Tag Archive - Bookselling

News You Can Use – Jan. 24, 2012

January 24, 2012 in News You Can Use, Steve with 4 Comments

The Secrets Behind the Bestseller List – Ever wonder how those lists are compiled? The Sacramento Bee takes a stab at uncovering the secret.

3 Important Questions about Digital that No One is Asking – Nick Atkinson adds to the ongoing discussion in a sharp manner.

Do Book Bloggers Still Matter? – Beth Kephart asks whether this form of marketing has any influence any more.

10 Bits of Advice to Stop Giving Writers – Nick Mamatas presents a contrarian view of the kinds of things we are teaching at writers conferences and in our blogs. Agree or disagree?

Is Profanity Okay to Use as Part of Your Writing? – Relevant Magazine has this provocative take on profanity in music lyrics. My mom would have washed his mouth out with soap.

The New Logo of a Combined Zondervan and Thomas Nelson – Just Kidding! Robert Treskillard engages in some fun speculation and adds in his own graphic design talents.

Amazon is Gunning to Put Traditional Publishers Out of Business – An anonymous publisher spills his opinions to Sarah Lacy at PandoDaily.

Watch this quick video about the things that have all but disappeared because of technology:

Bestseller List News – October 3, 2011

October 3, 2011 in Business, News You Can Use, Publishing, Steve with 1 Comment

Some of our authors have recently hit the bestseller lists! Congratulations to all.

Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall hit #22 on the tradepaper fiction New York Times extended bestseller list for August 28st. And is #2 on the ECPA “Multi-Channel” bestseller list for October.

Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee (Center Street) hit #17 on the hardcover fiction New York Times bestseller list for October 2nd and will be #31 on the extended list for October 9th.

Log Cabin Christmas an omnibus of novellas (Barbour) hit #34 on the tradepaper fiction New York Times extended bestseller list for October 2nd. The collection included our clients Kelly Eileen Hake, Liz Tolsma, and Deb Ullrick.

Still House Pond by Jan Watson (Tyndale) is #10 on the ECPA Christian Fiction bestseller list for October.

A Whisper of Peace by Kim Vogel Sawyer (Bethany House) is #15 on the ECPA Christian Fiction bestseller list for October.

Double Trouble by Susan May Warren (Tyndale) is #16 on the ECPA Christian Fiction bestseller list for October.


News You Can Use

July 5, 2011 in News You Can Use, Steve with 2 Comments

Would John Locke Be Better Off with a Traditional Publisher? – Mike Shatzkin analyzes the revenue of million copy e-book selling author John Locke. The math is fascinating. According to Shatzkin, the author is making less than $30,000 per book. It is highly likely a traditional publisher would pay him a lot more for his work. Read the post. You decide.

Cherish the Book Publisher – You’ll Miss Them When They Are Gone – Eric Felton’s delightful Wall Street Journal article from last Friday. Key quote:

“It’s only natural for those locked out to despise the gatekeepers, but what about those of us in the reading public? Shouldn’t we be grateful that it’s someone else’s job to weed out the inane, the insipid, the incompetent? Not that they always do such a great job of it, given some of the books that do get published by actual publishers. But at least they provide some buffer between us and the many aspiring authors who are like the wannabe pop stars in the opening weeks of each American Idol season: How many instant novelists are as deluded as the singers who make with the strangled-cat noises believing they have Arethaen pipes?… No doubt there are geniuses languishing in obscurity. Who knows how many great books are just waiting to be discovered? But are we really more likely to find them once the publishing pros have been handed their hats and shown the door? I rather doubt it.”

J.K. Rowling Leaves Her Literary Agent for Another – Her, now former, agent Christopher Little has a testy response. Little’s representative claims the departure “came out of the blue. He was surprised to say the least. He has contracts in place with [Ms Rowling], and he has contracts in place with Neil Blair. He is still considering his options.” Which implies a possible lawsuit may be in the future.

Majority of Science Fiction/Fantasy Readers Read E-books – I was just saying this to some editors last week! The technological revolution is going to initially be dominated by those already predisposed to gadgets.

