A Home for Your Used Books
If you are anything like me, you have shelves of used books. I have, if I had to guess, close to 500 books of different genres. Some are well read, some partially read, and others seemingly untouched. Softcover, hardcover, and a variety of size and page counts.
The thing I love about books is they are always valuable. To someone.
A while back I decided to start an Amazon Merchant account. It took only a few minutes and was easy to set up. Once done, I started to list a few of my used books. You open your account, put in the ISBN number, and are presented with a screen where you can identify the condition of the book, your price, quantity, description, and the shipping method. I always pick Medial Mail.
Amazon Account Information
The book is then listed, until someone purchases it. As people search Amazon for titles, they have the option of checking out the used book of the same title as the new ones. If they decide to buy a used one, say yours, you are then sent an email about the sale.
You then print a packing slip, package the book, and send it off. About twice a month, Amazon sends you the money directly to your back account. On a typical book sale, Amazon takes a $3.50 commission and gives you a $3.99 shipping credit. If you list a book for 10.00, you’ll get $10.49 and from that pay shipping. Media Mail runs between $2.50 and $3.00, depending on the weight of the book and where it is being shipped.
If you think that’s not much, remember it’s a book that has been gathering dust on your shelve. In October and November I sold 16 books. In the first seven days of December, four more have sold. That clears space on my shelves, and gives me some extra spending money.
So my question is, what do you do with your used books? I find new homes for mine.
Getting Your Story into Magazines
The following post is excerpted from John Kremer’s Book Marketing Tip of the Week email newsletter. John is the author of the longstanding and popular marketing book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Book. Having met John at a conference years ago, I continue to follow him and get his newsletters. Here’s his piece:
Sideways Publicity: Getting Your Story into Magazines
Here are four sideways secrets to getting publicity in major magazines. I call these sideways techniques because they aren’t the direct approach of sending query letters or making phone calls.
1. Writer’s Guidelines – Check out their websites. Many of these sites include submission or writer’s guidelines that provide exact instructions on how to submit to the magazine or online website.
2. Tweet - Almost every major magazine is now including submissions from readers via Twitter and Facebook. If you follow their tweets and Facebook posts, you’ll find many opportunities to get noticed by the editors and associates.
3. Comment on their stories and blog posts. They pay attention to comments. Again, almost every magazine website includes many of the articles from the latest magazine issue – and most allow and even encourage their readers to comment and interact.
4. Blog - Join their social networks or blogging communities. About 10% of magazine websites include the opportunity for readers to blog and/or to participate in a social network.
In my Online 411 email newsletter, I’ll be featuring opportunities under each of these 4 options. You can sign up at BookMarket.com to get these insider tips.
You’ll also find many magazine publicity opportunities by following my blog posts and updates at www.magagenie.com.
Social Media is the Secret
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green’s next novel, The Fault in Our Stars, is already a runaway success – even though the book is still unfinished and almost a year from release (tentatively May 2012).
Nevertheless, the book on July 1, 2011, was the single best-selling book on Amazon.com and No. 2 on BarnesandNoble.com.
Green, 33 years old, lives in Indianapolis, Ind. He is a New York Times best-selling author who has received numerous awards, including both the Printz Medal and a Printz Honor. He is the co-creator, with his brother, Hank, of the popular video blog Brotherhood 2.0, which has been watched more than 30 million times by Nerdfighter fans all over the globe.
Green’s unusual pre-publishing success is being attributed to his savvy use of social media to promote the still unwritten book. He has 1.1 million followers on Twitter, 560,000 subscribers on YouTube and hundreds of thousands more on Tumblr, Facebook and a forum called YourPants.org.
Green has been aggressively advertising the $9.89 proto-book, offering every pre-release buyer a signed copy.
He has read the first chapter of the book live over the Web, encouraged his followers to try their hand at designing a cover for the book and even asked them to vote on the color of Sharpie pen he should use to do the wrist-cripplingly huge numbers of signings.
Source: The August 2011 issue of the Southern Review of Books. The Southern Review of Books is an online newsletter for publishers, authors, book lovers and booksellers.
As of today, the Amazon Best Sellers Rank is #273 in Books and #52 in Books for Teens. So what can we learn from this? The importance of social media in helping a book become successful.
In your book proposal, make sure your marketing section contains information on a social media plan. Mine do. Your’s should too.
The First 50 Pages – a Review
Jeff Gerke, author, conference speaker, and owner of Marcher Lord Press, has a new book fresh off the presses, and it’s a winner. Jeff’s book is The First 50 Pages: Engage Agents, Editors and Readers, and Set Your Novel Up For Success.
