Dave's comments (member since Nov 15, 2008)

Dave's comments from the Published Authors group.

well use it in good health. The writeups could be called hug writeups, they were that good... still, they didn't sell books. I've found that with her book, people pretty much have to see the actual book, pick it up, and feel it in their hands before they'll buy it. We went very high quality with it, that quality shows when they see it in person. Getting that across in writeups and ads is difficult.

We send out a pdf version of the book. I often write reviews from those myself.

Joe, wouldn't robots and spaceships be what makes it fantasy? Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy and the other two of the trilogy could be considered fantasy easily, but are called sci-fi. Why? Hell if I know.

huge not hug, lol

I don't care how many blogs you get mentioned on, how good of reviews they give, the bottom line is the bottom line, does it sell books? So far in my experience, no, it doesn't. Of course, each book is different, so results might vary. Press is good, but all the press in the world isn't worth a tinker's damn if it doesn't sell books. One of my clients got hug writeups in all the papers in her area and where she formerly lived, TV, radio, blogs, you name it, she had it and plenty of it. Trouble was, it wasn't selling a damn book, not one. A place that sells to optometrists and ophthalmologists decided to carry her book, they've been selling lots of them, since her children's book fits within that realm well. Daily sales are in the double digits, and getting higher all the time. All this from a place that doesn't ordinarily sell books.

I don't know about that. I purposely try to put something for everyone in my books.

Yep, but the powers that be sure like to be able to plug it neatly into a hole. Often, it's the ones that don't fit the niche they've made for them that are the big sellers.

I work in the industry, and frankly most publishers don't know what the hell they want. Look how many passed on Harry Potter, or any other big name book you could mention that later became huge. My writing is hard to categorize, but I choose the action adventure category because that's the bulk of it. Mine have romance, humor, some thriller elements, and lots of guns blazing action.

Here's my take on it. Use that art as a mere background, not the finished cover. Have a plow or the like (era specific) with a ladies bonnet hanging from it, with bright red blood dripping from the plow... or other farm and era specific item like a double scythe. By all means Make the Title and your name bigger, drop the "a novel" people can figure that out on their own, or they're too stupid to be reading it. Use the dark cove with Big, bright, bold print, or maybe reverse that, change the color of the background pic, so forth. Maybe have the top half of the cover the dark, then when the blood runs from the plow, it turns the bottom half of the cover red.

If you want wide sales, go bold, attract attention, get the title and your name big and bold. If you like this cover so much, have some of the jackets made this way for your books you send out, for reviews and what not. I'd actually like to see both ideas put on sale in a store side by side, then see which sells better. One problem with the black cover, is that so many have done that recently in various forms, you won't stand out at all, not one bit. Yellow always attracts attention. Red is next best, then blue. Black wasn't used much on dust jackets at all as the primary color until a few years ago, then everyone started doing it. Go in a a bookstore or library, just look at how many books have dark covers. There is a reason the ".... for dummies books are yellow with black print. As gypsy rose Lee's mother said, it's either yellow and black, or black and yellow, top billing or last, never in between. The way you have the title and name, it's like in between, don't do it. I'd go with another concept entirely, if it was mine, a bright summer's sky with two women in silhouette, with knives or guns at the ready.

's okay allison, they all seem to come out on the same heading. Of course, I guess I shouldn't argue with people that want to sell their stuff cheap. After all, they should know what it's worth.

Paul, in your way, you're saying much the same thing I am. A short term "try it" bargain is one thing, establishing a price in the consumer's mind is another. I actually kind of like your idea of writing the teaser bits, but make them enough of a full story for the consumer to feel they got their money's worth and then some. I know that I've learned over the years, sometimes bargains are no bargain, yet sometimes there actually are bargains where the value is more than you expected. Generally it's the first case, every time I find a bargain that's the second case, it's because they're closing out something that is discontinued or the like, I discover it, then poof, it's gone.
We'll never settle this discussion, but hell, it's fun to ponder the imponderables. I don't think five bucks or even twenty is too much for a book, not when I see the absolute crap people buy every day for a hell of a lot more money. Why do people need to text? Duh, it's a phone. Why do they need cell phones that do a half million things, watch tv, surf the web, and work as E readers? Can't people make up their minds anymore? I like TV sometimes, but I sure as hell don't want to watch it on a tiny screen while I'm out and about. Of course, one must only look at the money women will spend on fashion, shoes, purses and the money and time men will waste on sports to know, people are crazy. Logical, thinking humans are getting harder and harder to find. I guess I could write trash like most of the crap being made into Ben Stiller movies these days, but if I have to write that, I'd give up writing. We're embracing mediocrity, people that can't sing sell cds, people that can't act get the movie roles, and increasingly, people that write like crap sell the books. I work as an editor, so it's damn hard for me to find a book even by name authors that is well written and grammatically correct, even just to an acceptable level, never mind perfection. What gives?