Southern Baptists Officially Condemn the NIV 2011 Version – At their recent convention they unanimously voted on the new translation. The old 1984 edition of the NIV is still considered okay. The resolution may effect the Lifeway stores and is a significant blow to Biblica and Zondervan who spent so much time trying to update the translation and avoid this very thing.

You might think, “who cares?” But the next time you quote a verse in your book you may want to think carefully about which translation you are quoting depending on the audience to which you are writing.

The Death of the Serial Comma? – Has the University of Oxford Writing and Style Guide has decided to drop the comma before the “and” in a series? That original post created a storm of online controversy which led to this new post. Which leads me to this cartoon (I know it isn’t a serial comma, but it is still funny):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon Rank Obsession

January 21, 2011 in Publishing with 4 Comments

Admit it. You’ve checked your Amazon.com sales ranking at least once since your book was published. You feel the need to have some outside confirmation of the sales of your book. And Amazon’s ranking are free to look at.

I’ve even seen book  proposals where the author has gone to great lengths to include the Amazon ranking for each title that is competitive with the one the author is proposing. A prodigious amount of wasted effort.

Publishers rarely pay attention to Amazon rankings unless yours gets below 1,000 or if you get in the top 100.

I’ve known authors who have gone into deep depression because their Amazon numbers aren’t very good.

Consider for a moment how those rankings are calculated. Amazon is very secretive as to the exact formula (and some have gone to great lengths to figure it out) but consider looking at it as “the number of sales in a given period of time.” Much like the bestseller lists with USA Today and the New York Times a book has to sell x number of copies to somehow “hit the list.”

This fascinating article by Morris Rosenthal guesses that to get into the top 10,000 on Amazon your book needs to sell at least 2 copies a day. And to get in the top 100 you may have to sell 100 copies a day.

I know of a case where a book sold 700 copies with Amazon (based on publisher’s information) in one week and got into the top 100 ranking. So Rosenthal’s guess may not be too far off.

Another author thought that they could make the number jump by asking fans to wait until a specific day and have everyone buy the book from Amazon on that day. Over 100 fans participated. The result was a nice jump but it did not come close to cracking the top 100 sales ranking that day.

It is so fluid that it is hardly worth the obsession. Amazon is only one sales outlet out of hundreds. It doesn’t reflect sales at the local grocery store, the Christian bookstore, the independent retailer in your town, much less sales to Barnes & Noble and other “big box” outlets. In that light consider Amazon as a single snapshot of a single moment from a single sales source.

If you really must track your Amazon ranking here are a couple sites that do the heavy lifting for you:
Novel Rank
Sales Rank Express

To bring levity to the conversation, a husband and wife team created the following  short video that is a hilarious send up on Amazon rank obsession. Make sure you watch past the credits:

What was on Your Bestseller List?

January 11, 2011 in Trends with 6 Comments

What was the bestselling novel or non-fiction book the week you were born? Follow this link to a delightful search engine on Biblioz, an Australian company. Make sure you type the date first (not the month).

It is a bit startling to see how fleeting the popularity of books can be. They were the most popular in the country at the time! But I have to admit that I don’t recognize most of the novelists.

My #1 novel was Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver.

My #1 non-fiction was Masters of Deceit by J. Edgar Hoover.

What was the bestselling book on your birth date?

Now check out the titles for your children’s birth dates. Here are the #1′s for our kids:

Fiction:
The Man from St. Petersburg – Ken Follet
If Tomorrow Never Comes – Sydney Sheldon
Zoya – Danielle Steel

Non-fiction:
Living, Loving, and Learning – Leo Buscaglia
Iacocca: An Autobiography – Lee Iacocca
Moonwalk – Michael Jackson

HT: GalleyCat

E-Book Sales: Behind the Stats

July 19, 2010 in E-Books, Publishing with 16 Comments

There is mixed news with regard to book sales in May of this year. Store sales were down 2.6% but publisher sales were up by 9.8%. Read all the various stats here. Remember these are simply comparison of 2010 monthly numbers with 2009.

The biggest area of growth, percentage-wise, is in e-books (up 162.8%).

But lets look at actual dollars, not percentages.

