Contractions in Publishing
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 28th, 2007 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
As many of you may have heard, a very large book customer that represented a large share of the market for all publishers filed for bankruptcy a short time ago. Their business of supplying books to retailers quickly jumped to two other large book customers. This was by any stretch of the imagination an extremely large contraction of the bookselling and distribution marketplace.
This kind of reduction in the number of book customers serving the market has a ripple effect throughout the industry. Fewer large customers mean fewer sales representatives and national account personnel. It means the business is concentrated in the hands of even fewer companies which will squeeze the razor thin margins of publishers and drive smaller competitors out of business.
On top of that already gloomy news is the fact that one of the two largest retail bookstore chains is considering closing stores around the country because they simply cannot make them profitable. All of this means the supply of books to retail will shrink and the prices of the copies that do make it through will rise. Publishers will be less willing to try new genres and new authors. Fewer quality writers will get the opportunity to publish their manuscripts and the business will continue to contract.
There is no new or creative thinking in the world of major publishing. All the top executives are products of the system they helped create and they will continue down their path of destruction until they break. Now that five of the six major publishing companies are foreign owned, the industry still has a pulse but the growth for writers and their books is fading. Thinking outside the box is an oxymoronic statement in the world of major publishing.
This blog is unedited, please disregard mistakes in spelling and grammar.
The Next Generation is Buying Books
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 21st, 2007 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
There was a recent article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer titled “Teens buying books at fastest rate in decades,” written by P-I Reporter Cecelia Goodnow. The article states that “It’s a time of strong writing and strong sales as readers in the 12-18 age group rock the marketplace.” Booklist magazine critic Michael Cart, a leading authority on young adult literature, says that “Kids are buying books in quantities we’ve never seen before, and publishers are courting young adults in ways we haven’t seen.”
“The credit goes to Harry Potter, a bulging teen population, and a surge of global talent as the preteen Muggles of yesteryear carry an imagined reading habit into later adolescence,” says reporter Goodnow. She goes on to say that “Older teens in particular are enjoying a surge of sophisticated fare as young adult literature becomes a global phenomenon. Fantasy and graphic novels are especially hot, and adventure, romance, humor and gritty coming-of-age tales remain perennial favorites.”
This speaks volumes to the potential impact on the publishing industry over the next ten years. The trend among adult readers over the past decade has shown a decline in the number of books purchased. A young adult surge would indicate the future of publishing and bookselling has a pulse. It also speaks to the potential of a global community of writers with a platform to expand their own market for Independently Published books. Traditional book retailing must change to go with the times, sales of books via the world wide web is the future and as long as the major publishers continue to sit on the sidelines and rely on Amazon the better opportunity for Independent Writers.
This blog is unedited, please disregard mistakes in spelling and grammar.
How to Create a New York Times Bestseller
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 13th, 2007 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
This is not an advertisment but an editorial comment. There is a well known national book marketing expert that is selling tickets to a teleseminar where he will describe a step-by-step proven method for getting “A book on the New York Times bestseller list, and by extension, onto the front shelves of every bookstore in America.”
He goes on the explain that “To protect the viability of this proven method he will be limiting the number of people who can listen and one sure way to do that is charge a big fee of $497.” For those less than willing he explains that this teleseminar will not be a rehash of his previous teleseminar titled How to Create a New York Times Bestseller Without Breaking the Bank because this is filled with great “real-world information.” And for those of you requiring some hand-holding there will be a follow-up program for “an additional fee.” The best part — this can be accomplished in less than three weeks from the publicaiton of your book.
Now please, for one moment stop and ask yourself: If there was a proven method wouldn’t every publisher in America be using it? Do you really think this man has the answers? Many of you probably own his book! Save your $497. As I’ve said before and will continue to say, there are no guarantees in publishing.
We Want It Yesterday
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 7th, 2007 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Must be the age we live in, but everyone wants everything yesterday. Authors publish books and expect instant sales, retailers want books to fly off shelves today, not tomorrow. Where does it all end? Selling books is difficult at best, remember there are no guarantees, it takes patience and hard work. As our parents used to say, nothing is free, you have to earn it in this world.
Books that go into stores have an extremely small window to sell copies or else they are returned to publishers. A low percentage of sale for an author can signal the end of a career. There are so many titles and such little time, how does an author survive? Being smarter than their competitors, learning something about the business, how it works, and understanding what they can do as authors to prevent the kind of situations that result in low percents of sale.
We all want success as authors, and we all want to sell more books. The only reasonable way to do this is build sales slowly with focus on small markets expanded gradually outward away from their hometown. This is one of the biggest advantages for Independent Authors, time to build sales, learn their market, and get to know their audience and how to reach them.
The risk is that authors lose patience and their confidence wanes in an attempt to sell books quickly. They buy marketing services, look for shortcuts, and in the end spend more money with little in return. Selling books is not easy, don’t be fooled by the get rich quick schemes, your best weapon as an author is your understanding of the market and what it takes to sell books. Tell your friends and writing colleagues that selling books, as we know it today, is changing, maybe not tomorrow but the next day.
This blog is unedited, please disregard mistakes in spelling and grammar.
