The Importance of Keeping a Book Inventory
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Fortunately, the olden days of being a self-published writer are over. Those days involved keeping large quantities of paperback novels in your garage or closet or even carrying them in the trunk of your car as John Grisham famously did for his first book (he had a small publisher instead of self-publishing…but the distribution wasn’t there).
Today, it’s all about POD, print on demand. Amazon’s KDP Print (formerly CreateSpace) and IngramSpark wait until there’s an order from a reader to print a book. No inventory or storage required.
Because it’s so easy, it’s also easy for me to get very absent-minded about my own personal inventory.
Not knowing your home inventory is a bad thing for many reasons:
Do you know how many copies of your latest release you have? If not, you may be surprised when you run a giveaway during a blog tour and find that you don’t have a copy of the book to sign and send to the winner.
If you have a book signing or are appearing at a conference, you may think you have copies of your most popular titles (and that’s always what readers ask me when I’m at an event…”What’s your favorite book?” Since I hate answering that question, I refer them to my most popular books with readers). But you may be showing up at your event without the first book in your series.
Sometimes a reader may email you and ask for a signed copy of a particular book to be sent as a gift for a family member. There will be a delay if you must order a copy to be sent to you before sending it along to the reader.
Another problem is having too many books. What if you don’t know how many books you have? Maybe they’re in a box under a guest room bed or stowed in a closet, yellowing. I had old author copies from my days writing for Penguin and recently sold them for a $1 apiece at an event. Yes, they sold out, but I also managed to undercut my own full-priced books.
If you have an Etsy store, as I do, you may regularly get requests for signed books…for whichever book the reader left off on in your series. Again, a delay will occur if you have to have copies sent to your house first.
I have done all of the above. Sometimes more than once.
Now I have more of a system to prevent the embarrassment of looking unprofessional (and for me, it’s definitely an embarrassment).
When I have a new book release, I order several copies for myself.
When I accept an invitation to an event, I put two notes on my calendar: one noting the date of the event and the other to remind myself to order books for it. (Note: for other traditionally published or hybrid mystery writers out there, I’ve found the best place to order my trad pubbed books is through independent bookseller Mystery Lovers Bookshop. They frequently run 20% off sales and offer free shipping with orders over $50. It’s nice not to pay full price for my books. And you’re supporting an indie bookstore in the process.)
I keep a list on my computer of ordered books…the dates I ordered them and the titles. Whenever one sells, I adjust the number in stock. When it hits a certain threshold, I order more.
Unless you do tons of events, you really don’t need too many titles on hand. I feel comfortable having just three of each title unless I’m going to a signing where I know I’ll sell a lot of books…then I like more of the first books in a series, more of reader favorites, and more of my latest release.
How do you manage inventory as a writer? How many books do you keep in stock at your house?
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