Like the majority of aspiring writers, I have always wanted to hold my published book–
books–in my hand, to be able to give a copy to a friend, to feel the pride of success when I hand over a book personally to a real buyer. The words, paragraphs, and chapters of my books are like my children. The editing process with its necessary trimming and removal has been for me, and for many authors, like killing off one’s children. However, the final product is much the better for doing so, and the pride of bringing forth a full-fledged and strong adult (published book) is well worth all the effort and the angst.
It has always grated on me to see LAST PHOENIX, my first published book, gathering dust on my storage shelves at home. I was convinced from the beginning that it is a great story and is told with good writing. It is interesting, informative, exiting and a book that deserves wide and profitable distribution. For a time, my lack of success in bringing the book into the hands of a receptive public stymied my ambitions. It did not stop me from writing other books, however.
I wrote SAGA of a NEUROSURGEON originally as one long book with the more prosaic and less interesting title of NEUROSURGEON largely for my own interest and to share with a small circle of friends and family because it is such an auto fiction book. That is, my autobiography is interwoven into the warp and woof of the story. After my attempts at self advertising and promoting LAST PHOENIX, I was too timid to try the expensive and, for me, unprofitable–even costly–self-publishing route again.
So, I did inquire about what it would cost me to self-publish with the original publishers of LAST PHOENIX–Publication Consultants in Anchorage. The cost for my large book would be something on the order of $4.00 a page–a drastic increase since LAST PHOENIX was first published. That cost was beyond what I could afford and was discouraging. However, at the end of our conversation, Evan Swenson, the intrepid head of Publication Consultants, offered to purchase my rights to my new book, and we agreed upon a working contract. He would print the book with his usual high quality work, provide copies at a wholesale price to me, and provide copies for venues that were willing to accept the book. I would receive a 10% royalty for each book sold. On my part, I became a retailer of my books at whatever venue I could find. Evan prints advertising materials and provides educational opportunities for me as a novice.
The obvious advantage for me as the unknown author is that the publisher produces an excellent product–a trade level book, as opposed to a bulk paperback at a reasonable price. His supply system is a limited distribution one but is reliable and fairly responsive to my need for new copies on an as-needed basis. It is a frugal system, but unfortunately not one that is at all in favor with major book outlets.
The disadvantage of this distribution system–one that is widely used by thousands of little known authors–and it is a major one, is that venues like the few remaining book store chains like Barnes and Noble and big city libraries, the major chain store systems like Costco, Sam’s Club, and Walmart refuse to do business with limited distribution publishers.
Costco will give a limited opportunity–usually a one-time chance for an author to do a book signing–and then will refuse to afford either the author or another book from that author another chance. It is a classical vicious circle.
Although better than straight self-publishing, the limited distribution publishing option effectively disables the author from entrance into the major book world as seen by the majority of book buyers and readers. Until the author himself or herself can generate substantial sales–in the thousands–such as I described for Richard Paul Evans in a previous blog–there is no access to major marketing outlets.
That leads to the less satisfying option of bowing to the electronic age and losing the gratification of holding your book in hand. An author’s book can be sold directly online to be read–rented–as an e-book or outright purchased electronically by Amazon’s kindle books, or Nook, etc.
The e-books are relatively quite cheap for the consumer, but more widely distributed and purchased. The author gets only a small margin from the price of the book but does avoid the up-front costs to a large degree. Some advertising comes from the e-book venue, but again, some prior success in selling is important to be able to hope for success in e-book sales. Some authors even offer initial free e-books to get the electronic process a jump-start.
I have come to some conclusions about what writing, getting published, and selling books means to me. In the next several blogs, I will give some details of my book-selling odyssey which I think should be enlightening to those of you who are novice aspirants and may even give a few pointers for those at my early level of progress. I intend to share some very valuable things I am learning with practical advice from experts to get an author started in such personally uncharted territory as the bewildering world of social media. I have to say, I still like to hold that lovely book of mine in my appreciative hands.
Carl Douglass – Author
Carl Douglass Books
www.carldouglass.com
“Neurosurgeon Turned Author Writes With Gripping Realism”
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