The First 50 Pages
First impressions are vital and the opening scenes of a novel are crucial if the reader is going to stick around until the story’s end. What writers do in these opening pages, and how they do it, is a matter that cannot be left to chance. Whether a writer wants to craft a strong beginning right from the start or they have a complete manuscript and are ready to start sending it out for publication, the beginning of their novel plays a key role in their story’s success. This helpful guide walks writers through the tasks their first 50 pages must accomplish in order to avoid leaving the reader disoriented, angry, or, worse—so disengaged that she puts the book down before ever seeing its beauty. The First 50 Pages shows writers how to begin their novels with the skill and intentionality that keeps readers’ eyes glued to the page. [from Writers Digest]
Here the link to Amazon for The First 50 Pages. I got my copy today. It will complement my copy of Jeff’s previous book, The Art and Craft of Writing Christian Fiction.
Publisher: Writers Digest Books (November 2011)
Paperback: 240 pages
Book Club Members Increasingly Using e-Readers
e-Readers are increasing in popularity
Do you own an e-Reader? An iPad, Kindle, Sony e-Reader, or Nook? Or maybe you use your smartphone instead.
Some 21 percent of reading group members are now reading all or most of their selections on e-readers, up from 11 percent in 2009, according to a Reading Group Choices survey. Groups representing more than 200,000 members were surveyed online and via a traditional mailing in the first three months of the year. Of reading group members reading e-books, 59 percent use Amazon Kindles, 26 percent use Barnes & Noble’s Nook and 20 percent use a tablet. In 2009, only seven percent used the Nook.
Romance, always a popular e-book category, is most frequently read on e-books by book group members: 60 percent of romance fiction read for the book groups is bought as e-books. One difficulty that may hold back e-book usage by book group members: many publishers’ backlists are not available as e-books. Reading Group Choices owner Barbara Mead commented: “The use of e-books in concert with printed books only serves to reaffirm book clubs’ passion for literature. And e-readers are a great investment for avid readers who are consuming books well in excess of their reading group selections or for book club members with a dwindling amount of free shelf-space.”
Whatever you write, take with your publisher about making the book available for the e-Reader market. If you are working on a book proposal, make sure the marketing section mentions using the book in e-Reader format. This market is not going away.
Do You Plot Your Novel?
Elmore Leonard, the author of such classics as Get Shorty and Out of Sight, shared a bit about how he writes.
“At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.
“I think of characters who will carry a story. The plot comes out of the characters, their attitudes. How they talk describes who they are. Dialogue, in fact, is the element that keeps the story moving. Characters are judged as they appear. Anyone who can’t hold up his or her end of a conversation is liable to be shelved, or maybe shot.”
Source: AARP magazine, July/August, 2009
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So the question is, do you work from a plot and if so, do you let your character develop themselves?
Do You Write Fantasy or Science Fiction?
Representing just six percent of the total trade book market, the science fiction/fantasy segment will grow 3.4 percent in 2011, reaching $578.6 million, despite the overall market’s expected 5.2 percent decline. According to a report published by media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information, the science fiction and fantasy categories experienced double-digit increases in title output, along with stronger ratings on the consolidated bestseller list in 2010. According to the report, the science fiction/fantasy segment is gaining market share, adding half a percent in 2011 compared to 2010, as it more than triples its one percent growth rate from the past two years.
If you write in the fantasy or science fiction genres, this is good news. Keep writing. If this market segment has ever interested you, this may be a good time to investigate it further.
Are You Writing for the Ebook Market?
A new Harris poll had some suprising numbers for those interested in the ebook trends. The number of American’s using a ebook doubled from 8% to 15%. If that does not sound impressive enough, the poll also found that another 15% of those surveyed indicated they are likely to get an ebook reader in the next six months.
Other surveys also show that people with ebook readers read more books. In the Harris poll, 32% of ebook reader users report reading 11 to 20 books a year, and 27% read 21 or more books a year.
Among those surveyed, 47% of the fiction readers read mystery, thriller and crime books, while 25% read science fiction. Among nonfiction readers, 29% read biographies, 27% read history, and 24% read religion and spirituality books.
So, what does this mean for us as writers?
My first thought is that we need to write what people want – and not just what we want to write. Often there are differences. I have been at many writers’ conferences where year after year, writers pitch projects that do not have audiences. When you give people what they want, you give them a reason to buy what you write.
Secondly, those with published books need to work with their publishers to have their books converted into ebooks. As an added bonus, most times authors make more on an ebook sale that that of a print book.
And finally, if you don’t have an ebook reader, I’d encourage you to consider buying one. Amazon just released a $79 Kindle, a $99 Kindle Touch, a $139 Kindle Touch 3G, and a $199 Kindle Fire tablet. With the Nook, iPad, and smartphones, more people have access to ebooks that ever before.
The Next 10 eBook Trends to Watch For
I am reprinting this excellent list of 10 eBook trends from The Book Marketing Expert newsletter published by Penny C. Sansevieri. There is a link to her website at the end of this article. Penny has a great website for writers about successful publishing and promotion.
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No matter one’s opinion of eBooks and eReaders, it’s highly doubtful they’re going to just up and disappear anytime soon. Since they’ve already started infiltrating bookstores, libraries and schools, now makes for a great opportunity to start evolving and better meeting various consumer needs. Exactly how this comes about remains to be seen, obviously, but gadget gurus and digital enthusiasts certainly have some interesting ideas about what eBook trends might start cropping up soon.