Sometimes, You can do better being the most expensive. Some people want the most expensive. A friend sells her book on Amazon at a discounted price of 14.95. (usual 19.95) however the used ones of the same book go for 86.50 go figure that one out. at any rate, sometimes you can be so cheap, that people simply don't think it could be worth anything.

Of course, I think the problem with Kindle and other E readers of that ilk is they are way to expensive in the first place. Spending 300 bucks in one whack to read ebooks just doesn't make financial sense. Those that do have them like the eletist appeal, so make them pay for the privilege, charge more, not less.

If you'll go back a few posts, I'm not adverse to offering a "bargain bin" temporary offer. However, I do not want to see books sold at that price, even Ebooks, for the long term. That hurts us all. Establish that price in the average consumer's mind as what an E book is worth, then you'll play hell ever getting more. It's always better to start with a high price then offer a bargain.

I was referring only to myself, not anyone else. It's a good line, I must admit, I'll probably wind up using it in one of my books.

Fact is, as yet, Ebooks don't sell well no matter the price. People that read a lot tend to be the older crowd, they don't like Ebooks. Hey, whatever floats your boat, do it. There's no one right way to market your work. My clients are finally listening to me, and finding good markets for print books in places other than bookstores and the like. You have to be creative. One author writes biker fiction, so she does well in motorcycle shops. Another wrote a book about a kid that had to wear glasses even though he didn't want to, she sells through optometrists and ophthalmologists. Another wrote a book about diversity, she sells well to ethnic support groups.
Some are seeing sales that might put them on best seller lists if those lists included sales in places other than bookstores and mass merchandisers.

I was under the impression the site charged a dollar a book period. At that price, it would be damn difficult to even make expenses of running the site As you know, those expenses must be covered. If not, the site won't last long. There is also the problem of perceived value, sell them at that price for too long, that's all anybody will expect or ever be willing to pay. Sometimes, it's actually better to raise your price to where it's expensive to buy a particular item, you can always put it on special, but it's difficult to raise prices much once you've established the value. Still, other than a bargain bin type sale for a short time, I think my work is simply worth more than that. If I can't get more than that, to hell with people, I'll keep it to myself. I may be a whore, but not a two-bit whore.

Thanks,

Anyone seen the "Cooler" E reader yet? it's a nice machine, way better than Kindle, so far as I could tell from the ad for it. However, on sale it's still nearly three hundred bucks. I think that keeps most people from fooling with them, since most people don't read enough to get that kind of use out of them. What are the opinions on that? If this thing is out there, what format is it in, how do you make your book available for it?

Hey... do we have it wrong... is the buck a book just a "bargain bin" part of a larger site? I got to thinking about it, a "bargain bin" to let people get a taste for your work could be good. Then sell fresh work at regular prices. Selling all my work at that price would never do, but the "bargain bin" approach might.

I don't see any profit at a buck a download or whatever. How are you paying for promotion of the site? How are you paying for it's upkeep? Hosting fees, all of that? One of the sites I do list my Ebook version at charges four bucks per book. This gives me a buck, the owner of the site a buck, and puts two bucks back in for expenses and promotion. As yet, Ebooks don't sell well enough to do it for less. Now, if I thought I"d sell hundreds or even thousands of books, I'd settle for about a quarter a book profit for me. That's not happening YET. I work with a friend that started her own publishing company... you would not believe the expenses involved that nobody ever thinks of. She's yet to show any real profit, even though book sells are fair and gaining all the time. They have to reach a certain point for her to make any money, as the costs stay high per book unless she's selling a hell of a lot of books.