Well, considering they seem to take pride in having no distributor....
There's already a thread for this publisher in B&BC. I'll be bumping it momentarily.
Book Stores Are Dinosaurs! Bah!
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There's already a thread for this publisher in B&BC. I'll be bumping it momentarily.
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I agree. As much as a smaller publisher needs its authors to be pro-active and to cooperate in marketing efforts, it is still the publisher's job to get the book out there. When a publisher starts trying to convince authors otherwise, it's starting down a slippery slope of disinformation. It's even worse if it makes up facts to support its position, or browbeats authors for asking questions.
Granted, authors shouldn't make unreasonable demands. But asking a publisher to concentrate on bookstore and library presence is not an unreasonable demand. Nor is it unreasonable for the publisher to explain that this is something it can't do or won't do or is still trying to accomplish--as long as the answer is honest, so that both parties know exactly where they stand. In this case, the publisher seems not to have been honest, and that gives me a bad feeling.
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Just a thought...
I've seen quite a few peeps in this thread express puzzlement as to why folks would buy books at a grocery store. The thought has never crossed my mind either -- grocery stores are for groceries.
However... my mother-in-law buys books at the grocery store all the time and thinks nothing of it.
Perhaps our book-buying perceptions are skewed because we're writers, and have a better understanding about publishing in general than readers?
These statistics represent where readers buy books. Writers are only a small percentage of readers (at least, one would hope).
Whatcha think?
I've seen quite a few peeps in this thread express puzzlement as to why folks would buy books at a grocery store. The thought has never crossed my mind either -- grocery stores are for groceries.
However... my mother-in-law buys books at the grocery store all the time and thinks nothing of it.
Perhaps our book-buying perceptions are skewed because we're writers, and have a better understanding about publishing in general than readers?
These statistics represent where readers buy books. Writers are only a small percentage of readers (at least, one would hope).
Whatcha think?
I admire people who have a good selection of bookstores around. My town is lousy in this respect. We have one used bookstore that's almost entirely nonfiction which I don't understand at all. If you're going to have a used bookstore, why choose nonfiction that most people want to be up to date? Anyway, then there are about two Christian bookstores in town. To find a regular bookstore we have to go across the bridge to our neighboring city. There they have a B Daltons where half of the workers seem to have no idea what they're doing. There are also about three Christian bookstores there and one used bookstore that carries fiction but that is so out of the way it's hard to get there.
I admit to buying most of my books online or at thrift shops. It's easier than driving to the out of the way used bookstore across the bridge and cheaper and more reliable than trying to find anything at B Daltons, though I do still go there occasionally if I think there's a chance they actually carry what I want.
I admit to buying most of my books online or at thrift shops. It's easier than driving to the out of the way used bookstore across the bridge and cheaper and more reliable than trying to find anything at B Daltons, though I do still go there occasionally if I think there's a chance they actually carry what I want.
I personally prefer to browse in bookstores, but I'd say I've bought an equal weight of books in the likes of Costco and Wal*Mart. Bottom line is, commercial publishers know that in order to sell books they need to get them either into bookstores for folks who specifically intend to buy books ("the trade"), or into grocery stores, gas stations, airports, etc. for folks who buy books along with their potato chips and oil change (the "mass market").
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If I see an interesting book; I'll buy it. Grocery stores, convenience stores, book stores. I don't care. If it interests me enough I'll buy the book.
I still remember buying my first adult SF novel. It was a used copy of "Second Stage Lensmen" that I found in a General Store in rural Vancouver Island something like 30 years ago. I'm an addict. I'll get my fix where I can find it.
I still remember buying my first adult SF novel. It was a used copy of "Second Stage Lensmen" that I found in a General Store in rural Vancouver Island something like 30 years ago. I'm an addict. I'll get my fix where I can find it.
Well, heck, since this thread's been resurrected....
For much of my life, I've been in small towns where there's outlets for paperback books all over the place, yet no "bookstore" per se. I bought my first serious literary science fiction (F Paul Wilson & Arthur Byron Cover) in 1974 from a local chain grocery store, & Bored of the Rings and National Lampoon's Dirty Book from the Rexall.
Independent bookstores are being doomed by their own stupidity, though I domy best to patronise the smart ones. The losers are the ones who're trying to compete with Wart-Mart for sales on the latest Stephen King or Dan Brown or whatever sludge is currently stamped BESTSELLER, which is a loser's game -- obviously. The smart stores focus on a niche or genre or market, & do their best to go for depth rather than "something for everyone!" that results in a failing inventory.
When the economy is good, people can afford to open or support a marginal business that's something they love -- hence, small bookstores. When the economy sucks, these shops close, or get sold to people who figure there's Big Bucks to be made because they remember how it looked just last year when the economy was good. Truth is, you do it for love or you shouldn't do it -- BTDT.
For much of my life, I've been in small towns where there's outlets for paperback books all over the place, yet no "bookstore" per se. I bought my first serious literary science fiction (F Paul Wilson & Arthur Byron Cover) in 1974 from a local chain grocery store, & Bored of the Rings and National Lampoon's Dirty Book from the Rexall.
Independent bookstores are being doomed by their own stupidity, though I domy best to patronise the smart ones. The losers are the ones who're trying to compete with Wart-Mart for sales on the latest Stephen King or Dan Brown or whatever sludge is currently stamped BESTSELLER, which is a loser's game -- obviously. The smart stores focus on a niche or genre or market, & do their best to go for depth rather than "something for everyone!" that results in a failing inventory.
When the economy is good, people can afford to open or support a marginal business that's something they love -- hence, small bookstores. When the economy sucks, these shops close, or get sold to people who figure there's Big Bucks to be made because they remember how it looked just last year when the economy was good. Truth is, you do it for love or you shouldn't do it -- BTDT.
Oddly, traditionally, books sell better when the economy is bad. When the economy is good, people have more money, but spend it on big ticket items, and more expensive means of entertainment.
I don't have any research, but that's my impression as well.
The thing is, when cash is tight, people go where they think their dollar goes further -- hence, Wart-Mart or the megabox chain bookshops that offer discounts unachievable by mom-&-pop stores (which are already marginal at best). I see the same problem with music stores, where a corner shop pays more for a given item than Guitar Center sells them at!!
Customers need to go to the small stores first, & expect to pay a little more, or wait a few weeks for their item to be ordered. But the stores also need to be responsive & not try to be all-&-everything.
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