Publisher sales (according to the Association of American Publishers) were $715.3 million in May. Of that total, e-books accounted for $29.3 million…or about 4%. If this was a 162% jump over 2009, then e-book sales in May of last year were $11.2 million.

There is no question that this is a huge leap. But it still means that 96% of all sales are still in hard copy.

Many experts claim that in five years (by the year 2015) that e-books will “tip” and account for over 50% of all book sales. I’ve heard this from two major publishers (one was the head of the digital initiatives for that publisher) and from my friend Randy Ingermanson in his excellent e-zine (read pages 2-11 for his full report on the issue).

For that to happen a 100% growth rate would have to be sustained. That would mean 2011 would have e-books at 8% of sales, 2012 at 16% of sales, 2013 at 32%, etc.

I’m not arguing that it won’t happen. Just that it may not happen quite so fast. Sustaining that rate of growth is a lot harder than it looks on paper (no pun intended). Please read my earlier blog post “Is Print Dead” to go further behind these type of statistics (in that post I attempt to show that hard copy CDs still account for nearly 70% of all music sales).

I’ve written earlier that I own a Kindle and like it. I have bought a number of books for the device. And in fact have purchased many books that I already owned in paper…sort of a “best of” or “favorites” bookshelf. Why? Because I’m a collector. And having those books with me at all times is a neat thing. Plus they become searchable. It also means that I can have access to these books forever and from wherever I am. And I’m not in fear of losing books when the corner of the garage collapses in a big rain storm (true story). However, if there are a lot of people like me, then the “growth” is somewhat skewed.

I hesitantly compare this to the transition from record albums to cassette tapes to compact discs. Or the transition from VHS to DVD (and now to Blue-Ray). I suspect many of you purchased albums or movies that you already owned because you wanted them in the new format, for whatever reason. They were your favorites. So initially some of your expenditures were not for new material. Of course, eventually we began purchasing 100% of all new music or movies in the new format. And that is where the direct comparison with books breaks down.

There are legion of readers who will not convert to e-books. An amateur poll I’ve taken of folks (family, friends, professional acquaintances) has been very interesting. Most are intrigued by the Kindle device. One showed me their iPad (with an accompanying gloat). But few were ready to embrace switching from p-books (paper) to e-books (electronic). And none were prepared to go all digital any time soon.

I reiterate what I’ve said before. This is one of the most exciting times to be in this industry. The changes are rapid, they are innovative, and they are creative. Writers who can create dynamic content have nothing to fear. The consumer continues to demand great content in whatever form they can get it. Literary agents like myself, make it our job to watch these developments carefully and to continue to safeguard our client’s revenue and their ideas.

The Shack Gets Sued

July 14, 2010 in Publishing with 18 Comments

Sad news from the LA Times that the author and publishers of The Shack are now in court fighting over the royalty earnings.

Read the entire article here.

Then weep.

Then pray that cooler heads prevail and that it can somehow be kept out of the court system.

The key element to the story, from my agent’s perspective, is that there was not a solid contract in place from the beginning. It started with a hand shake. Then when a big publisher (FaithWords, a division of Hachette) wanted to get involved in distribution a contract was put in place. But the agreement between the publisher, Windblown Media, and the author has terminology that remains unclear. Signing a contract that pays based on net profits can be trouble unless “profit” is defined very clearly. Most book contracts are based either on retail price or on net receipts. Big difference between receipts and profits. Young claims that Windblown has under-reported the profits.

Windblown Media counter-sued and claims that their owners Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings should be named as co-authors of the book because of the work they did back in the beginning of the project.

So Hachette, in a defensive move, had to file their own lawsuit against Windblown Media and William P. Young. Why? Because they have one million dollars they owe to these fellows, but if they send a check, and it is later determined by the other lawsuits that the money was paid incorrectly, then Hachette could be sued. So they very wisely put the money in a judicial escrow account where it will remain until Windblown and Young settle their dispute. In other words, from now on…no one gets paid…until the things are settled by the courts.

What a mess.

