By Nathan Coppedge: Philosopher, Artist, Inventor, Poet
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Recent Attempt at Book Promotion
Sent package to Barnes & Noble office in New York, with a copy of the Dimensional Philosopher's Toolkit and Creeping Cadence, both with accompanying materials.
That's not how it works. Book stores, both online and brick and mortar, buy their books from distributors, not from individual authors. You need to educate yourself on how the industry works.
I sent my materials to the Barnes & Noble Small Press Department, which supposedly handles books that come from non-major presses, including self-published books. Both Barnes & Noble and Authorhouse told me that promotion was up to me. So that's what I did.
Oh dear. You went with Authorhouse? They aren't a small press, they're a vanity press. They have a terrible reputation. And promotion is different from marketing.
A real publisher takes care of selling your book to the book buyers--that is, selling to B&N and other vendors. Very small presses often leave promotion up to you, yes, but promo involves activities like blogging, maybe doing a giveaway, going to conventions if that fits your intended audience. In other words, you talk to readers, your publisher talks to vendors.
What you need to do is educate yourself about publishing. Go to http://absolutewrite.com/forums and read through the subforums, especially the stickied posts that explain more about the business. It's a huge site, but ask people there for pointers where to find the info you need. Lots of authors, editors, and agents post there, and membership is free.
I was told that with a vanity press the book doesn't go out of print, unlike with, for example, Oxford Books that aren't classics. This seemed like a major bonus, even if I didn't develop a wide audience immediately, at least I wasn't stuck with used books after 10 years.
That's not how it works. Book stores, both online and brick and mortar, buy their books from distributors, not from individual authors. You need to educate yourself on how the industry works.
ReplyDeleteI sent my materials to the Barnes & Noble Small Press Department, which supposedly handles books that come from non-major presses, including self-published books. Both Barnes & Noble and Authorhouse told me that promotion was up to me. So that's what I did.
ReplyDeleteObviously, B&N would then order the book directly from the publisher. No mistake about that.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. You went with Authorhouse? They aren't a small press, they're a vanity press. They have a terrible reputation. And promotion is different from marketing.
ReplyDeleteA real publisher takes care of selling your book to the book buyers--that is, selling to B&N and other vendors. Very small presses often leave promotion up to you, yes, but promo involves activities like blogging, maybe doing a giveaway, going to conventions if that fits your intended audience. In other words, you talk to readers, your publisher talks to vendors.
What you need to do is educate yourself about publishing. Go to http://absolutewrite.com/forums and read through the subforums, especially the stickied posts that explain more about the business. It's a huge site, but ask people there for pointers where to find the info you need. Lots of authors, editors, and agents post there, and membership is free.
I was told that with a vanity press the book doesn't go out of print, unlike with, for example, Oxford Books that aren't classics. This seemed like a major bonus, even if I didn't develop a wide audience immediately, at least I wasn't stuck with used books after 10 years.
ReplyDelete