- Joined
- Jun 21, 2013
- Messages
- 11,681
- Reaction score
- 10,337
- Location
- In my head
- Website
- thewanderingquille.blogspot.com
Don't just check reviews, check their Amazon ranking. Reviews can be faked (and often are by shady publishers, encouraging their writers to review their "family members" because "they're not a business, they're a family"...). Sales can't. Anything above 1mil means almost non-existent sales. High hundred-thousands means maybe two or three sales a month, if that.
Also, there's a difference between being able to ORDER a book through a store and being able to buy it IN the store. If it's a vanity press (and if it's pay to pub, no matter what flair they put on it or if they call it "cooperative" or "investment", that's just business lingo to sound legit, it's still vanity), most likely someone can go into the store and say, "Can you get me a copy of Storm's Super Great Book?" The sales clerk will look it up in their system and say, "yes, we can," because it's easy to get on order lists. But if someone goes in and says, "Do you have a copy of Storm's Super Great Book?" the answer will be no, unequivocally. They don't keep them in stock to be ordered, because there's rarely anything for the store to benefit from having them in stock. High base prices, low discounts for the store, and nonexistent return policies mean they'll order as requested, but never keep it in stock unless the author brings copies in for them.
The long and the short of it is, they didn't read your book, they don't know how it stands up beyond four chapters. They just want your money. Your book doesn't matter to them at all.
Also, there's a difference between being able to ORDER a book through a store and being able to buy it IN the store. If it's a vanity press (and if it's pay to pub, no matter what flair they put on it or if they call it "cooperative" or "investment", that's just business lingo to sound legit, it's still vanity), most likely someone can go into the store and say, "Can you get me a copy of Storm's Super Great Book?" The sales clerk will look it up in their system and say, "yes, we can," because it's easy to get on order lists. But if someone goes in and says, "Do you have a copy of Storm's Super Great Book?" the answer will be no, unequivocally. They don't keep them in stock to be ordered, because there's rarely anything for the store to benefit from having them in stock. High base prices, low discounts for the store, and nonexistent return policies mean they'll order as requested, but never keep it in stock unless the author brings copies in for them.
The long and the short of it is, they didn't read your book, they don't know how it stands up beyond four chapters. They just want your money. Your book doesn't matter to them at all.