How To Support Your Favorite Author

One of my clients recently gave a talk to a local community group about the romance industry as well as about publishing. Prior to the talk, we were discussing things she would want to cover and we started talking about what readers could do to become more active in publishing. More specifically, how can they help out as readers. I wanted to share with you some of our ideas.

First of all, before we focus on the solutions, we have to remember that publishing is all about sales. When it comes down to it, the fate of an author always returns to the numbers. How much did that author sell? How much money did that author bring in during that last time period? How much well is that book selling? "Show me the money!" When an author does not sell, and those sales figures are below average, this gives the publisher a reason to start looking to someone else who can sell. Publishers are not producing books to just "feel good." It is a business and they, like everyone else, wants to turn a profit. It was this idea we built our answers around. So here are 6 things readers (actually everyone) can do to help their favorite author:

BUY THEIR BOOKS NEW Look, I get it. We all want to save some money. In my family, I have one in college and swims competitively (cha-ching), one who rides competitive hunter/jumper arena jumping (yes horses cost big $$$$), and one who is on a dance team (those costumes are expensive). But, when we want to support authors, we have to buy their books. Buy the hardback copies. Buy the books at full retail price. When we buy those books, the publisher sees the sales figures! The author and everyone makes money! You will see more on this in the next three things to do.

DON'T BUY ONE BOOK AND THEN PASS IT ON TO FRIENDS AND FAMILIES This one always kills me. My mother-in-law loves getting books for Christmas presents. But what kills me is that we hear from her around February that her entire family has loved reading that one book. 8 people just read that one book. How many sales numbers made it back to the publisher? 1! It could have been 8! I know this might sound like a small number, but think of how many other people did that? Those numbers add up fast. The solution is simple! Show them the copy! Recommend they get a copy of that book!

LIBRARIES ARE GOOD, BUT BUY THE BOOK OK, don't kill me on this one. I love libraries. These are needed in the world! But, like that prior comment, getting the latest copy of your favorite author from the library is still only making one sale. The library bought one book, and now we are looking at 50+ other sales that went in-recorded. Now, I do not want you to give up on the libraries. If you are told of this new author from a friend and it sort of sounds interesting, yes, take advantage of the library. Read one of their books. Take that author on a test drive. But, if you love the writing, quit taking the "discount" approach! Start buying their books.

USED BOOKSTORES ARE GOOD, BUT BUY THE BOOK One of my best friends owns a new and used bookstore. But, when we go to her bookstore, I always buy the new books. It's the same mantra here. Even if we are buying the book used, and we are spending that money, the sales are not making it back to the publisher or the author. Like the library, take that new author for a single test drive, and then, from that point on, but the books new!!!!!

WHEN YOU HAVE A BOOK YOU LIKED, WRITE REVIEWS EVERYWHERE If you have read my blog in the past, you know my dislike of reviews. For the most part, readers do not read the reviews. The publishers read the reviews. The authors read the reviews. But the readers don't. Reviews do not dictate sales. BUT, what the positive reviews do is to keep the author in the mind of their editors and publishers. If you read a great book, go to ALL of your online bookstores and write a great review. Copy and paste that review! Just write the best dang glowing review ever! Keep those authors at a 5 star level!

SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR This might seem silly, but send them a note telling them how amazing their books were. If you notice, there is a way to contact that author. Send the author a glowing review! Tell them they are amazing. You can also send the letter directly to the publisher and their editor! After they read the note, they will pass it on to the author. Being always in the positive spotlight will encourage the editors to put that author in line for new projects.

This doesn't take much, but if you can support those authors more, you might see more bookstores opening up.

Publishers Are Not To The Reasons For Low Sales

I hear a lot of authors complaining about the availability of their books to the consumer. They scream that their publisher is telling them their sales are not that strong, and yet, their books are not out there for people to buy. Harlequin Historicals, for example, made a decision to reduce their North American print influence. The books are available, but either through purchase on online avenues such as Amazon, or their DTC (Direct to Consumer) programs. Still, the availability is not as strong and authors blame the publisher,

But what we have to remember is that publishers are not just sitting around in a boardroom and saying, "I have an idea, let's just cut a line for the heck of it" or "I know, let's just not sell our product there." They make these decisions based on sales figures and what the consumers were doing.

