Educated by the Audience

Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to sunny Florida to conduct a workshop for the Space Coast Writers' Guild. While I may have been the presenter, I also learned a lot from this really fantastic group of writers.

In fact, I came home with a smart list of questions about the market and industry that I thought needed some extra research. These writers are really on top of their game.

We talked about marketing, positioning, platforms and social networking. They wanted to know category sales trends, competition and how to differentiate themselves from other books on the shelf. They asked smart questions about self-publishing, e-books and grass roots publicity.

While we spend a lot of time talking about the changing landscape of what's happening with publishers, this group taught me another important lesson.

Savvy writers are learning to navigate our industry just as well....if not better...than the rest of us.

Special thanks to IBPA

This month The Cadence Group published our very first article in the IBPA Independent. We're grateful to have had such a wonderful experience with a fantastic organization.

If you're not familiar with IBPA (the Independent Booksellers Association), you should check them out. We're huge fans.

IBPA is an organization that has the utmost integrity and works very hard to provide good information to independent book publishers. Bravo!

If you'd like to take a look at our article, please feel free to check it out:

http://www.ibpa-online.org/articles/shownews.aspx?id=2771

And special thanks again to IBPA from those of us who learn so much from your organization.

Careful What You Wish For

This week, The Cadence Group received an order for 30,000 units of our first book. It is the kind of order that could make my year.... it could also destroy my company when and if they all come back.

So here is the question. Do I print and ship books to a company that will send the books back in lieu of payment?

It breaks my heart to say it, but here is the answer: No.

My very first big order of my new publishing program and I am going to turn it down.

Sheesh.