New Shelves

We Have Moved

2011-10-31T11:07:00.000-04:00

Thank you for your interest in our musings.

We have moved our blog to:

http://www.thecadencegrp.com/blog/

Please visit us there.

Good-bye and thanks for all the fish!

Amy and Bethany

The Cadence Group

2011-03-14T17:52:00.000-04:00

Marketing Your Book from Pre-Publication and Beyond

2010-11-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

“How do I launch a marketing campaign for my book?”

“When do I start marketing my new book?”

“I don’t have a lot of money. What are the must-dos of marketing my book?”

“What’s the difference between traditional publicity and marketing?”

Marketing Your Book from Pre-publication and Beyond

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about marketing. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Best,

Bethany Brown
Amy MacGregor

The Cadence Group

Free Advice Friday for Oct 28th

2010-10-28T11:16:00.000-04:00

Sorry guys... We are going to pick up with Free Advice Fridays next week on Nov 5. It will be a terrific session on selling your books on your own. We will give you all the facts and tools you need to sell your books to your local retailers, corporations, schools, etc....

See you then!

What Sort of Publishing is Right for You?

2010-10-15T09:58:00.001-04:00

Below is the recording of last week's great session about the different faces of Self-Publishing.

We also mentioned some websites everyone should check out before choosing a self-publishing option. These are forums and/or blogs where folks ask questions and provide information about their various experiences with some of the different vanity presses, co-publishing companies, publishers and literary agents.

Here's a list of some links we really like:

http://pred-ed.com/
http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/
http://www.writersweekly.com/whispers_and_warnings.php
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/

The Many Faces of Self-Publishing - This Week's Free Advice Friday

2010-10-07T10:13:00.000-04:00

Figuring out the Cost

Comparing the Quality

Finding out What is Best for You

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session geared towards helping you decide which type of publishing is best for you. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

When to be an Author, When to be Publisher

2010-10-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

Great Free Advice Friday today everyone! Here is the recording of our session today!

Getting Your Publishing Ducks in A Row - Free Advice Friday!

2010-09-28T14:27:00.002-04:00

“My Publicist says my cover is all wrong”

“My local store says my book is too expensive"

“Reviewers are slamming my editing job and are complaining about typos”

What to Do…

What Order to do it in…

What is optional and what is not….

Getting your Publishing Ducks in a Row

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about the right time line for your publishing process. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: http://www.blogger.com/advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

What if I Booked an Author Event and Nobody Came?

2010-09-17T13:37:00.000-04:00

We had a great time today on Free Advice Friday talking about Author Events. Some of the key points from our chat:

Book your event at least 60 days in advance
Take responsibility for every aspect of your event. Don't leave anything to chance or the bookstore.
Drop by the store 5-6 weeks before you signing and discuss signage, calendar listing, newsletter announcements and invitations with the manager.
Don't be shy! Send out invitations and ask for RSVPs!
Print up postcards, bookmarks or flyers for the store to give out.
Break up your event with numerous short readings to grab numerous new customers and make the most of your time.
Some signings are slow with few attendees. Don't take it personally. Keep going!

There was A LOT more, so if you want to hear the entire chat, here is this week's recording. Enjoy!

Author Events - Free Advice Friday

2010-09-15T17:45:00.000-04:00

“I Did an Author Event and only sold 2 books”

“My Local Store says they Don’t Do Author Events Anymore”

Author Events…Are They Worth It?

What is the Best Way to Do One?

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about getting and Author Events. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Best,

Bethany Brown
Amy MacGregor

Where Did All the Reviewers Go? - This Week's Free Advice Friday

2010-09-09T15:55:00.002-04:00

Why Do I Need Reviews?

What Are The Reviewers Looking For?

Where Did They All Go?

How Do I Get Reviews?

What Do I Do WITH The Reviews Once I Have Them?

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about getting and using reviews. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Taking a Breather....

2010-08-26T13:52:00.000-04:00

Several of our clients have asked that we repeat some of our Free Advice Friday topics. The world goes on vacation and takes 3-day weekends in July and August and a lot of you are missing a chance to pick our brains at the appointed time.

So, we are going to take a 2-week hiatus from Free Advice Friday and start up again on Sept 10th. Starting in September, we are going to repeat some of our more popular topics and launch into a whole new set.

Looking forward to seeing you then. Have a wonderful few weeks!

Amy and Bethany

Funniest Thing We Have Seen in a Long Time

2010-08-19T09:41:00.000-04:00

PW's Soapbox Just published this flow chart for subtitles. Cracked. Us. Up.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/44159-subtitle-o-matic.html

How Can I Sell Books Myself? - Free Advice Friday, August 20, 2010

2010-08-18T09:52:00.000-04:00

I don’t want to hire a distributor, a sales rep or a marketing team.

What Can I do to sell my books on my own?

Can I do my own PR?

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about selling and marketing your books on your own.

Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com <advice@thecadencegrp.com>
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

The Numbers of Sucess and The Numbers of Failure

2010-08-16T11:00:00.004-04:00

When I started my business 5 years ago, I spent the first three months reaching out to over 800 publishers asking if they would like more information about my services.

Each day, I sent out 10-15 well edited, nicely designed emails and/or snail mail packets describing how fabulous I was and how much I could improve their profits and lessen their work load. I spent every night compiling the packets and spent every morning send them out. The afternoons were for follow up. Every day, including weekends... If I had to miss a day, I doubled up the next day. This went on for three months.

After a time, 7 or 8 publishers said they would like more information.

Eventually, 1 hired me.

800 attempts with 1 success. My business plan stated that I needed a minimum of 10 clients to stay afloat and it took three months and hundreds of hours sending non-mass-mailed outreach letters and painful phone calls to get me 1 client.

It was enough.

With that one client, I now had a job to do. I worked for Write-Stuff Publishing like my life depended upon it and a few weeks later, Avant Guild Publishing followed. In time, I had more clients than I could handle and had to hire help. It was a slow, tiring journey, but today, I have an amazing business partner, terrific clients, fantastic employees, a gorgeous office.... we are looking good!

It is hard to remember how I felt at the beginning until I speak with an author or editor who is ready to branch out on their own. I often hear the following:

"But I've SENT out SO many queries!" or "It's really tough out there.... no one is responding to my requests"

I was reading a great blog at http://www.urbanmusewriter.com/ written by a freelancer who's family is sending her emails filled with dire predictions of her starvation and bankruptcy. I was cheering her on as I read about her rejection letters and growing panic, but she kept going. As I read on, she was able to share the BEST part about taking the plunge... some one hired her.

ONE success. It is enough. But it takes a LOT of perseverance. What separates those who make it from those who don't? Lots of things... but the FIRST thing on the list is the ability to not give up.

How To Get an Agent

2010-08-15T15:40:00.001-04:00

Please enjoy this downloadable MP3 of last week's Free Advice Friday.

We discussed: How Do I Find an Agent? What Are They Looking For? What the Heck is a Query? What do I Need to Do?

Free Advice Friday - How do I get an agent?

2010-08-12T08:45:00.000-04:00

How Do I Find an Agent?

What Are They Looking For?

What the Heck is a Query?

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about finding and getting an agent. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Free Advice Friday - How do I market and sell an older book?

2010-08-05T15:25:00.001-04:00

My local bookstores says they only take new books.

Reviewers websites say that they won’t review older books

My book is a few years old
What do I do?
Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about marketing your older book. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

May I Have the Name of The Book Buyer?

2010-08-04T10:25:00.006-04:00

Today an author whom I do not know called and asked me for the names of my buyers so she could follow up on the presentations with new information. She is concerned that her publisher rep is not pitching her book "properly". There is a lot of new information and media updates and the rep has already made the rounds to pitch her book. If she can't trust the rep to send the new info, what is an author to do? How does an author know that new-late-breaking news about their book is getting to the buyer.

Answer: You don't know for sure until the orders start coming in.

I know how frustrating it is, but it is a normal part of the process for small presses without direct access to the buyers because they use distributors.

You can trust your reps to distribute any and all information that will help them sell your book. They want your book to be successful. They are motivated to do a good job selling your book as they move through their territory, meeting buyers and selling the books. The problem comes when an author has 4 updates a week that, while important to them, are not at a "drop everything" level for the buyer. A good rep knows when it is important enough to take a buyer's time with an update. An author does not usually have the experience or relationship to make the correct determination.

