Writing was fun, but marketing is equally enjoyable. My book is selling steadily (1/4 of the 1000 copies print run so far).
This is better than break even point, so from here it’s all
profit – not that I wrote it to make a quid.
It’s sold on consignment, although a few outlets are happy
to buy say ten copies outright and give me the cheque straight up. One problem
is shipping costs. Books are heavy. I’m currently looking at a quote from
Toll-Ipec to get copies to centres like Adelaide and Sydney. I’ve sold plenty
on-line.
The deal that works best is for me to send a consignment and
to phone back in a month to see how they’re going. I’ve had to set up an
invoicing system and a data base, tasks I hadn’t considered in my planning.
It’s necessary to maintain a momentum. People have to know
the book’s out there. One way of doing this is radio gigs, and I’m doing one
tomorrow on Radio National. This will make three so far (Local ABC and Radio101.5
FM Adelaide). There was discernible surge in sales after the last one.
Today I have a speaking gig here in Toowoomba. I’m never too
sure what people want to hear. I’d be happy to say “Buy the bloody thing and
read it”, but I doubt that would go down well. Apparently there are about 150
rolling up today, so it could be interesting. I’ll take a boxful and hope for
some sales. Talk about singing for your supper….
I was surprised at the variability in the way the bookstores
do business. The ABC shop requires that you go through their Sydney head
office. Dymocks are happy to buy books if you walk in off the street and they
like what they see, and Mary Ryan’s (a Queensland crew) have been great, even
setting up a dedicated display in their local shop.
They also shout me free coffee, so I go there a bit.
The book trade is in
a sorry state at the moment with bookstores closing all over the place. Gen Ys
and Millennials as a rule don’t buy books. They get most of their entertainment
on-line and via hand held devices.
Maybe I should look at getting Jellybeans on an e-book. It’s
a fairly straightforward process.
2 comments:
Oops, I missed this post yesterday so didn't get the chance to tune into to radio national. That's the station that plays the funny music isn't it? Oh and the announcers are paid by the hour - that's why they speak so s-l-o-w-l-y.
Good luck with the book - maybe I should write an endorsement on my blog - that'll get to 10 readers.
Cav
Any publicity is good publicity.....
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