Clearly some huge misunderstandings have occurred. Dig even deeper into the article and note that “reserves against returns” is misunderstood. In addition there is dispute over reduced royalties paid on books sold at a very high discount. Both are well documented industry practices and are usually in a contract with clear definitions.

This illustrates why writers need literary agents to help with their intellectual property concerns. This week I have helped three clients unravel their royalty statements. Each case had different concerns and because of what I do I could understand and explain the situation. In one case we are writing a note to the publisher asking for clarification. In another case I think the royalty rate for e-books does not match the contractual rate and thus a note has been sent asking for clarification.

I have seen situations among writing friends disintegrate over editorial and publishing issues. That is why I encourage anyone who is wanting to collaborate on a project that they get a solid collaboration agreement in place as early as possible.

Don’t just shake hands and hope for honorable behavior. We would like to hope for honor and honesty but we are all fallen creatures in desperate need of redemption.

At least consider using a conciliation organization like Peacemakers (click here for the first steps in dispute resolution) before taking anyone to court.

Update: August 2, 2010

If you would like to read the actual court documents you can follow these links — the federal court complaint of Jacobsen and Cummings (the founders of Windblown Media) vs. Young, Young’s court motion to dismiss, and Windblown’s legal response.

Then enjoy the actual court document where Hachette is asking for court relief — this is where they state that there is nearly a million dollars in royalties waiting to be paid.

Update: May 13, 2011

Apparently the lawsuit of Jacobsen et al. against William Paul Young et al. has been dismissed (according to court documents dated January 10, 2011).  The issue has been settled, or is in the process of being settled. This can mean any number of things. 1) The parties reached an out-of-court settlement 2) The parties decided to drop the suit 3) Any number of other things. The bottom line is that the suit will not go before a judge or a jury to be settled. That is good news.

Click here for a PDF of the actual dismissal ruling.

 

Update: August 18, 2011

According to Publisher’s Lunch (a newsletter to which everyone interested in the publishing industry should subscribe):

On August 12, a little more than a month before the case was set to go to trial, Young reached a confidential settlement agreement with  Jacobsen and Cummings and the Ventura court case was dismissed without prejudice. Young’s lawyer Michael Anderson declined to comment beyond affirming a settlement deal had been reached; Martin Singer, representing Jacobsen and Cummings, did not answer requests for comment.

 It appears that this is merely the final conclusion to a settlement agreed to earlier in the year. So, essentially, this is only confirmation of the update I wrote in May. Bottom line is that the dispute seems to be over.
Check back in a few months and see if there is more news.

ICRS Observations 2010

July 2, 2010 in ICRS with 10 Comments

Some have asked for my thoughts on this past week’s International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in St. Louis. I’m glad to answer.

This was my 29th consecutive booksellers convention. At its height there were approximately 14,000 in attendance, many years ago. That is no longer the case. Statistics released indicate total attendance was 6,812. Registered pick-ups in attendance was  4,747 (flat compared to 2009); professional attendance was 1,675 (up 4.5% over last year); and international attendance came in at 390 (up 4% over 2009). I’m not sure if they combine exhibitors and retailers in that first number of if the exhibitors (publishers, etc.) are included in the second number. As an agent we are considered “professional” attendees.

Apparently the national average retail trade show attendance is down 16%, so the convention is feeling pretty good about this year’s showing.

I’ll admit to being skeptical about St. Louis as the locale. In my nearly 30 years of attendance it had never been in that city. I was pleasantly surprised. I was fortunate to be staying at the hotel directly across the street from the convention hall which made moving from one thing to another very easy. I was also impressed by the number of fine restaurants in the area, most within walking distance. I had the fun to host two author-related dinners and both restaurants were excellent.

Since I don’t go to the convention with tourism in mind I have no idea what I might have missed, other than traveling to top of that Arch. However I spoke to the husband and son of an author who thoroughly enjoyed the area and filled three days with a wide variety of activities.

For me the event began with the Christy Award reception on Saturday night. Our agency had three authors who were finalists. None received the top award, but being recognized as a finalist is an honor in and of itself. I love the Christys and what it represents. If you ever have someone criticize Christian fiction as being vapid or poorly written, challenge their assumptions by suggesting they read the finalists. I predict they will be chagrined to have made their accusations after having a chance to read some of the incredible writers represented among the award finalists.