Yesterday I spoke of publishers cutting authors and the reasons behind it. Many of these decisions are based on sales figures. If the sales are not there and the publisher is not making the money, then the publisher cannot pay the author. It is an issue of supply and demand.

When the recession hit, we saw a decline in brick and mortar bookstores. Many blamed it on bad marketing. Many blamed it on business models. One of the biggest realities, however, was the issue of the consumer. Buying books is a luxury and people had to make decisions. The days of hitting the bookstore and dumping $100+ on books was replaced with groceries and the essentials. This is something archaeologists and historians know. We know how well a culture worked by the amount of artwork that was produced. If we find a clay pot with artwork on it, this meant that the culture was doing well because the person who created the pot had the luxury of taking the time to paint the pot. The same goes for buying books.

It is a shame, but the consumers today are just focused on different things. They want their Netflix. They live busy lives so the days of getting up and reading the newspaper on a Sunday morning are gone. We get up and are on the road immediately with kids, business and the real world. Finding time to sit down and read it just not there. And if we are not taking the time for books, we won't be buying those books.

Going back to the Harlequin Historical line. Why is it that the big market for these books is in Europe? These consumers are reading, and when they are reading, they are buying books.

If we want to see an increase in sales, we have to push for people to read. We need to push for schools to encourage reading, not just for a grade and not to pass Accelerated Reading tests, but to read for pleasure. We have to encourage people to pick up a book and get their faces out of their phones as they binge watch The Bachelor. As a culture, we need to invest in books and literacy and not just tossing iPads and laptops to students who do nothing but play Angry Birds and watch YouTube. Tech is fine, but we have to use it as a tool, not a toy.

So, why are sales low. We as a culture are not buying the books. Don't blame the publishers. Again, it is not like they are saying they want to make decisions to lose money. They are reacting to the sales figures from the consumers like you and me who are not buying the products.

Another E-Publisher is Down - Thoughts on the single approach sales model

On Dec. 28th, Romance Writers of America sent out an email to its members with the information that one more e-publisher just went under. All Romance E-Books is officially closing in 2 days. IN this case, the authors are left with some difficult decisions because of the way the closing is happening. Many of these authors will likely be facing months of legal battles to get unpaid royalties and so forth.

I am bringing this up, not to address the issue of the payment situation. This is bad. What I do want to address is what I see potentially happening in the future with many publishers and lines that focus exclusively on the e-book only model. I am simply afraid that taking a single publishing approach is not the way to go. Publishing only in e-book format, or publishing only in print format is eliminating a huge population of readers one way or another.

When e-book publishing really came out, we saw a continual media blitz of how the number of books available in e-book format was rising dramatically. For those who really bought into the e-book formula, they saw this as a sign that things were shifting. What I do believe many failed to recognize or consider in this model was that many of the traditional publishers were simply launching their books in BOTH print and e-book format at the same time, thus causing the meteoric rise in those sales.

What these publishers also realized is that they were able to tap into BOTH markets when a book was released. Readers could choose what format they were really interested in and everyone benefited. Some authors who did really well in print, saw the e-book sales as more of a little "icing on the cake." Those who did really well in the e-book sales approach saw the same with the print sales. They could now bring those books to conferences and be able to sell a few every now and then.

But here is what worries me. Many of the traditional publishers started making moves to either adding e-published only lines, or shifting some of their traditional published books to e-format only. Although the work going into the book prior to the release of the book was essentially the same and cost the same amount, "printing" the book became a great cost saving model. No more print runs that just sat in warehouses. However, this approach might not have been the best approach.

Many of these authors are now seeing a decline in sales simply because they have lost a group of readers - those who prefer the print books.