So can an author contact the reps and the stores directly? No. Nope. Nuh-uh... *
I run only a small distribution company and if I gave out the names of my sales reps, or the buyers to my clients, they would get more calls and emails a day than they could answer. The buyers would be so angry with me that I would not enjoy the same trust and access that I get now. The reps would quit. (seriously)

My reps cannot be getting personal pitches from each author, they have hundreds of books to sell each season. We already guarantee that we sell each book individually, one on one, one by one... no group catalog pitches. This is a huge time commitment and if they had to handle minor updates or talk to each author, they would not have any time to actually sell. That is why we have sales meetings, so that they can be taught about each book before they go out and sell it.

I promise, if an update is important enough to increase a book buyer's order I am ALL OVER IT! But you can trust my judgment. I know when it is a good time to bother a buyer... and when it isn't.
The book buyers, for the most part, only see who they want. They can agree to see a rep or not… they cannot be dealing with thousands of authors who all believe that their book is special. All books are special to the author… what the buyers need is an interpreter. They want someone who understands exactly how they work and what they need and provides them with some choice to fill those needs. That is where we come in.

We are often the only way a buyer will ever see a book... my unwillingness to contact a buyer every time an author wishes is the exact reason the buyer will take a look at the author's book when I present it. We walk a fine balancing act and it is sometimes hard to keep both sides happy.

I know it is hard, but if you work on creating the demand and keep feeding your publisher the press and marketing you are doing, the demand will drive the success of your books. The reps will pass on the key information in the most agreeable manner possible.

(* the exception being a local author contacting her local store if she has developed a good relationship with the staff there)

EBooks. How to Make Them. How to Sell Them

2010-08-03T17:02:00.001-04:00

Last Friday, we had a great session with Emily Gable from http://www.publishgreen.com/

She was great at walking all of us through the process of eBooks and helping us all understand how they come to be and how they come to be profitable.

Here is the recording of our hour-long free consulting session on eBooks. Enjoy!

Free Advice Friday - A full session on eBooks with a Special Guest!

2010-07-28T11:36:00.000-04:00

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *

Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

Featuring Emily Gable from PUBLISHGREEN.com

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 1074462

And get your questions answered!

WELCOME EMILY GABLE FROM PUBLISHGREEN.COM!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from The Cadence Group. This week we are having a session with Emily Gable from PUBLISHGREEN.COM about eBook creation and distribution. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call. Don’t be shy!

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Best,

Bethany Brown
Amy MacGregor

Recording of This Week's Free Advice Friday

2010-07-23T13:24:00.002-04:00

Great session today! Thanks so much to all of you for listening in. Here is a recording of the session. The first 2-3 minutes can be skipped over. Next week? I will learn how to edit!

Sample Questions for todays Free Advice Friday

2010-07-23T08:50:00.000-04:00

We are really looking forward to answering your questions today on

Free Advice Friday.

Here are the questions we have been asked over the last few weeks that we thought might be of interest to a lot of you. Remember, we welcome your questions and input and will be posting a recording of this question and answer session on our blog after the session is completed.

How do books get on Amazon?

How does the information get on the page?

What is ranking and how important is it?

How do I improve my search ranking?

How to reviews happen?
Do they help?

How does Search Inside Work?

What is Author Connect?

How do I get a book off of Amazon?

Where do all the “new and used” books come from?

Free Advice Friday - July 23 12:00 EST

2010-07-21T08:32:00.000-04:00

How Do I get my Book on Amazon? BN.com? Borders.com?
How do I sell more copies on-line?

Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to The Cadence Group Free Advice Friday line:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 445118

And get your questions answered!

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from the Cadence Group. This week we are having a session about Amazon.com and on-line bookselling. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call.

Please email or text at any time before or during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Best,

Bethany Brown
Amy MacGregor

Today's Free Advice Friday Questions!

2010-07-16T11:48:00.001-04:00

We've had an overwhelming response to our call for questions for today's open forum Free Advice Friday! There were several questions that shared a common theme, so we've pared the list down to the seven following topics/questions that we'll address.

How do I get my book in Barnes and Noble and Borders?
How do I get my book on Amazon?
Do I need a distributor?
What’s the difference between Ingram, Baker & Taylor and a distributor?
What is an ISBN and do I need one?
How do I get published?
How do I get people to buy my book?

If you'd like to add something, please feel free to email advice@thecadencegrp.com or text 330.219.7108 either before or during today's call.

Hope to "see" you there!

Free Advice Friday - Come Ask Us Anything!

2010-07-15T11:59:00.000-04:00

Amazon, Blogging, Bookstore Events, Library Sales, POD, Getting Reviews…
Come ask us anything on this week’s Free Advice Friday *
Friday at 12 noon Eastern Time

(* Yup… we really mean it!)

At 12:00 pm EST, please call in to the conference line at:

Dial: 218.486.1616
Use Passcode: 445118

And get your questions answered

Free Advice Fridays is a weekly session of free consulting and advice from the Cadence Group. This week we are having an open session. Feel free to email us your questions ahead of time or bring them with you to the call.

Please email or text at any time during the call with questions you would like us to address:

To email: advice@thecadencegrp.com
To text: 330.219.7108

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Best,

Bethany Brown
Amy MacGregor

eBook sales on the rise!

2010-07-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

According to this morning's PW Daily, eBook sales saw a significant jump in May 2010.

In fact, PW reports that eBook sales rose 162.8% in May to $29.3 million at the 13 publishers who report results to AAP's monthly sales report.

With so many areas of the publishing industry in decline, this is some great news for hump day.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Which eReader is right for you?

2010-07-12T11:46:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I enjoyed a lovely evening cookout with some publishing friends. The food was fantastic and the conversation eventually turned to eReaders and eBooks and how each of us felt personally about replacing actual books in our lives.

Even my husband, non-publishing guy that he is, jumped in to the fray.

Some highlights from our discussion:

iPad - Let's face it, we all think the iPad is pretty cool. The bells and whistles, the 4-color screen, the portability. We even love the presentation aspect of it. Take it to a meeting with agents and buyers and you can present a title or series or imprint. Fantastic! In terms of an eReader, however, we think Apple missed the boat. Yes, it's fancy. Yes, we can get the books we're looking for from their store. But, reading in the sun is out. The glare makes it impossible to bring this fun new toy to the park or the patio to enjoy a good book with a cup of coffee. Outdoor summer months are hard to come by in Chicago and we all want to spend this season outside. This feature, alone, kills the iPad as an eReader for our group. We didn't even address the subscription service to get access via 3G network. This is an added expense for convenience that helps price the iPad out of the competition for book lovers.

Kindle - Love it. Perfect for reading anytime, anywhere. The 3G connectivity makes it possible to download a book while a plane is boarding and just before the flight attendant tells me to shut it off. If you're out of 3G network, you can download books directly to your computer and push to the Kindle. In terms of bells and whistles, however, the Kindle is seriously lacking as compared to the iPad. For the first time, the screen looks small and dirty as compared to the slick facing of the iPad. The lack of color means no 4-color books for the consumer. It's difficult to get photos, images, charts and graphs to really translate well to the Kindle format. Even if you blow up the text on the Kindle, you can't compete with the full-screen size of the iPad. But, if someone is in it for just reading books, the Kindle was the clear winner.

The Nook - I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that the Nook was mentioned. But, that's about all it got, a mention. It has a touch screen and some color but isn't particularly intuitive to use. To be honest, none of us had spend more than 2 minutes playing with it in-store at a Barnes and Noble. It didn't leave much of an impression on anyone at our cookout.

And there you have it. A casual conversation among friends and some insights in to how we feel about some of the fancy new toys in our industry. How about you? Do you have a Kindle? An iPad? A Nook? Some other reader that didn't come up during our weekend discussion?

What do you like about it? What don't you like about it?

Dos and Don't When Asking for a Review

2010-07-02T10:30:00.002-04:00

Do:

Address your request in a professional fashion - Your email should be short and well written.

Make sure the reviewer is interested in your book category - Read their site and take a few days to really familiarize yourself with the types of books they review.

Mention why you chose a specific reviewer - No one likes to be "played". Make a point to find something about the reviewer that you like. There should be a REASON you approach one reviewer instead of another. Research the reviewer and be prepared to mention a specific review or blog post on the reviewer’s site that appealed to you

Let them know what materials you have available. - Don't make them guess or have to ask you if you have hard copies of the book, ARCs, pdfs, ebooks, an electronic cover.... etc.

Mention your marketing campaign. Reviewers will want to know your plans and dates so that they can schedule accordingly.

