It's been a while

It's been a while since I last posted something on Suckerfish. The reason is pretty simple, Bec and I have been travelling and settling in in Australia. It hasn't been uneventful though. I did a mini-reading in Israel. Only the kids of bookstore employees showed up, so it wasn't a real reading - but they loved it and the bookstore has been selling the book. Other big things include:

• I've been working on getting distribution in Australia. I'm preparing a package to send to one of the distributors, Tower Books. We'll see what happens. I chose them simply because they had the most information on their web-site - and they had fiction titles. My experiences so far (combined with some patience) have led me to really streamline my promotional efforts. I did some research on the financials of bookstores. B&N has DSI (Days Sales in Inventory) of 160 days, Borders DSI is 175. This means the average book goes unsold for almost a half a year. This is incredible. Now, obviously, some books sell much more quickly. And I imagine a lot of bookstores don't keep unsold books for six months. Three is probably more realistic. So, to maintain a 160+ day DSI despite returns, these bookstores are returning *a lot* of books. Being on the shelf gives you absolutely *nothing*. Buyers have to be pointed to the book. Reviews can help, but they aren't enough. Let's say you get a nice review in the New York Times. You might move 1000 copies. There are over 1000 new bookstores nationally. So if you place two books in each store, then you're going to lose out. Half will be sold. Half will be returned - eliminating no small part of your margin. What you really need is support from the bookstores themselves - particularly the staff. When a customer who is just looking comes in, you want the staff to consider your book. To get that, it is worth giving the staff free books, signing whatever copies they have and delivering promotional materials. This is more important than readings, in my mind. I sell more books personally than I would at a reading - and spreads the word just as effectively (more below). Promoting the book to bookstore staff brings in sales from people who aren't perusing the reviews, who aren't all that 'literary,' but who are buying books. These are precisely the kind of people my book is aimed at.
  
• My dad met a lady on the plane who has recommended the book to Disney Radio. No idea what they can do with it, but she enjoyed the book and that never hurts.
  
• The book is FINALLY available on Barnes and Noble.com. They actually sent out some copies. Now, I don't want returns, so I need to start getting these books flowing. I'm not linking up to them yet. They took way to long to get rolling, their publisher support was very very poor and of course you get paid very slowly by them. Please note, I'm not ripping on B&N stores, I've had good experiences with them. But the web site is a little sad.
  
• I had a real fall-off in sales while travelling. It is understandable, books online don't sell themselves any better than books in the store. I need to continue the promotional efforts. I have been selling some books personally however. As I mentioned I sold two books on the plane to Chicago. I sold another one on the way to London. I sold another copy in Venice. But I didn't sell any for the rest of the trip. It was still fun. I don't have copies to spare here in Australia (I'm getting them shipped here), but there was a family on the train that was definitely interested. The oldest son, who was seven, enjoyed the book. He didn't admit it, but really got sucked into it. A lady at the health care insurance company also wanted to buy the book. She had her sister in mind. Her sister is a librarian on King Island (north of Tasmania). She is very active and if she likes the book it'll get spread to libraries across Tasmania and possibly across Oz. It never hurts :)

So, things are proceeding. Patience is key. I'm going to be applying for regional placement in the Northwest by Borders and B&N as well as regional placement in the Melbourne area. Of course, in Australia, I need distribution first and then I can approach the chain stores for support. Anyways, things are going on.

Have fun!

Joseph