I do believe there will also be an effect of all of these moves to a single approach models. When these happened in the past for publishing, we saw a decline in book stores. No, I am not saying this was the 100% reason because we do know the entire market for EVERYTHING declined around 2008 with the housing bubble, but it did play a role. I see the same thing potentially happening with the television and movie industry. How many people out there are dumping their cable companies and just "streaming" their favorite TV show? What will happen when a company such as Netflix goes under? Netflix is finding the success now simply because there are viewers...now. They are just hoping these people will stay with the program. If not, that gamble is not going to pay off.

We see this in a lot of other businesses. When a company just offers one item or one type of product, the longevity of that company just is not there. We have a store in my hometown that is attempting to take the European model of just selling one product - cheese. Now, in Europe, this works because right along the same street consumers also have a butcher, a vegetable stand, a bakery and so forth. Our famous Pike Place Market in Seattle can get away with this model because they too have other shops around the smaller ones offering variety. This store here in Puyallup has a pub on the right of them and a hearing aid supply store on the other. What do they sell? High end cheese. I pass that store on a daily basis and I am lucky to find one person in that store over a week.

I do believe that publishers might wish to revisit how they did things in the past. The single approach sales model doesn't necessarily work. If the concern is the number of books in the first print run was too high, then reduce that number. This doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure things out. By giving the readers out there a choice, they will buy the books. I am confident of that.

Cyber Monday - Buy Books!

As you get online Monday to buy that "perfect" gift for that friend of family member, consider this. That sweater you purchased may likely get returned. That phone you bought will only be upgraded in the next three months. That toy you bought will be out of style within 3 months. But there is a better solution.

Buy books! I don't care if you are buying hard copies, paperbacks, or digital books, just buy books and buy a lot! When we do this, we will have a lot of benefits that will far outlast that sweater you have had your eye on for some time.

1. INCREASE LITERACY - I don't know if you have seen this lately, but our society is just not as literate as it used to be. People spend more time binge watching the full season of Gilmore Girls than reading. Our K-12 and college systems are seeing far more students struggling simply because they cannot keep up with the reading. In a 2005 study it was noted that common newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today only have a readability level of the 10th grade. That's right people! Adults who are reading are only doing so at the age equivalent of someone who is 15 years old. And what's worse is that many are just skimming these and not really reading the full article, or even, in some cases, comprehending it. Just a side note... The Times of India is at a grade equivalent of a junior at the university level. 
2. INCREASE IN SALES HELPS BOOK SELLERS - Why is it that we lost so many bookstores? They simply could not make enough profit to keep the doors open. This is a business that relies on people buying books. If they are only buying subscriptions to Netflix then the book sales are going down. I don't know about you but if the money starts rolling in and people now see that there can be a profit with bookstores, they might just start coming back.
3. INCREASE IN SALES HELPS PUBLISHERS - This is for you writers. If you are frustrated that it seems publishers are passing on projects more these days, it is simply because they too are not able to take risks on new authors. This is a gamble when they sign on a new author. They pay you an advance and hope the sales figures pay out. Buying more books gets more money to the publishers, and, in turn, they have more flexibility when looking at signing on more authors.
4. INCREASE IN SALES HELPS THE AUTHORS - Authors are in this for a business. They want to be around for the long haul, but their publishers will only keep giving them more contracts if their sales are up. So, if you fell in love with a particular author, support them and buy their books. Every book in that count helps the author. You might think it is just one person buying a book, but that single book helps.

So, do me a favor people. Don't go and max out your credit card on random items. Fill up their stockings with books. Fill up all of those presents under the tree with books. You might be surprised by all of the benefits you get.

Sometimes Great Stories Don't Sell

I know all agents and editors have received a follow up letter after a rejection where the author complains that the person rejecting doesn't know a great book from a hot rock. They often go on to
say that if the "publisher/editor/agent" were more open to things then... I think you get the idea. While I understand that much of this response is purely emotional venting, what these authors fail to think about often is what that this is a business. We are selling a product to a buyer and that would be the readers out there. If the market simply will not buy the product, then your book will not sell.

What is unfortunate, is that we often see some fantastic writing! There are a lot of you who tell some great stories and create some great characters, but that does not mean the book is going to sell.

