop: I use Etsy postage labels for sending overseas orders weighing under 2kg. They have the important IOSS for Europe built into this service, as well as the customs label. I need to use couriers for larger overseas orders and find Parcel2Go good for comparing courier prices. I choose couriers I trust rather than going for the cheapest. Paying a little extra is worth it to avoid lost or damaged parcels. For UK orders, I have a free business account with Royal Mail Click and Drop. They offer the Tracked48 and Tracked24 services, which I find the most reliable, and they also offer a slightly cheaper postage price on their website. I print my postage labels on my standard inkjet printer, then drop my parcels off at my local Royal Mail depot. It’s a quick and easy process.

Packaging: When I started using postal boxes and book-wrapped mailers, this really cut down on the time I spent packaging. Most of the orders I get are made specifically for a customer, so I love the fact that once the hard work is done, I can wrap and box quickly, adding a business card and ‘thank you’ coupon to every parcel.

The future of TheHandBoundBookCo

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

Unfortunately, I’ve developed an allergic reaction to Harris Tweed, which sadly means I can no longer make Harris Tweed products. However, I’m excited to be adding a new line of personalized book accessories, such as book totes and pencil cases. A close and flexible relationship with my customers continues to be really important. Custom requests—even ones that seem way outside of my remit—have often proved the inspiration for a whole new line. My new book accessories are the result of a request for a personalized bag for a ring binder a customer bought from me. As I make everything myself and don't want to employ others to help, I continue to look for steady sales that complement my household income rather than becoming a larger concern.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

The most important thing, I think, is to be confident in your product and make it the best it can be. That way, your customers will be happy and leave nice reviews. Listening to customer feedback is important for improvement and can often generate new design ideas or tweaks to products. Personalization is a great selling point and worth considering if you can.

Consider your price point. In the beginning, I was afraid charging too much would put customers off. Surprisingly, charging more can encourage more customers to buy, knowing they’re getting a high-quality product. I increased sales when I set my prices appropriately. There are some handy formulas for finding the right price for your products. I use this one: (Cost of materials + labor x 2) x 2. This allows me to sell wholesale when required while still making a profit, which is essential. I do set my labor cost quite low, otherwise, the price gets unrealistically high; it’s important to be aware of the market for your items. Good customer service and a quality product will help set you apart.

My advice for anyone looking to sell on Etsy is to give it a go! There is so much to consider that it can be daunting. However, Etsy makes it easy to set up your shop and put up your first listing. You can even change the name of your Etsy shop later if you think of a better one. Learning and improving is part and parcel of being a seller. It still is for me.