Your Participation Is Important
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 30th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
This past Thursday I asked each of you in my newsletter for some help in filling out a survey. Thank you to those who took the 15 or so minutes to share some valuable information, the problem is I am far short of what is needed so please step forward and help me out.
If you are wondering what this is all about well the short answer is to help self-published and print-on-demand authors sell books. The long answer is that I have been working on a sales model that will provide writers and authors with a platform from which they can display and sell their books to a huge audience. However, the platform must be sold to booksellers and book buyers and that is not possible with survey results that are statistically inaccurate. That is why it is important to have a minimum of 200 respondents.
Over the past three and a half years I have become increasingly aware of the problems individual authors face trying to sell books, especially when they don’t have the distribution, marketing, promotion, or publicity to get books out into the marketplace. I’m confident based on my 25 years of experience selling books, that I have one component solved but in order to support my position I need data from authors who have published a book. Writers without books are certainly welcome to participate and your input is valuable, but the key is hearing from authors who have gone through the process of getting their manuscript published.
I’m going to provide the link to my survey at the bottom of this page and I hope more authors will particiapte. If not, well it seems ridiculous to try and sell my solution without sufficient data to back up my claims. Thank you for your help in this very important matter.
Click here for survey link.
John Grisham on Writing
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 25th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
The most successful author in terms of books sold in the past fifteen years, by anyone’s measurement is John Grisham. He is probably the best storyteller among all the bestselling authors in print today. Last week I heard him interviewed by Charlie Rose. The discussion was about his most recent book, which is non-fiction and a complete departure from his novels. Eventually the conversation focused on the subject of writing and Mr. Grisham had some interesting things to say.
He had always been a writer but never tackled it seriously until he reached a point in his career as an attorney where he felt it was time to try something else. He had never taken writing classes, attended seminars or workshops, and never been schooled in the methods of writing. However, he was an avid reader and had read most of the bestselling suspense and mystery writers. From those books he managed to grasp the writing style and methods of those current and better authors on the market. So his first serious attempt was his book A Time To Kill that was published to limited commercial success. After that book, which he described as a failure, Mr. Grisham decided to give writing one more serious attempt. That result was The Firm, and of course the rest is publishing history.
Anyone who has penned a word realizes that writing is not that simple or easy. Perhaps for someone with natural abilities but not for the majority. However one of the most important things that he had to say was that “serious writers must write at least a page a day.” He described fans he enounters who proclaim to him they are going to write a novel. When he asks how long they have been writing? The answer is typically, well I haven’t–yet–but I plan to write a novel. Mr. Grisham’s analogy to that statement was, “If someone told me they planned to be a concert pianist in a few years but hadn’t started practicing–yet–what do you think the chances would be?” It’s the same for someone who plans to be a writer but have never written a word and can’t seem to find time each day to write. Writing doesn’t work that way, you have to write to learn how to write, that was the point, and a very good one from a famous author that I just had to share with you.
Another View on Marketing
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 19th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
In the traditional publishing world, marketing is broken up into three distinct areas. The first is advertising, which is anything you would pay for, such as placement in a newspaper or magazine, sixty-second spot on radio or television where you advertise your book. The second is promotion, where you are bringing attention to your book. Writing pens, badges, t-shirts, mouse pads, any item that you give away as a means of drawing attention to your book is considered promotion. The third is publicity, where you send press releases or announcements to the media in hopes of getting their attention and prompting them to write an article or ask you to appear on their radio or television show. Publicity is free; it cost you nothing, and is the most important way to generate sales for your book.
When you consider each of the three components, you may be wondering about a web site. Where does it fit in and do I need one? Your web site is considered advertising since you must pay to have a site constructed and you pay for the monthly hosting charge, which supports the traffic to your site. The cost of creating and maintaining the site is considered part of your advertising budget. You definitely need a web site, because in today’s competitive environment the web site has replaced the business card in some respects. Your web site has become your calling card. The site promotes and publicizes you and your book, tells a person about you and your writing. A web site has become a must for any author. Web sites do not have to be complex, they can be simple so don’t spend thousands of dollars on a web site, think of it as part of the cost of being an author. Please don’t be scared of the technology, it’s important to embrace and understand. It’s simply part of another view on marketing.
The Value of the Truth
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 9th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Seems the only measurement by which some people evaluate the accuracy of information about publishing is how much it cost. Has the perspective and attitude of the largest publishers spread to everyone involved with books? Why is it so hard to accept the fact that the truth can be free? I’ve heard too many times, “the value is equal to what you pay,” as well as, “you get what you pay for.” Is it so hard to believe that someone would give away accurate information?