As agents and editors, when we look at proposals, we are also looking at projects in terms of the market. We are always doing "market research." In some cases, we are looking at hard core data that the marketing departments have acquired. Many publishers, for example, do this when it comes to titles. They know that certain words in the title will bring the book to a screeching halt, while other titles will see spikes in sales. They also take the time to know what type of characters work and what type don't work.

In other cases, that market research is purely casual. Through conversations with other professionals or simply scanning the bookshelves, we can see who is selling, what they are selling and what the trends seem to be.

If you are someone who loves watching SHARKTANK you have seen similar situations. How many times have the Sharks passed on projects that they liked, or that they liked the enthusiasm of the inventor, but they simply saw no way to market the product? A Lot!

As authors, it is always important to take the time before you start a story to really identify if this is a story that will sell, or one you simply want to write. You may love the project, but if the story is simply not going to sell to the general public, this might not be the story to write, especially if you want to be a professional author.

I remember teaching a workshop at a Romantic Times convention one year and this author came over to chat about her book. She was writing a biography about her mother. This author was very enthusiastic about the project and you could clearly see she had really worked hard with the project. The problem, however, was this story was simply not unique and was not going to sell. She was writing about what it was like to grow up in the depression. She was focusing in on how the family struggled and how they had to manage on a limited income...and to take a line from Sienfeld "yada, yada, yada." Her only answer as to what was unique about this story was that it was a story that "had to be told."

This is a case, where that story was one that was indeed important to the other members of her family, or the people who know her mother, but for someone on the outside, this was nothing more than the same things we all read in our US History books.

So, please remember, there are times when we know we are passing on good projects. But, also remember that we are all in this for the same reason. We want to sell those books.

How Will Your Readers Find You In Today's Market

Bookstores are gone.

Amazon is flooded with hundreds, no, thousands of authors giving away their books for free.

Stores such as Walmart, Safeway, Fred Meyer are cutting back their bookshelf space for room to sell "Seen Only On TV" items such as the Ninja pro.

Publishers are no longer going to print your book in select markets (Harlequin Historicals for example will not be selling print books in the North American Market through retail outlets).

But, to be successful, you need to get your books out to the public. If your readers cannot find you, then sales will simply decline and your career will go the way of so many other authors. You'll likely just give up.

You can certainly try Social Media, but that market has a limit. Your book title will only get out there IF you have followers, and those depend on having the readers the first time around who loved your book. We also know that for many of us, we are flooded by so many messages on social media that we end up missing the majority of the posts.

The book signing option worked in the past, if there was an outlet, but for many authors, they knew those were limited success. If you sold 10 or 15 books, that would have been a banner day. Besides, sitting in Costco trying to sell your book was tough because people were more interested in the free food samples and buying cases of toilet paper.

You can try the digital publishing route, but then you are back to fighting the crowds on sites such as Amazon and even then, you have to get the attention of the readers.

So, we are back to the initial question: How will readers find you?

In reality, I do believe to solve this issue will require a rethinking on the part of all of the major publishers. To make money will require spending money. Sure, the digital approach is cheaper. Less books to print because essentially everything is print - on demand. But that is not the only answer. There is nothing wrong with keeping the books in digital format, but it has to be only part of the equation. Books have to be available for people to buy the darn things.

Until that time, it is up to the authors to figure out how they will get those sales going. I know my authors at Greyhaus are working hard to get the word out. They are aggressively going after those readers. But will this be enough?

So I ask again (and this is also going out to the publishers out there):

How will the readers find your books so that sales can increase?

How To Increase Your Book Sales - It's Easy!

I was reading a Facebook post from an author over the weekend. This author was not unlike many other authors out there. She was complaining about how poor her sales were. In her case, she was especially complaining about the sales in terms of the number of people using the Kindle Online Lending Library. Apparently getting paid by the number of pages being read was not enough. And she is not the only person struggling this way.

