I Have the Power

HA, LuLu has now given me the power to control the price of my book. They have a new tool that let's me set a discount price just like the major bookstores do. See, here is the crap deal shoved down your throat if you wan't your book on sites like Barnes and Noble- they set the royalty amount and then charge customers whatever they want. Eventually, most all books end up like $9.99, but retail stays like $18.89. But now LuLu has given me the ability to set the price from my print-on-demand publisher just as competitive! Ya planet! You may be able to buy my book for $9.99 at major stores someday, but you can buy my book right now for $11.89 at LuLu.com/olson727.

What is a Guest Blog? Click here to see mine.

I learned a new thing this week which is not surprising cuz I don't know much. There is this thing called a "guest blog" and it is a great way of getting free advertising. I signed up to do one like a long time ago and this week I got an email reminding me. Well, I actually had no idea what I was supposed to do. Did they call me? Did they email questions? Did I call them?

So here it is, you write a blurb and they post it on their webpage with a cover of your book. How cool is that? I applied the tricks you are supposed to apply when sending inquiries to agents/publishers only i kept in mind that I wanted people to actually buy the book. The main thing I tried to do was to give the reader of the blog some idea of how I write. I am sure it sucks, but I am a neurotic writer. The blog owner was beyond kind in adding a small bit about how her daughter couldn't put the book down like ever.

Guest blogs are proof that people out there are really awesome.

Book Stores are Killing Themselves

Ok, so here is some info you need if you are considering print-on-demand publishing with any company that will get your books to a major distributer- major bookstores, like Barnes and Nobel, will not allow your customers to return it. For the life of me I can not figure out what the difference is, but I am sure it has something to do with archaic distribution methods that they are unwilling to change. So, if your customer receives a book that was defective, through no fault of their own, that person is screwed.

One more thing, print-on-demand books are not welcome in the stores. They will placate you and say that a committee will review it, but if you are not a friend or relative it ain't happening. I appreciate the honesty of the regional manger at Barnes and Nobel.

These issues will become more and prevalent as more of us choose to be environmentally responsible with our art. So, the moral of this story is that people need to buy electronic or go to a print-on-demand publisher like LuLu.com to purchase an actual book, they have most all of them now, if you want to be green.

Social Media is All

Facebook has been almost solely responsible for all of my book sales. I paid for a press release and tons of people looked at my book, but not one sale. I sent free copies to family and I sold like 3 books from their recommendations. I sent out free books to Facebook friends and thanks to their raves on Facebook I've sold books. I am not even sure how many books were sold thanks to the reviews written on Amazon.com, but it wasn't very many at all.

Fact 1- people don't have much money at all.
Fact 2- people are not forking out $20 bucks for a book unless it is an impulse buy at the store, or unless a person they trust recommends it. And then, they won't always go through the hassle of ordering it online and waiting for it in the mail.
Fact 3- Publishers who have exclusive rights to bookstore shelves (unless you jump through fire laden hoops) generally only want friend's family and famous people to work with.
Fact 4- The only reason anyone is buying my book is because it is actually good. PRODUCT FIRST! You must create an amazing product!

PS, this blog has resulted in zero sales. I did however send a book to reader in Australia, cuz you can buy the book there I swear, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Promotion is Crazy

So I spend most of my day trying to get people to read my book and seeing what type of assets have magically showed up. You can now buy my book in three online stores in Australia. I have no idea how to get anyone in Australia to even try my book, but it is still cool. I've sold most of my books through the Kindle store which wasn't even part of the whole LuLu publishing package, but I don't believe I would be selling most any of them without such a great looking cover. Every single one of my meager sales is due in total to a recommendation from someone else and a cool cover. I spent money to make a press release and I gave Facebook money to advertise my book resulting in absolutely no sales. People are friends of the book and will click that they like it, but no sales. One person puts that they loved the book on Kindle's facebook and WAM.

Moral of the story:
Write a great story that gives the reader what they want and give away your book so that you too can sell a few books.

The real moral:
Get a real job. Food good.

Kindle and iBook

I paid a wonderful company to create file conversions so that I can publish my book as a Kindle and an iBook. The company is ebookarchitects.com and they do not even bill you until you feel the files and everything are perfect. I am pretty talented at the whole changing files stuff and tried to do it myself, but seriously don't even bother. It cost me $150 for both converted file formates which is less then it would cost me in frustration and lost writing time. I also asked LuLu about help with converting the file but they asked $200 for only the iBook format. In this situation I am glad I chose the other company. Still lov'n LuLu, you just have to take each of your needs and do your research.

Book sales are practically non-existent for me, but it has been only four weeks and I am competing with a mind boggling amount of competitors. I can only scream, "But mine is insanely fun," so loud. I just keep telling myself that this was an experiment and move on to my next challenge.

Have a great day.

Worldwide Distribution

LuLu has made my book available for purchase in the United Kingdom as part of the whole package I purchased. Unfortunately, the only reason I knew that is because I did a search on Google Books. The whole book selling engine is so enormous that you are left to sit and wait for things to happen. The book is also available at Books A Million and Barns and Noble. LuLu makes these things happen quietly.

I am still waiting for my book's conversion to iBooks' file and Kindle files. It is a roller coaster ride. : )