Season’s Greetings, everyone!
In case you didn’t know (and why would you), an old post of mine entitled "A
Furniture Refinisher’s Newsletter" is my most popular post on this blog. Well, at least by the numbers. I don't know if anyone actually reads it. But let me tell you a little bit about it nonetheless. This post actually had a previous existence: it used to be a scrolling
news page (entitled "On the Road") at our business website Second Looks Refinishing and Antiques. In that incarnation the page informed prospective
customers of items we had for sale as well as upcoming flea markets and antique
shows. Since I never deleted anything (just kept adding stuff to
the top), it accumulated quite a bit of history. Well, in 2009 we scaled down
our business (we kept the refinishing and dropped the antiques). I moved the news page to this blog, thinking to update it with Ben’s occasional refinishing
activities, never dreaming so many people would find it. As I already said, I had no idea why. Nobody ever left a comment. Were people
just landing on it by accident on their way somewhere else? So I asked Google
that question and subsequently discovered that people's favorite search terms seemed to include words like “Victorian” and “Eastlake” and “chifforobe” in their searches.
Ah, so they were wanting information on specific pieces of furniture from specific eras. Ok. Drum roll please ...
Ah, so they were wanting information on specific pieces of furniture from specific eras. Ok. Drum roll please ...
For those people (and anyone else), here’s the good news: my old post A Furniture Refinisher’s Newsletter is now fully fleshed out and has a third incarnation as an ebook! You can find the ebook both at Amazon and at Google Play Store.In my mind's "ear," I can hear my readers asking, "Yes, but is this book really for me"?
That’s a very good question, one I asked myself often over the two-year span of writing this book. Who was my audience?
I can tell you this: this version is a light-hearted peek into our years in the business through the lens of a marketing tool I developed on our business website – a scrolling newsletter. Through reading our ads and little stories you learn how we got involved and grew our sideline furniture refinishing business. The book has lots of photos. Practical observations as well as advice from “lived” experience are lightly sprinkled throughout the narrative. Here's an additional guide for prospective buyers-which of the following descriptions best fit you?
- You don’t necessarily have to buy anything to enjoy visiting antique malls, flea-markets, and garage sales. You just love doing it. Paging through this book would sort of replicate that experience for you right at home in your easy chair.
- You are a do-it-yourselfer. You would like to refinish a piece of furniture. You’ve never done that before. You don’t know if you even can. Or if you even should. You look at the piece’s current condition and wonder if it’s even possible. While this book doesn’t fall in to the expert how-to category, it does have tips and advice and can show you some dramatic transformations. It can show you what’s possible.
- You have that entrepreneurial spirit, and your passion is “old stuff.” You’re sort of flying by the seat of your pants at this point. Well, you can learn a little about what to do and what not to do in this ebook by critically evaluating someone else’s experience-ours.
- You are simply looking for that one piece of information or advice; finding it is worth the price of this small ebook. 😊
If you recognize yourself (or someone you know) in any of the descriptions above, this book may be for you.
Well, there you have it. A
Furniture Refinisher’s Newsletter (the eBOOK) is available for the Amazon Kindle at Amazon
and is on Google Play Books (and Google gives a
more detailed preview). I'm working on versions for Barnes and Noble's Nook and Apple’s iBook store (so stay tuned).
Cheers and best wishes for the holiday season!
JuneBug