Consider the number of people giving their books away for free. I have said it here in the past, but the number of authors doing this is astronomical. Try this some time. Get on Amazon and go to the Kindle books. For me, I go to Romance and the Contemporary romance. Now sort it by Lowest to
Highest. I generally give up after 400+ books.

I think you are seeing where I am going to here. To increase your sales, you have to actually "sell" a book and get people to "buy" your books. You have to promote people actually buy a book and not take the cheap route.

So, try these "ingenious" marketing techniques:

1. On your website, if you are linking your book to an online retailer, link it to the site that brings in the most money. If Direct Sales through your publisher is going to bring in a higher profit for you, then send the readers there. I should also add that if you are someone tired of Amazon being in charge of the world, then quit sending people to Amazon.
2. Quit selling your books for Free. Sure, there is nothing wrong with a promotion where you can show a "sample" of your book, but keep it to a sample. 
3. Get your friends and family to actually "buy" the book. Yes, I know they are family, but they should be there to support you and your work. They should be your strongest following. 
4. Remind your family and friends that "passing on the book to the rest of the family" is not helping you and your sales. 
5. Encourage your friends and family to quit frequenting those used book stores. No, I am not anti-small business, but the only person making any money here is the owner of the bookstore. You see no profits this way. 
6. As for marketing your book, have all of your friends and family support you with great reviews on EVERY site. Look, if they like your book, make sure they tell people. Quit just passing it on. 

I know this sounds really silly here, but simply giving your book away is not going to help you.

Sales Don't Mean Quality: Why Bad Books Sell

The publishing world has a unique perspective on the products it sells. Although the industry might not come right out and say it, there is an implied message of sales equalling quality. In other words, if a books sells amazingly well, it must be a fantastic book. The problem is that these two variables are not necessarily linked together. 

Sales of a book focus only on one thing - how many people opened up their wallet and bought the darn thing. That's it. We cannot infer from the sales of a book that the book was actually good. 

In some cases, the sales of a bad book can simply come from people just interested to see if the book is really as bad as people think. My wife and I always joke about how people will open up the out of date milk in the fridge, taste it or smell it, and then proceed to ask someone else to taste it or smell it, even though they already know it is bad. 

Case in point. According to a Feb. 27, 2014 article in the Guardian, at that time, the book had sold 100 million copies world wide. But here is where it becomes interesting. According to a July, 2014 article, only 25.9% of the readers ever finished the book. When we look at the reviews of the book, we get comments such as:

• The writing is just not up to par, the characters are unbelievable, and the sex verges on the comical.
• I have been ignoring this book but it just keeps popping up everywhere I turn, and now it's #1, so I came to check reviews to see what all the fuss was about.
• No way a teenager wrote this!! [the initial review described the book as having the quality of being written by a teenager] Today's teenage would have a strong voice, loads of experience and be shocking the "holy heck" out of us!!

Even when we get to the movie that should have improved things due to screenwriters and so forth, the reviews continue:

• Limp and lifeless, Fifty Shades Of Grey lacks any of the raunch or controversy promised, and is instead tiresome, banal and as thinly plotted as a porno.
• In the end, there’s nothing here we haven’t seen before. But there’s also nothing as agonizingly awkward as James’s prose.

I do have to say, I hesitated to use this story as an example, but it really was one of the best examples. For many, and yes, I did the same thing, we bought the book to figure out the hype (as in the second review above). My purchase, although I did return the book, factored into those sales. 

But there are other things that simply crank up those sales. How much marketing a person does or the name of the author will also factor into those sales. We often buy those books when we keep seeing the name or the cover all over the place. That aggressive marketing works. It is also the reason that the author's name plays a role. How many times have you bought a book saying "Oh, look so and so has a new book!" So you get it, only to find it is the biggest piece of you know what ever. 

Don't get me wrong. There are cases when a book is really good and the sales are clearly reflecting that quality. But, we cannot simply look at sales alone and know the book had to good. Remember, many authors who sell with smaller publishers have some really good books, but the distribution is just not there. Does that mean the book is bad? I don't think so.

Just be cautious of correlating those sales figures with quality. This just doesn't work that way all of the time. 

