Making the Right Publishing Decisions
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 5th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
It’s interesting to note that many of the self-publishing mills (the big POD companies that market aggressively and often distort the facts) are offering writers a menu of options for publishing their manuscript. The question I have is, how can any writer know what is best for their book? Success in publishing is selling books, there is no other gauge. In order to sell copies, you need to know and understand the market for bookselling. In my opinion, you cannot make the right publishing decisions if you order your trim size, cover design, interior layout, price and page count from a menu of options. Your newly published book must fit the genre in which you write, and be positioned within that category to compete with all similar titles. Can you get that information from a menu? I don’t think so, not if you expect success, which translates into selling books.
Book Tour and Amazon Promotion by Dave Lieber
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 4th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Here’s an easy and free way to get noticed every week as a popular author in your hometown.
BookTour.com, which calls itself the world’s largest, 100 percent free directory of author events, offers a wonderful event calendar for your author engagements. The best part is the periodic e-mail update that gets sent to all readers who subscribe to learn about author events within a certain number of miles from their zip code.
What this means is this: If you list several events each month, you’ll show up on subscribers’ e-mail updates on a regular basis — unlike a visiting author who makes one appearance a year. Your consistency and obvious popularity will cause more buzz about you among your region’s serious readers.
But aside from pumping life into your public image, that same e-mail that arrives to subscribers with your “tour” dates, also comes with everyone else who is scheduled to appear in your designated region. This gives you real-time intelligence about which stores and events host authors on a regular basis and who they are hosting. This insight gives you a head-start when calling the bookstore: “Hi, I saw you booked Jerry Simmons last week. You know, I’m almost as good as him.”
As a reader award, I’m saving the best for last. Recently, BookTour and Amazon struck a deal so that all of your listed events on BookTour now stream into your Amazon Author Page, assuming you have one. (Go to authorcentral.amazon.com to sign up for that.)
A live stream of appearances on your Amazon Author Page gives you a leg up on many other authors, especially those who aren’t around anymore. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain aren’t coming to a bookstore near you. But you are.
You’re out there! Now the let the world know free and easy, every week, all the time — and find out what everyone else is doing, too.
Dave Lieber is an international speaker and newspaper columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. His newest Web site is davelieber.org – which he says is a sleek new “hub-of-the-wheel” author site that he just completed with author-tech guru Thomas Umstaddt Jr. of authortechtips.com.
Book Publishing is Very Competitive
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 4th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Let me share some numbers to illustrate the competitive nature of publishing in the US: 350,000—950—35,000—6—95—70,000—6,000— 125,000—& 60.
* It is estimated there are 350,000 new titles published every year in this country,
* That breaks down to more than 950 new titles published each day,
* The major New York houses publish approximately 35,000 new titles each year,
* There are 6 major publishers in the US of which 5 are foreign owned,
* All six major publishers represent about 95 percent of total books sales in the US,
* It is estimated there are over 70,000 small and niche publishers,
* There are around 6,000 traditional main stream booksellers in the US,
* Large mega-bookstores typically inventory about 125,000 individual titles, and
* The only number that should matter to an author is their percent of sale, and that benchmark is 60 percent.
If an author under contract to one of the large New York publishers and sells at least 60 percent of the total number of copies shipped, they can have a very nice career as an author.
Now you get a picture of the competitive nature of book publishing.
What’s wrong with Print-On-Demand?
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 27th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Nothing as a technology, but plenty as a publishing business model. Unfortunately for those who publish with a POD their books will not be accepted in the stores or warehouses of booksellers. What this means is that corporate and large independent bookstores will not purchase books in quantity for display in their stores that are printed by a POD publisher. That is not my rule, but the rule of the marketplace.
The reason is lack of editorial control which results in a negative perception of all published books by a POD. These companies publish anything that comes their way. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as the writer understands the limitations before they sign a contract and pay money to publish. POD’s are in the business of printing books for their authors and they do not control the editorial quality of the authors they print. They make money by selling products, services and programs to large quantities of writers and not upon selling books. This is the problem with print-on-demand as a publishing model.
The technology is wonderful, allowing authors and publishers to print small quantities of books in an instant to meet market demand. The problem is market access and the negative perception of the quality of the content based solely on the publisher. Until a company using print-on-demand technology as a form of printing exercises some editorial control over what they publish and not accept anything that walks in the door, the marketplace will continue to turn their back on these books.
The Truth about Book Distribution
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 25th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
One of my readers sent an email asking about a particular book distribution program. He wanted to know if it was a scam. He quoted from some article he read where it talked about a distributor that went out of business trying to distribute books for small publishers. He said the article described bookstore distribution as a scam. There was in fact a small book distributor that did go out of business a few years ago because they didn’t understand what they were doing, which often happens to businesses with a bad plan.
When a small company of any kind, distributor or publisher, enters the world of book distribution to the mainstream marketplace, they better understand the rules and how to compete with the big corporate publishers. That is especially true with book distribution. One of the reasons for launching my book distribution program last year was to offer authors, small and micro-publishers an opportunity for exposure in the marketplace. This is a program that was two years in the making and I would not even attempt to launch if I didn’t feel it was viable and could be competitive against the corporate companies.
