Beyond The Bookstore
By Rusty Fischer
Format(s): PDF (ebook)
Pages: 107 pages
Ebook Price:
$4.95
E-book & POD
Self-Help/How-To
BookBooters.com Publishing
A must read for all self-published authors. If you're frustrated at not being
able to sell your self-published novel, this is the book for you. Beyond the
Bookstore is crammed with 101 invaluable hints on marketing and selling your
book.
SUMMARY:
Tired of getting the cold shoulder at Borders? Amped up on your fifth cup of
coffee while waiting for the manager to "get around to you" at the
local Barnes & Noble? Crowded out of Waldens by Danielle Steel's latest
10-foot floor display? Unsure how to go about selling your Print On Demand
novel?
Then it's time to try some new alternatives. Forget Borders. Forget Barnes &
Noble. Forget Waldens. Why not try some proven alternative techniques for
marketing and selling your book?
Beyond The Bookstore is crammed with invaluable advice for self-published and
independently published authors.
REVIEW SNIPPETS:
"Mr. Fischer has left nothing out of this informative guide. His sense of
humor runs rampant throughout the book, and gives one the impression of not
reading a book, but rather chatting with a knowledgeable friend. The style is
informal, yet the advice it offers is far from that. "
--Kimberly Ripley, Author of Freelancing Later in Life
"If I had to list the many things I loved about this book, I think the main
one would have been the writing style. Rusty has an informal, conversational
style interspersed with irreverent humor. His wit does not detract from the
quality of the information presented, instead it turns this writing manual into
an entertaining read."
--Sandy Cummins, Editor of Writers-Exchange.com
Price: $4.95
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & BIO:
Rusty Fischer is a freelance writer, former magazine and book editor, and
multi-published author, with titles in print from such major publishers as
McGraw-Hill, Lebhar-Friedman, Inc., and Chelsea House Publishers. He has also
self-published numerous books with some of today's leading independent presses,
including Freedom to Freelance by Booklocker.com, 101 Ways to Promote Your eBook-for
FREE by Athina Publishing, Season's Rhymings by Wordbeams Press, The 25 Stories
of Christmas by Xlibris, and The 12 Stories of Christmas through IndyPublish.com.
Through his years of experience marketing and promoting his own eBooks,
Print-On-Demand (POD) books, and print books, he has amassed a wealth of
alternative ideas for selling hundreds of copies of books, and none of them
occur anywhere near a bookstore! Such is the unique premise of his
groundbreaking new book, Beyond the Bookstore.
INTRODUCTION
We all know that selling a self-published book can be a daunting task. The success stories are few, the failures abundant, and it’s a rare face indeed that doesn’t cringe when they hear those dreaded words: “Oh, I published it myself!”
Finding your way into the Megabookstores, as nearly anyone can tell you, is a Herculean effort that doesn’t end once your book gets placed on the shelf. After all, what sets your book aside from the gazillion other books resting alongside of it? Marketing, promotional efforts, book signings, reviews, etc. can all be a full-time job, especially for the self-published author who already has a full-time job. And doesn’t have a promotional budget.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the pessimism that clouds so many self-publishing self-doubters. If you hear how hard it is from three dozen friends, twice as many guidebooks, and four hundred Websites, you unfortunately start to believe the bad press that invariably surrounds self-published books.
So how does a self-published author rise above the depressing statistics and make his book one of the rare success stories? Simple: Stop thinking of it as a BOOK! This may be a difficult task for the literary professor who has just published his treatise on French Aristocrats in Turkish Cinema, but for the rest of us, it gets a little easier every day.
Yes, you hold in your hand a book that you self-published. You’re proud of it, the cover makes you smile, and seeing your name on the spine is a dream come true. But what you also hold in your hand is a “product.” Something to sell. Like soap or perfume, seashell sculptures or hand-crocheted potholders, you have just produced a consumer product.
So why be content with pawning it off on a few Megabookstores and leaving it at that? You have the book in your hand, you are the author, you own the rights, and the seventeen cases of your first print run are only going to grow mold if you rely on the local Barnes & Noble to sell them all!