The rest of the week was a series of scheduled meetings and “hallway” or “aisle-way” conversations. I had thirty scheduled appointments and probably ended up with over 50 significant conversations when the time was done. Even had the chance to discuss deal points on a new contract that surfaced during the convention (that almost never happens).

I was also privileged to hear a hour and a half presentation by Hachette Digital. They are working very hard to maximize the opportunities created by the digital revolution. I came away feeling like some very smart people are working hard on doing smart things in this world. They were open to questions and suggestions. Very impressive. Thank you Rolf, for the invitation.

Tuesday was an odd day in that every meeting was in the hotel until late afternoon. I did not actually hit the convention floor until 4:00. That was something new for me since, in the past, most meetings took place on the convention floor or in Publisher suites. This was also the first year that not a single appointment took place in a publisher’s suite!

Because the convention itself was smaller in scale it fit in the hall very well. There were always people visibly roaming the aisles all the way until the closing announcement on Wednesday afternoon. It “felt” busier because of that.

The International rights section was a hive of activity. Goodness. There was never a dull moment in that space. It is incredible to think of the marvelous activity of great Christian literature and its impact around the globe.

I’ve had some disagreement with a colleague or two over whether the ICRS convention is a dinosaur that will soon disappear. I tend to remain positive about its place in the industry and truly hope it does not go away. There is simply no other single event where so many industry-related people gather in one place. I can think of a half dozen conversations that would not have happened if were not for this event.

For publishers it has become an Author-Relations event, not much of a sales opportunity. The stores have already placed their orders for forthcoming books and music. And while there are fewer Christian stores, many major big box retail buyers were in attendance. Therefore while actual orders may not be placed at the show, the seeds for new sales were being planted.

Since both Chi Libris (fiction) and AWSA (women speakers and authors) organizations have their retreat in the days before the convention, many authors are there. I believe we had at least 12 or 13 of our clients who were there for at least part of the event.

The gift section was humming the entire show. And that will always be. Many gifts are such that they have to be physically held or seen in person before knowing if they are a product the retailer can sell. If ICRS goes away the retailers will have to rely on the general market Gift Shows which would not have as many vendors and their selection opportunities would decline.

All the usual suspects of kitchy art, gifts, and toys were there. Nothing made me exclaim, “you’ve got to be kidding.” So that either means I’ve become immune after all these years or there were simply fewer products to see. (Years ago, my all-time worst observation was a clown making balloon art. He was methodically putting together a six foot high brown crucifix with a flesh colored Jesus on it…all made out of long thin “clown” balloons. From the back of the adoring crowd I muttered a little too loudly, “My kingdom for a pin.” And then walked away shaking my head.) In general I don’t mind most of that material since I sold a lot of it during my days as a Christian retailer. For many people the items are a real blessing in their church or home. But that balloon art exhibition was over my line.

I enjoyed taking pictures of client’s book covers and displays and emailing those to them. A lot of fun for those who couldn’t attend.

Bottom line? Publishing is alive and well. Publishers are still looking for great content and great authors. The Christian retail business is small, but those who survived the “crash” are still working hard and serving their communities. It is nice to see there are those still dedicated to the call of being booksellers.

I can’t wait to get to work each day to find out what’s new in this terrible, horrible, wonderful, exciting, frustrating, exhilarating business.

What’s up with Christian Retail?

May 10, 2010 in Publishing with 8 Comments

Twice in the last 30 days I have been interviewed about the “state of the industry.” The journalist’s questions were insightful and thought I would share some of them with you. My answers have been expanded beyond the original ones since I have more space to work with here.

1. What do you believe to be the most important trend in Christian publishing and why?

This can be a complex question depending on which part of publishing being discussed. The obvious answer is the digital revolution. While e-book sales are still only a tiny percentage of the whole, the foundations being laid today will have long term implications.

In fiction I have been encouraged by the continued diversity in publisher’s acquisitions. While “romance” is king, a great story can still get a chance.

