Alternative Virtual Book Sales Sites

This morning an excited tweet came across my Twitter stream from a friend who is preparing for her first trip to Ireland. Some people buy maps and plan events for their big trip. She's buying accessories. She wants to be the most fashionable tourist in all the pubs.

She tweeted the link for me to go check out her purchase on Etsy. Intrigued by the boutique name, ShrunkenCatHeads (yes, dear readers, I'm intrigued by such things) I was poking around the jewelry for sale on the site and lo and behold, there amongst the Mexican tile earrings and rings, was a book for sale.

I've seen many things for sale on Etsy, a free-for-all boutique site that is like a virtual flea market online, but this was the first time I'd come across an author who was hocking their written wares along with their crafts.

A quick search through the Etsy catalog turned up pages and pages of books for sale that authors, on their own and looking for a place to sell, had begun touting on the site I had normally considered a place to buy cool posters, cheap art prints, and uncommon objects of wonder.

Wheatmark, as part of our basic services that we offer, makes sure your book is distributed to online retailers such as barnesandnoble.com and Amazon. Etsy, being a little more on the fringe of book selling, is further than our fingers reach.

Admittedly, for many authors Etsy wouldn't be a viable marketing option. The site isn't generally a draw for people who are shopping for books. However, Etsy could be a great option for some.

For example, if you have written a book, but you also enjoy making letterpress cards, knitting, quilting, painting, or any other type of activity that results in a consumer good, starting your own Etsy boutique might be a fun way to not only sell your crafts and collectibles, but to also put your books up for sale.

Etsy won't ship the book out for you, you have to do that yourself, but if you are one of our many authors that has bought copies of your book with our awesome author discount, it becomes one more place to market your book.

Etsy would be a great place for the following types of books when coupled with supporting goods like posters, T-shirts, and other things you might like to sell there:

• Children's books -- particularly books with characters you've turned into sock puppets for sale so parents can use them along with the narrative
  
• Memoirs
• Science books
• YA books
• How-to Books (particularly if it is a how to on something you make that you also sell on your site!)

Etsy is not great for:

• authors with nothing else to sell

The idea is to have a boutique that offers you up as a creative package and shows that, by the way, you have written a book. There are lots of ways to personalize your site, your profile, and to help drive traffic to your author website and blog!

The other nice thing about Etsy is that it is a community with seller support. You can join in virtual tutorials on being an Etsy seller that include tips and techniques you translate well for use on your blog, website, and Facebook accounts. The virtual labs are full of helpful people joining together to make a community of successful virtual boutique owners.

This is just one more way to gain notice on the Internet, one site at a time!

Big in Japan?

On several occasions we've had authors calling us about overseas sales. When researching where their books are listed online, they find that their books are showing up all over the world on different online bookstores.

Our authors feel generally one of two possible ways:
1. Think it's awesome they are selling so well in London
2. Totally freaked out that someone has copied their book and is selling it in bulk, or is selling used copies, to the masses at greatly reduced prices.

Here's the skinny.

Online retailers list Wheatmark author titles on their site via a wholesaler. This is one of the great things about publishing with Wheatmark! Your book is easily available for any site to list as "available in stock."

The wholesaler makes this information available to any online book retailer that pulls from their list directory. This means that if a bookseller in Prague is receiving a buy list from the wholesaler Ingram or Bertram, you'll be on it. This doesn't mean that there is a high demand in Prague for your book ... but you never know!

There are a few things about these listings that can be confusing. For example, some authors are concerned when they see used copies of their book listed.

This doesn't really mean that there are used copies available or that someone at Wheatmark is snatching inventory and selling it at a reduced price online. (For one, it would be expensive because said employee would have to actually BUY the book at list price to turn around and sell it at a reduced cost ... not a great business model ... and the author would STILL get the royalty!)

The "used copy available" option on sites like Amazon is just to tantalize buyers. Generally, once the customer clicks to buy the "used" copy, a message will come up that they do not actually have used copies, but that you can go ahead and buy a new copy one at the normal price.