The experts are labeled as such because they’ve been doing this a long time, however, as I’ve described in a previous blog, “Even Some Experts Can Get it Wrong,” you don’t always get what you pay for. It is especially painful when the experts direct you to their web site for products and services with promises of solutions that can be expensive and wrong. I’ve tried through presentations, workshops, and web site to offer as much free and accurate information as possible. I’ve been told by many eCommerce experts that my “free” approach will not work, people just don’t believe that free has value. Unfortunately I’m beginning to believe. Why do you have to charge for everything to get the attention of your audience? Does this make sense?
The only explanation is that for so long we as a society have been mislead and deceived by those we held sacred and paid the price to the point where we trust no one, believe no one, and continue to pay because that is the only source with value. Publishing used to be about the writers and their books, where every title was given as much care and attention with as much shelf life as possible to achieve a satisfactory outcome. Now it’s a business and books and authors are treated as such. It is especially disappointing to see that attitude filter down through virtually all levels of publishing. Paying doesn’t seem to be the problem, it is knowing whom to trust. Such is the value of the truth.
Even Some Experts Can Get It Wrong
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 4th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
This past weekend I had the pleasure of speaking to a wonderful group of authors at a Writers Conference in Valley Forge, just outside of Philadelphia. At this conference were many nationally recognized speakers including Dan Poynter, John Kremer, and Brian Jud.
I discovered that even the experts could get it wrong sometimes. Some of the information was inaccurate and misleading. Not in a malicious way, it’s just that a few of the speakers seemed to be misinformed or out of touch with the marketplace. Let me share some examples with you.
- One expert stated that major New York trade publishers release hardcover, trade paperback and mass-market titles simultaneously.
- Another said that individual authors could convince major distributors such as AMS, Anderson Merchandisers, Charles Levy, or W.H. Smith to distribute their books.
- The final inaccuracy of the experts was when one said that any individual author could develop relationships with the largest booksellers in the country.
These are just three examples of information the experts shared with their audience last weekend. My explanation here is meant to empower you with information that you can use and not waste time or money on something that will ultimately result in failure. Now let me explain.
- The reason the first statement is wrong is because the release of three distinct formats of a book at the same time would cannibalize the sales of each; it is not done, has never been done, and will most likely never be done. When you see separate formats of an individual title listed on Amazon that does not represent a simultaneous release, it means there are copies of each available for sale. Check your release dates.
- The second statement is wrong because the largest distributors of books in the world will not accept individual titles for distribution to their customer base because the publisher, you, does not have the capability to supply their network and cannot be expected to offer terms agreeable to these type of booksellers.
- The final statement is wrong because relationships take years to develop and require the opportunity to meet with people who can make decisions on a regular basis. The chances of an individual author being able to walk in a door and even set an appointment with a key person in the organization who can buy and sell your book is non-existent.
The speakers each take a different approach to the business of selling books. I’m not opposed to the differing view, just the inaccuracies of the information offered as expert opinion. My goal is to share information with you that I know is accurate based on my 25 years of experience. This brief explanation is my way of saying be aware, even some of the experts can get it wrong.
The Price of Books
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 2nd, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Ever wonder why books cost so much to buy? When I started selling paperbacks back in 1977, long before the hardcover was the dominant format, the mass-market size was retailing for $1.95. My former company Random House was the first to raise the mass-market paperback price to $2.95 with the launch of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion. This happened at about the same time Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds was flying off the shelves at $2.50. Now we have hardcovers selling for as much as $35, trade paperbacks for $19.95, and mass-market paperbacks at $7.95.
When you break the cost of producing a single book into it’s various components the single largest expense is the advance paid to no less than the biggest bestselling authors. This multi-million dollar payout is factored into the retail price of all books and is of course passed along to the consumer with higher cover prices. When you visit a bookstore and compare prices, you should realize that only a fraction of the authors being published are the primary reason books cost so much at retail.
Certainly the rising cost of paper is a big factor in the retail price of books, but the production itself is rather inexpensive. All editorial, cover art, and production work as well as printing cost per single copy is built into the basic cost of each book and is the same for each. Margins of profit for publishers are small, a $20 book is billed to booksellers at roughly a 50% discount meaning all expenses must come out of the remaining $10. If you take the huge payouts to the biggest authors out of the equation, the price of books could drop by as much as 40% or more.
Why is this important to you, the author? When you self-publish you should take this into consideration. You price your book(s) according to the market, and of course that is appropriate, but what do you think would happen if you dropped the retail price by 40%? Consumers are discriminating buyers, they understand that paying the same for a book by a relatively unknown author is difficult when for roughly the same price they can purchase a known quantity, namely a bestseller by an author who has been read and liked. Something to think about the next time you price your book.
