The broken system

[Janny]

This has to be fast - I'm resting between efforts -

We could spend all day moaning over books that were great, should have made it, got mashed or run over by the giant wheels, that are as likely to crush as success as make one.

I will address this to Leslie - because - she's discouraged. Many are.

You feel discouraged because you feel DISEMPOWERED. You are not. The system is a brontosaurus, but you have to know where to goad to make it work FOR you. And there are opportunities. It takes knowing HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS to intervene in your own behalf - and a lot of creative thinking to find the way!

Chainstore buyer isn't interested. This is not by itself a death knell....you can turn the system, if you know: that "auto reorder" and some shelf stocking happens by computer....you need to know HOW, from inside, to trigger the computer numbers in your favor. It takes a pattern of numbers - not large ones! - to get the computer to 'flag' your title - orders must be placed at a chain store. This means, a reader has to go there, snag an employee, get the computer to find your listing, and ORDER IT. Then they have to actually PICK IT UP, so the sale crosses the register. This has to happen in a SHORT PERIOD, from many locations, across the country. If this happens, (I don't know the actual number, but I've been told it's not huge) - the computer flags the title - the chain at the top "presumes" its missing something - and starts stocking the book! Then, in fact, your "package and book" have to sell itself to keep the numbers ticking to stay stocked.

Too many writers of independents tell their readers to buy online - and miss this point, that over the counter orders at a brick and mortar store can alter a book's future for the better.

I don't have time to go into every "story" about writers who have intervened for their own behalf and made a difference. Many have. It takes creativity, courage, risk and determination.

Here's one of mine, though: when I started out with a major series and a ten book contract, involving most of my backlist - I sat at a dinner with a very saavy author, Dennis McKiernan, and our shared (then) editor. Dennis, being business wise, asked the editor how books were "presented" to the sales force...and we heard a half hour tale of woe, from a very enthusiastic editor - about how he had to "present" NINE MONTHS!!! of titles at a sales meeting, held over a weekend at a resort! where the national sales force was held captive to hear all the OTHER departments do their spiel - and - SF/Fantasy - his list - came a the end, when everyone had to go to the rest room, was anxious for lunch, and bored silly by a whole morning of Taking Heads!

Well, that sat me up! My new title was to be November - the END of the END of the queue!

What did I DO? Not get depressed!!! I phoned a pal who was a video camera man - asked for TIPS about filming - grabbed a home video unit - and set it up with the husband pushing the buttons. Dressed in business clothes (plain colors, NO patterns, they make the picture shimmer) and put up paintings, maps, COLOR VISUALS as the backdrop - then filmed five minutes of clips with SPACE between for easy editing - I introduced my own book, explained that this series had been decades in the design - showed places, characters, snippits to intrigue - then mailed that to my editor.

He edited it down to the 3 minutes my book would have had for its presentation - and used IT to promote my title.

Just the sheer shock of the change made that moment memorable and got the book off to a decent start. The sales force woke up - and - next presentation - guess what - said editor was taping ALL of his authors he could get in front of his camera, at World Fantasy.

First step is KNOWLEDGE - ask your independent HOW they market and place your work - then be creative, look for ways to innovate in a good way.

I see this moment, all this depression and frustration - can be redirected - if it is viewed as OPPORTUNITY! We authors are many - we dream with power - we can, if we want, DESIGN how we want the future to be.

The old channels are clogged - so - creative distribution - how can we collectively come up with NEW WAYS to get books seen and noticed? How can we use awareness of how things DO work to improve on any given title's performance.

I have not survived this long, under my own unchanged byline, working also in a style that is highly original, by not being energetically innovative.

I am posting this - mostly - because people have to look upward to find possibilities, not downward, to what isn't working. The system is still "here and now" because - messy though it is - it IS working well enough - not to say it cannot be vastly improved upon in every way.

Step outside the "envelope" of can't, that's for starters.

[Phyllis]

Leslie wrote: "I haven't ever posted excerpts of my books to a blog, but I do have an ongoing podcast of my first book. I can't really say if it's affected sales, but I do get a steady stream of hits to my websit..."

I've found the number of visits to my blog increases when I post things like excerpts from my Martian Symbiont series titles. I posted a glossary of terms just to see whether to add it to my website. It turns out I have one fan who's in love with the extras. That's promotion I couldn't pay for.

Since the alien symbiont is something even my Martian characters have trouble defining I posted a fictional white paper by the chief geneticist on my website. Of course I put up disclaimers that it was entirely fictional and mankind doesn't have access to it for medical purposes, etc; but it enhances a fan's understanding of it. I guess that's really where I want to take my readers, from outside observers to fans of the story and its characters.

[T.]

Janny, well done! You've already given >me< some ideas on how to create opportunities for market recognition of my hardcover short story collection when it comes out in May. Thanks! Tom.

