As I gear up for the releast of my new poetry collection, Tree Fall with Birdsong, I’m trying out Square as a way to accept credit cards. So far, it’s going great.
Let me back up and explain. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on a self-promotional book tour, and when I’ve done readings recently, it’s usually been in conjunction with a bookstore so I don’t have to worry about sales. But this month, I was invited to give a reading at Jackson State Community College and asked to bring my own books. I was happy to do so, especially since I’m hoping to have more opportunities like this once Tree Fall with Birdsong is released next month.
My one concern about selling books on my own, I might need to be able to take credit cards. In the past when I sold books, cash and checks were still more common, but these days, I wasn’t so sure. After looking around at different options, I landed on Square, mostly because of their fee structure. I will pay for every transaction, but the cost is worth it. What they don’t require is a monthly fee or minimum to be on Square. Because my personal book sales are likely to be sporadic, this is essential. My sales volume will be low enough that a monthly fee would almost certainly wipe out any profit I could make, but with this pricing structure, I only get charged when I make a sale.
There is a Plus plan that costs $29.99 per month, and I’m sure it is worth it for businesses of a certain size, but for my needs it would be overkill. They gave me a month’s free trial, which I’ve canceled.
Setting up Square was relatively painless. I was able to add three books, enter a starting inventory quantity and prices. I even added a couple of discounts so I could quickly sell two or three titles at a discounted rate. And because my iPhone SE 2nd Gen is able to take contactless payments, I was able to start taking payments without any additional equipment, which turned out to be essential.
The one issue I had was that they sent me the wrong type of stripe reader initially. They send the USB-C version, and I needed the lightning version. We got that corrected, so now I have the right one, but it didn’t arrive in time for the reading. Nonetheless, I was still able to take contactless payments with just my phone.
The reading was great. We had a small, attentive crowd, and several people bought books. Most came with cash, so maybe all my preparation was for nought, but one person did pay with a card, and that went through without a hitch. I charged him $15 for the sale, and in a day or two, the money appeared in my bank account, minus about 50¢ for the processing fee and Square transaction fee. And now I know it works, so the next time I need to sell books on my own, I’ll be ready. If I do encounter someone who can’t do contactless payments, I’ll even have a stripe reader, as long as I don’t forget to bring it with me.
As an added benefit, I could start taking payments for books online and sell from home. I’m not sure I want to mess with that, since it would also mean mailing them, but it would be an option if I get ambitious. And if no one buys online (or if they do infrequently), I still won’t have a monthly fee, so I won’t be out any money unless I actually make a sale. For that reason alone, I highly recommend Square for anyone who wants to occasionally take credit card payments.
Kendall Dunkelberg 