Sunday, December 14, 2008

Talk about stupid



D'uh!

That's me hitting myself in the forehead. It's just hit me that the bookstores and distributors think THEY're the point of the exercise.

I was literally told by a small bookstore owner that, "We're not looking for authors. Authors are looking for sellers."

They've also told me that if a small bookstore has to go to the extra "bother," (and I'm quoting that word), they won't get a customer a book.

I've realized the independent bookstores are where the comics stores were a few years ago -- closed-in little satrapies who got to control what the reader was able to obtain. Remember those comic stores? Dark, dirty, dank, and snotty owners? Page 45 turned that around. Admittedly a lot of comics stores run on Manga and toys but they'll help you find the books you want.

They really hate Amazon -- but Amazon is programmed to "bother" for every single reader.

So am I. Not that I'm going to write the way you tell me to -- although I will steal good quotes every time -- but I'll try to get you my books in any market.

If I owned a bookstore, I'd never return damaged or even overstocked books -- I'd use them as loss-leader giveaways to hook readers and promote word-of-mouth. Free PR, instead of more shipping and shredding!

Maybe I'm the only person with the right attitude to open a bookstore. Hm.....

"Not An Asshole Books" -- ?

1 comment:

Llyn Hunter said...

Thanks for the hit to the head. Modern marketing for the independent publisher, and especially yours truly is an ongoing learning experience. Every bit of gleaned information is a blessing.