Provide a brief description of your book. - 75 words TOPS!

Follow the reviewer’s guidelines…exactly. - They are approached by hundreds of publishers and authors a week. Make sure you don't give them a reason to not pick your book.

Thank the reviewer for his/her time. - Even considering your book for a review takes time.

Recognize the reviewer might be too busy to review your book. - Over a million books were published last year. Even if there are THOUSANDS of reviewers, the math is staggering

Stop back by the reviewer’s site on the day a review posts and thank them, again, for their time and review. - Common courtesy is not so common nowadays. A thank you from the author and publisher is a MUST.

Before, during and after you send your book out for review, comment on other book reviews on review sites. - The book community is not there just for authors to stop in and get reviews. This is a vital, vibrant community that should be supported. Authors and publishers wanting to participate in this world need to get in there and really participate before they ask for reviews.

Don’t:

Spam. Ever. - Sending out mass emails with no personalization will be ineffective at best. Sending a generic request to a large group of reviewers will not get you the results you are looking for. The same goes for mass mailing your book to a mailing list without discrimination.

Ask for a good review - A reviewer is being asked for their opinion. Do not make the cardinal mistake of trying to tell the reviewer what their opinion should be.

Send your book or request to an outlet whose guidelines your book does not meet - Ever heard of the farmer who tried to teach a pig to sing? It wasted his time and annoyed the pig. There are enough reviewers out there with whom your book is a good fit, don't waste time going after the ones that aren't.

Call to follow up if they ask for email or snail mail only - Please give them the courtesy of following their requests.

Argue with or challenge bad reviews - While you may not agree with their review, it is their honest opinion, and challenging it is just tacky. No one wants to hear your negative comments about a reviewer if they decline to give a review or give a bad review. It will only make you look bad.

Send a book unless specifically requested - If you don't hear back from a reviewer... that is your answer.

Send attachments unless requested - In this world of viruses it is common for book reviewers to block any and all unsolicited emails with attachments.

An Open Letter from The Cadence Group

2010-06-28T14:27:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,

The Cadence Group was founded to offer services to new and small presses. At the heart of each of our programs is a commitment to share our experience with others. We believe that knowledge should not be a commodity and the more we educate others, the better off the publishing industry will be.

We are a group of dedicated men and women who are passionate about books and who have extensive experience in the book industry. We strive to offer clients and prospective clients guidance and services that will maximize their potential and minimize their costs. Our commitment is to ensure that our clients, big and small, leave with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to make smart decisions for their current projects and for their future growth.

In order to achieve these goals, The Cadence Group is constantly reviewing and updating the services we provide to ensure that we continue to grow and change with our ever-evolving industry.

We were thrilled to announce the expanded New Shelves Distribution program at this year's Book Expo. We have been even more excited by the warm reception the expanded New Shelves program has received from clients, colleagues, friends and retailers!

In 2008, we founded New Shelves to offer publishers a more effective, less-expensive way to get books in front of book buyers, wholesalers, librarians and specialty chains. Our goal is to combine low-cost warehousing and fulfillment services with an aggressive and focused sales program specifically designed to meet each publisher's individual needs.

The Cadence Group is proud to be working in such a wonderful industry!

Bethany Brown and Amy Collins MacGregor

Book Distributors to check out - Free Advice Fridays

2010-06-25T12:55:00.001-04:00

Hi all! We had a great time on Free Advice Friday today. Everyone was a little quiet, but I think it was the sunny weather calling to us all!

Here is a list of links to book distributors that we like:

IPG   http://www.ipgbook.com/getpage.cfm?file=contact.html&userid=9F0DA4A9-3048-6445-430A6737959C31B6

Greenleaf   http://www.greenleafbookgroup.com/submissions.cfm

NBN   http://www.nbnbooks.com/ProspectivePublisher/

PGW   http://www.pgw.com/home/publishers.aspx

New Shelves   http://www.newshelvesdistribution.com/about_us (disclaimer - this one is us!)

Book-Hub   http://www.book-hub.com/info.html

The Author Weighs In

2010-06-22T13:25:00.004-04:00

You might remember a couple of months ago when I blogged (ok, went on a rant) about the poor quality and editing of ebooks.

That post, Are eBooks Held to a Different Standard? chronicled my frustration with the fact that book after book after book available on my Kindle is riddled with typos and errors.

Finally, I was driven to write The Letter to both publisher and author outlining my dissatisfaction with a particular book that was particularly error-filled.

Customer Service at Publisher X responded within the first 24 hours. It was a relatively brief and somewhat uninformed response letting me know that my comments would be passed on to the appropriate editor.

The Author finally responded today. And, quite frankly, I believe her response clearly shows an author's perspective, and frustration, with mainstream publishing today. Even bestselling authors have begun to struggle with the increasingly lackadaisical approach to good editing, copyediting and attention to detail. In the rush to make books available as eBooks for the various available readers, the true core of good publishing and good editing appears to have fallen to the wayside in the rush for profits.

I must admit, I take this all quite personally. I hate to have a good read spoiled by poor editing. It ruins the entire story. But apparently, I'm not the only one. The Author's voice, too, falls on deaf ears.

Her response to me, below....

(Please note: author name, publisher name and editor name have been pulled from this correspondence along with any personal information that might identify any of them.)

Dear Bethany,

I forwarded your e-mail to my agent who then forwarded it to my editor, demanding that they crack down on the "quality control" of the books they license to Kindle. I was so horrified by what you told me, I couldn't even look at the edition myself. I've complained to Publisher X about typo's in my books and sloppy Kindle editions, but your e-mail was so specific and articulate, I knew it would carry more weight than the author griping about the bad reproduction of her books. My agent has just gotten back to me saying that my Editor finally got back to her. Anyway, she has started taking the problem seriously and has promised to pay more attention to both the regular publication of my books and the Kindle editions. After all, this problem reflects on Publisher X and Editor. I do not set the type for my own books or do the final proofreading.

Thank you for the e-mail. It helped tremendously!

Let's face it folks, when an author's complaints about typos and sloppy editing is categorized as "griping", our industry has taken a huge step backwards. Publishers really need a good wake up call that consumers, and authors, are tired of poorly produced books.

Special thanks to this special author for responding so thoughtfully to my email!

BEA (unedited)

2010-06-07T18:17:00.000-04:00

We here at The Cadence Group are still busy pulling together meeting notes from the show and have been overwhelmed by the number of great meetings, comments, feedback, and conversations had in our booth and on the show floor. Here are some (unedited) thoughts from the show:

The aisles were packed! We had to actually use elbows for the first time in four years to get through the main aisles of the show.
The IBPA aisle was rockin’. This showed a lot of increased activity and interest in small presses from around the country.
Digital made a statement. There were a lot of established and new companies exhibiting their software and programs designed to help publishers and authors take advantage of the many e-book platforms.
Notable absences. We missed some friends this year that were either not exhibiting or not attending. We hope to catch up again soon.
Lots of rights action. Most likely due to the fact that the London show was a bust due to travel problems, the rights action around BEA was much busier than we were expecting. Our clients books have been requested from agents and publishers around the world!
High-level meetings and attendees. We were lucky to see and meet with some of the top buyers and retailers from around the industry. The news is cautious but positive from most retailers.
An increase in buying activity. A number of our literary agent friends have noted a recent pick up in deals being done around the industry.
A decrease in giveaways. Catalogs and free giveaways were hard to come by this year. There was a significant decrease in the number of free books. Bummer for those of us hunting for a good find. However, a friend was a able to score an autographed copy of The Help!

If you were there, please share your thoughts!

It's Book Expo America 2010!

2010-05-25T05:56:00.000-04:00

We’re thrilled that The Cadence Group is exhibiting at BEA this year and we look forward to spending time in NYC this week with book people discussing what’s working, what’s not, and what the future of publishing holds for our many clients and friends.

If you are attending BEA, please stop by our booth at #3914. We are giving away Cadence Group badge holders, tote bags from Tributary Press, bookmarks from Life Possibilities Publishing, and free chances to win a trip to Okinawa from One Peace Books.

We hope to have a great show in New York and look forward to sharing news and updates from the show floor.

Vocabulary Friday

2010-04-30T11:25:00.001-04:00

We've had several questions from friends, clients, and colleagues about what all this publishing "lingo" actually means.

So, in honor of a beautiful spring Friday morning, we thought we'd put together a list of terms that are frequently used and sometimes misunderstood.

