I mean, of course, a run in the sense of a sequence. Regular readers, I presume, knew it didn’t mean moving at a speed above walking. It would be remarkable, I admit, but not prudent or likely. I am a man more fitted for ambling than running.
The run I refer to is acceptances. In September I sent off six submissions and in October, two. In an ideal world I would have four chances to submit each month, but in the real world submissions aren’t so evenly spread. I have just had the eighth acceptance. Despite my worries about whether the bubble is about to burst, I’m quite pleased with that, and despite the dangers of immodesty, I’d like to share it. Half the pleasure of having things go well is the ability to tell people.
Having shared it, I won’t labour the point as I have to get writing again – I am, as I always say only as good as the next lot.
Today in the shop has also been remarkable. We seen two customers return, who had not been seen since lockdown. Yes, it has taken that long to recover, and we have had a new, young customer for the second week in a row. It’s always been hard to attract new collectors to the hobby, so this is a good sign. Whether they last is another matter, as there are always plenty of distractions.
In the afternoon we had a run of sales on eBay, including three good medallions to three different customers. It’s strange how these things go – we had only just been discussing the fact that we hadn’t sold a decent medallion for quite a while. The trick is to keep putting something new on, which attracts attention. Unfortunately, it’s difficult motivating yourself to put new stuff on when none of the similar old stuff is selling.
The psychology of eBay is a fascinating subject – both the psychology of the buyers, and of the sellers. I watched a programme on IKEA last week and discovered that there are academics who devote all their time to the study of retail. Who would have guessed that the study of shopping could be a career choice?
Oh, wow, Simon! That is just wonderful! You had a hard year with Covid and whatnot. I am really excited that you have fought your way back!
Thanks Jodie. Yes, at one time it seemed like I wasn’t going to make it back, but it seems to be going OK at the moment.
Excellent news on the submission front. Were the acceptances for several different forms or did one sort triumph?
On the study of retail, I am not at all surprised that you can do academic courses in retail. It is very big business. You can probably find a course on phone scamming techniques somewhere.
3 Haibun accepted (from 9 submitted) and 3 Tanka Prose accepted (from 4 submitted). One haiku from 6 and seven tanka from 24 submitted.
I am generally quite poor at haiku (which reflects in the haibun acceptance rate and bettr at tanka, which also helps the acceptance rate with tanka prose.
Congratulations on the acceptances, Simon! More are coming!!!
I am glad to hear the shop is seeing an upturn in returning customers.
Thank you. Yes, everything is stating to look a bit better. 🙂
I watch a lot of documentaries on Curiosity Stream. A while I watches a series about the history of the food industry. It had a lot of topics about retail and how companies that sold their products in different countries had to change it a bit to attract customers there. The story about the Monster drinks was quite interesting and caters to the younger generation. How many cans they sell in a single hour was mind boggling! Retail trends have to keep up with younger generations while still keeping their old customers. I used to sell a lot of stuff on Ebay, and it was strange what some people collect. There are collectors that always focus on certain things, while others go on a spree to collect items of certain topics at different times. It’s like the fad changes, and they have to go with it. Younger customers certainly have their own thing and collect video games and paraphernalia… Likely not interested in a hobby of collecting coins, stamps, trains, or plants. So, if you have found a young collector, you better try to hang on to him. Take care always!
Thank you, we always try to look after young collectors because we remember being young collectors ourselves.
When I was a kid a dink of luridly coloured fizzy drink in a bottle was a rare treat, and if it came in a small bottle, as coke sometimes did, it was a rel day to remember.
Nowadays they come in cans and people have several a day. How things change, and how change is driven, is such an interesting subject.
Congrats, congrats! So we’ll deserved.
Thank you Laurie. 🙂
Love that autocorrect. Should be “well.”
I think my brain autocorrected – I didn’t notice. 🙂