1. Bundles: Whether packaging a print edition along with the eBook, blending digital versions of an author’s entire oeuvre or organizing reads thematically, many eBook enthusiasts think bundles will inspire quite the popularity surge. The added incentives might very well sway individuals and institutions unsure about whether or not they want to embrace the admittedly expensive technology.
2. Social Reading Sessions: Online book clubs are actually quite common these days, but eBooks have yet to really seize upon their potential. Beyond offering up discussion questions, readers themselves could include ways for members to communicate with one another via audio or video, or promote even better integration with some of the technologies and organizations already available.
3. Greater Interactivity: eBook users don’t have to set up a book club to enjoy a greatly enhanced reading experience! The digital format allows a far higher degree of interactivity than the traditional paperback, and the potential is limited only by an author’s or programmer’s imagination. Books aimed at young children might especially benefit from this trend – think of how the audience might respond to animations of their favorite illustrations!
4. Authors Go Straight to eBook Publishers: Rather than waiting on their publishing houses to transfer their works over to eBook format, more and more authors are bypassing the traditional system altogether and submitting straight to the producers themselves. And for those looking into self-publishing, pursuing such opportunities may very well mean the difference between floundering in obscurity and hitting the eBook bestseller list.
5. Monetized Content: Not everyone will necessarily dig embedded ads in their eBooks, even unobtrusive ones, but that doesn’t mean publishers and companies won’t try to cash in on the technology. All the same, though, monetized content doesn’t have to mean staring down “CLICK HERE!” in the middle of Cat’s Cradle. It could be anything from downloadable content – along the lines of many video games – to subscription services.
6. Different Formats For Different Genres: As eBook readers gain popularity and become more sophisticated, it may come to pass that different genres might end up housed in different technologies. The computerized equivalent of hardcovers versus softcovers, in other words. Kindles and Nooks are excellent for converted novels and nonfiction, but prove a bit too small for textbooks. Larger, more specialized devices could easily come about in order to house “heavier” content.
7. More Indie Publishers: With plenty of authors heading straight for eBook publishers and bypassing the usual mainstream channels, now’s an incredible time to be (or even launch) an independent “label.” So many talented individuals have excellent stories to tell and research to share, tech-savvy entrepreneurs and editors probably won’t have a difficult time finding viable content. Because of this, it makes perfect sense that more and more digital publishing – and even self-publishing – houses will start springing up.
8. A Greater Decline in Traditional Bookstores: Even those without a business degree see Borders’ recent bankruptcy and closing as the death knell for traditional bookstores. Although it may be a bit premature to declare such a thing, the format certainly needs to adapt and change if it hopes to survive. So while the familiar setup might not “die” like Borders, over time it’s going to start looking a lot different. Barnes and Noble, for example, released the Nook in order to compete with the evolving market. As eBooks continue climbing, it and other book carries will have to find new ways to pick up the slack.
9. Increased Royalties From eBook Sales: Since eBooks are becoming more profitable, authors (not to mention their agents!) will probably want to see more royalties coming in from their availability. Understandably so! If publishers wish to retain their talent – not to mention attract some awesome new names – they’ll have to start paying up for more than just the bound books.
10. Free eReaders: It probably sounds insane right now, but the declining cost of eBook readers mean more can be handed out for promotional purposes. Book clubs, publishers and other businesses or organizations might charge consumers a membership or subscription fee, providing the device completely gratis. No different than cell providers receiving money in exchange for air time and comping the phone as an added incentive to sign up, really.
Guest post by Jennifer Lynch, an author at www.onlinecolleges.net. She writes articles about higher education, college life, study tips, career advice, and more!
Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. www.amarketingexpert.com.
Mary DeMuth’s 11 Secrets of Getting Published
The 11 Secrets of Getting Published
I follow a number of writer’s blogs. Mary DeMuth’s Live Uncaged website and blog is highly recommended. Mary is an accomplished fiction and nonfiction writer, and a popular writers conference speaker. She is a wealth of information about what works in publishing.
Mary recently wrote an ebook based on content from her blog. The ebook’s title is, The 11 Secrets of Getting Published. Here is some information from Mary’s website.
Frustrated by how much there is to learn to finally see your name in print by a big publisher? Mired in confusion about your next steps? An accomplished nonfiction freelancer and novelist, Mary DeMuth understands the twists and turns of the publishing industry. She answers the question, “How can I be published?” by pulling 11 Secrets from her popular blog, Wannabepublished.
In this book, Mary teaches you how to:
• Craft the kind of query letter that gets you noticed by industry professionals.
• Write stronger, powerful prose.
• Create effective writing routines to meet your daily and weekly goals.
• Navigate a writing conference with confidence.
• Find and woo an agent.
The ebook is available for the Kindle and Nook, and as a PDF. It’s a cheap $2.99, but worth much more. I encourage you to check it out. She also has downloads on writing a fiction and/or nonfiction book proposal. Mary is a great person who loves writers. This is good stuff.
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