Digital Printing – A form of printing technology that uses smaller machines and makes short runs more cost effective. Typically more expensive per unit, anyone can hire a short run printer. Digital printing gives self-publishers more options. (This is a great option for small print runs and the quality is top-notch!)

Offset Printing – Traditional way of printing using big presses for big print runs. Offset printing makes sense for non-traditional trim sizes or any printer run of over 1,000 units. The cost per unit is a lot cheaper but the upfront investment is much higher. (Inventory must be managed – make sure you have a warehouse!)

Print on Demand (POD) – POD uses digital print technology to print just in time inventory (JIT). All publishers have some form of POD program. POD is only to manage inventory. (If small press or self-published author decides to POD, it should be an inventory decision not a financial decision!)

Vanity Presses – Vanity Presses are companies that specialize in self-publishing programs. In recent years they have co-opted the term POD term to give themselves more credibility. Most Vanity Presses will provide your ISBN and have the capability to take your book from manuscript to finished book.

Co-Publishers – Co-publishers design their programs so they are “sharing costs”. For most Co-publishers, the term “co-publishing” is actually just a fancy way of not calling themselves a vanity press. However, there are several quality co-publishers out there that can help a new author get their book packaged and ready for sale.

Distributor - Distributors are companies hired by publishers that will warehouse, fulfill and sell your book. They will take a percentage of your sales and a percentage against your returns. Most distributors have a sales team that actively sells your title (IPG, NBN, etc.)

Fulfillment House – A fulfillment house will pick, pack and ship your book. They will also ensure your book is available at the major wholesalers (Ingram, Baker & Taylor) and Amazon as well as the .com sites (bn.com, target.com, wal-mart.com, etc). They will also handle all of your billing and collections.

Warehouse – A warehouse picks, packs, and ships your book only. Some warehouses handle billing but many do not. Major publishers tend to have their own warehouse services.

Wholesalers – A company used by retailers and libraries to supply books in a timely and efficient manner. The number one place any self-published author needs to be! If you’re not listed at Ingram and Baker & Taylor, you cannot be ordered easily by bookstores and libraries.

Happy Friday everyone!

Booth #3914

2010-04-27T17:14:00.000-04:00

If you stop by Booth #3914 (yes, that's us!) at BEA this year, here's a sneak peek at just a few of the fun giveaways we'll have available throughout the show:

Bags
Bookmarks
A chance to win a trip to Okinawa, Japan
Badge holders
Tickets to an Explore the Boston Islands cruise

We can't wait to see you there!

The "New" Importance of the Book Cover

2010-04-26T10:40:00.000-04:00

If you've been following our blog over the past year or so, you'll remember our post Your Spine Is Your Cover.

Yes, that's still true for those authors who aspire to brick and mortar stores and traditional retailers.

But in the eight months since we posted that blog, the publishing environment has continued to change.

Small publishers' interest in testing the market by just making their books available online (their own websites, Amazon.com, etc.) or as eBooks has continued to increase. POD programs offered by a variety of different companies have drawn a large group of publishers who are willing to save money on big offset print runs, warehousing and fulfillment and who say let's "throw it up online" and see what happens.

Publisher's beware. "Throwing it up online" does not mean cutting corners on quality. If you just make your book available online, your number one marketing tool has changed. Your book cover just increased in importance over just about any other single piece of the publishing process.

For those of you who have been there, you understand. Search Insides, excerpts, and sample chapters for downloads are great. But, you've got to get the consumer to commit to taking that step.

How so?

A dynamic, professionally designed, top-notch book cover.

If your budget demands that you only make your book available online, take the time to do your research. Look carefully at other book covers in your category - both online and in stores. See what's working.

Is there a particular font, photo treatment, author treatment, color, design that's consistent across your category? If so, make sure your cover stacks up against the best of the best.

Budget might drive your decision to start online, but budget can't drive your decision to put up a mediocre cover and hope for the best.

Trust us, it won't work.

An eBook Experience

2010-04-23T14:38:00.001-04:00

The Setting: A small local restaurant

Waiter: "So nice to see you again!"

Me: "Thanks"

Waiter: "Wow. I see you've gone to the Kindle?!"

Me: "Yes, I love it!"

Waiter: "I tried it and hated it."

Me: "You actually bought one, used it, and didn't like it?"

Waiter: "Yes, I did."

Me: "Was it the actual Kindle or something else you didn't like?"

Waiter: "I will never give up a printed book. I love it too much. The eBook just didn't feel right."

And, there you have it.

We might believe eBooks are the future of publishing and the world is just waiting to jump on our bandwagon. But, there are still people out there who would far prefer to hold, smell, and read an actual printed book.

No eBook can ever replace that.

Are eBooks held to a different standard?

2010-04-22T09:17:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity this weekend to spend another day with the fantastic members of The Space Coast Writer's Guild. I always enjoy spending time with a group of writer's that really "gets" it.

As I boarded my plane back to Chicago yesterday morning, I was busy downloading a couple of books to keep me company during my flight home. I was thrilled to see a favorite author of mine had two more books available on Kindle. Yay for me!

Or so I thought....

For the first time in the 18 months that I've owned my Kindle (And, in fact, for the first time in the more than 12 years I've worked in the publishing industry), I am planning to spend my afternoon working on....

The Letter

The Letter often arrives at a publishing house on ripped up and worn paper. It's occasionally typed but often hand written. Sometimes it's legible, and sometimes it's not.

Usually, The Letter addresses the disappointment a reader feels about a book. Sometimes it's a valid argument. Oftentimes, it's a rant that gets stuck up on a bulletin board or read among colleagues as entertainment. Depending on the publisher, it's taken seriously or it's discarded along with the day's trash.

I have never written The Letter.

Today, that changes. The Letter will be sent to both the Publisher and the Author. If I can find the name, The Letter will also go to the agent of record for this favorite author of mine.

You see, after spending my $7.00 to download a fun novel, I found myself with a product that I couldn't enjoy. I found myself with a product that I couldn't read. I found myself with a product that was unpublishable.

And yes, I'm with all of you who believe a book is a book....not a product. Yesterday, however, I bought a product....and a defective one at that.

My new eBook is so riddled with typos, that I can't even get in to the story. Every four or five words is spelled wrong. In fact, throughout the first three chapters of the book, the word "the" is spelled "die" and that includes the word "them", now spelled "diem". Every Time!

How am I supposed to enjoy the building suspense? How am I supposed to get lost in the story? Several times, the misspellings created words that make no sense. And, in fact, made the story impossible to read.

And so, I will spend my afternoon writing The Letter.

I will include chapter numbers and page numbers. I will include specific examples. But, I'm afraid The Letter will fall on deaf ears at a publishing house so big that it apparently doesn't care about the quality of its eBook program.

This is not the first eBook that I've encountered with spelling, spacing and layout problems. In fact, it's the exception rather than the rule to download an (almost) perfect eBook. But this is by far the worst.

And so I must ask:

Are eBooks held to a different standard?

Has the ease of upload made publishers lazy about quality?

The Whys of Self-Publishing

2010-04-15T13:32:00.001-04:00

This week New Shelves is thrilled to host Carl Johnson of Boyd Printing. Carl has been experiencing and riding the changes in the publishing industry for over 30 years. With R.R Bowker's announcement that self-published titles have surged to over 700,000 titles a year while traditionally published titles have declined, we are going to spend this week looking at the world of self-publishing.

The Whys Of Self-Publishing by Carl Johnson

In the past decade or so the publishing world has witnessed numerous changes. In the past, an author had to make the necessary rounds of publishing houses and often, a lot of time would pass before the manuscript was approved by the publisher.

Today, the way a book gets published and the way in which a writer gets compensated has completely changed.

One of the major changes in the publishing industry is consolidation, due to the shrinking marketplace. Over past decade, this change of the large number of smaller or independent publishers being consumed by larger publishing houses has caused many publishing houses to avoid taking any kinds of risks in terms of financial gains.

Today, publishers are much more hesitant to publish something that does not guarantee a good ROI. Any publishing house worth its name will only entertain writers who have an established name or who can, in some other way, guarantee successful sales of the book.

This brings in the phenomena of self publishing; no longer does the writer have to spend days and months trying to get their manuscript approved, only to get a percentage of sales as a royalty. With self-publishing, they publish, promote, and sell their book all by themselves with the benefit of retaining all the profits in the process.

I want to give you a brief description of why you should consider self-publishing along with the benefits, advantages, and disadvantages of self-publishing.

