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Re: Hi James

He ws not listed as "best selling" or anything of the kind based on this testimony and the refusal to supply the pertinent information. It's just another "tale of the POD."

Re:

That's about as viable a strategy as screenplay contests. I wonder if there's a fee as with those?

Re: NO Contest

Excellent point DK!

Marky- WWA has a $25 entrant fee.
The Walt Whitman Award
The Walt Whitman Award brings first-book publication, a cash prize of $5,000, and a one-month residency at the Vermont Studio Center to an American who has never before published a book of poetry. The winning manuscript, chosen by an eminent poet, is published by Louisiana State University Press.

Ingram's numbers

James Macdonald:

About Ingram:

They'll tell you how many sold (via Ingram's) in the past week, in the past year, and last year.

Are Amazon.com sales reflected in the Ingram totals ???

Thanks.

Re: Ingram's numbers

Yes, Amazon sales are reflected in Ingram's, if Amazon ordered through Ingram.

That's by no means guaranteed. Ingram isn't the only distributor out there (for distributor, read "wholesaler"), nor is the pathway through distributors the only path from a publisher to a bookstore or a reader.

Amazon numbers are a dipstick, Ingram numbers are a dipstick. Either will tell you if the water is going up or down in the boiler, but neither will tell you how much water is in the boiler.

Generally speaking, a book with higher sales has better numbers at Ingram, better numbers at Amazon, better numbers all across the board.

Sales Rank Investigations

Hi James,

I finally got to call that Ingrams number you gave me. It was all automated and very very helpful.

I also finally got my last quarter sales report from my publisher, and it looks like the sales are matching most of the advertised claims now.

My publisher's accounting/recordkeeping information must not be dynamic data, when I phone them, and that is probably why they claim 0 sales while various websites claimed my book was a top-seller of the category on different dates. I think I remember one of the reps telling me that he was having troubles with his computer earlier this year.

Some of the online book stores marketing claims, were causing some confusion for me in regards to sales rankings while my publisher's information must not have been 'up to date' in comparison with the online book stores.

I look forward to promoting my book now that I have verified that my publisher is legitimate and not a scammer. It pays to investigate BEFORE assuming that any online business is a scammer

1st Book

I am a new author and am ready to go to print and have chosen 1st Books, I am from Indiana originally and have sentimental reasons for choosing this POD. I have received good reviews on my story's synopsis but I am impatient and want to publish my first book soon. I am currently working on my second. I like that that the author keeps his/HER manuscript rights since I want to develop a screenplay later for this novel.

Legally Blond was published by 1st Books

Though I thought the movie was inane at least there are those out there who thought it marketable enough to create it into a screen play. Also, "Proof of Life" was based on a book published by 1st books. eace

Re: 1st Book

hope you have a LOT of cash to burn - you'll end up buying more books for yourself and spend more time trying to resell them than you will working on a screenplay or another book...

if you have to PAY to have it published, you're doing something wrong...

jmo, ymmv...

Re: Regarding 1st Books

How well is Spiritual Marketing doing? Click <a href="http://www.junglescan.com/index.cfm?asin=1403347085" target="_new">here</a> to find out.

What all three, Spiritual Marketing, The Little Guide to Happiness, and He Never Called Again have in common is they are specialized non-fiction with an identified niche audience.

Re: 1stBook Pubs sell exclusively Online for a very good rea

Some of this has been replicated on this very web page where one person claims that “The Little Guide To Happiness” enjoyed fantastic press in “The New York Table Hopper” a publication that, upon further research, one discovers does not even exist.


That was in a post from someone called "ebookren" on <a href="http://pub43.ezboard.com/fabsolutewritefrm11.showMessageRange?topicID=28.topic&start=1&stop=20" target="_new">page one of this thread</a>.

That list, clearly by a vanity press booster, had already been discredited only a couple of posts further down. "The New York Table Hopper" isn't the only non-existent review cited.

Re: Lies?

Oh, dear.

That mention in The New York Times?

It doesn't exist, per a Lexis/Nexis search.

Maybe I did it wrong. Donna? Could you give me the date and page that the story appeared on? It should be available either on-line or on microfilm.

Nothing wrong?

I think spreading deliberate lies to sell something falls under the heading of fraud.

Re: welll........................

i think justino has his scam detection wires crossed.

selling

Watch the claims of legitimately advertized products on television.

Many of them are quite liberal with the truth.

Ever worked for a firm doing sales or marketing? Ditto!