Branch out, explore, and you are sure to find a wealth of other venues to sell your self-published book.
Here are 101—for starters…
1. Home is Where the “Start” Is!
Don’t overlook your humble abode when starting down the long and winding road to self-publishing sales success. Whether you’re a bonafide recluse or a verified party animal, you’re bound to have some visitors, whether it’s crazy Aunt Zelda or the bug man! Why not create an attractive display case for your book, whether it’s the cardboard variety you can order in bulk off the Internet or your very own creation, such as wooden shelves from Home Depot or a liquor box cut to order— and made attractive with construction paper, markers, or other art supplies.
Place a consumer-friendly table in your foyer or visiting room, and display or stack eight to ten of your books in an attractive, inviting manner. Invest in a simple receipt book (for tax purposes) and place this discreetly in a nearby drawer or under a seat cushion. If your book bears the price near the bar code, explain that this is negotiable, and don’t be a hard sell. Any family member, delivery person, or Bible salesman who buys your book is simply icing on the cake, so be willing to negotiate—a little.
After all, anything you make over the printing price is profit, and perhaps you can turn the profits from your living room sales into a better display rack somewhere down the road!
2. Get it off Your—Back?
Invest in a sturdy yet attractive backpack and always have two or three copies of your book inside. Bubble wrap or even an inexpensive manila envelope are great for protection during bumpy rides, and most receipt books fit inside those smaller outside pockets. Include a business card with sales material as a bookmark in case your impromptu customer wants more (and more and more and more) copies, and make sure the card lists your email address, Website, and/or phone and fax numbers and mailing address.
This sales tactic comes in especially handy if you are a student or travel frequently, or are just a people person who likes to strike up a conversation at bus stops, malls, or movie theaters. (A helpful trait for any self-published author!) Again, mobile sales are extremely negotiable, and don’t hesitate to knock a dollar or two off of your regular asking price if you feel your customer going south on you. After all, you’d spend twice that much on postage if you were mailing the book, right?
3. Weave a Web (Site)!
Remember, just because you’ve self-published a print book, that doesn’t mean you can’t offer it for sale on the Web. Many companies offer Web hosting for FREE, and with the simple templates they provide you can have your very own “store” in cyberspace after a single weekend. Search for “free Websites” or “free Webmalls,” etc. and you are bound to find more sites offering these services than you can shake a cyberstick at.
Create a simple yet attractive Website featuring your book cover, a summary of the book, a few of your promotional blurbs from reviewers (or friends with snooty titles), a printable order form if they feel like mailing you a check, and look into eCommerce solutions like PayPal.com or Ccnow.com to handle online, secure credit card transactions.
The Internet is just one of many alternative places to sell your self-published book—in cyberspace!
4. eTranslate (for eProfits!)
Today it is quite normal to find both printed and electronic versions of self-published novels, self-help manuals, reference guides, short story collections, or how-to books. Just because you invested time and money into printing your self-published book, it doesn’t mean you can’t also sell it electronically. Do an Internet search on “eBooks” or “ePublishers” and find one that provides such services for FREE. If you’ve already got the cover art done you’re halfway there, and Adobe will convert up to three Word documents to .pdf format (a preferred version of eBooks) for FREE at their Website: Adobe.com.
To have your printed volume also available as an eBook reaches an entirely new audience, and if you’re up to it you can even sell it yourself on your own Website. On the other hand, if you’re putting all of your efforts into selling the print version, allow a reputable ePublisher to sell it for you. You’ll still get up to 50% royalties, and those are 50% more than you would have gotten if you’d ignored today’s booming technological market.
5. Dine In
The trick to successfully marketing your self-published book is NOT to ignore outlets that don’t even resemble bookstores. At all! For instance, restaurants are a marvelous place for single diners to read, and instead of offering them giveaway papers or the menu as a delectable distraction, why not suggest to local restaurateurs that they offer—your book!
Again, a nice, simple, attractive display rack (the cardboard variety works best) is a plus in this case. After all, making it as easy for the restaurant as possible to sell your books is a real plus—for both of you. A single display rack containing six to eight copies of your book is just the right size for most hostess stands or cash register counters, which are already crowded with candy and breath mint displays.