Still concerned?
Wheatmark is able to track all the purchases of your book. If you really feel your books are being illegally sold (or are selling like hotcakes in Tokyo) we'll be able to verify it. Just call!

Finding Your Readers

Selling books is, in the beginning, about building buzz for your book. Later on, as your book builds momentum, you won't have to work so hard to tell everyone about it. In the early stages, though, you need to get that elbow grease (or the scroll-y ball in your mouse) working for you.

Building buzz for you book means building up a network of people who are interested in you, your topic, and finally your book.

This is true for fiction and nonfiction.

It's more obvious with nonfiction because your book is specifically about a topic we can point to: bridges, bottles, sales, education, etc.

With fiction it's about the themes of your book.

Let's say your book is about keeping cockatiels as pets. Where do you begin finding people who might want to buy your book?

The easiest place to begin is online. It's fast, it's inexpensive, it never closes, and it doesn't require assembling people in a physical room at a particular time.

Using online opportunities like blogs, Facebook, and Twitter is the best way to find people who are talking about cockatiels.

You can do this by simple keyword searches: on Google, you can search cockatiels (and specify to only search blogs if you want), on Facebook you can search specifically for groups to join, and on Twitter, you can search at search.twitter.com for the phrase cockatiels.

As you find virtual sites that talk about cockatiels, begin joining in those conversations. As you grow relationships there, you can begin to say things like,

"in my book that I am just finishing, I talk about certain feeds that have shown to cause kidney trouble with them. I'd say, my advice, is to stick to low-fat seed-based diets."

Does it say to read your book? Nope. Is your book out yet? Nope. Did you offer valuable information to people who may in the future want to read your pending book and establish trust with them? You betcha! Did you leave room for more questions like, What kind of feeds can cause kidney trouble? Aha! Yes, you did, you wily commenter!

With all of these networking forays you want to establish certain things.

• you are not ONLY trying to sell them something
  
• you DO have something you might want to sell them
  
• you HAVE the information they are interested in
  
• you ARE TRUSTWORTHY and HELPFUL
  
• you ARE AN AVAILABLE RESOURCE that has MORE TO SAY
  

There is nothing more irritating to a blogger, groups on Facebook, or those following you on Twitter than to be deluged with comments that are only aimed at selling something. You'll be blocked, unfriended, and removed from comments with a swift kick as a spammer.

So how do you go about selling them your book? You provide a link to your website or blog that has lots of information available on it about cockatiels. And there just happens to be a link on that website or blog about your book coming out soon. And you can even write stuff on that website or blog where you mention your personal excitement about your upcoming book release.

This accomplishes a few things:

• establishes that you are an information source freely available
  
• gives readers a chance to experience your writing style
  
• gives readers a chance to be converted into book buyers without the hard sell
  
• makes them feel like you are a cohort or friend
  

In the end you want to establish a report with interested communities that are using the web to discuss the topics you've written about. They will be a key ingredient to spreading the word about what you've said, your writings, and most importantly, your book when it happens to be for sale!

The Slow Burn

Earlier this month, Wheatmark tallied up all the Great Expectations authors, authors whose books have sold 2,000+ copies, to see who was doing what.

As we scanned the titles, the sales numbers, the publishing dates, and the dates the letters welcoming them into the program were sent out, there was one very surprising and, frankly, exciting trend.

It can take months even years for a book to become a success.

While the meeting went on and my attention strayed, I couldn't help thinking about how this was such a different concept than traditionally published and released books.

With traditionally published books, the book is pushed out for a season, if that long. Since most of us aren't James Patterson, when our books are put on the shelves, they rarely get the long-term shelf life most of the famous authors do.

This means books, particularly ones without huge marketing budgets behind them (don't assume your publisher is going to offer marketing support for very long) get kicked out to make space for the newer titles.

When you publish your book yourself, you have control over its life expectancy. The title will be available for purchase unless you decide to cancel it.

The independent author's best channel for sales is online. Without having to fight over shelf space, you only have to fight for an audience--what we call your author platform.

