Joanna, if anything, understates the problem. I puiblish Junction
Press. I work very hard to get reviews, with limited success, but
usually I manage to get one or two per book. I used to work hard for
bookstore placement, as well, but my experience was that the books
would be returned in unsaleable condition or simply never paid for.
Now I mostly send to bookstores only if they pay upfront. It's a lot
of effort for very little return.
Reviews don't sell many books, unless (in the US) they're in the NY
Times (unlikely).
I can't emphasize enough that the books that sell do so because of
the efforts of their authors. At the very least they should approach
the managers of bookstores in their own neighborhoods--that does sell books.
It also helps to think about any niches, as in "niche marketing,"
into which one might fit and try to place the books or get them
reviewed accordingly.That means regionalism (alas), gender, sometimes
religion, ethnicity--whatever. It's useful to be utterly shameless.
Mark
At 11:49 AM 10/10/2007, you wrote:
>Can I pitch in here, as having a foot in both camps ....
>
>Roger C. and I run Arrowhead Press, as many of you will know, and
>the distribution problem is one of our biggest headaches. It is by
>no means a question of not bothering, and I wish it were because
>then we could do something about it.
>
>The trouble is, we and other small presses simply cannot match the
>criteria the distribution networks require before they'll take on a
>press, and chain book stores will only buy in from them. If we had
>the time, we could flog books to independent booksellers around the
>country, but that would mean giving up the day job, and of course
>there's no way Arrowhead would make enough to keep us. Most of our
>books are ordered by post, or come via the poets themselves, some of
>whom are incredibly proactive. And incidentally, this is probably
>the place to state that the press costs us money rather than making
>us any, in spite of what seems to be a comparatively minimal grant.
>
>As for my other foot (see above), I went to Arc for my first full
>length collection, at least partly because it seemed invidious to
>spend energy and funds 'in-house', as it were. That book seems to be
>doing reasonably well; but then Arc is a rather bigger publisher
>than we are, and has certainly been going much longer.
>
>And just in case anyone was wondering, no, I didn't win the Forward,
>but being shortlisted was great, and will be good to have on that CV!
>
>joanna
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Douglas Barbour"
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 3:34 PM
>Subject: Re: A Question for Lurking List Members
>
>
>>Now that often happens with small presses, here too, Max. But I
>>don't recall you even mentioning this event to us. So tell us about
>>it, eh? Hey, always a new book deserves congratulations, even so late.
>>
>>Doug
>>On 9-Oct-07, at 3:35 PM, Max Richards wrote:
>>
>>>My own second book came out last year from Ginninderra Press, Canberra,
>>>neatly done and managed, except for lack of distribution.
>>Douglas Barbour
>>11655 - 72 Avenue NW
>>Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
>>(780) 436 3320
>>http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>>
>>Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
>>http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>>
>>and this is 'life' and we owe at least this much
>>contemplation to our western fact: to Rise,
>>Decline, Fall, to futility and larks,
>>to the bright crustaceans of the oversky.
>>
>>Phyllis Webb
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