The Advantages of Being Published

Let’s begin by considering the reasons why people like being published, which can be many besides the fact that everybody likes to have their share of fame, however short-lived it might be.

As an independent business person or practitioner in a field, the main motive behind getting published is that it establishes you as an author and expert in your field. There are, of course, many personal reasons for getting published as well. As an author, you take a step ahead of the crowd and your credibility is increased immeasurably.

Being published gives you tremendous marketing leverage; you can literally become a desired quantity in the marketplace. Those who publish and write on subjects relevant to your work will now wish to engage you for interviews, articles, and other opportunities that give you visibility you would not otherwise receive.

Business people who haven’t yet been published frequently underestimate the power and value of having a book and all it brings. The rewards are far greater than the commitment necessary to get published.

The Benefits of Self-Publishing

Self-publishing is the short-cut to attain all of the above.

With the consolidation of the book publishing industry, publishers are far more reluctant to award book contracts to an unknown who can’t show that their book will sell.

In fact, it is often virtually impossible to get a major publisher to take you on if you are not established as a writer or can show that you’ll generate book sales. You should be established as a writer and must have a following of readers for the publisher to be ready to take on your manuscript.

The internet has also adversely impacted the profit margin of the publishers, as more and more is being published on the internet. Also, people prefer reading news and all other information online, as this usually does not cost them.

When it comes to getting published there are mainly two kind of motives on which people function- personal and professional. Let’s consider the personal reasons first.

As a Hobby

People who have financial stability may want to make a name for themselves, as most writers are venerated and so, they may like to be known as a knowledgeable person. One advantage of this is that the writer is not really interested in generating sales as a source of income.

Writing a book as a hobby or about something that is your hobby may actually prove to be lucrative and may be a smart way of making money from a hobby. You may eventually find that something that was merely a hobby has turned into a career.

For Family
People also write about their family history or their personal story. Occasionally they want to share their life story or their success story with others. I knew a very well to do woman who wrote her story and spent a few thousand dollars to have her story printed as a hard bound book which she later distributed at a family reunion.

As an artist or a photographer you may like to showcase a collection of your works and, hence, publish them.

Let us now consider what drives people to publish at a professional level:
Money

Money, of course, is a big motivation. Most people who self publish do so with an aim to make what they expended and hopefully some profit.

Also, you are likely to establish a reader base and make profits in the future when you write and publish more books.

An indirect and effective way of making money from a book is to use the book to promote your company, organization, or professional practice. A senior partner in a large local law firm wrote a book on estates and trusts. He then gave the book away at seminars. The book, plus the aura of being a published expert, lent creditability to the seminar he conducted. All of this drove many clients to the firm and they prospered and grew significantly.

You can use your e-book version to establish yourself as a marketable author as well. If you sell a thousand copies of one book you establish a readership base for your next work. With a couple of published works under your belt and proven sales, you are more likely to be signed by a major publisher where you have an ability to develop greater sales.

 Having a book published is a tremendous marketing asset.

 Visitors to a website are greatly attracted by e-books.

 Books offer you immense marketing options.

 Free chapter giveaway is a teaser to gain readers.

 Joint sales venture options with other experts or products where your book becomes part of a package deal are also possible.

Passive Income

Most of the alternatives suggested earlier are, actually, ways of earning a passive income.

You can further enhance your source of income by enhancing certain features of the book. You could enable audio readings of the book and other resources for the reader. You could even create some kind of a course for the reader.

Prestige
I made a statement earlier which calls for reiteration, that a published and successful author gains respect and is considered as an expert. He is invited to preside over functions and acts as judge in TV shows - generally his name and fame grow.

A published author has the opportunity to secure academic credentials, as most academic institutions desire some published works.
Career Advancement

A person who has a published work to his credit will more easily move up the ladder of success, will likely get better job offers and will enjoy more opportunities to succeed in general.

Simply put, being published gives you an “expert” status above the crowd. Though, it really is not that difficult to get self published, most people have a very high perception of someone that is.

For those seeking a career in the field of academics, a published work is a pre-requisite.

On Monday, we will discuss the DO's of Self-Publishing.

Things I wish aspiring published authors said every day

2010-04-09T10:14:00.003-04:00

"Well, I like it, but I'd better find some independent opinions."

"I am reading some wonderful authors right now"

"Better go, my writing group/class starts soon!"

"Yes, Ms./Mr. Editor, I do trust you.... let's work on your suggestions."

“Not everyone is going to want to buy my book.”

"Now, where is that list of agents I have been researching to find out exactly how I should submit my book?"

“ 4 agent rejections? Let me see what they said...."

"Huh, 14 agent rejections.... I'd better send out more queries."

"Darn it, I haven't talked to anyone about my book since yesterday."

"I can't wait to give/send copies of my book to a bunch more people today."

"I know I was just at my local bookstore a few days ago, but I think I'll shop there again today"

"I have no idea how my local library chooses books, I think I'll stop down there tomorrow and ask the librarian."

"I'd better get moving; I have to participate in several online discussions today."

"I find so many other author's and publisher's blogs so very interesting. I should comment on them."

"I'm going to find out if I can participate in a least one or two local book clubs this year."

"I think my manuscript is completely done. I'm going to send it to a copyeditor."

"I should make sure I have subscribed to as many book industry websites, blogs and trade publications as possible."

Show Daily at BEA

2010-04-07T14:27:00.000-04:00

Hi Publishing Friends!

We're taking a survey and we'd love your feedback.

If you attend, or have attended BEA, do you read Show Daily?

If so, do you read it at the show?

Or, do you pack it in your suitcase and bring it home to read after the show?

Do you read the ads? Or do you read the stories?

What's your favorite part?

If you don't read Show Daily, why not?

There's not trick question or right answer here, we promise!

We're enjoying a lively debate among friends on our end and would love to get your tiebreaker vote!

Free Advice Fridays

2010-03-31T08:28:00.000-04:00

For months, we've been talking about launching a weekly (or monthly) program designed to help our clients and friends learn more about what's going on inside the publishing industry.

For those of you who don't know, the core of our mission statement reads as follows:

The Cadence Group was founded to offer services to new and small presses. At the heart of each of our programs is a commitment to share our experience with others. We believe that knowledge should not be a commodity and the more we educate others, the better off the publishing industry will be.

To that end, we're talking about setting up a weekly (or monthly) one hour conference call. We'll accept questions or inquiries via a designated email address and try to address the most popular or pressing topics each week. We're hoping that these pre-submitted questions will lead to some lively conversation and discussion during each call.

This call-in number will be open to any book lover or publishing enthusiast who wants to participate in a live discussion with passionate book people talking about the industry we all love.

Perhaps, along the way, we might be able to provide some insight in to where the publishing industry has been, where it is today, and where, we believe, it's heading.

So let us know. Good idea? Something you would want to participate in?

Great article in Publisher's Weekly

2010-03-29T17:13:00.000-04:00

The Cadence Group's distribution arm, New Shelves, got a fantastic mention in PW today. Thank you Judith Rosen for your great work!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/454267-Distributors_Stay_Upbeat.php

Will eBooks ever replace paper books?

2010-03-13T11:28:00.000-05:00

Last week I started following a really fantastic conversation on LinkedIn about whether or not people believe that eBooks will ultimately replace paper-based books.

Opinions were varied across the board. Most of us agreed that, in the end, we can't imagine life without our over-filled dusty bookshelves.

Below was my contribution to the conversation....we'd love to hear yours:
________________________________________________________________________________

There will always be a home for printed books. I love the record analogy. Some people still love their vinyl!

However, publishers, publishing professionals and authors need to understand that eBooks are the income-generating future of the publishing business. The price of eBook readers continues to come down (anyone remember when an iPod or a PDA was overpriced?). For avid readers, the cost of a Kindle can be offset within the first several months by money saved on purchases that would traditionally include shipping (Amazon), gas (driving to the store), and paying cover price (traditional retailers).

Just to fess up, I bought my first Kindle last year. Actually, my business partner bought it for me because I was vehemently opposed to the idea of an electronic eReader. I swore up and down that my Kindle could NEVER replace the joy I felt while curling up on the couch with a cup of coffee and a good - actual - book.

I've been eating my words ever since. The convenience, the ease of bringing multiple "books" while traveling, and the accessibility of having just about any book I want to read 90 seconds away via download has made me a true convert.

Will I give up my dusty bookshelves? Never. Will I continue to by hardcover/paperback books that I want to add to those shelves - classics, favorite authors, etc. Absolutely. Has the printed book become less a part of my reading experience? One hundred percent.

