You'll need to provide descriptions of your book for various purposes. You'll need it for your back cover, your sell sheet, descriptions for your wholesaler, book sellers, catalog listings, press materials, and your verbal explanation of your book (we'll handle your elevator speech later).
Here's the different types of descriptions we write for each and every book (because experience tells us that these lengths are most frequently requested):
Length Common Usage (but many other uses present themselves)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30 words - For those occasions when someone asks for 1 or 2 sentences about your book
50 words - Very common length for catalogs and newspapers announcing your book
75 words - Common for wholesalers and bookstores
100 words - Newsletter announcements, short descriptions for websites and bloggers
150 words - Pretty common length for back cover copy, but not set in stone
300 words - Longer descriptions when a website leads a buyer to "read more"
Craft this copy carefully. Every word is relevant and all of these words should provide separate and powerful tools for online searches. Google the keywords that you are considering for your copy to see what results come up. Remember that this copy is not the place to be vague or to use "puffery" like "the best book" or "the only book." Tell the reader exactly what they will get from reading your book, what your book brings to the table that other books don't provide, and don't play games with the buyer. Appreciate the moment the person has taken to read about your book by providing meticulously-written copy that illustrates your promise.
File a master file with all of these descriptions at the ready. Make sure if you change a relevant word that you change the word in all of your descriptions for consistency.
Save each description you send with it's own file name. For example, Your_book_030213_Amazon_100
Showing posts with label book distributors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book distributors. Show all posts
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Why Would Large Publishers Jump In to DIY Publishing?
In the past few months, I've been watching large publishers announce their entrance into the DIY or author services market. Interesting. How many times have you heard traditionally published authors and their publishers, publicists and the media belittle and degrade those that have chosen to self publish? If you have been around publishing in the past decade or more, probably a lot!
So, the traditional publishers suddenly want to "help" self published authors that have been swimming in the big shark-infested waters of NY publishing for years. Why? Because the smart money is on high-quality independently published books that have a niche and an aggressive marketing strategy, that's why.
What's really ironic is that in the last few weeks, I have seen many self publishing experts writing about how to be a bestseller, or how to get your book on the shelves of the big bookstores, or how to pitch to an agent, or how to do a query letter, or how to attract a publisher. WHY? Why would you want to spend your money to get into a distribution channel that makes it virtually impossible to make a profit? One that requires a wholesaler for sure (at a 55% discount plus shipping), and possibly a distributor (another 25% discount on net, plus all sorts of fees), returns, accounting issues, cashflow -- Argh!
Self publishers: Stay the course and keep selling to your non-traditional markets and do not spend your money chasing after your dream of seeing your book on the shelf of Barnes and Noble. (If you really, really need that for your ego, put one on the shelf and take your picture standing next to it! But don't push your book into stores when it's not profitable.) And stop worrying about getting on Oprah and being a NY Times Bestseller -- neither one of those things guarantees you'll sell a ton of books, but they DO guarantee you'll spend a lot getting there.
Final thought. Don't think for a moment that the traditional publishers are getting into this market because they want to help authors. They see the writing on the wall -- Self publishing, or DIY is where the money is being spent, and the consumer is beginning to realize that the books published by high-quality independent self publishers are likely more timely, more efficient, more cost effective, and better when the author is in control and they know their market.
If you would like to offer your books as premiums, check out Brian Jud's Premium Book Company. Great way to expand your reach into the non-traditional markets, break down huge barriers to entry in this distribution channel, and gain new readers.
So, the traditional publishers suddenly want to "help" self published authors that have been swimming in the big shark-infested waters of NY publishing for years. Why? Because the smart money is on high-quality independently published books that have a niche and an aggressive marketing strategy, that's why.
What's really ironic is that in the last few weeks, I have seen many self publishing experts writing about how to be a bestseller, or how to get your book on the shelves of the big bookstores, or how to pitch to an agent, or how to do a query letter, or how to attract a publisher. WHY? Why would you want to spend your money to get into a distribution channel that makes it virtually impossible to make a profit? One that requires a wholesaler for sure (at a 55% discount plus shipping), and possibly a distributor (another 25% discount on net, plus all sorts of fees), returns, accounting issues, cashflow -- Argh!
Self publishers: Stay the course and keep selling to your non-traditional markets and do not spend your money chasing after your dream of seeing your book on the shelf of Barnes and Noble. (If you really, really need that for your ego, put one on the shelf and take your picture standing next to it! But don't push your book into stores when it's not profitable.) And stop worrying about getting on Oprah and being a NY Times Bestseller -- neither one of those things guarantees you'll sell a ton of books, but they DO guarantee you'll spend a lot getting there.