Your Amazing Book Didn't Sell: What Happened?

Sales of a book can be amazingly unpredictable. Writers, editors and agents work their butts off to produce a high quality project. We are all working together to insure when that book hits the book shelves, either in those brick and mortar stores, online or digitally, the readers are climbing over each other to buy the darn thing. And yet, more often than not, books just tank in sales. So what happened?

I know Jessica Faust was blogging sort of about this a couple of days ago when she talked about agents getting overly excited about a project. Remember, that was why we signed you in the first place. We fell head over heels in love with your story, those characters and that fantastic plot line. The editors do the exact same thing. But something happened along the way.

The problem here is that there is likely no one real good reason for the book not selling. It can be any number of variables, or even a combination of variables.

I know I mentioned this author before, but I worked with one person here at Greyhaus who had her book come out right in the middle of the collapse of Borders. Well crap! There went 50% of the sales and there was nothing more that could be done.

In other cases, it might be something as simple as the book cover design. That guy on the front cover of the romance novel just wasn't enough eye candy for the readers.

It might simply be the timing of the book. In this case, think about movie releases. You have this great movie ready to come out at Christmas time and then, darn it, the other company moves their release time earlier and now you are going head to head against The Hobbit.

I can go on and on here, but I want to get to the real point here. We cannot predict the future. We cannot insure sales will be there. What we can promise is that everyone is indeed working hard to get those sales to work for you. But like everything else in this business, we won't know until it happens.

Low Sales Numbers Are Not Always The Fault Of The Publisher

I have said it before and I will say it again. The publishing market right now is tough. Sales for many authors are not where they want them to be right now. Unfortunately, I see and hear far too many authors simply throwing the blame at the publishers making comments such as, "They just aren't doing anything to sell my books." Now let's stop and think about this for a minute. Publishers want to make money too so why would they be out to sabotage the sales of the book? Publishers are trying to get those sales going.

We have to understand that sales of books rely on the readers out there buying those books. Unfortunately, they aren't buying the darn things. This is actually for a couple of reasons. The first is that people are just not reading a lot right now. If you take the time next time you are out to see what people are doing on those Kindle Fires and other tablets, you will notice they are not reading. They're plugged into watching movies, playing video games or checking email. Sure they have the e-reader APPS and sure they have probably picked up a couple of titles, but they aren't reading a lot.

We also know that getting your hands on books is also difficult now. Stores are not providing the shelf-space for books. They are filling it with all other things but certainly not books. Publishers are trying but the stores are simply telling them, "Sorry, no room!" (Personally, IMHO, that is a bunch of Bull, but I don't want to go there right now). We can try to go to a bookstore, but those too are limited. For myself, I am a good 30-45 minutes away from the nearest Barnes and Noble. Within my own town (and Tacoma) the best I can find are used book stores (which don't make money for publisher, agents or writers) or maybe a Half-Price Books.

So what else do we have? Well, we can get online and order a book, but that becomes a pain in the you know what. I want a book to read now and I certainly don't want to wait 5-7 days for the book to arrive. That's what the darn bookstores were for. And to add to this, if you are an unknown author, for someone to find your book is like looking for a needle in the haystack. If we don't know your name, the odds are we will not find you.

Even if your book does make it to a coveted place, now we have to find a way to get the news out about your book. I mentioned this last week but one approach is not going to work for everyone. Facebook, Twitter and so forth may or may not work.

The point of this is simple. EVERYONE is trying hard to get those books sold. We are all in this together. But, the key to all of this success is to get those readers out there reading again. We have to get books into the hands of the buyers. We have to push schools to promote reading. We have to encourage people to get off those video games and read. We have to quit promoting the latest GAMING APP and promote reading.

Do Sales Truly Demonstrate A Quality Book?

Publishing is a strange beast? The whole concept of appreciation of a novel is purely subjective. We talk about this all of the time and it is certainly something I frequently find myself writing in rejection letters - "While this did not work for me, it might certainly work for someone else." I think this is the one thing we can all agree on. And yet, when we start talking about "quality writing" we often turn our heads to a purely "objective" measurement tool - total sales. This leads to the question, "Do sales numbers truly tell us the book is a quality book?"