But, kind of like vinyl, I'll never give them up completely.

Can a book, author or series be launched in eBook format?

2010-02-18T11:01:00.001-05:00

Over the course of the past several months we, along with our clients and colleagues, have been paying close attention to the rapidly expanding - and changing - world of eBooks. And, today's announcement that Kindle is now available for Blackberry has one of us jumping for joy!

As launching eBooks becomes more accessible, doors are opening for small publishers around the world. Publishers that used to plan and budget so carefully for printing, warehousing, and fulfillment are now asking the question:

Can I launch my book as an eBook before - or instead of - a printed book?

We certainly have our thoughts on the matter. And, after carefully researching (read: hounding fellow Kindle owners) we've noticed as surprising trend.

eBook readers are more inclined to try new authors. Why? Because savvy publishers and authors are offering their Kindle books at very competitive prices. Sometimes, they're offering them for free!

Between the two of us, we "discovered" several new favorite authors in the past six months to a year. In a couple of cases, the first book we "purchased" was free. In other cases, titles were offered for under $2.00. Either way, the publisher succeeded in getting us to download the book and try the author.

The good news? If we liked the author, we kept purchasing. And, not every book was cheap or free!

Is it possible to launch a new book, author or series as an eBook only? Can publishers drum up interest and a following while saving money on printing, warehousing, fulfillment and distribution?

Just as recently as a few months ago, the answer might have been "no" - not enough people own eReaders, Kindles, the Nook and/or other readers. But, times are changing! It's more common to see fellow travelers with the eReader of their choice instead of the latest hardcover.

So what do you think? Should an author launch an eBook instead of printed book?

When is it a good idea? When isn't it?

Key Online Resources for Writers and Publishers

2010-02-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of speaking to a wonderful group of writers down in Florida at the Space Coast Writer's Guild. This is a group of people who are passionate about their craft and eager to soak up information. They also asked some great questions!

I promised the group that I'd address some of the things that came up last weekend here on this blog...and I'm finally getting to it. First up....a list of some of those websites I was throwing around!

Question: What are some Key Resources for Writers and Publishers?

Answer:

Bookmarket.com - On his incredibly useful website, John Kremer provides invaluable information for authors and publishers. For you writers out there, John has compiled lists of the 101 Top Independent publishers, 161 Business Book Editors and Publishers, 318 Children's Book Editors and Publishers, 422 First Fiction and Debut Novel Editors and Publishers....just to name a few. If I was trying to get published and looking for publishers in my category, Bookmarket.com would be one of my first stops!

Publishersmarketplace.com - Publishersmarketplace.com is a great place to find out what books are being sold, who is buying what and what literary agent's are looking for. If you just want the indusry news and gossip, Publisher's Lunch is free! If you want full access to all of the information and tools that Publishersmarketplace provides, you can register for a full subscription for $20 per month.

AgentQuery.com - A great resource for writer's searching for representation, AgentQuery.com allows you to search for a literary agent by category - fiction or nonfiction. Remember, any of these sites are very useful for finding literary agents, but please, visit any agent's website before you submit to ensure you're following their most up-to-date guidelines. AgentQuery also has a fabulous blog roll where you can find some of the best blogs in the business.

PublisherWeekly.com - If you're not a publisher, you probably don't need a subscription. But, if you're interested in what's going on in the industry, stop by Publishersweekly.com every morning to ready PW Daily. Or, sign up to have it emailed to you!

Preditors and Editors (http://www.invirtuo.cc/prededitors/) - I believe the name says it all. Certainly a site to visit to educate yourself about the people you might be dealing with.

WritersWeekly.com - I love this ezine and have her weekly issues emailed to me. It's free to sign up and the information is great. For instance, this week's issue breaks down POD price comparisons for writers. Angela also runs a "Warning" section on her site that can be educational.

WritersDigest.com -Every writer should know about this site. Every one. If you haven't visited it, stop reading this blog and go there now! The folks at Writer's Digest are committed to providing writer's with valuable information to help them in their craft and career.

AbsoluteWrite.com - If you visit the Forums through Absolute Write, you'll find a number of writers helping writers, providing invaluable information about the good (who's buying what), the bad (who's closing, who's rejecting, who's no long accepting manuscripts) and the ugly (publishers, agents, etc. to avoid).

Shelf-Awareness.com - Publishers read it, so should you. Much of the information might not be applicable to you, but what you can learn about the publishing industry and the direction it's heading as well as new books, new stores, etc. can really build your knowledge base.

This should be a good list to get you started. If there's a website that you love and I haven't listed, feel free to add it in the comments below. Or, of course, you can email us!

What happens when the furnace blows?

2010-01-13T14:47:00.000-05:00

Many of you got the following email from us on Monday afternoon:

Bethany and I would like to announce that we are moving our offices. An unexpected and unfortunate situation has arisen at our office building. A furnace exploded in the basement on Christmas Eve and the building has been closed for repairs for the foreseeable future. As a result we quickly relocated to temporary quarters and will be moving in to new offices on Friday.

Please do not worry, all phone calls and mail are being forwarded to our temporary offices. We will update you with our new mailing address as soon as possible. Please contact Amy or Bethany directly prior to sending any shipments to our Troy address via UPS or FedEx so that we can arrange for a pick up.

Thanks for your patience as we coordinate the move!

Best,
Bethany and Amy

So what do you do when you must vacate your offices without notice?

Temporarily panic? Yes (I'd be lying if I said no)

Temporarily shut down? No

A few years ago, a "hiccup" such as this could have been a tragedy for a business the size of ours. Imagine no access to computers, phone, fax and materials.

Thankfully, technology has come a long way. Phones can be forwarded, servers can be connected to remotely, work can get done anywhere at any time. By the the afternoon of Christmas Eve, The Cadence Group had moved in to temporary quarters. By this Friday, we will be in a permanent new home.

Our business has barely noticed the shift in address. Because of Vonage, Skype, servers, eFax and online databases, our team has continued to work hard for our clients and get results - even from some cramped quarters!

In today's electronic world, an office is a "home" for your business and your employees. It feels good to walk in to your own office space each morning. It's nice to see the sign announcing your business. We all feel good about a warm and welcoming lobby and reception area for our clients and our guests.

But in today's world, this brick and mortar home is not a necessity to keep your business going. It's just comfortable.

So what do you do when the furnace blows?

You keep working!

11 Things That Made Publishing Better This Year

2009-12-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

This is just an initial list - more to follow in the week ahead!

Great designers like Gywn Kennedy Snider, Anne LoCascio and Michele DeFillipo.
TweetDeck, which allowed me to get my work done and follow my favorite Tweeters like @mikecane, @alicepope, @janefriedman, @amylibrarian, @ColleenLindsay
Experienced editors who stayed on top of the latest CMS rules so I didn't have to.
Book buyers at chain and independent bookstores who gave books by small presses the same inital chance they gave the bigger houses.
Authors who understood that getting a book published was just the ante-in. We LOVE the ones who stayed to play the whole hand through and knew they had a lot of work ahead of them if they wanted a shot at the "bestseller" pot.
Publicists who pitched books to print outlets. (Readers like to read!)
Blu Sky Media Group and Greg Snider who showed such courage and determination to do the right thing when the bank closed in on his distribution business.
Printers who made their deadlines and didn't over promise just to get the job.
PW Daily, Shelf-Awareness, Publisher's Lunch, Media Bistro and all the other industry news providers who kept us informed.
Publishers who agreed with this statement: "There is no such thing as a publishing emergency."
My eBook readers: Blackberry, Sony and Kindle. (Sorry guys, that's how I am starting to roll...)

Getting Fed by Twitter

2009-12-21T11:36:00.002-05:00

This weekend I went looking for Eddie Izzard on Twitter. I like his world and political ideas and thought his tweets would be a good addition to my feed. I found that Mr. Izzard has over a million followers and yet only follows 71 people.

I have had WAY too many conversations with authors and publishers about their "Twitter marketing work" and how they are "putting it out there" on Twitter and Facebook. I have never thought of Twitter as a way to push myself out there. I have always seen it as an amazing learning bank.

There are agents, publishers and industry insiders who generously share their wisdom, pass on news and tidbits and forward fantastic articles that I never would have seen otherwise. Because of them (and Twitter), I am a more educated, informed person. I would not have ever have gotten the benefit of their wisdom without twitter and I am grateful for their generousity.

