In the area where I live one of the local authors had an idea to gather all of the works of our writers together in one place. Instead of individuals spending time and money sitting at the occasional weekend market stall trying to sell copies of just a handful of books (a lot of us have done it!), now there was one person doing a different market every weekend. That meant a collective saving in insurance, rental, fuel, snacks… and time. Yes, not only did all of us who were part of that co-op (c.40 writers) not have to fork out money to sell our work, we now had more time to stay at home and write.
The bloke was dedicated. He read every book that he had stocked so that he could answer the questions of any prospective buyers. He was generous to those of us whom he represented, and only took his share of earnings out of actual sales (he wore the expenses) and for any author whose work had sold during each month, funds were deposited into bank accounts.
You are all wondering how such an initiative went? Forty writers, with 70+ titles between them all lumped into one convenient travelling bookstore (one of the monthly-visited towns had no dedicated bookstores remaining – the one where I live – so was something of a target-rich environment for us). Well… a few weeks ago I received an email from our champion and it said this: “In [the last] two years, [our co-op] hasn't generated enough profit to pay its costs.” Forget profit: costs. The co-op is no more.
Just a nice depressing tale for those of you who still ply your wares in the weekend markets and then go home wondering when you’ll win a trick. Hey, I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but I did feel as though some of you would like to know that you aren’t alone in the world. And maybe… maybe if some of you know other writers in your area then you could give this strategy a go? Sure, it didn’t work out for us, but some things are worth attempting in any case. I suppose it’s kind of a metaphor for writing in the first place.
For me, I didn’t crack the big time, but I did get to meet a like-minded spirit and we are supposed to be meeting up in a few weeks for dinner so that he can return unsold stock. LOL, I hope he is being bought dinner by the others that he represented as well, because he deserves the appreciation.
The bloke was dedicated. He read every book that he had stocked so that he could answer the questions of any prospective buyers. He was generous to those of us whom he represented, and only took his share of earnings out of actual sales (he wore the expenses) and for any author whose work had sold during each month, funds were deposited into bank accounts.
You are all wondering how such an initiative went? Forty writers, with 70+ titles between them all lumped into one convenient travelling bookstore (one of the monthly-visited towns had no dedicated bookstores remaining – the one where I live – so was something of a target-rich environment for us). Well… a few weeks ago I received an email from our champion and it said this: “In [the last] two years, [our co-op] hasn't generated enough profit to pay its costs.” Forget profit: costs. The co-op is no more.
Just a nice depressing tale for those of you who still ply your wares in the weekend markets and then go home wondering when you’ll win a trick. Hey, I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but I did feel as though some of you would like to know that you aren’t alone in the world. And maybe… maybe if some of you know other writers in your area then you could give this strategy a go? Sure, it didn’t work out for us, but some things are worth attempting in any case. I suppose it’s kind of a metaphor for writing in the first place.
For me, I didn’t crack the big time, but I did get to meet a like-minded spirit and we are supposed to be meeting up in a few weeks for dinner so that he can return unsold stock. LOL, I hope he is being bought dinner by the others that he represented as well, because he deserves the appreciation.
