Amazon Debut: Stage Three

In the last post, I discussed my strategy for getting chemistryfamous’ Organic Chemistry Handbook onto Amazon Prime.
Since then, months have passed.
Update
I stopped using Shopify, and migrated to an Etsy-based store.
Etsy is cheaper for smaller stores, and provides an avenue for organic exposure through their discovery system. It was a win-win-win; I saved money, got brand exposure, and made more sales.
The chemistryfamous handbooks have now been sold in over 20 countries
Since the beginning, my plan was to usethe profits from my online store to purchase a Trademark for chemistryfamous or UPC codes for the Organic Chemistry Handbook, which would allow me to list them on Amazon’s marketplace.
Long story short, it was way, way, way easier than that.

The Process
As it turns out, Amazon allows for GTIN Exemptions that will allow you to list products from private brands (AKA — not trademarked) that don’t have barcodes for their products — chemistryfamous is a private brand in this regard.
I filled out the GTIN Exemption paperwork and sent it to Amazon along with some information about chemistryfamous and the handbook. Within 24 hours, they approved my GTIN Exemption request and I was able to list my handbook on their marketplace.
FBA

The next step was to apply for Amazon FBA — Fulfillment By Amazon. FBA is essentially an arrangement where you ship your products to an Amazon warehouse and they will send the product(s) to your future customers and provide customer service in exchange for a small commission.
This process was also insanely simple. With the flick of a switch in my Amazon Seller Dashboard, I had enabled FBA on my handbook and was prompted to set up the shipment to their warehouse. I mailed 10 handbooks to the Amazon warehouse in Brampton, Ontario, and my notebooks are now available through Amazon Prime in Canada.
Country
I had to decide whether I wanted to list my products on the United States or Canadian Amazon marketplace. With the current arrangement, the handbook is listed in both marketplaces but is only available via Prime in the Canadian store because shipping the handbooks in bulk to the United States’ warehouses would cost much more than it would to ship them to the warehouse in Brampton given that I live in Toronto. I will definitely consider implementing Prime in the States in the near future.
Pictures
I have to take more professional photos of the handbook with a white background and all. Amazon has a high standard for presentation, so you have to meet their aesthetic requirements.
Pricing
Lastly, I had to adjust the price of the notebook from $14.45 to $12.45 USD. The reason for this is that if you sell through Amazon, you cannot sell personalized products. On my Etsy store, you can buy the handbook with your name printed on the front cover. Obviously, I can’t offer those same customization options with Amazon, so I lowered the price to a more affordable $12.45.
The Future
Shops
At this point, my notebook is now available on Amazon US, Amazon CA, and Etsy. In the future, I may consider re-opening my Shopify store if I see it being feasible. The more shops — the better, in my opinion. It just allows for more avenues of discovery.
Social Media, Advertising, Automation

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to expanding my breadth on social media.
Pinterest: Since chemistryfamous was born (September 2016), I did not post any content to Pinterest. I recently realized that Pinterest could be an attention goldmine for me because the content is natively in picture-form. So, I uploaded every single chemistryfamous infographic to Pinterest by hand and used an online applet software (IFTTT) to share chemistryfamous posts from Instagram to Pinterest automatically.
Twitter: Same deal — chemistryfamous had zero presence on Twitter since its inception two years ago. I used the same online applet software (IFTTT) to share my Instagram posts on Twitter automatically.
Facebook: I linked my Facebook chemistryfamous page to the Instagram page, such that whenever I post on Instagram it will automatically appear on my Facebook page, too. Also, I’ve started learning how to optimize Facebook and Instagram advertisements on Facebook’s Ad Manager using YouTube tutorials. As it turns out Etsy has their own Facebook Pixel, so there is potential for extremely targetted advertisements.
Building the Product Line
At this point, I’ve got the notebook business pretty refined. I’ve got the pricing, manufacturing, shipping and everything else figured out. Now, I’ve added jewelry to the product line! Jewelry will open up an entire cohort of consumers who are into science and chemistry, but who aren’t in chemistry classes, so they won’t necessarily buy my notebooks.
Jewelry is a great product to offer because it’s very cheap and easy to ship. I need to recruit models to model the jewelry, and I need to take high-quality professional photos of the products, too. Like I’ve said time and time again, aesthetics are everything.

The Result
- I make one post on Instagram and I’m simultaneously covering 4 social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) thanks to automation.
- The targeted paid advertisements through Facebook & Instagram bring attention to my store(s) from audiences who are (temporarily) unaware of chemistryfamous.
- The jewelry product line will attract an entire cohort of consumers that I could not previously market to — women who are interested in science and chemistry, but who did not need the notebook.
Looking Forward
The next installment of the articles will discuss the success of the Amazon Debut, the jewelry product line, as well as new exclusive additions to the chemistryfamous store!
