RE: selling your book

**"* G* <d*@comcast.net>**

I just launched a children's book last month, so this issue of selling a
book is so timely and interesting to me and I'm still learning. Maybe it's
different for children's books, but the good part is that right now, I am on
a high and sales have far exceeded expectations. However, I have thrown away
all my past notions about how the marketing would work. 

I used print on demand publishing through booklocker.com. I have my own
website (www.blitzkriegpublishing.com) with connections to booklocker, and
the book also sells at amazon and barnes and noble.com for the same price as
booklocker. The book is also for sale at my local bookstore and soon will be
at Border's (though I have to practically give it to the bookstores due to
the markup) 

The big surprise to me is that I am selling them much faster out of my car,
at a lower price that doesn't include outrageous shipping. I have also been
going to scout camps and home school meetings, and have booked several
classrooms for the fall. In turn for giving out a flier before, which is a
"deal" on a signed book, I give a short presentation. Some buy the books
there, some have ordered them after. The bottom line is that it has worked
wonders to get the word out, and reorders and referrals have been excellent.

The media has now finally latched on also, though that sure is a LONG term
situation by the time they get to you, write the article, publish it and
then generate sales. (Rather than blanketly sending out my book, I
researched the publications and sent out personal emails to the people at
each newspaper I thought would be the best, asking them if I wanted a copy)

This is not at all how I planned  on doing it. I was hoping it would just
sell by itself once it was on amazon. The packaging, signing, etc. is extra
work, and not my cup of tea. However, if I don't have to ship them it's
pretty painless to go and give a presentation. 

My website has helped me because I have referred to it in all of my fliers
and emails, and customers and media have looked at it for more info. I
included an excerpt on my website as well as links to my publisher. However,
so far neither booklocker or amazon has sold many, though maybe it will
catch on soon. 

I also have a huge family and that helps too. I didn't mince words when I
sent them a letter along with fliers asking them to spread the word. So far
no one has accused me of overstepping my bounds, but each sale and media
contact fuels the enthusiasm so I really have to watch myself.

I look forward to more of the experienced writers sharing their experience!

Donna Gundle-Krieg
www.blitzkriegpublishing.com

---Original Message-----
From: gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[g*@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Doug Green
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2004 6:39 PM
To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
Subject: Re: [GWL] selling your book

At 06:23 PM 8/15/04, you wrote:
>Sign on with amazon.com as an associate.

I've done both the online bookstore route and my own websites.  I find that 
the amazon and chapters route is far easier and more profitable.

If you have a mailing list of over 5000 subscribers, you might be able to 
do better yourself but it is part of the labour of running a list.

If no newsletter or simply a website with no optimization, I'd go with 
amazon.  Even with my newsletter, the numbers say I do better with the 
bookstores.  Now, that's not carved in stone and I'll continue to 
experiment but the numbers I work with say that if you don't have at least 
200 unique visitors a day, (note this is not page views) you're better off 
building traffic rather than trying to sell stuff.

Having said that, with the bookstore link, I don't have to carry inventory, 
I don't have to worry about shipping rates and labour. I can sell books 
24/7 without any work on my part.  And, to top it all off, I get a small 
commission on other sales the links generate (not insignificant I 
find).   I don't make a lot of money selling the books but with very little 
or no work involved, its all good. (grin)

Just my .02

Doug
Doug Green
Award winning writer - making things happen
www.simplegiftsfarm.com/clips/clipmaster.html
My e-publishing system
http://infopublishing.sitesell.com/review.html

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