Up next for this week I have Charles Bande of Vocal Minds letting us in on his world of selling books. Charles has been in the book selling space since last year. New to the world of book distributing but he is an old soul who also loves traveling. Get to know the man, follow his pages and support his passion of books and all things African.
Tell us about who you are, what inspires you and how did you get into the book selling business?
Charles Bande: I am Charles Bande, but everyone knows me as Charlie Mingas. Originally from Chamanculo just outside the town of Maputo, Mozambique and I am currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
I’m inspired by African culture and revolutionaries such as the great commander Martin Thembisile Hani, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Emperor Haile Selassie, Bantu Stephen Biko and Malcolm X to name a few.
I was introduced to book reading by my neighbour, Morula Mokoena who reads with a passion when he borrowed me a book called The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. It shifted my mind-set. Since then, I have never stopped reading books and can safely confess that I’m now a book addict.
Tell us more about your store, including its history and areas you focus on/location. Also, what types of books does your store stock and specialize in?
Charles Bande: I started a mobile bookstore in 2018. The idea was born when I read a local book Township Boys by Tshepo Nkosi and I uploaded a picture onto my social media pages where people started commenting and we started a conversation about it.
From there, others started calling me requesting to buy copies of the book from me. So I approached the author and negotiated with him to supply me and I sold the first 20 copies in a week. I then started researching on the idea of distribution and book sales to weigh in on the demand and market availability and realized that there’s actually a demand for locally written books.
Soon after that, I came across another local author by the name of Zanele Dlamini on social media and she had posted one of her books called Sindi and the Moon which is a children’s book. I met with her to purchase the book. She gave me some valuable advice regarding the literature industry and it raised my confidence to take the final decision to register the book distribution business.
I sell mostly books written by local authors unless I receive a special request from any other author or academic books in some instances.
Who is your market? Who contacts you for a sale/the people who buy from your online profile?
Charles Bande: I have turned my social media contacts, friends, family, colleagues and any book reader into my target market for the business. At the beginning of 2019, I started a book reading challenge (#twobookspermonth) where I randomly select two books to read each month and many people have joined in. So as a result, the book orders have been growing every month. This has helped me to reach more people at the same time who are based in different parts of the country through social media, especially Facebook which is the biggest platform in the world currently.
Through networking and attending different events, I have also managed to engage more potential customers and convert these interactions into book sales.
What is it that you love about your work with books?
Charles Bande: I love the fact that it gives me a sense of purpose and a platform to contribute and educate people about the importance of reading books and show them how it can change their lives and knowledge base for the better.
I also enjoy the paramount information that I always receive as advice from my customers especially regarding authors and books that I had never heard of before.
I have bought and read some interesting books that my customers recommended for me and a lot have helped to improve on my selling and marketing skills while growing my collection at home too.
So far, I love everything I have been learning and experiencing through the book selling business and have not come across anything bad.
What are the challenges you’ve gone through in the time you’ve been operating? What characteristics do you think one has to have to run a successful book business?
Charles Bande: The challenge is responding to all my customer’s needs and orders in terms of sourcing and finding all the books they want to read. This is mainly due to a limited budget that I am operating with which does not allow me to get all the books on time.
At times it takes weeks to find and deliver certain books and as result that that may affect customer’s confidence in the business in general.
Passion, dedication and integrity are definitely must have characteristics in this business. You need to have people’s skills and the ability to listen and respond to your different customer’s needs at all times while providing honest feedback in the process.
People enjoy having conversation and discussions with a good listener than a speaker, so I’m always improving my listening skills.
What sets you apart from other local book distributors?
Charles Bande: My creativity and patriotism is what sets me apart. I always challenge myself to do things differently from the norm and selling books has a bigger meaning to me than just making profit. It’s about fulfilling my purpose to help others to reach their potential while I work towards my destiny. Selling books has become my mission and contribution towards making the world a better place and liberate my people from the bondage of stereotypes and misinformation.
I am a book distributor that also reads most of the material that I sell to my customers in order to lead by example that others may follow suit.
What lessons have you learnt from book selling in South Africa?
Charles Bande: People especially black people, love to read books more than what society is made to believe through existing stereotypes.
Selling books is also a profitable business in South Africa if done in the
right way and there’s a huge market out there waiting to be explored.
It’s a great form of networking that can take your selling career to greater
heights through the type of crowd or personalities that are present within the
literature space and other industries.
Which book has sold way past your own expectations? And why do you think so?
Charles Bande: Sindi and the Moon by Zanele Dlamini and The Things we Do by Zola Tshayana.
These two books were well written and presented, from their cover designs to the characters and the story lines thereof. Which makes it easier for potential customers to be attracted and buy them without much convincing from my side.
Children love the character of ‘Sindi’ and adults cannot stop talking about the characters and the plot in The Things we Do.
Why is it important to support self-published authors in your business?
Charles Bande: Self-published authors spend a lot of money in order to make sure that their dream of successfully publishing a book becomes a reality.
By collaborating with a creative and passionate salesman they stand a better chance of making more book sales and recover some of the costs associated with publishing while expanding their footprint by increasing the number of their book readers across the country.
I certainly do a better job than ordinary bookstores in terms of marketing local books and keeping people enjoying local literature due to my engagements with the readers that goes beyond the point of sale.
I have an opportunity to influence a bigger number of readers to buy specific local books that I recommend.
What in your opinion due to your book sales is the appetite for South African fiction currently?
Charles
Bande: South African fiction is definitely gaining momentum and
popularity every day within the book space and this is evident in the number of
fictional books that are launching almost every month.
A lot of these books are in the form of a series or trilogy that normally
has up to three books of the same continuous story and more and more
readers are getting hooked, myself included.
At the moment, I’m selling a lot of local fiction books such as The Royal Mistress by Takalani Mutshinyani; Her Heart by Tumelo Moleleki; The Harvard Wife by Busisekile Khumalo; Unspoken Truth by Pumza Shabangu; The Y in Your Man Is Silent by Yvonne Maphosa; Igoli Dreams by Anelile Gibixego; Chronicles of the Huggist by Zanele Dlamini and Hlomu the series by Dudu Busani-Dube.
I used to avoid fictional literature and it only took one book to get me interested and I’m happy to say that I’m loving it and will be selling more of such books going forward.
Social media/contacts where you can be reached on?
Charles Bande: Facebook: Charlie Minglez
Email: vocal2minds@gmail.com
Twitter: Charlieto0O
Instagram: Charlieto0O
Cell: 084 777 2263
I must confess that I’m not one to read a trilogy but after this #QuestionswithBookamoso feature, I’m now curious and I hope that I can buy some copies from you Charles. If you haven’t done so already, do get in touch with Charles for your book orders. Let’s get reading. All the best Charles with expanding Vocal Minds into what you would like it to be.