Building an author platform and audience can take time. With self-publishing, you have that time.

Most of the Wheatmark titles do bang up business the first few weeks the book is out. Friends and family of the author dutifully order the book and authors often buy up a bunch for their own sales, signings, and such.

After the initial extravaganza however there is usually a slowdown. In a bookstore, your slow-selling title would be replaced on the shelves. But because you have control, you can double up your efforts and begin marketing your book to other online audiences, take time to find radio interviews, and have a flexible speaking schedule because you aren't dealing with a make-or-break deadline.

Everyone knows the fable of the tortoise and the hare. Self-publishing your book makes it possible for you to be the tortoise: slowly and steadily building your reader base to help drive demand to your book.

And we all know who won that race.

For more marketing tips and to help plan your marketing strategy, check out our free marketing workbook.

Marketing for Fun: 1:2

Back in December I wrote about a fun way to market your book: creating unique quizzes on Quiblo and other similar sites.

I want to revisit the "Marketing for Fun" topic today.

A few weeks ago, contriving ways to antagonize @mikecane on Twitter (I know it isn't mature, not the point!), I went on CafePress's site and created a free shop, uploaded an image I created in Photoshop, chose a cute T-shirt option to put it on, and then began to tweet about its creation and availability to @mikecane to (successfully) annoy him.

And although I was giggling with glee like a little kid as I created the CafePress shop, I was also really excited about what it could do for book marketing.

Why not, after all the blogging, Twittering, Facebook grouping and fan paging, go on and create a CafePress site offering materials that feature parts of your book? It's a fun departure from social networking because it allows you to think creatively! And you can buy a T-shirt!

There are a few things I know about copyright that I'll share with you. This is not actual legal advice as I am not a licensed legal advice giving person, but is instead just me saying some stuff that I think pertains to copyright. I repeat, this is not legal advice. Do not send your attorney after me (I have no money anyway ...).

If your book cover has images that you or your designer purchased from a site such as iStockphoto, you cannot use it on purchasable goods without the proper extended licenses. You can, according to their customer support line, use the images for any freebies you want though. This means, that if you create a mug on CafePress with your book cover on it without the extended license, you can buy it yourself and then give it as a gift, but you can't make it available to sell ... got it?

But you CAN take excerpts from your text and put in on the shirt because you own the rights to your text. And, if your book is available through Wheatmark, we'll be happy to lend you our bookstore URL to list as a purchase site on the promotional item.

You can also use any of your own photos as long as you took them or have permission from the photographer.

Are you going to become a major clothing or promotional item retailer? Not likely. But it is just one more way to get your marketing message out there.

CafePress and Zazzle are both great options for creating unique promotional items in support of your work.

Try it out today!

Hardcover or Paperback?

At some point you have to decide if your book will be published as a hardcover or a paperback.

Here are some pointers:

Who is your target audience?

If you have written a family history or a memoir to be passed down through the generations (and your expectation is that you won't sell many copies), then a hardback edition is a great option. Hardcovers are very durable and can last throughout the years as they’re moved from family to family.

How much do you think your readers will be willing to pay for your book?

Hardbacks can be pricey. There is no question about it. Realistically consider the list price of your book as a hardback as opposed to a paperback. It may be smarter, from a sales perspective, to make your book a paperback so you can price it more competitively.

If you are leaning towards the hardback over the paperback, ask yourself why.

If you are publishing a book of poems that you believe should be honored by a glossy dust jacket for posterity because it is your life’s work, I humbly ask you to consider a paperback. The cost benefit of the paperback and the potential for future sales will likely outweigh the “glamour” aspect of the hardback soon enough. My Norton's Anthology of Poetry from college makes a fantastic door stop on a breezy day.

Are you going to need to make revisions in the coming years?

Many business books and other nonfiction niche books will need to be updated as the culture or technology changes. Hardbacks are expensive for readers. If you predict updates in the future, consider a paperback so that your readers will be more likely to buy the updated version.

Is your book gigantic?

