How I Succeeded
Before the whole distribution system imploded in the nineties, mass-market books were placed in groceries and drugstores by over two hundred local magazine distributors. One of these was Billings News, which annually placed pocketbooks in the racks in Yellowstone Park.
The buyer there discovered that my historical novels of the West sold well in Yellowstone Park, where people bought them in part because there was and is no TV there. Pocketbooks made great companions in the quiet wilderness and quiet hotels.
For years, each spring I went to Billings, signed a thousand or fifteen hundred pocketbooks, put stickers on them, and put them back in their cartons. It was an exhausting, grimy all-day task, but these signed novels would be put into the racks and sold all summer in the park, where a couple of million visitors came each year.
Not only did my books sell well there, but people took them home and bought more of my titles, which was especially valuable when visitors came from areas, such as the East Coast, where my novels were not well distributed.
That turned out to be the engine of my success as an author of popular fiction. My sales built steadily through the nineties thanks to the books placed in the hostelries of the famed park.
Eventually, that local distribution system collapsed, and now there are only a few giant distributors. They pay little heed to local tastes, which has damaged the sales of mass-market paperbacks.
But I always ascribe my success to the good people at Billings News. I was in the right place at the right time.
The buyer there discovered that my historical novels of the West sold well in Yellowstone Park, where people bought them in part because there was and is no TV there. Pocketbooks made great companions in the quiet wilderness and quiet hotels.
For years, each spring I went to Billings, signed a thousand or fifteen hundred pocketbooks, put stickers on them, and put them back in their cartons. It was an exhausting, grimy all-day task, but these signed novels would be put into the racks and sold all summer in the park, where a couple of million visitors came each year.
Not only did my books sell well there, but people took them home and bought more of my titles, which was especially valuable when visitors came from areas, such as the East Coast, where my novels were not well distributed.
That turned out to be the engine of my success as an author of popular fiction. My sales built steadily through the nineties thanks to the books placed in the hostelries of the famed park.
Eventually, that local distribution system collapsed, and now there are only a few giant distributors. They pay little heed to local tastes, which has damaged the sales of mass-market paperbacks.
But I always ascribe my success to the good people at Billings News. I was in the right place at the right time.
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Danny
(new)
May 25, 2013 09:49AM
First book I bought of yours was a Skye's West signed copy at the Billings airport. In the 20 years since I have read a majority of your books. Thanks for all the entertainment you have provided over all these years.
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