Final thought. Don't think for a moment that the traditional publishers are getting into this market because they want to help authors. They see the writing on the wall -- Self publishing, or DIY is where the money is being spent, and the consumer is beginning to realize that the books published by high-quality independent self publishers are likely more timely, more efficient, more cost effective, and better when the author is in control and they know their market.
If you would like to offer your books as premiums, check out Brian Jud's Premium Book Company. Great way to expand your reach into the non-traditional markets, break down huge barriers to entry in this distribution channel, and gain new readers.
Monday, April 20, 2009
We're Thinking of Starting Our Own Writer's Strike...
To begin my rant... last week I was in a music CD store where they sell used CDs. The clerk told me that they pay a royalty to the artist for the secondary market merchandise. Finding this unbelievable, I called around to other second hand intellectual property merchants and I couldn't find another one who does this. I even doubt that the first one was telling the truth, but who knows.
Actors, as well as the writers who write for them, get royalties every time their ad is shown, or their tv program is broadcast, or their video is sold...this may bring to mind the writer's strike of 2007-2008, in which the Writer's Guild of America went on strike against major production companies to demand an increase in royalties from DVD and online downloads. Eventually they came to an agreement siding with the writers.
With this in mind, why doesn't an author get a portion of their secondary sales? Why does the bookstore get rewarded with a full refund for damaged, mistreated, mispackaged, over-ordered books?
Bookstores "display" rather than "stock" books in their stores (on consignment); thus meaning bookstores are allowed to make irresponsible buys or damage the merchandise with no repercussions (they can return overstock for full credit virtually forever). Bookstores get the largest percentage of the final take on a book sale no matter how it is published (traditional versus independent) -- 40% of the retail price. If they paid for merchandise they damaged, it wouldn't be so bad, but they don't.
And these bookstores that take trade-ins or buy backs -- wouldn't you think that on the second hand books they take in, (which I BET they return to publishers as damages on occasion), they would need to pay a royalty?
It's tough enough to be a small publisher, with all of that, but then have to deal with the wholesalers that require publishers to have an open return policy no matter who damages the books or how many they over-order.(Wholesaler takes 55% [and publisher pays shipping], wholesaler then sells to a bookstore at a 40% discount.) If you do the math here, you'll easily see that the big loser is the one who spent a large part of their life writing the property that is being juggled among the profit takers.
If the printed book is to survive, it should be a booklover's mission to make sure that the publishers and authors who create the masterpieces get paid their fair share -- just like actors do when some broadcast medium shows a movie or tv program (or ad) that includes them in it or a musician when they play a song on the radio.
Publishers and authors who foot the real bills in publishing could use some industry changes. Sooner rather than later.
End of rant, but frustration continues...
Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services
Actors, as well as the writers who write for them, get royalties every time their ad is shown, or their tv program is broadcast, or their video is sold...this may bring to mind the writer's strike of 2007-2008, in which the Writer's Guild of America went on strike against major production companies to demand an increase in royalties from DVD and online downloads. Eventually they came to an agreement siding with the writers.
With this in mind, why doesn't an author get a portion of their secondary sales? Why does the bookstore get rewarded with a full refund for damaged, mistreated, mispackaged, over-ordered books?
Bookstores "display" rather than "stock" books in their stores (on consignment); thus meaning bookstores are allowed to make irresponsible buys or damage the merchandise with no repercussions (they can return overstock for full credit virtually forever). Bookstores get the largest percentage of the final take on a book sale no matter how it is published (traditional versus independent) -- 40% of the retail price. If they paid for merchandise they damaged, it wouldn't be so bad, but they don't.
And these bookstores that take trade-ins or buy backs -- wouldn't you think that on the second hand books they take in, (which I BET they return to publishers as damages on occasion), they would need to pay a royalty?
It's tough enough to be a small publisher, with all of that, but then have to deal with the wholesalers that require publishers to have an open return policy no matter who damages the books or how many they over-order.(Wholesaler takes 55% [and publisher pays shipping], wholesaler then sells to a bookstore at a 40% discount.) If you do the math here, you'll easily see that the big loser is the one who spent a large part of their life writing the property that is being juggled among the profit takers.
If the printed book is to survive, it should be a booklover's mission to make sure that the publishers and authors who create the masterpieces get paid their fair share -- just like actors do when some broadcast medium shows a movie or tv program (or ad) that includes them in it or a musician when they play a song on the radio.
Publishers and authors who foot the real bills in publishing could use some industry changes. Sooner rather than later.
End of rant, but frustration continues...
Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services
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