To help the author develop and create the best book possible. Material that has both commercial appeal and long-term value.
To help the author determine the next best step in their writing career. Giving counsel regarding the subtleties of the marketplace as well as the realities of the publishing community.
To help the author secure the best possible contract. One that partners with the best strategic publisher and one that is mutually beneficial for all parties involved.
This is a perfect video for Mother’s Day weekend. Please read the story, then click through to the YouTube video. A Mother dances with her blind daughter in an absolutely beautiful way.
HT: Ann Voskamp’s “Only the Good Stuff“
Many writers—especially (but not exclusively) when they’re starting out on this long, uphill journey of writing for publication—are often tempted to quit. Some face that temptation even after they’ve published, and some even after much success. Because it’s hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it (nod to Jimmy …
I am using the 20th year remembrance of the death of Clifton Hillegass as inspiration to make a larger point about the direction an author’s life can take. Clifton (pictured above is his statue in Kearney, NE) was the creator of CliffsNotes and passed away in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the …
by Steve Laube
Understanding the economics of your local brick-and-mortar bookstore should help you understand the upheaval that is happening in our industry. So put on your math cap and let’s take a ride.
This article focuses on the bookstore not the publisher or the writer. I spent over a decade in the Christian bookstore business, and while that was a long time ago the economic principles are the same.
Let’s start with a $10 book (retail price). I’m using $10 because it will make the math a little easier to follow.
The bookstore buys the book for $6 (or 40% discount off the retail price) from the publisher (who calls that $6 the net price). Note that this discount varies between 40% and 50%.
When the books sells to a customer the store then makes a $4 profit ($10 – $6 = $4).
If the store discounts the book during a 20% off promotion they have to sell two copies to make that same $4 profit. But often a 20% off sale is not enough to double the sales volume. Why? Because a high-volume operation like Amazon.com is happy to sell that $10 book for $6.50 (35% off). They can do this because they plan on selling 10 copies at the discounted price and clear $5 in profit. This pricing strategy has a chilling effect on the ability of the local store to compete.
Before watching today’s video, I would never have guessed how many languages are spoken on Earth today. Amaze your friends with the answer! In the midst of the video, Tom Scott makes a point about words that have changed meaning in recent years (before and after the Internet). I thought …