There are also a number of industry folks who use my twitter page as a place to promote (read: spew) their latest review, minor triumph or self-serving mention. For them, Twitter is a marketplace, not a place of learning and community. Okay, I can see that; I can let Twitter be a marketplace on THEIR computer, but not mine.

For me, Twitter is an exchange of information, not a place to sell yourself. It is a forum where I get to give and take with no expectations. It is like any other relationship... Those who enter into it wondering what they can get out of it are not good relationship prospects. The next time an author asks me about the return on my Twitter time investment, I am going to hit him/her over the head with a piece of Church of England cake.

So that leads me to my post next time... Should I be more selective about who I follow? Shall I unfollow those who have not turned out to be good relationship prospects?

Kindle and eBook Formatting Services Now Offered by Cadence

2009-11-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

The Cadence Group is thrilled to announce that we have hired an eBook designer to format book files and manuscripts into the “big three” eBook formats.

We here at The Cadence Group are reading all the same things you are about eBooks. We know that they are important. We know that eBook sales are growing at an amazing rate. We know that new authors are faring better on Kindle than on bookshelves. We also know that books will almost assuredly follow music into the digital age and those who get on board early will reap early rewards.

We know that if we do not have our books on Kindle (Amazon), Nook (B&N), and the other eBook reader sites, we will be missing out.

So, with that in mind, we can now turn any pdf or word document into the Kindle, Nook, and ePub formats. At that point, we can either help you set up your own eBook accounts or you can use accounts you may already have to distribute your new eBooks.

We are offering to format your book files into all three of the major formats and deliver them to you in upload-ready files.

Contact us today at 518.391.2300 or services@thecadencegrp.com to learn more.

A look inside TCG

2009-11-17T16:28:00.001-05:00

Many of you know Amy and I as business partners, colleagues and the women behind The Cadence Group (and this blog!). What you may or may not know is that Amy and I are also friends.

Last week, a friend of mine wrote and asked for my advice on starting a business partnership. Most importantly, she wanted to know about a business partnership between friends.

The Cadence Group is a joint ownership between Amy and I and she wanted to know how it was going. A 50/50% joint partnership is not easy, but after I wrote the letter below, I thought it might be an interesting look inside TCG and how we work:

***

Hi!

The NUMBER ONE thing that can help you and your partner is open and honest communication. The good, the bad and the ugly. Also, open access to all accounting (this helps!). You really have to have the same long-term goals in mind for your business or it will never work.

For example, Amy and I got together recently to work out our partnership papers and our Business Plan. The partnership papers were actually the easy part. We spent three straight days at her dining room table putting together our business plan. Trust me, it wasn't easy. But the ground rules for our friendship also apply in our partnership - don't pull any punches, be honest, and talk it out. We push back on each other all the time regarding all manner of things. But because we started out with a business plan, it's also "easier" for us because we can also remind the other person to go back to our business plan and see if something makes sense.

Our goals from day one have been aligned in how we want to build our business, how long we want to own our business and our core commitments to customer service, free advice and helping people figure out what makes the most sense for their publishing program - even if it means they don't hire us. If our goals were different, I could get pissed that we "give away" 5-6 hours of consulting time a week. But I'm not because that's part of who we are and who WE want to be.

My suggestion would be to sit down separately and outline the following (this worked for us last year when we started down this path).

Personal 5 year plan (top 5 goals)
Professional 5 year plan (top 5 goals)
The business itself - where do you want it to be in 5 years (top 5 goals)
How do you want to extricate yourself from the business (sell, close, etc.) when you're ready to retire
5 Strengths and weaknesses I bring to the business and the duties related to those
5 Strengths and weaknesses my partner brings to the business and the duties related to those

This is something you should spend some time working on individually and then plan to spend several hours going through together. They won't match up perfectly, but if they're completely different, it might not make sense for you to be in business together.

Business can ruin a relationship but Amy and I have always had an open and honest friendship and been willing to have the difficult conversations with each other which makes us work well together. To be honest, we spent the first 6 months kind of walking on eggshells together but our business - and our friendship - has been better for us getting over the honeymoon stage and being ourselves and working together.

If the plan is solid and if both parties are committed to the same vision, it can work.

Basic Rules for a Successful Author Event

2009-11-13T15:47:00.001-05:00

One of the best ways for an author to get their message out to their community and region is to do author signings. Booking a signing does take a bit of finesse. To start, know that bookstores need ninety days advance notice to properly book and promote a signing. Do yourself a favor and do not call your local bookstore asking to do a signing in three weeks. They have calendars and newsletters printed each month, and you need to respect their deadlines.

Next, most bookstores will not be able to book you for an event unless your books are available to order from a wholesaler such as Ingram or Baker & Taylor. The book must show up in the bookstore's computer as available for order and returnable or you will have trouble getting a booking. So, don’t call to ask to do an event until you know that your books are available to order from a wholesaler or you are prepared to bring the books yourself and sell on consignment.

Finally, to better increase your chance of selling books, don’t just do a signing; plan an event. Sitting at a table for two hours can be a tad disheartening. Draw a crowd by reading, speaking, or giving a workshop. Invite everyone you know. Get listed in all your local community calendars. Reach out and advertise your event.

You might also want to plan a launch party on the publication month at a local store. Most bookstores would be thrilled to host an event for a local author because they often invite a large group of friends and family to attend. For a launch party to be successful, you need to send out invitations three weeks in advance, plan the evening around a reading or talk, and make sure you have someone there to take pictures!

Good pictures of happy people milling around a signing are an invaluable tool for your next event booking. Store managers want to know that you can draw an audience, work a room and, in general, make your event “worth their time.” Make sure you have a few pictures as proof that your events are fun, crowded, and profitable.

What if it doesn't work?

2009-11-04T14:25:00.002-05:00

I make a living at being helpful. I am incredibly lucky... my day to day duties center around showing authors and publishers how they can achieve their goals. Talking to authors and publishers is not actually part of my job description, but it takes up most of my day. I love helping people figure out how to best focus their efforts and balance their expectations with the realities of the book world.

Being of service to clients and non-clients alike is actually written into our mission statement. Most of these conversations do not result in new business for The Cadence Group, but it does result in the feeling that we are helping others, steering authors away from being taken advantage of and doing some good for our industry. And during those early conversations, I look like a real hero. People LOVE me...

But sometimes I spend my day having to tell people that their book is not selling. They did everything right, but it is not working. That all the expense and time invested so far is not resulting in actual sales. I look less like a hero then.

Once a book is launched, the stores notified of it's existence, the reviews written and the marketing done... what happens if the book does not sell?

The hard truth is most books do not sell well. It takes a mixture of time, money, marketing savvy, good word of mouth and, most of all, luck to start a book on an upward trajectory that results in sales.

What can we do to maximize a book's chances:

Start with a tried and true, modern, marketing campaign (reviews, online, bookstores, libraries, media)
But not rely on a marketing plan if the plan is clearly not working
Pull back the scope and focus on regional and author-based sales
Send out copies of the books to those who can make a difference (booksellers, freelance writers, bloggers)
But above all else, keep pushing. Don't give up. Keep participating in discussion groups, keep calling book clubs and volunteering to speak to the group, keep contacting local stores and libraries, keep pushing.

Very often authors get discouraged at the first round of disappointing sales. They see all the money and time spent as wasted and give up or lash out at the bookstores/media. It is easy to blame a short-sighted media or stubborn book buyer when a book does not get the exposure we feel it deserves, but often we are just being impatient. Small presses cannot launch in the same explosive way a large book does. Small presses can't spend that kind of money and can't rely on years of good-will from book buyers and the media.

But what can a small do that a big publisher can't? Be patient, grow a book organically, give a book a long time to find it's market... give a book the time to succeed slowly.

Time + Dedication + Luck = Success.

It is our job to supply the first two... let's not be short sighted. But let's start from the expectation that every book will need a different set of activities to find it's prime market. It is with time and dedication that we have the best shot of hitting upon those successful activities. Authors at small presses have it harder. It is tougher to launch a book from a small press, but giving things time and constantly trying new things gives a small press book advantages that big house authors only dream of.

The Cadence Group Announces New Shelves Distribution Program

2009-09-11T11:05:00.000-04:00

The Cadence Group (TCG) is thrilled to announce the launch of New Shelves Distribution—a new and better method for fulfillment, sales and marketing. The program, which is now available, combines warehousing and fulfillment services with sales and marketing.