[Leslie Ann]

Yes, thank you Janny for the pep talk. I had no idea about how placing orders at chainstores can actually get the computer to send an order to stock the book. I'm a big supporter of the patronization of local indie bookstores because I believe in supporting local, indie owned businesses in general, but this info does get me to thinking.

[Michael]

Actually I am more inclined to prefer online sales than the brick and mortar stores. The majority of people I encounter are buying more and more online than at walk-in stores. Due to convenience, the ability to instantly find what you are looking for no matter how obscure and the reviews and ratings being right there. And just as more sales at a store results in more exposer, so too at Amazon. The more books sold the better your ranking, the better your ranking the more Amazon advertises you, not just on their site, but in emails sent directly to buyers who have shown an interest in that very kind of book.

Between the two models, I should think being able to reach into people's homes and tell them about a book tailor-made for their tastes that they can then buy with a click of a mouse, has to be pretty good. Add to this the ease of getting into online stores and the self-contained distribution channel, and the online system looks better than ever. And that doesn't even touch on the growing success of Kindles.

I agree with Janny that this is probably one of the best times to be trying to sell books as the opportunities are greater and more varied than ever before.

[Rita]

Michael,

You said that the more you sell on Amazon, the better you are ranked. The better you are ranked, the more you are advertised. The more you are advertised, it is obvious that you will sell more.

But how do you start that chain reaction? How do you get from nothing to something? It's kinda like when you are a kid, and no one will hire because you have no experience. The publishing houses won't touch you because you are an unknown author with no readership, and no one will read you because they never heard of you.

--Rita

[Gwendolyn]

Leslie;

Something else to consider; and this in regards to B&N and Borders. Other than the on-line stores, these two appeared at the time (and I think still are) to be the two biggest 'chain stores' for books in this country.

These stores have what they refer to as their 'local author' wall. Most of the stuff on it is tourism or local histories, but they also have space that a 'local' author might, if they can successfully negotiate with the store manager, arrange to inventory copies of their books.

We 'primed the pump' with books at both the nearest stores in both chains here and near our vacation home in Florida and arranged to do readings and signings of the book at those stores as well as several local independents.

Between word of mouth and some good reviews, the book sold well enough given the size of it's niche market... and we did make it into the inventory system of both chains, which put the book into their on-line catalogue.

We then proceeded to occasionally 'nudge' the system by doing exactly what Janny described.

It's still out there and the stores still get orders. Occasionally the sales numbers move rather radically up the scale, then slowly settle back down.

[Leslie Ann]

Thank you for the great tip, Gwen. I'll look into that at the B&N closest to my house.

[Janny]

Rita wrote: "Michael,

You said that the more you sell on Amazon, the better you are ranked. The better you are ranked, the more you are advertised. The more you are advertised, it is obvious that you will sell..."

Rita - it's a myth, that you need a readership BEFORE a publishing house will touch you. Actually, you need no readers at all. You only need a superb story, correctly submitted, that fits the editor's list.

That there are (scant few!!) cases of books being picked up after they find a readership - this is so rare, it's likely not worth pursuing first off, out the gate, despite the enormous amount of "advice" you may see on the internet. It's a case of the blind folded man and the elephant. It helps to view the whole picture before making the best choice for yourself.

And Michael is right - knowing how Amazon works internally is just as important to reaching potential readership, there. It's best to be informed about all aspects of the industry.

[Chaeya]

Janny, thanks for your bringing many of these points to light.

I chose to self-publish my work because I wanted the control. I have one of those books that hovers over several genres, so I knew going the traditional route was going to be difficult and I wasn't happy with the editing from many of the smaller e-presses. Many of them hire other authors to do the edits. When professional editors get from $2-3,000 dollars to edit a standard book, I know these e-pubs aren't paying anything close to that amount. I even have found errors and poor writing in print published books.

I finished my book last year and I'm still editing. I took a year of getting and giving critiques, I took two self-edit workshops given by two editors who work in the industry. The information I received was invaluable. I also took time to strengthen my grammar. I work as a word processor/proofreader already so I've always had to stay up on it, but grammar in business writing is different than novel writing.

While many authors have published numerous books since then, I'm still glad I took my time to research and clean up my novel. I'm now able to feel proud of it rather than before, I'd feel like it wasn't good enough when I'd go back and read it.

As a writer/author, whatever, I will never stop learning. I doubt I will ever get to a point where I will feel I don't need to hone my grammar, my prose and content.

[Steven]

I've been going through one of my old ebook titles, in order to re-release it (I took it off the market about a year ago).

One thing I've discovered is that my older books need a serious edit/proofing pass before I re-release them. I'd been guilty of being negligent in editing and proofing back then, and I don't want my customers to think I'm sloppy, or no better than the bad scan-and-OCR jobs major publishers are doing right now.

My latest books are in much better shape, so I don't want there to be an obvious difference in quality between my old and new books.

I recently wrote a blog item, now posted on Tomes of the Soul, about the fortunate benefits of being able to revise an ebook and get it back to market, as opposed to the rigors of doing the same with printed books.