I'm not suggestion anyone commit fraud, or misrepresent anything.

However, in and of itself, there was nothing wrong with him going to all those boards and promoting his book. If he actually claimed to be on a tv show or featured by a book, and he wasn't, well that was wrong. But since I have not read up on the case, I don't know what he did or did not do.

why knock it?

I personally have no intention of using first books. But if it works some people, more power to them. Basically it works if the writer is very good at sales and marketing (let's assume people like his book).

It may not be for everyone, but contrary to what some books would suggest, there is no one way of making it!

As for all we know, the traditional method of querying an agent probably has a greater failure rate for unknown writers than using 1st books.

Re: welll........................

justino, in the portion of text you quoted it states that the author claimed to be on television shows that he was not. in addition, he claimed his book was chosen by oprah.

I don't know

"justino, in the portion of text you quoted it states that the author claimed to be on television shows that he was not. in addition, he claimed his book was chosen by oprah."

I don't know the truth of those allegations, one way or the other. And that includes from the poster, posting the info.

I was just responding to the comments that I implied it was wrong for an author to advertise his books on the internet. There is nothing wrong with advertising on chatrooms and boards, and if it works, it works.

Re: why knock it?

As for all we know, the traditional method of querying an agent probably has a greater failure rate for unknown writers than using 1st books.

As we also know, the traditional method of asking a young lady for a date has a higher failure rate than going down to Aunt Bawdy's House of Joy with a hundred dollars in your pocket.

Aunt Bawdy!

"As we also know, the traditional method of asking a young lady for a date has a higher failure rate than going down to Aunt Bawdy's House of Joy with a hundred dollars in your pocket."

Well, if that's what floats your boat, go see Aunt Bawdy. If that doesn't float your boat, then don't!

All I'm saying is do whatever is best for you!

I'm a screenwriter. I've been getting good responses from queries sent to producers, no responses from agents, and I've been entering various competitions (you pay to enter your screenplay)

Different things work for different people and situations. Some people have been produced after their screenplay won an award or was otherwise noticed at a film festival.

Did they pay to do it? Yes! But relying soley on query letters may not get you anywhere.

Some screenwriters also end up producing their own movies. Sometimes you just have to do with it takes to get your project out there. And producing a movie yourself means you're spending your money, as well as other peoples.

Stop thinking something is wrong just because it's not in those so called how to books!

Re: Aunt Bawdy!

Stop thinking something is wrong just because it's not in those so called how to books!

I don't have anything to say about screenplays or producing movies.

I do have something to say about writing and selling books, because that's what I do.

I don't say that paying 1stBooks to print your book is wrong. I say that it's probably a bad idea if what you're after is having your book read by total strangers.

For that matter, if your book is specialized non-fiction, or has limited niche appeal and you know your market, even vanity publishing can work, for some values of the word "work." If all you want is to hold a bound copy of your book in your hand, going to a vanity press is probably your best route.

It's just that for general fiction, vanity publication is very unlikely to gain any readers outside of the author's circle of family and friends.

for that matter

if your story (or screenplay) is well written, and has a good plot etc., it will get picked up by an agent.

Your statement makes no sense, as paying to have your book published is no risk of rejection at all. You have a very good chance of being picked up by an agent if your work is done well. But it doesn't compare with no rick of rejection at all.

Shawn

no reputable agent deals with unknown screenwriters

You clearly do not know much about screenwriting!

All of the major agencies do not accept submissions from unproduced screenwriters.

That's why at the film festivals, a number of screenwriters have collaborated with newbie producers, produced things themselves, etc.

A lot of production companies with big names do not accept submissions from an agented writers. Studios never do.

People like Spike Lee, before they found distrubtion, showed cased their work at film festivals (he wrote, directed, produced ,and acted in all of his early stuff).

Also, a person could send a query letter about a horror screenplay to an agent or a prodco, only to be rejected because all they deal with is dramas.

Agents find the screenplays much more marketable if the screenwriter has been produced, won an award, or otherwise already made a name for himself in the entertainment industry. If Justin Timberlake writes a screenplay, it's a sell (he's already written a book).

There's a mixup here

Justino, you're talking about screenwriting. We're talking about the other kind where the rules are different. That is why you're being contradicted and why you are both right.

Re: There's a mixup here

It may be worth noting that 1stBooks neither buys screenplays nor produces movies.

It's also worth pointing out that sometimes the reason all the how-to books say not to do something is ... because that thing doesn't work.