Every day I'm more convinced that our success, whether as authors, bookstores, or publishers, is tied directly to the internet. I haven't tracked our counter on this site, but I'm not sure we're seeing much traffic here. Please let me know what you think.
I appreciated Christine's post on Fair Use. There are some very good sites to get a good feel for it. And really that is all that is possible. The courts, in an effort to preserve free speech, have purposefully made the concept vague and as open as possible.
A number of decades ago I had discussions with the Church's legal counsel. I was advised that the church operates as much by how the laws are enforced as by what the law actually says. In practicality there isn't much else we can do as publishers and authors.
Back to promotion.
Steve Eunpu is currently promoting a new book, The Stress Eater Diet. As part of his promotion,
he is writing a blog to share a behind-the-scenes look at the steps he is taking in developing and marketing the book. He'll share his successes and failures, what works and what doesn't. It should be an interesting experiment. You can follow his progress in marketing the book at http://www.bestsellerornot.com.
This really looks like a lot of fun and useful information. Happy promoting.
Showing posts with label book sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book sales. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Just Picking Up a Few Books
By Christine Thackeray
So I happened to be in Utah for a day and a half this week in order to attend the sealing of my sweet nephew Joshua and his new wife Kensie. Amid the rush of half hour visits to aunts and siblings around the Wasatch Front, I squeezed in a quick stop at CFI. I was totally out of copies of my own book "Crayon Messages" and "C.S. Lewis: Latter Day Truths in Narnia" having sold or given away every one. While they got my books together, I meet Jennifer who is absolutely wonderful and then drifted to the back corner to browse through the discount books.
Now I knew my husband was waiting frantically in the car and my brother was waiting dinner for me in Pleasant Grove, but I was only going to be a minute and everything was such a great deal. I saw an interesting novel called "The Golden Verses" and its sequel and picked them both up. I grabbed a cute "Twelve Week Challenge" and shoved a Rachel Ann Nunes book under my arm. I had read a great review of "Spare Change" so I couldn't resist it. Steve Cramer's "Victory in Christ" and a very interesting looking "The Story of the Book of Abraham" were keepers as well. All in all I was pretty pleased with myself. Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing for my husband who was ready to go.
Still, I love CFI and was again amazed at all the great books they produce.
So I happened to be in Utah for a day and a half this week in order to attend the sealing of my sweet nephew Joshua and his new wife Kensie. Amid the rush of half hour visits to aunts and siblings around the Wasatch Front, I squeezed in a quick stop at CFI. I was totally out of copies of my own book "Crayon Messages" and "C.S. Lewis: Latter Day Truths in Narnia" having sold or given away every one. While they got my books together, I meet Jennifer who is absolutely wonderful and then drifted to the back corner to browse through the discount books.
Now I knew my husband was waiting frantically in the car and my brother was waiting dinner for me in Pleasant Grove, but I was only going to be a minute and everything was such a great deal. I saw an interesting novel called "The Golden Verses" and its sequel and picked them both up. I grabbed a cute "Twelve Week Challenge" and shoved a Rachel Ann Nunes book under my arm. I had read a great review of "Spare Change" so I couldn't resist it. Steve Cramer's "Victory in Christ" and a very interesting looking "The Story of the Book of Abraham" were keepers as well. All in all I was pretty pleased with myself. Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing for my husband who was ready to go.
Still, I love CFI and was again amazed at all the great books they produce.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Nationwide book sales YTD
Please let me know if any of you are interested in this kind of information. I subscribe to newsletters where I receive it almost daily.
AAP Book Sales: May Dips, Year Holds
Net sales of books in May fell 1.8% to $670 million, based on data from 79 publishers as reported to the Association of American Publishers. For the year to date, net sales of books were $2.851 billion, down 0.7% from the same period last year.
Stronger categories:
E-books rose 24.3% (with sales of $3.3 million).
Higher Ed increased 5% ($127.1million).
Adult hardcovers were up 4.4% ($166 million).
