Sam Henrie

About Sam Henrie

Sam Henrie is President and Founder of Wheatmark, Inc., and Past President of the Arizona Book Publishing Association. He is Co-Chair of the Book and Movie Business Genre of the Literary Committee for the Tucson Festival of Books, the third largest book festival in the United States. Sam is also a Senior Faculty at the Authors Academy.

6 March, 2012

Do You Know Why People Buy Your Books?

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:12-07:00March 6, 2012|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Do You Know Why People Buy Your Books?

Do you know why people buy your books? It seems like a question that any author should be able to answer in their sleep. Unfortunately many authors and book marketers (one and the same in my view) don’t know the real answer to this question at all. Most authors can tell you in exacting detail what their books have to offer readers, but often don’t have the first clue what actually motivates purchases of their books.

Take sports books, for example. My friend Rich Wolfe, the number-one selling sports book author over the last decade, once told me that that the majority of his books were purchased by women, even though the majority of rabid sports fans are men.

Counterintutive, huh?

It turns out that most sports books are purchased as gifts (by women) for the rabid sports fans in their lives (usually men). Think about just a few of the implications of […]

1 February, 2012

Get Motivated!

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:20-07:00February 1, 2012|Authors Academy, Marketing, News|Comments Off on Get Motivated!

Recently, I attended the all-day Get Motivated! seminar when it came to Tucson. I didn’t actually go to get motivated—an entrepreneur for many years now, I’m plenty motivated as it is. I also didn’t go to buy any of the stuff they were selling—they didn’t have anything I need right now. I went to hear the celebrity presenters, and to study one of most successful marketing processes in the world. First, for $2.95 (essentially free) Get Motivated! attracts nearly 10,000 attendees with the promise of seeing celebrity presenters like Colin Powell, Terry Bradshaw, Steve Forbes, Rudy Giuliani, Kurt Warner, and many more. (Pictured: Terry Bradshaw getting ready to motivate.)

In between celebrity speeches were presentations from companies with something to sell. One such company was Ameritrade, a major discount brokerage firm, whose representative gave an exceptional sales presentation demonstrating the impressive array of online tools Ameritrade now offers to help clients […]

2 March, 2011

Using Your Book to Position Yourself as an Expert

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:49-07:00March 2, 2011|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Using Your Book to Position Yourself as an Expert

You’re an entrepreneur or business professional, and you recently published your first book.

As you make a business offer to one of your qualified prospects, how do you make it stand out from all of the competing offers your prospect may be getting from your competitors? How do you make your prospect feel safe selecting yours? The answer to both questions is by positioning yourself as the expert. Buyers want to buy from experts. Buyers feel safe buying from experts.

You need to prove your expertise to truly position yourself as an expert. Proof of expertise includes academic degrees, client testimonials, books, keynote addresses, articles, white papers, speaking gigs, etc. Experienced marketers will tell you that of all these different kinds of proof, a book by far is the best. It’s the ultimate showcase for your expertise, because it demonstrates both your comprehensive knowledge of, and your dedication to, your subject.

Bernie Borges […]

16 May, 2009

Brick vs. Click

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:39:56-07:00May 16, 2009|Marketing, Resources|Comments Off on Brick vs. Click

Brick-and-mortar bookstores are the obvious place to start selling your book, right? Wrong! On top of the problems that publishers bemoan, including heavy discounts, substantial returns, lack of pricing flexibility, and stiff on-shelf competition, brick-and-mortar bookstores are a shrinking sales channel. Brick-and-mortar bookstores now account for less than half of all books sold. And each year sees a further decline in their share of the total book market, a trend which is accelerating!

Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities in other, growing, sales channels. We at Wheatmark recommend that you, the independent author, focus all of your marketing efforts on these channels, particularly the online bookstore channel. Each year online bookstores grab a larger share of the total book market. And, online bookstores are perfect for the independently published book. They offer a level playing field—your book gets equal “shelf placement” with the titles from major publishers. Many publishing houses are […]

14 February, 2008

A New Era in Book Publishing

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:41:14-07:00February 14, 2008|Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on A New Era in Book Publishing

As president of the Arizona Book Publishing Association for the last two and a half years, and as head of the self-publishing firm Wheatmark, www.wheatmark.com, for the last eight years, I’ve talked to hundreds of publishers and authors, and read countless articles and studies on the publishing industry. This experience has made it clear to me that a significant transition is taking place in the book publishing industry. The era of the major publisher and the bestseller is ending, and the era of the independent publisher and the micro market is beginning.

Major publishers’ titles account for an ever decreasing portion of overall book sales in the United States, while independent publishers’ titles and self-published titles account for an ever increasing portion. Similarly, bestsellers constitute an ever smaller portion of the total publishing pie, while books selling in the few thousands or hundreds account for an ever larger portion.

This shift […]

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