It helps to have a friend on the inside, either an employee or very valued regular customer, such as yourself, and for the opportunity it’s worth it to offer the restaurant a generous cut of your profits as an incentive. Avoid the bigger chains, as they have a “chain” of command that will send you jumping through hoops at the corporate office. Instead, approach smaller, Mom and Pop restaurants that are open to plastering their windows and bulletin boards with circus posters and lost dog ads!
6. Take Out!
Don’t ignore the take-out places in your quest for alternative sales routes for your self-published book. Usually in a storefront setting, pizza, Chinese, and other take- out restaurants are the perfect places to “trap” captive audiences into browsing through your book. Just think about it: “Your order will be ready in ten minutes, ma’am.”
Well, let those waiting customers peruse your attractive sales rack full of self-published books instead of a year-old People magazine or Reader’s Digest!
Again, go with your cardboard display case and offer the owner a generous cut of your profits. Make sure you have him sign an inventory of the books you’ve delivered, and check in periodically to see if there are pizza or duck sauce stains making your books look unattractive!
Again, forego Domino’s in favor of the Mom and Pop variety, and approach the owners with a soft sell at their convenience. Offer them an advance copy if they so desire, and check back with them after a week or so to see if they are interested.
7. Cubicle Customers
Why limit yourself to retail outlets? You’ve got your foyer cash register set up at home, why not establish one at work! Invest in yet another attractive, lightweight, and simple display case, and always keep a stock of eight to ten copies of your book on hand, with more in a file cabinet if this idea takes off!
Clear this one with a supervisor or boss first, and then designate space on your desk or file cabinet for your display rack and receipt book. Make inexpensive posters for the cafeteria or break rooms, and you might even want to go so far as to create cut-off “coupons” giving employees a 10-20% discount off the regular sale price. Depending on the size of your company, this could be a real winner for you—and your self-published book sales!
Book Review of Beyond the Bookstore
By Andrea Chester
If you’re familiar with Rusty Fischer’s writing, you already know that
he’s likely to be hilarious, even when he’s dead serious. This book is
no exception to that rule.
Be prepared to laugh right out loud. Then, just as you’re falling into a
much-needed sleep, your mind will latch onto one of these wacky ideas and say,
“Hey! That just might work!”
They say genius can be measured by the ability to think outside the crayon
marks. Well, Rusty is a genius, then, because the ordinary person
wouldn’t think of these marketing ideas. The ordinary person hasn’t
sold as many books as Rusty, either.
Think about these gems:
Sell your self-published book right out of your own home. Put up a nice
display rack and show it off to guests. Plop it down on your coffee table
as a conversation piece. (Just make sure the rack isn’t unique enough to
detract attention from your book.)
Carry a few copies, neatly packaged in clear wrap or bubble wrap, in your back
pack or your vehicle. Make sure you enclose your business card with the
package, so your customer can contact you for more books!
Ask your boss to let you set up a tasteful display in the office. While
clients are waiting, they need something to read, don’t they? Just
don’t make your sales signs too tacky, and no fair making people wait on
purpose.
Hit up your relatives, school chums or old profs who said you’d never amount
to anything. Pitch your book at family reunions, high school and college
get-togethers, and so on. The university bookstore might be a good bet,
too. Hey, they have to read something besides the assigned stuff, don’t
they?
These outrageous ideas are so zany that others will take notice. They
might take pity on one so desperate to sell that he’d go to these lengths.
They might buy just to shut you up and make you go away.
As outlandish as these marketing ideas seem, they will result in some sales, and
people will read your book. That’s when it’ll get interesting, because
then they’ll connect the quality of your book and the creative sales methods,
and your reputation will benefit. They’ll come back, and they’ll tell
others.
These days, if you have something you want the public to see, you have to be
imaginative and fearless. This little book is the epitome of imaginative
and fearless. For a very modest sum, you get at least 101 laughs, and some
resourceful ways to market your wares. (A bonus is that Rusty’s
inventiveness inspires your own… if you can stop laughing long enough!)