Religious books gained 3.7% ($38.8 million).
Professional and scholarly rose 1.3% ($53.5 million).
Children's/YA paperbacks increased 0.4% ($42.5 million).
Weaker categories:
Audiobooks were down 38% ($12.6 million).
University press paperbacks dropped 20.5% ($2.8 million).
University press hardcovers decreased 18.4% ($4 million).
Adult mass market declined 9.6% ($77.2 million).
Adult paperbacks sales fell 7.3% ($100.7 million).
Children's/YA hardcovers decreased 4.9% ($40.4 million).
El-hi dropped 2.6% ($328.6 million)
AAP Book Sales: May Dips, Year Holds
Net sales of books in May fell 1.8% to $670 million, based on data from 79 publishers as reported to the Association of American Publishers. For the year to date, net sales of books were $2.851 billion, down 0.7% from the same period last year.
Stronger categories:
E-books rose 24.3% (with sales of $3.3 million).
Higher Ed increased 5% ($127.1million).
Adult hardcovers were up 4.4% ($166 million).
Religious books gained 3.7% ($38.8 million).
Professional and scholarly rose 1.3% ($53.5 million).
Children's/YA paperbacks increased 0.4% ($42.5 million).
Weaker categories:
Audiobooks were down 38% ($12.6 million).
University press paperbacks dropped 20.5% ($2.8 million).
University press hardcovers decreased 18.4% ($4 million).
Adult mass market declined 9.6% ($77.2 million).
Adult paperbacks sales fell 7.3% ($100.7 million).
Children's/YA hardcovers decreased 4.9% ($40.4 million).
El-hi dropped 2.6% ($328.6 million)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
LDS Market vs national market
I read the blog below this one, and I think Christine is like most first time authors and think that because there are millions of members of the church, that her book will end up in most of them. The statistics for book sales may surprise you.
In the national market, the lifetime average sales for a book is 3300. This takes in to consideration the books that sell over a million copies. That is very surprising to a lot of people.
In the LDS market, the average book lifetime will sell 3100.
You have to remember, that lifetime means from the moment it comes out until the moment it is not longer printed. This could be 40 or 50 years.
In the national market, the lifetime average sales for a book is 3300. This takes in to consideration the books that sell over a million copies. That is very surprising to a lot of people.
In the LDS market, the average book lifetime will sell 3100.
You have to remember, that lifetime means from the moment it comes out until the moment it is not longer printed. This could be 40 or 50 years.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Just Hit 1250 in Sales
By Christine Thackeray
Wow!
My publicist just told me that I hit 1250 sales today on my book "The Crayon Messages." Now I suppose that is better than zero but I do have mixed feelings. I wanted it to take the world by storm. Considering the size of the Mormon market, it is a good start. I am happy but the number seems somewhat sterile.
In contrast, my sister emailed me yesterday and I danced around the room. Here's what she said, "Both my husband and I read your book while we were on vacation. We LOVED it. In fact, DH started it first. He kept saying, "Wow, Christine is a really good writer. She's able to say so much in a few words." Then the next time he read he'd say, "I'm so impressed with Christine, she is really excellent writer." SO that that was it, I took the book and finished it, before I gave it back and then he finished it. I have to tell you, I laughed out loud and I cried. I totally enjoyed it. Anyway, I'm totally impressed and so happy for you. Love you and Congratulations again!"
Now for me that was exciting. My other friend gave her mother-in-law one for Mother's Day. She ran up to me at church and said she loved it and laughed and cried and couldn't wait for the next one. That made me thrilled too.
My first novel is more than entertainment. It is a celebration of the role of women and their ability to touch the lives of those around them. I hope it is both empowering and eye-opening, making mothers realize the joy of their callings and the great force they can be for good. If you haven't read it yet, I'd be grateful if you'd give it a try- you might like it.
Wow!
