Small Business: Beyond the blurb with The Book Nook

The Book Nook is a monthly book subscription box that people get delivered to the door with different genres of books, ranging from romance, fantasy and general fiction. Photo / Supplied

Kesia McKinnon, founder of The Book Nook, talks to Tom Raynel about the inspiration behind her business, and why she believes reading needs to be revitalised.

What is The Book Nook?

The Book Nook is a monthly book subscription box that people get delivered to the door with different genres of books. There are three genres you can pick from, we’ve got romance, fantasy, and general fiction, which includes your thriller, crime, historical fiction, kind of a mix of all those.

The book nook aspect is that there are three gifts in our premium boxes which create that book nook feeling at home. So we’ve got something to eat, like a sweet treat, something to drink, obviously non-alcoholic, and something to smell, so a candle or something, and all of those flavours and fragrances are tailored to the book.

How do you decide which books are included each month?

It’s a little bit more tricky being a small business, it is quite hard to get in with the publishers and book distributors because well-established book subscriptions get access to that. The information about early release, that kind of stuff, whereas me being a small business, I just keep in good contact with the book distributors and get on their case about what’s coming out in the next amount of months.

Then they can send through their PDFs and I sift through and pick some that stand out. It’s ‘I’ve heard about this author before', or ‘these reviews sound really good’. I have a community of readers, some people in my life who love reading as well, so I go to them for opinions. It’s also trying to keep it a little bit of a surprise as well.

Kesia McKinnon, founder of The Book Nook, is seeing a resurgence in reading and hopes her business can help reignite the hobby. Photo / Supplied

What inspired you to start the business?

I would say I’ve been a nerd my entire life, I always loved reading. I think when I was probably at the start of college, I read Twilight maybe five times and I remember just being obsessed. Me and my best friend, we were going to write a book, so I’ve always been obsessed with them.

I tried to have them in my life in whatever way and kind of grew that passion. I think a couple of years ago the thought crossed my mind about starting a book subscription business. The market was a lot smaller in New Zealand, and the overseas market was either more niche or really hard to obtain the book boxes in, you’re on a waitlist for weeks or even a month.

At that time, I had just started a four-year degree (being 22 now) and back then I would have been 18-19, and that just would have been way too much to take on.

This year I had the thought come again, I did some more research and started playing around with business names and business logos, and I think once I started doing that, I talked to my family and I was like ‘I can’t drop it now'.

Why does reading excite you?

I think I probably have an obsessive personality. When I was younger, reading for me was a huge form of escapism, you know, you’re reading these books about people being special or having these amazing lives and going on these amazing adventures and you put your life aside and you step into this world and it feels like it’s you living it.

Getting back into reading as an adult, I am so fascinated by the stories and now I have so much more of an appreciation for the writing and the worlds that these people are creating and I think the community is definitely growing.

The Book Nook's premium care-package comes with a book in one of three categories, alongside something to eat, drink and smell. Photo / Supplied

What’s your favourite book, author and quote?

One of my favourite books that I’ve read recently would have to be the Avatar series. My favourite author, I would have to say Sarah J. Maas at the moment, just because I’m obsessed with her multiverse going on. My favourite quote would have to be from The Great Gatsby and it’s “I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

Where do you want the business to be in a few years?

Logistics-wise I would love to get to a point with publishing houses where I’m in the inside circle and I get to know what’s coming out when and I get that early access to certain books, so I have a better understanding of what I’m picking.

I think in terms of customers and people wanting to purchase the book boxes, getting to a point where I have a really good rapport with the community. [Where] people know what they’re getting, people know me as, you know, the business owner, which feels weird to say, and seeing more and more people enjoying our book boxes.

I think I’m privileged in the sense of being so new that we can change so many things, and I also look forward to that.

McKinnon curates the packages depending on the book selected to better reflect the themes described inside, something she hopes adds to the reading experience. Photo / Supplied

What would be your advice to other budding entrepreneurs?

Get to a point where you feel as confident in your decision as you can be, and then take that leap. Build your circle of support whoever it may be, whether it’s family, friends, in person, or online through social media, have a circle that you can lean on and just do your research as much as possible.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.