I honestly have to say no to this. When it comes to sales of a book, there are far too many factors that come into play. A book can be totally amazing and then tank it in sales. On the reverse side, a really bad book can suddenly soar to the top of the sales.

Let me talk about two potential books that I think demonstrate this example well:

Stephanie Stiles book from NAL - TAKE IT LIKE A MOM had great reviews and yet sales were less than what we wanted? Every person I talked to loved the book. Reviewers loved the book, but again, sales were simply not there. Now, we cannot simply place blame on the lack of sales on others, but we do have to consider many factors that "potentially" came into play.

• The release date was during the summer but came out after the early "summer" reading hype happened. Could it be that people had already picked up the summer reads and were simply not looking? Potentially.
• Her book came out the week Borders crashed. What did this mean? 50% of the potential sales outlets were now gone. Could this have had an impact on sales? Sure.
• She did have a change of editor and publisher in the middle of all this. Could this have had an impact? Sure.
• Could the great reviews been less than accurate? Sure.

In the end, we simply cannot place blame on any single factor. And yet, the low sales does end up having an effect on Stiles next book sales.

A second example would be Michele Young's NO REGRETS and THE LADY FLEES HER LORD with Source  Books. Both books also had amazing reviews and great feedback. Again, every sign pointed to a potential successful book. Add in also that Michele is an AMAZING (I can't say that any louder) promoter of her books. Sales simply weren't there.

• Could it have been that readers struggled to find the books in the bookstores? Certainly.
• Could it have been the marketing approach? Sure.
• Could it be that the story was simply too unique and readers weren't ready for it? You bet.

The point is simple. Sales are not the end all, be all. Sales are simply one more factor that we have to look at when we check the quality of a book. Please, however, do not use sales to justify what you wanted all along. In other words:

• My sales were low and my book was amazing so it is someone else's fault.
• My sales were amazing and I made the NY Times Best Seller list so therefore the book is great.

In logic, making statements like this would be considered fallacies.

Save an author

I was thinking a few days ago as I was driving somewhere in the car. I had the radio on, and like every radio station right now, there was an intense conversation about what to do to save the economy. The pundits continued to scream about how we need to get money back into the hands of the people.

Now in this case, they were referring to Buy American programs and those that support issues for small businesses but in this case, my mind took a slight side trip and I started thinking about publishing. As we all know, the publishing business is not immune from the huge financial crisis out there and certainly the authors are feeling it.

And then I had it! The solution came out of the blue! No, it isn't anything amazing or ground breaking but something that I think we have forgotten over the course of the years.

BUY BOOKS!

Now, let me explain. There are a few things that frankly I think will boost the economy a bit and certainly show those publishers out there that your favorite writers (or you published writers) want to see more! Buy those books. If you have a choice between that e-book and regular book, go for the regular book. I know one is cheaper, but buy the other one. Not only does this put money back into the publisher's pocket, it also filters back to the author. In my case, I often buy both versions of the book. One I keep on my Sony Reader and one I keep on the shelf for when I want that "real book feel."

Oh, but don't stop there. If you have a book that you just read and love it so much you want to share it with someone, then buy them a copy. I know it is tempting to just give them yours, but remember, the author made no money on that transaction and this will hurt the author. When the publisher goes back to evaluate sales, they count the number of books sold, not the number of books "shared." The same goes for those "used books."

And writers, you are far from immune to this as well. I would encourage you to buy your own books at regular cost. I know you can get them at a reduced rate but if you are using these as promotional tools, there are other ways you can get that money back, or at least the difference between the "at cost books" and the "full price books". And you too are showing the publisher your book is selling.

Oh, and one more thing writers. Your families might love the books but quit letting Gramma Emma pass it on to Auntie June because you are family. Make it known to them that every book they BUY keeps you on good terms with the publisher.

And I should also note that I buy all of my author's books when they come out. It is my way of putting my 2 cents in.

Scott