My publicist just told me that I hit 1250 sales today on my book "The Crayon Messages." Now I suppose that is better than zero but I do have mixed feelings. I wanted it to take the world by storm. Considering the size of the Mormon market, it is a good start. I am happy but the number seems somewhat sterile.
In contrast, my sister emailed me yesterday and I danced around the room. Here's what she said, "Both my husband and I read your book while we were on vacation. We LOVED it. In fact, DH started it first. He kept saying, "Wow, Christine is a really good writer. She's able to say so much in a few words." Then the next time he read he'd say, "I'm so impressed with Christine, she is really excellent writer." SO that that was it, I took the book and finished it, before I gave it back and then he finished it. I have to tell you, I laughed out loud and I cried. I totally enjoyed it. Anyway, I'm totally impressed and so happy for you. Love you and Congratulations again!"
Now for me that was exciting. My other friend gave her mother-in-law one for Mother's Day. She ran up to me at church and said she loved it and laughed and cried and couldn't wait for the next one. That made me thrilled too.
My first novel is more than entertainment. It is a celebration of the role of women and their ability to touch the lives of those around them. I hope it is both empowering and eye-opening, making mothers realize the joy of their callings and the great force they can be for good. If you haven't read it yet, I'd be grateful if you'd give it a try- you might like it.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Hooked with a Sad Surprise
By Christine Thackeray
OK, so I have to tell you a sad story and I'd like to begin with a disclaimer that my experience was totally subjective and probably shouldn't even be repeated. This weekend I went to Deseret Book to get Marcia's and Rebecca Talley's books. I couldn't find Rebecca's but picked up Marcia's and then wandered through the aisles looking for something compelling. I decided to judge my books based on the first page. If it hooked me, I'd buy it.
After perusing through the entire new arrival shelf I had three or four maybe's but wasn't really sold on any one of them and went to the clearance table. Yuck, there was nothing there, so I turned and found a table of fresh authors I didn't recognize. Reading through these books, two had me begging to gobble them down. I brought them home and devoured both until 4am (with daylight savings time it was a really stupid thing to do, but there you are.) The sad part is when I realized that neither book was written by an LDS author.
I'm sure that many of the books I thought about purchasing were very good and content-wise they might have been superior but as authors, it is imperative that we sharpen our hooks until they shine. In Marcia's book she does that, with her main character suddenly waking in fear. That initail emotional connection is imperative.
With my first book, I didn't even think about it. I had this incredible, compelling story to tell and just dove straight in. But for my next book I'm doing the same thing, diving right in and telling my story, but then I'll go back when I'm done and find an incredible hook that rivets readers to the heart of my book in a paragraph or two-- or at least make the attempt.
OK, so I have to tell you a sad story and I'd like to begin with a disclaimer that my experience was totally subjective and probably shouldn't even be repeated. This weekend I went to Deseret Book to get Marcia's and Rebecca Talley's books. I couldn't find Rebecca's but picked up Marcia's and then wandered through the aisles looking for something compelling. I decided to judge my books based on the first page. If it hooked me, I'd buy it.
After perusing through the entire new arrival shelf I had three or four maybe's but wasn't really sold on any one of them and went to the clearance table. Yuck, there was nothing there, so I turned and found a table of fresh authors I didn't recognize. Reading through these books, two had me begging to gobble them down. I brought them home and devoured both until 4am (with daylight savings time it was a really stupid thing to do, but there you are.) The sad part is when I realized that neither book was written by an LDS author.
I'm sure that many of the books I thought about purchasing were very good and content-wise they might have been superior but as authors, it is imperative that we sharpen our hooks until they shine. In Marcia's book she does that, with her main character suddenly waking in fear. That initail emotional connection is imperative.
With my first book, I didn't even think about it. I had this incredible, compelling story to tell and just dove straight in. But for my next book I'm doing the same thing, diving right in and telling my story, but then I'll go back when I'm done and find an incredible hook that rivets readers to the heart of my book in a paragraph or two-- or at least make the attempt.
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