In non-fiction there has been a concerted push by publishers to acquire only those authors with a built-in audience of some sort. This is especially hard for the debut writers who have enormous talent and insight but have yet to construct a personal following. I even had one editor at a publishing house write me the following after I groused about a rejection letter that didn’t square with what I knew about that publisher:

“…it seems we no longer trust the old methods of reading the market, trying to get ahead of the curve on reader tastes and needs, and so forth. Now we have to prove a book’s success in advance, on paper, using mathematics.”

That is a stunning statement but in a sense is not news. If writers have not come to grips with the fact that publishing is a business, then now is the time to do so. Never forget that without a “bottom line” (i.e. profit) the publisher goes away (or they downsize) and everyone gets hurt.

Some will read that and despair. Others will shrug and say, “What’s new?” I think it is exciting that the industry is becoming that much more professional and the demands on excellence, quality, and “big ideas” will only help create better and more successful books.

2. When were you last in a Christian store and why?

In February, while traveling on business, I visited a local Christian store to observe their layout, featured products, and whether our client’s books were in stock. This particular store is part of a Christian retail chain with multiple locations.

The results were mixed. A front-of-store cardboard display was empty of product which was a good for store sales – meaning they had sold out, but signaled to me that their buyer was much too conservative (“stack ‘em high and watch ‘em fly” vs. “keep it low and they won’t go”). Since I did not own that item they missed out on selling one to me.

3. What can Christian stores do to better differentiate themselves from other channels selling Christian products?

Remember that I was in the Christian bookstore business for over a decade and our store received the National Store of the Year award from CBA (The Christian Booksellers Association) in 1989. So while my personal in-store experience is now nearly two decades out of date, I still understand many of the nuances of Christian retail.

My answer to the above question is “Personal service and community building.” The competition isn’t always the online channels. Sometimes it is simply those outlets that choose the top 10 titles to display. Thus product knowledge and personal relationships are the key to customer retention.

We had a Christian store in our area where our family shopped because of a long term friendship we had with its owner. Unfortunately, after 35 years it closed its doors after the city decided to build light rail in front of her location and made it nearly impossible to visit. We really don’t have an alternate store within a reasonable driving distance, which is disappointing in a city the size of Phoenix.

The CBA store is still a powerful customer for the Christian publishing community. But as a whole is losing “market share.” This market share has been shaved by online retailing, big box retailing that siphons off bestsellers, and a general malaise for the specialty retailer. The gift side of the CBA store is where most stores will find their survival because it does not have the competition from online stores. I hear many who are highly critical of the non-book section of the Christian store. Let’s stop that, okay? Let’s consider changing the view of the Christian bookstore to one of a Christian “supply” store or, if you must, a Christian “boutique.” Wherever there are vital and growing churches there are vital and growing Christian stores.

At the risk of sounding out of date I remember that the Christian stores I managed, back in the 80s, served nearly 500 church accounts. Once we counted the number of student curriculum packets we sold in one quarter and were startled to find that we sold 10,000 pieces of student material intended for Sunday School education for children. So while we had some plaques and jewelry and cards and posters and knick-knacks in the store we also had curriculum, at least 3,000 book titles, and hundreds of Bibles.

If you can, support your local Christian store, they serve a vital role as the Supply Sergeants of the Kingdom.

4. Do you own an e-book reader and if so what kind and what are you currently reading on it?

I have owned the Kindle since it was first released (currently using the Kindle 2). I last read a client’s manuscript on it while traveling (uploaded from my computer to the Kindle). In addition I also re-read Phil Vischer’s Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story after hearing him speak on the topic at a recent conference.

I have resisted the lure of the iPad so far. I plan to wait for the second version to see if some of the bugs get worked out. Unfortunately the “swiping” motion on the screen gives me a bit of vertigo. I find that standing in the Apple Store playing with it gives me a slight headache. So I may never be able to use one comfortably.

