DB Carries Elantris

[EUOL]

Deseret Book has decided to stock ELANTRIS.  This took quite a bit of finagling on my part (I had to get the right number of the right buyer and get a copy into her hands) so I'm quite happy about the event.

For those who don't know, Deseret Book is an LDS themed bookstore chain in the west.  

Of course, now that the book is in DB, I'm left wondering how to make the best use of the event.  If there is just going to be one copy per store, buried back in the stacks, I don't know that this will be all that helpful.

[Firemeboy]

From my experience, it's a bit hard to do book signings with DB, adn get them to promote your book, although you've probably got a leg up on me since I'm publishing through DB's direct competitor.  Apparently they just came out with a new policy that states only four of their stores will host authors.  You can't sign any other books in any other stores.  This has just recently changed.  On week I was signing copies in DB, just on the side, and the next, the employees wouldn't let me.

Anyway, hope you have better luck with them than I have. The entire chain of DBs has sold about as many copies of my book as one or two Seagull books have sold.  It's literally 150 books to several thousand sold by SB&T.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see how it goes for you. Good luck.

[stacer]

That's really, really odd that they don't allow signings. That's one major way of getting books sold.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Have you gotten into Meridian or any local newspapers yet? I'd imagine that would help...

It would seem very strange if you can't even sign the books that are there on the shelves. Signing books and doing a signing are not the same thing...maybe there's some communication breakdown?

[EUOL]

How big is Meridian?  Is it worth the effort?

[Firemeboy]

I just got a review in Meridian, but I'm not sure how big its readership is.  HOM might know better if there are benefits to getting in the magazine.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Meridian's pretty big. Tons of people around here read it, at least. And they all are impressed by it.

[House of Mustard]

Meridian is the #1 best place to get an LDS book reviewed -- not that there are many.  Meridian claims the biggest readership of any LDS internet magazine, and they have a fairly heavy focus on book reviews -- I think they have at least four reviewers -- two for LDS fiction, one for children's books, and one for general fiction.

If you want, I'll get you in contact with the reviewers I know.  They have reviewed some of Card's non-LDS books.

I'm not sure what you can expect.  I know specifically that the main reviewer is biased against sci-fi (I'm not sure about fantasy).

[Chimera]

From my experience, it's a bit hard to do book signings with DB.

My mom says if you come to Valencia in California she'll set up a booksigning at our local Church Bookstore, which is not DB or Seagull because it is owned and operated by a local LDS family and carries both publishers' books. A youth speaker stayed at our house and did a booksigning there, and we know the owners really well, so my mom wants to set it up. She was really excited when I told her DB is stocking your book, and now wants you to come down even more.   And, knowing my mom, she'd get the whole stake there to buy your book.

[The Jade Knight]

Our local bookstore (Family Tree Books) functions similarly.  If you want to hold a signing in Reno, I could look into it.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

d'oh, yeah, I should have told you how to get to "This is the Place" up by the temple so you could ply your wares there.

[Firemeboy]

Forget by the temple, just take a box of books right onto temple square...  Nobody will bug you, as long as you have a black tag...

[Firemeboy]

Hey, for what it's worth...  When I do a search for my book, the top return is this site.  http://ldsfiles.com/  They did a review on my book a while ago.  The next return is the BYU Book store followed by this site.  Then there are a few bookstores that sell the book, and toward the bottom is the AML link (Association of Mormon Letters).

Anyway, to make a long story short.  If you can snag a review from lds files it might be worth it, and I will let you know when Google finds the Meridian review.  If it appears before ldsfiles then it likely has better traffic than the other sites.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

The DC temple doesn't *have* a temple square. There is a nearby "This is the Place" book store though.

[Firemeboy]

Well, sell it right there on the grounds then.  There is pleny of room.  Just line up by the money changers.