If your book is more than 500 pages, you’ll want a hardcover. Paperbacks tend to fall apart at this size. The drawback is that a hardback will be heavier and harder to lug around, but most readers would rather build up their biceps than try to keep together a folder of loose pages.

What we at Wheatmark have learned about printing in hardback vs. paperback.

The dust jacket concept is not one most readers appreciate. When people pick up a book, they are looking for the content inside and not looking to hold the pieces together. The jackets, although pretty, end up ripped off and tossed aside. Also, many of the readers we’ve asked say they don’t enjoy lugging around hardbacks; they only buy them when they’re deeply discounted -- to the point of being less expensive than the paperback -- or when it’s an author they just can’t wait to read.

Before going for the flash of a hardback, consider the list price difference and how your readers will use your book in the future. Often, the smart money is on paperbacks!

Price Your Book to Make a Profit

Recently there has been a lot of a discussion about the retail pricing of independently published books, most of it centered on self publishing book companies setting list prices too high.

I get frustrated when publishing and self-publishing industry “experts” write that these higher prices are a problem, without offering any evidence that this is the case. In the absence of price sensitivity studies, or of testing book sales at different price points, the “experts” are simply offering a guess based on their experience. I suspect that their experience comes from pricing books for the brick-and-mortar bookstore market. What a company like Barnes and Noble suggests for list prices for their stores, isn’t necessarily right for a self-published books that will primarily be sold through online bookstores.

The online books sales market is, in fact, such a new market that it is unclear what pricing strategies are most advantageous to book sales.

In the absence of hard data, how should you price a book? You should price a book for profitability.

For example, if you opened up a specialty clothing boutique next to a Wal-Mart, you wouldn’t try to price your clothes at prices competitive to the box store. You’d go out of business. You don’t have the buying clout of the big boys, so you have to compete in some other way in order to maintain your profitability. You would offer better, more interesting garments at a markup that allowed you to make money!

Independent authors should do the same. Your book is a “boutique” item. It’s a loser’s game for the independent author to try and compete on price with major publishing houses selling through the chains. Even the major publishing houses and the bookstores chains are having trouble making a profit with their current pricing models.

You have a specialty product, so price your book for profitability.

Take for example one of Wheatmark’s up-and-coming titles, How to Keep Jellyfish in Aquariums by Chad Widmer. Widmer’s book, although written in a way that will engage just about anyone, is not really an “anyone” kind of book. It is a specific book aimed at a specific group of people interested in a specific topic. A niche book does not need to use an unprofitable price to entice buyers. What a niche book needs to be is a quality book that is chock full of information that appeals to these highly motivated buyers (people who are interested in raising jellyfish at home).

Online channels require more intensive and personal marketing. It is harder to wave your book in front of someone, but with quality time spent on them, online marketing campaigns can be hugely successful.

My advice, don’t sell your book short. Price it based on what makes you a decent profit, and then market like crazy directly to your target market. You can always lower the price later if sales don’t materialize, however, I suspect if you’ve implemented a strong marketing campaign and aimed it at the right motivated buyers, lowering the price will not be necessary.

Remember, every time you lower the price of your book, you guarantee that you will make less money on each book, but you don’t guarantee more book sales. However, every time you raise the price of your book, you guarantee that you will make more money on each book, but you don’t necessarily get fewer book sales.

Book Marketecture: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Creating Your Book Marketing Plan

After much time and effort, the free PDF version of Book Marketecture: A Workbook for Creating Your Book Marketing Plan is now posted on our website and available for download.

I authored the workbook and my co-workers Susan Wenger and Hayley Love edited and designed the layout. We created the workbook for self-published authors, and it starts with the basics -- how to create a marketing plan for your book. I've been in book marketing for more than 15 years and I know that when it comes to marketing your book, a well-thought-out, targeted plan can mean the difference between success and failure.

