Book Sales
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Materials and Advice Needed to Launch Your Speaking Career as an Author.
Well, we started off with some terrific advice from Michele DeFilippo at 1106Design about what printed materials do and do not work best for those wanting to have ancillary materials at their speeches. Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd, caught us up on what she does with her materials and then we launched into what you need to do to get started!
Great advice all around on making serious profits on your book by getting booked as a speaker. To Download The MP3, click here on Author Speaking Engagements
- How to turn a free speech into guaranteed book sales
- What role video plays in getting booked
- How to find the associations and organizations with the perfect niche for your topic
- Children’s books… man… we needed another hour on that. But WAIT! We HAVE one. Click Here for our Discussion about Children’s Book Marketing.
Publishing At Sea January 18 – 23rd 2014
Do you want to learn everything you need to know about publishing at once?
Do you want complete access to book industry experts for several days to answer all your questions?
Are you ready to take the next steps with your book and want proven expertise on how to proceed?
We have an amazing opportunity for you to have a great time in the sun, see wonderful ports of call and learn everything you need to know about the book industry. Publishing at Sea provides 5 days with 4 publishing experts that will take you through a complete program to bring your book from where it is to where you want it to be? Take a dream trip to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into reality.
Click Here for More Information!
Children’s Book Advice
Judith Briles, Michele DeFillipo and I had a great time last week talking about the rules for children’s books. Listen to the recording for the full 55 minutes of advice, but here are a few of the highlights:
- READ TO ME picture books should only have a few words on a page if you want parents to read it to their kids, librarians to hold the book up for story time, or teachers to be able to read it to a crowd of antsy 4 year olds.
- I CAN READ books should have no more than 45 words on a page and lots of pictures.
- CHAPTER BOOKS FOR READERS have art (usually one color) at the chapter openers and don’t be afraid to use the occasional word that kids have to look up.
- Children’s hardcover picture books are $15.95 – $17.95
- Children’s paperback books are $7.95 MAX. (And should be closer to $4.95 if you are unknown or the pages are short)
- Chapter books are $3.99 – $4.99. No more.
Want to hear more? Click on the radio below to listen to last week’s MENTORING MONDAY call. The calls are every Monday and available to everyone. Call in next Monday and join the fun. Free consulting and some laughs? How cool is that?
Mentoring Mondays
Cost: just your phone call and your time.
Call in to: 646-307-1300 and use access code: 8508894.
Time: 12 Eastern, 9 Pacific.
Yes, You Need a Price Specific Barcode
If I find out the identity of the person who is telling people that they don’t need a price specific barcode, I am going to smack them.
Here is a pic of a barcode WITHOUT a price embedded in the barcode:
Book buyers and bookstores who see this barcode will often instantly put it in the “no” pile because it does not have a price embedded in the bar code.
What does a barcode with a price embedded in the code look like? I am glad you asked!
See the 51995 number over the shorter bars? That means that the book is $19.95. The ISBN-13 barcode (also called an EIN) should include a price in it. It will start with a “5” and be followed by the remaining numbers which will make up the price.
This is NOT OPTIONAL if you want to get into bookstores. Ingram, Baker and Taylor and Barnes and Noble will ask your sales rep if your book has a price embedded barcode. If the answer is no, the chances are that the book buyer will also say “no”… to your book.
Get a price specific barcode. It is a requirement. Do it. Do it now.
Want to Sell More Books? Try Organizations and Associations!
When looking around the marketplace, it may be hard to see that there are still untapped markets for book sellers. Given the right topic, authors can be very successful in selling their books to associations. In case you haven’t noticed, in today’s world, there is an association for everything.
Don’t think so? How about the International Chewing Gum Association (www.icga.com) or the American Association of Teachers of French (www.frenchteachers.org)? So, the chances are pretty good that the topic of your book has an association out there dedicated to it.
Of course, the bigger the association, the better results you can achieve. Try and find one that has both national and local chapters. Become a member and get involved! The thing to remember is that associations are always looking for ways to provide more value to their members. You can help with that. Here are a few suggestions:
- Offer an excerpt from your book or an original article for their monthly newsletter
- Offer a percentage of book sales or profits to the association in exchange for putting their logo on the cover
- Offer to speak at their annual conference – you can barter your speaking fee for exhibit space
- Volunteer to serve on a committee
Look at it this way, you already have an audience interested in your subject matter – the association’s membership. Instead of just approaching them with the idea of selling your book, you can offer yourself as an asset that can be used to their advantage. And then sell them your book!
Written by Tricia Martin, Customer Service Manager for New Shelves Distribution. For more information, contact Tricia at info@newshelves.com
Beauty and Joy
Going to veer off of the typical New Shelves article here. I have been thinking lately a lot about what I find beautiful. Those thoughts have lead me to question what brings me joy. I assumed that they would be connected.
Nope.
Here is a partial list of what I find beautiful:
- Small town main streets
- Water flowing over rocks
- Mountains
- Old buildings
- Willow trees
- Florence, Italy
Now…. here is a partial list of what brings me joy:
- Drive-in movie theaters
- That deep, wet, cool, green smell that comes from shady roads
- Singing with other people
- Board or Card games
- Boats, convertibles, motorcycles, tilt-a-whirl rides…. Anything that puts the wind in my face. So…. I guess wind brings me joy
- Contact with animals. Any animals.
I have always believed that beauty brings happiness. How surprising to learn that what I find beautiful does not translate automatically into joy. However, everything that brings joy is painfully beautiful to me.
What do you find beautiful? What brings you joy?
Do You Have a Book Distributor? Are You Sure?
I had so much fun talking with the authors and indy publishers at AuthorU earlier this month. Here is a snippet that explains in detail the difference between Wholesalers, Distributors and Fulfillment Houses.
Too often I get calls from authors/small press owners who tell me that they “have a distributor”… then they mention Ingram or Baker & Taylor. CLOSE! But no…. check out this 2 minute video to see why:
Book Distribution vs. Book Wholesalers
Prepare and Budget for the ENTIRE Life of Your Book
Most authors budget their time,money, and energy for the life of their book, but they forget that the book’s life span does not end when the book is printed… that is when it starts. A book’s life starts at it’s birth (the launch) and needs to be budgeted for.
Here is a video of my most recent talk on the Life of Your Book. We will be covering this in more detail on Mentoring Mondays with Judith Briles starting June 3th.
D5 Creation