Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Matthew Buckley => Topic started by: Firemeboy on June 26, 2005, 12:52:03 PM
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So, I was doing book signings yesterday and finally worked up the courage to ask the clerks if anybody had actually been buying my books.
I should mention, that I've been tracking sales on Deseret Book, because it's fairly easy to do. I have nothing to compare it to, so I don't know if it's doing good, bad, , normal, whatever.
However, what IS surprising is that the number of books sold by the entire Deseret chain the first week, was the same number that this one store had sold in two weeks.
And when I asked at the second store, they had sold the same amount as the first store. So these two Seagull Book stores had sold as many books as all of the Deseret Book stores combined.
It's a bit disquieting to think that my book is only going to be marketed to folks in Utah, and that the biggest LDS book chain isn't going to bother marketing it at all...
I think I'm going to release my next book under Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/).
:)
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And then it won't be marketed at all?
If you want this book to sell, you have to market it yourself. Get an article in your local paper, your hometown's paper, your high school paper, your college paper, your grandparent's hometown's paper, blah blah blah
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Too much work... :)
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Well, if you want the book to sell, you have to work at it.
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It would be nice if my book sells, but I'd much rather have people just read it.
The more I think about it, the more tempted I am to go with a CC licence for my second book. I don't know how that will all shake out, but it might be interesting.
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Then it will sell less. Problem isn't the publisher or the bookstores it's you, you're supposed to do the majority of the work if you want it to sell. The advantage of a normal publisher is your book gets into a bookstore, trying to self publish means it'll only be on the net or you standing on a street corner.
Plus you wouldn't be able to sell the book unless Covenant decides they don't want it, they usually have first rights to anything you write for the next 10 years.
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whoops... false post.
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You may be right. But you may be wrong. There are several fiction writers (science fiction writers actually) who have made their books available for free on the internet, but also have their books printed and sold in the stores. At least one of those authors is convinced that his books have sold better because it's available for free...
Again, for me the desired result is not a lot of sales, rather for anybody who wants to read it to have a chance. It may be the best way to do that is to publish it and have Seagull market it in their stores. But it may reach more people if I make it free on the web. I've released one book through Covenant. I'm going to release the second one on the web. Hopefully Covenant will still be interested in the publishing rights and release it in their stores. If not, I'll look elsewhere.
Anyway, this is the link to the articles about the 2 science fiction writers - http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/13/236203&tid=214&tid=95
And this is a link to an article written by one of the authors giving his reasons why he gives his books away - http://craphound.com/someone/000363.html
And quoted from that article - I've given away more than half a million digital copies of my award-winning first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and that sucker has blown through five print editions... so I'm not worried that giving away books is hurting my sales.
And again from the article...
In the words of Woody Guthrie:
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ours, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
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Problem isn't the publisher or the bookstores it's you, you're supposed to do the majority of the work if you want it to sell.
And with all due respect, I disagree. The majority of the marketing has been done by the clerks in the store. Oh sure, I could 'Amway' my friends and family, and guilt them into buying it, but I'm not going to have nearly the reach of a store chain. You say yourself that self-publishing and standing on the corner isn't very effective. I guess I could pull a Richard Paul Evans, but writing is a hobby of mine, not a corporation.
A small store chain in Utah has more reach than me standing on a corner. What I don't know is if making the book available on the internet will give a small store chain in Utah even greater reach. I don't know the answer, which is why I intend to try it.
IF I ever write the second book.
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I'd be interested to see how this all pans out. I hope you do end up writing that next book...
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Thing is, you're both right, and you're both wrong (Sprig and Firemeboy). I can see where putting it on the web--IF your publisher doesn't object, but as an editor I sure would--MIGHT draw readers, but for the most part, people just don't like to read book-length pieces on a screen. I've only done it before for one person, and that was for a good friend. I now print out that same person's manuscripts and read, because it just plain makes me physically uncomfortable to sit there reading like that on a screen for so long.
So, you have a point that if they read a bit of it online, they might go buy the book. That's where sample chapters come in, though, not full-length books. Hook them in and get them interested, then they'll go to the store and find the book. But of all the people I know in real life, I don't know one person who's gone looking for a book to read online.
As far as Sprig's point about you being the one doing all the marketing, I think what he means is that when you have the backing of a publisher getting your books into the bookstores, you can then do signings, bookstore appearances, school talks, writing conferences, and so forth. It isn't just the clerks doing it, it's your physical presence in the store, too. And your physical presence in the store is facilitated by publishing through a publisher.
Now, you're in a niche market, so a lot of these kinds of things are tweaked with the specialized market of Utah. But if you ever want to reach a wider audience than Utah, you darn well better be sending your manuscripts out to legitimate publishers, because it's a one in a million chance that you'll get that many readers--whether they buy your book or not--without the marketing of a publishing house to back it up. Even the little books, the ones that aren't expected to do well, get put in Random House or HarperCollins or whoever's catalog, and booksellers use those catalogs to decide what's going to go on the shelves. The distributors also use those catalogs to sell to librarians, who are a huge buying force, and if the librarians like your book, they recommend it to their patrons. There are a lot of untapped markets out there--i.e., readers--if you know where to look for them, and publishers know where to look for them.