1. What do you believe to be the most important trend in Christian publishing and why?
This can be a complex question depending on which part of publishing being discussed. The obvious answer is the digital revolution. While e-book sales are still only a tiny percentage of the whole, the foundations being laid today can have long term implications.
In fiction I have been encouraged by the continued diversity in publisher’s acquisitions. While “romance” is king, a great story can still get a chance.
In non-fiction there has been a concerted push by publishers to acquire only those authors with a built-in audience of some sort. This is especially hard for the debut writers who have enormous talent and insight but have yet to construct a personal following.
2. When were you last in a Christian store and why?
In February, while traveling on business, I visited a local Christian store to observe their layout, featured products, and whether our client’s books were in stock. The results were mixed. A front-of-store cardboard display was empty of product which was a good for store sales, but signaled a buyer that was much too conservative (“stack ‘em high and watch ‘em fly” vs. “keep it low and they won’t go”). Since I did not own that item they missed out on selling one to me.
3. What can Christian stores do to better differentiate themselves from other channels selling Christian products?
Personal service and community building. The competition isn’t always the online channels. Sometimes it is simply those outlets that choose the top 10 titles to display. Thus product knowledge and personal relationships are the key to customer retention. We had a Christian store in our area that we shopped mostly because of the long term relationship we had with its owner. Unfortunately, after 35 years it closed its doors after the city decided to build light rail in front of her location and made it nearly impossible to visit.
4. Do you own an e-book reader and if so what kind and what are you currently reading on it?
I have owned the Kindle since it was first released. I last read a client’s manuscript on it while traveling (uploaded from my computer to the Kindle). In addition I also re-read Phil Vischer’s Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story after hearing him speak on the topic at a recent conference.
5. How have you been able to use social media effectively in your work?
The key word here is “effectively.” Our agency doesn’t necessarily need to market our services like a traditional retail business would. However I connected my industry related blog to Facebook to help populate the information more effectively.

HarperStudio is History

April 5, 2010 in Publishing with 4 Comments

Back on March 17 I blogged about the changes at HarperStudio and asked if this could mean that division would close down. Today it was announced that it has come to pass, the division is no more.

HarperStudio had made big news by setting up a low advance model in exchange for high royalties. It was termed a “profit sharing” model. (of course define “profit” first… :-) ) Plus they sold their books on a non-returnable basis to the stores, both online and brick & mortar.

It was a highly creative idea and caused quite a stir, especially when there was talk of a 50/50 profit split.

My questions are these. Does this mean the end to the experiment of “profit sharing” in publishing?Also…

Did the model fail to produce the necessary revenue or did the acquisitions team fail to select the right titles?

At the risk of being a hindsight prophet, I think it was the latter. Don’t get me wrong. The books themselves are quality titles for the most part, but none of them became “blockbusters.” The model might work if the book generates enough revenue. But the combination of a modest list, with no break out bestsellers, and the fact that the stores could not return slow moving titles probably contributed to conservative buying patterns and kept the big box retailers from “stacking ‘em high.”

What do you think?

The original announcement can be found here, but the content is reprinted below.

HarperStudio, the unusual imprint founded two years ago by Bob Miller, is being shut down and its books and staff will land at other HarperCollins imprints. Miller left Harper last month to become group publisher at Workman (Shelf Awareness, March 16, 2010).

The final titles to be published by HarperStudio will be the summer 2010 list. All fall titles and titles scheduled to be published thereafter will be published by other HarperCollins imprints. In a memo to employees, Michael Morrison, president and publisher of U.S. general books and Canada, said that Harper “will be contacting agents and authors to discuss the best editors and imprints for” its fall and other future titles. “All of our imprints are happy to discuss profit sharing scenarios on a book by book basis.”

Debbie Stier, associate publisher of HarperStudio and director of digital marketing for HarperCollins, continues as director of digital marketing and continues to acquire books for all imprints as editor-at-large. Kathryn Ratcliffe-Lee continues to report to Stier.

Senior editor Julia Cheiffetz is moving to the Harper imprint. Assistant editor Katie Salisbury continues to report to Cheiffetz.

Jessica Wiener continues as director of marketing.

In its brief life, HarperStudio published mainly nonfiction, offered low advances with profit-sharing, tried to sell titles on a nonreturnable basis and signed many authors who were well-known in other fields or were writers who wanted to try projects that differed from their usual ones.

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