Book distribution into booksellers such as bookstores is a very competitive business and there are no guarantees of success. My program offers access to book buyers and nothing more. Anyone that tries to offer more doesn’t understand the business. Those that wish to throw stones at the idea of book distribution to bookstores just don’t understand the market. They know how to make money selling unsuspecting writers and authors products and services that don’t work. In turn they want to attack those that are trying to make the independent market a better place for authors, small and micro-publishers.
Nothing in the printed book business is easy, but before you jump to a book distributor make sure you understand the costs, terms and risks.
Too Good to Be True Sales Offers
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 24th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
When you run across an email with a marketing pitch that offers an “incredible sales opportunity,” or some other verbiage that sounds too good to be true, well it probably is too good to be true. I’ve written about knowing the questions to ask before you make a purchase of a product or service. Warning you about companies that are slow to respond to emails, fail to provide key executives background or experience and those that offer no contact information such as a phone number in their correspondence, as companies you should stay far away from.
When the offer sounds intriguing and the price is right, but you get to the small print and discover there are “hidden fees” then stop right there and move on, it’s not worth it. If you manage to work past the small print and agree with paying the “hidden fees” and find the web site is, shall we say, less than credible in appearance, then run the other way. If a legitimate company cannot give you (1) biographies of the principles of the company, (2) phone numbers or contact numbers besides a mere email address, or (3) a web site that looks like it was created by a ten year-old, then folks, you are not going to get what you think you are getting.
People and companies that offer products and services to writers and authors that fail to meet these minimum of standards, don’t belong in the business. Their claim to fame is making money off your desire to sell books! Don’t buy it! Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Facts about Publishing as an Independent Author
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 19th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
The new hybrid publishing program offers the unpublished writer a choice, and the published author an opportunity. Anyone wanting to publish their manuscript or re-launch a previously published book should consider the hybrid model. Choosing how to publish should be a personal decision, not an economic one. If you want access to national booksellers and that market, you have to abide by their rules. There are no exceptions. The hybrid program has been designed to follow the national bookseller rules in every manner.
The new hybrid publishing and distribution program is identical to how the major New York publishers sell and distribute books for their various imprints. The economics of the printed book business require that new authors publish according to Book Industry Standards, which makes the profit margins extremely small. The marketplace demands quality in writing, production, categorization and pricing. These are the rules of the business and ones that all authors must abide.
If you have interest in learning more about the hybrid publishing and distribution model, send an email (Jerry@WritersReaders.com) and I’ll forward you free my “Guide to Publishing.” You can also visit (www.IndiPublishingGroup.com) web site by clicking on the link in the upper right hand side of this page.
Publication & Distribution Program
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 17th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
There is a new program available that is offering a unique opportunity for independent writers, authors and small publishers to gain direct access to sales channels through a national distribution system for both print and eBooks. It is available for manuscripts and previously published books in one of three ways: (1) assist with print and/or eBook publication, (2) eBook distribution, and/or (3) print book distribution.
Both print and eBooks must be submitted for consideration. This program is searching for the very best independent books for national distribution. Once your manuscript or book has been selected you will be guided by the expertise of a group of professionals with more than 150 years New York publishing experience.
For consideration of your manuscript or book contact me via email (jerry@writersreaders.com). If your manuscript or book is chosen for this program there is never any guarantee of success. Distribution is the process of presenting your book to sales channels in the market largely unavailable to individual authors.
The purpose of this program is to provide “the best of the best” of independent print and eBooks access to the marketplace on a national level. Please forward me your questions or inquiries.
Book Distribution
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 16th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Getting independently published print and eBooks distributed into the traditional bookseller market has been difficult. Many companies promise distribution services that encompass nothing more than availability as opposed to sales channel access. Our sales staff presents books to booksellers the same exact way the New York publishers sell books. That is my background and I understand sales and distribution. My group has the ability to assist writers in print and eBook distribution. This program opens the door to a sales channel that up to this point has been blocked. For more details on this program, contact me via email (jerry@writersreaders.com).
Getting Book Distribution Into Bookstores
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 15th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
For most independently published authors, the idea of having their book placed on the shelves of a major bookstore is the ultimate. The major retail chains have a system of inventory where new titles arrive and unsold are returned, every title is guaranteed to sell or face removal. The window of opportunity to sell a newly published title is ever so small, perhaps six weeks at most. While bookstores place newly arriving books onto store shelves they take the unsold ones off and send them back to the publisher. Each megastore carries around 120,000 unique titles, but only 25-35,000 are newly published, the rest are steady sellers called backlist titles. Due to the volume of new titles arriving daily, stores are forced to constantly turn their inventory. If you are fortunate to get your title placed you must have a marketing plan that will hopefully drive the consumer to your particular category and find your individual title. It’s a good idea to have a plan to make that happen before you seek publication and distribution. Bookstores are one sales channel but not necessarily the ultimate.