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You make some good points, Stacer. It sounds like you know the industry pretty well. What are the chances, now that I've already published through Covenant, to get back the publishing rights and get the book into the hands of a publisher that would market to folks outside of Utah? As I've mentioned before, my book contains two pages that reference the LDS scene. And those two pages are in the introduction I added at the request of Covenant.
Does publishing through several publishers ever happen? Or will Covenant pretty much hold the publishing rights forever?
I tried sending out my manuscript to national publishers originally, but you're talking to a guy who knew nothing at all about publishing, never had a published work, and had no contacts or ins with the industry. Nobody would look at me, even with the obviously brilliant script. ;)
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You make some good points, Stacer. It sounds like you know the industry pretty well.
You know I'm an editor, right?
As far as rights goes, it depends on what rights Covenant bought. I have a feeling that you're pretty much out of luck on this one. But on your next one, I'd make it purely secular (so that Covenant wouldn't want it), scrutinize your contract (because Covenant usually adds an untenable clause that they have right of first refusal for practically forever, as if they have the right to own you), and start sending it round to secular publishers. Now that you have a book published, add that to your credits in your cover letter.
And the biggest thing I'd say is to figure out the industry. This is a business, and you are a professional within the business. No editor wants to work with a writer who isn't a professional.
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Stacer is mostly right. You will have to look at your contract to see what you can do with the book. Also check to see if you have the right to sell your work to other media...plays, movies, TV, video games, and other stuff.
If you're really desperate, you can contest any part of the contract (it's a constitutional right, cause the right to complain is the U.S. of A.'s most precious freedom). If Covenant doesn't willingly give up the rights, then you have to get a lawyer. Assuming you have good grounds, just about any part of a contract is disputable. Course, it could take a lot of time and money to get what you want changed. Fortunately, judges and the courts often favor the artist over the publisher...not always, but often.
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I'm not saying it's impossible for him to do anything more with Chicken in the Headlights, but I am saying it might be easier to just get going on a new book, depending on the rights situation and how hard it'll be to fight whatever Covenant has ripped you off with. Their contracts tend to really go for every right they can get, and they rarely do much with those rights but sit on them.
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And the biggest thing I'd say is to figure out the industry. This is a business, and you are a professional within the business. No editor wants to work with a writer who isn't a professional.
And there is the crux of the matter. I don't know if I want to pursue a career in this field. My interests lie elsewhere. I've always loved writing, and I will always write, but I don't know if I will get around to another book or not. I'm pursuing a doctorate, I have a couple of projects I'm working on, I've got four boys that need attention, and other things are taking up my time; other things that I'm passionate about. I have always wanted to be a published author, but now that I've done it I don't know if I have the desire to do it again. Not because it was a bad experience, it was a great experience. I just don't know if I care to do it all over.
If I do write another book, or rather tell another story, I think it will be in a different medium.
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By the way, thanks for the insight and comments, it always helps me sort out things in my head and makes me think.
Thinking is a good thing, I think.
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And there is the crux of the matter. I don't know if I want to pursue a career in this field. My interests lie elsewhere. I've always loved writing, and I will always write, but I don't know if I will get around to another book or not. I'm pursuing a doctorate, I have a couple of projects I'm working on, I've got four boys that need attention, and other things are taking up my time; other things that I'm passionate about. I have always wanted to be a published author, but now that I've done it I don't know if I have the desire to do it again. Not because it was a bad experience, it was a great experience. I just don't know if I care to do it all over.
If I do write another book, or rather tell another story, I think it will be in a different medium.
The thing with the publishing industry is they don't care if you don't want to make a living off of this or aren't a professional. They all expect you to act like on anyway and know the business even if you only want to ever publish on or two books.
Also I'd be careful about being too sneaky about getting out of covenant's contract or sending anything, including chicken, to any other publisher until Covenant gives you permission. The majority of the publishers to have some contact with each other and doing that can quickly get you blacklisted.
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Covenant has treated me very well, and I would never 'back stab' them. I'd like them to market my book outside Utah, but they are not really set up to do that. I guess I kind of knew that going in, though I hoped they might try.
Either way, if they treat me as nice with my second book (assuming it ever gets written), then they will certainly be my publisher again. Although I don't know if they will want to, given the nature of the CC copyright.
I guess this is all talking about bridges way before I get there.
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You can negotiate for a different deal for your second book. Just because your first book was under a certain copyright, doesn't mean you second book has to be under the same type of copyright. Even if they are with the same publisher.
A publisher that insists that all of their author accept the same copyright will find that they have fewer authors to rely on than their competitors.