Book Marketecture is filled with exercises, activities, and resources designed to help you:

• define your unique marketing goals


• determine your key marketing message


• identify and reach your book’s specific core market within your budget and timeline

To download a free copy of Book Marketecture: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Creating Your Book Marketing Plan, visit the Wheatmark website at: http://www.wheatmark.com/free-book-marketing-workbook.cfm

We hope you find the Book Marketecture workbook a valuable tool for effectively marketing your book, and would love to hear your feedback and whether you found the exercises and activities helpful, or where the workbook could be improved. Thanks!
~ Kat Meyer
Manager, Book Sales and Marketing
Wheatmark, Inc.

Wheatmark Chess Title Achieves Master Rank

Ray Cheng’s Practical Chess Exercises captures best position on Amazon!

Wheatmark, Inc. (http://www.wheatmark.com), the independent author’s most powerful ally, is proud to announce that Ray Cheng’s book, Practical Chess Exercises, has achieved a #1 rank in the Chess category on Amazon.

The best-selling title also cracked the 1,000 mark on Amazon’s Sales Rank for the first time this week, placing it among the elite of the millions of titles for sale on Amazon.com.

Mere months after its release, the book earned admission into Wheatmark’s coveted Great Expectations program (http://www.wheatmark.com/greatexpectations.cfm)—one of the fastest sales records for a title in Wheatmark’s nine years in business (http://www.wheatmark.com/aboutus.cfm).

Practical Chess Exercises is Ray Cheng’s first book.

“It has been an absolute joy to work with the Wheatmark team. They have been professional, thoughtful, creative, and responsive through the entire process of getting my book into print and into the hands of my readers,” he says.

For more information on Wheatmark’s services, including the Great Expectations program, and to get started on publishing your book today, call Wheatmark toll-free at 1.888.934.0888 or visit http://www.wheatmark.com.

Market Share of Online Booksellers Grows

A follow-up of sorts to my last post...

In case you're wondering what the actual market share for online book sales is these days:

try 30.5% of projected consumer book purchases in 2008.

The same source (Fairfield Research/Greyhound Books—as cited in an article in the March 31st Publisher's Weekly) expects chain bookstores to claim 32.5% of the same market in 2008.

That's a pretty close margin—one that Publisher's Weekly predicts online booksellers will close (or even overtake) by 2009.

Looks like Robert S. Miller is on to something!

Bad News for Borders

Speaking of Borders' financial troubles ...

Borders may put itself up for sale.

The company has also taken out a $42.5 million loan to help with day-to-day operations in the coming months.

This loan may complicate Borders' ability to sell all or part of its operations, however.

Barnes and Noble—the most likely prospect for buying Borders—may not be interested anyway. B & N recently reported that fourth-quarter profits had declined 9 percent.

To read more about Borders' financial situation, as well as the general pressure on booksales nationwide, click here.

Good News for Borders

Another update on the ongoing Borders kiosk saga ... this time, on prices.

Soon, customers at select Borders stores will be able to publish their books using Lulu's software at prices ranging from $299 to $499.

That's a pretty cool thing, but it's only part of the story.

My guess is that prospective customers will be especially intrigued by the possibility of their books being carried in Borders stores—which the new service touts.

I can't help but bring up the issue this raises, which I cited in my Feb. 15th post:

"A final note: I wonder how this move will affect Borders' relationship with its customer-authors? Barnes and Noble had a terrible problem regarding the customer service involved with this kind of relationship when it was a part-owner of iUniverse, another self-publishing service (customers kept asking when their books would be carried on B & N bookstore shelves; the answer almost always disappointed them).

"The problems were so severe, apparently, that they eventually led to B & N severing its relationship with iUniverse altogether last year.

"I guess Borders—a bookseller whose financial problems have been well-reported over the last few years (in large part because they completely missed the boat on online bookselling)—has decided that the possible rewards are worth the risks."

You can check out Borders' new program here.

How to Increase Your Book Sales without Spending Money

May Sinclair, one of Wheatmark's published authors, has sent us some valuable tips she learned on how to increase your book sales without spending your money. The technique involves utilizing Amazon.com's closed platform for selling books. Click here to read the article in our Author Resources center.