Re: Dargan book marketing advice sought

**D* G* <d*@xplornet.com>**

Oh - the joys of book promotion! :-)   My .02 is probably at one end of
the spectrum so I'll toss it out there and let the other folks give you
a more upbeat viewpoint.

You didn't say what the retail price was or your part of that. For
purposes of this exercise, let's say you actually make $3.00 per book
sold via royalty. If only receiving royalty, to break even you have to
sell 450 books or one book to every 133 people that comes through the
door. Roughly 1% of attendees have to buy your book. If you don't have a
booth, then that royalty number from signing books at their event is
straight to the bottom line (except for the lost opportunity cost
below).

If you're selling at the booth, then you have a slightly different
profit number - depending on the deal you cut with the publisher.  But
check the terms of booth rental - many shows don't let booth people
actually "sell" things that are in competition with the main show
owners.  An interesting little twist to maintain their profit lines. :-)

By the way, this goes for the "free" speeches many authors make to
garden clubs so they can sell their books.  After shipping and handling,
let's say you have a 30% difference between your cost and retail (let's
not count Amazon for the moment).  If this amounts to $10/book, then in
your case you still have to sell 150 books to break even at your booth
(see below for real breakeven).  But this is much more doable than the
royalty-only deal.  

I also note that this doesn't count the lost-opportunity cost of
spending this time at the show when you could be making money writing or
doing your other work.  You have to add those costs to the 1500 booth
costs to give you a real cost.  This is the number that simply prevents
me ever doing these things for free. When I take my hourly per diem and
add all the time -  preparing a talk, travelling, creating the booth,
setting up the booth (lugging the books around) the show itself, etc.
etc. then the real cost of the show becomes much, much higher.  I know
the hourly rate it takes to maintain the lifestyle I'd like to become
accustomed to - an doing freebie's isn't a big part of it. :-) 

The other part of this is author profile.  Does this booth increase your
author profile or allow you to sell your landscaping services?  Then
there is an ancillary benefit you can realize (and measure by contracts
obtained) and a great little tie-in between the landscaping and the
writing.  Writing a book gives you greater "authority" than your
competitors and is worth plugging in a booth.  In this case, the
landscaping part of your business should be taking those costs because
this is considered and can be written off as marketing.

Or, you can tie into a landscaping firm that has a booth as a "free"
author to promote your book and give them a draw to their booth. A
joint-venture type of deal.

But for me - the answer to having a booth to only sell the book would
depend on the numbers and/or monetizing the increased author profile.

Doug

On Tue, 2006-05-12 at 15:37 -0500, Mary Palmer Dargan wrote:
> Dear Garden Writers,
> 
> I have my first REAL book coming out Feb 2007: Timeless Landscape
> Design. I enjoy the forum's comments made regarding marketing.  I've
> booked many lectures this spring and pose a question for advice:

-- 
Doug Green
SGF Communications: Garden E-Publishing
home website  http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
blog  http://www.douggreensgarden.com

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