“TCG has offered sales and marketing services since we opened in 2006,” says Vice President Bethany Brown. “This new program now adds a full service fulfillment option to the smaller and mid sized publisher. We provide warehousing and fulfillment to all the major wholesalers and retailers and then national, regional and/or on-line sales programs are created and executed for each title. This program is being offered as a less expensive and less constricting way to distribute books.”

“We wanted to do this right,” says TCG President, Amy Collins MacGregor. “We saw the need for an alternative to the traditional distribution options available for small presses today, but wanted to make sure we could launch this program properly. The New Shelves program provides publishers with a wide range of options. We can offer stand-alone fulfillment or we can combine fulfillment with a cost-effective sales and marketing program to all publishers.”

The Cadence Group has partnered with Pathway Book Services, an established and respected book fulfillment agency located in New Hampshire. Pathway will handle all warehousing, ordering and shipping for New Shelves.

“Returns, consumer and website retail options and billing will also be offered by Pathway.” says MacGregor.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Pathway Book Services on this program,” adds Brown. “They have a long and distinguished history of working with small presses, great relationships with many of the accounts like Ingram and Barnes & Noble, and they have a commitment to helping small presses get their books out in to the marketplace.”

The Cadence Group has hired a full-time National Sales Manager to handle their new program and added a Customer Service Department to better serve their publisher clients. All inquires regarding the new shelves program can go to services@newshelvesdistribution.com or 518.391.2300.

About The Cadence Group: The Cadence Group is a professional design, editorial, sales and marketing, and project management provider for the book and publishing industry. They provide authors, publishers, and small presses with the guidance necessary to create market-ready, professionally designed books. Their goal is to help others realize their full potential in the retail and wholesale marketplace.

###

Returns Kill Another Great Company

2009-09-08T12:36:00.001-04:00

Blu Sky Media Group announced on Friday that they were forced to close their doors. Greg Snider, the owner of Blu Sky Media Group is not declaring bankruptcy, he has negotiated with his bank to allow him to make a structured closing.

Snider is a real class act. He could have shut his doors and walked away, but he didn't. He is spending the next several months working (for nothing) to make sure all of his publisher clients find new homes.

This good deed in the face of tragedy is even more remarkable when you realize that Blu Sky's troubles are in no way Greg's doing. He gave small presses a chance to sell their books to the trade and the trade was happy to buy them. Blu Sky was formed to offer small presses the chance at distribution. Most distributors will not touch a small press because one or two books rarely recoup the expenses and time needed to launch a press properly.

Snider found a way around that. He was able to offer small presses way into the bookstore and library market.

What messed everything up? Returns used as cash. Blu Sky saw huge sales while things were good and huge returns when they weren't, just like everyone else. Stores and wholesalers are allowed to return books that do not sell, that is part of the Faustonian pact we have all made, but for the last several years, they are paying their bills with returns. Books are returned days before the invoices are due and then those same books are reordered a week later.... starting the clock all over again. This practice is now so common place that many small and midsized businesses are shipping books over and over again for free.

I am not clamoring for the end of returns. I don't want a complete turn-around on the policy that allows bookshops to take a risk on unknown publishers. It is hard enough these days to get a small-yet-worthy book onto a bookstore's shelf. What I want is a reform of HOW we accept returns. We have to stop the practice of using returns as cash. It is killing good companies.

Your Spine Is Your Cover

2009-09-03T12:17:00.010-04:00

Here's one of the dirty little secrets in book publishing. Publishers spend countless hours and dollars working on their covers, but they often miss the point. With the exception of online retailers, your book spine is your cover.

Brick and mortar stores are packed with books. New releases. Backlist books. Series. Gift books.

Walk to any category (perhaps your own) and take a look at how many books are crammed on to the shelves.

What do you see? The spine, if you're lucky.

All to often publishers make the mistake of not focusing at all on the spine of their book, not realizing that this is their number one marketing tool in brick and mortar stores.

What does this mean for you?

Spend some time on your spine.

Spine Size

Think about bulking your page count to make sure that your spine has presence. We're not recommending that you fluff your book with overblown margins or blank pages. But we are recommending that you don't cram in your text so tight to save a few cents on your printing prices.

Push it out a signature or two. It might make all the difference between getting lost on the shelf and standing out because you're 1/8 of an inch bigger. Choose paper that bulks. You might be surprised at how easy it is to snag an extra 1/16 of an inch through paper weight alone.

Spine Color

Spend some time analyzing what the spine colors are in your category. This is extremely important. If every spine in your category is white, choose a vibrant color. Choose something that stands out. Choose something that practically leaps of the shelf and screams "pick me!" This is the time to buck the trends and be a little different. If you're not sure what will work, grab some books that have different spine colors and stick them on the shelf where your book will go. Which colors pop to you? What do you see first?

Spine Text

Make it readable! Make it bold! Make it big! Make sure that the reader sees your spine and your text right away. If you're standing 3 feet away from your spine, you need to be able to read what it says (see above about spine width - the bigger the spine the more room for bold text).

Take it to the Bookstore

Let's keep this next bit between us...

The best way to really know if your spine works is to print out several versions, colors and copies true to size. Cut the spine out, getting rid of excess paper so you're literally holding your book spine in your hands. Put a tiny piece of tape on the end of each option. Take your spine options to the bookstore and visit your category. Stick the various spines on the books that will sit next to you (usually alphabetical by author's last name within category or subcategory). Which one works? Do any? What do you see? Can you read your title? Do you get lost on the shelf because you're too tiny or you blend in too much?

Lack of attention to your spine can kill your book in the marketplace. Once you get in to stores, your spine really is your cover. When you consider the time, money and energy that you spend getting your cover right, promise us, do the same with your book spine.

P.S. Remember, be polite during any bookstore research. Bring your spines with you when you go and don't interfere with bookstore customers!

Profit and Loss

2009-08-31T10:42:00.011-04:00

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the dollars behind the decisions publishers make. Hardcover vs paperback, cover design, retail pricing... all of these items and many more need to be weighed against the bottom line. In these discussions, we have been tossing around the phrase "P&L".

A reader contacted us off-line to ask about "P&Ls" and how they are set up. Thought I would share some of the more important "Profit and Loss" line items that we believe every publisher should add up before publishing a book.

Author Advance: How much you paid the author against future royalties for the right to publish the book.

Development Edit: The cost of hiring an editor to shape and polish the writing.

Copy Edit: The cost of hiring a separate editor to check for grammar, spelling, inconsistencies, fact check and smooth out awkward sections.

Proofread: The cost of having (preferably two) editors review the finished file right before it goes to print and catch the inevitable errors.

Design: How much you pay the designers to design the cover and interior look of the book.

Layout: How much you pay the designer to layout the text and images within the design template and fix all the errors your proofreader finds.

Art costs: The cost of the photos or illustrations you will purchase for the book.

Marketing and PR: The budgeted amount for promoting the book. Email blasts, on-line optimization, ads in industry newsletters, author tour, getting reviews, in-store display allowances, co-op, book club and library outreach, etc.

Sales and Fulfillment: The costs associated with warehousing, shipping, selling, and billing for your books. (This is often portrayed as a percentage of the billing per unit if you are using a distributor. Sales rep groups, fulfillment houses and distributors often charge a percentage per sale)

Printing and freight: The costs to print and ship your books from the printer to the warehouse.

Once you have added the figures associated with every aspect of your book's production. marketing and sales, divide by the number of books you believe you will sell in the first two years. Be realistic. As we have said before, you are not going to be on Oprah (we promise).

Here is a sample breakdown of how a P&L works for a book. I'll call the book "Blown: My Life and Fortune as a New Author"

Blown (at 336 pages, paperback) retails at $16.95

This book's entire budget totals $30,000 for the items listed above.

After careful research, you expect to sell 5000 copies in the first two years.

The cost per unit is $6 a book.

Let's say you sell the book through traditional channels which means that you sell the book at a 55% discount off of the retail price of the book.

Your gross income from each sale is $7.63

You will net $1.63 per unit sold. (This is a healthy profit margin on a P&L)

But what if you only sell 2500?

The cost per unit will be $12 a book and you will never make your money back.

The solution many new publishers reach for is to raise the retail price of the book, but that is usually not a great idea. As we have said before, set your price to match what the marketing is asking for. It is better to adjust your expenses than raise the price of your book beyond what a consumer will pay for it.

Be very careful about your expectations and sales projections. The more accurate they are, the better you can work your profit and loss and keep your budget in line with potential sales.

Let's Make a Deal - Setting Your Price

2009-08-24T17:43:00.005-04:00

Just recently, we blogged about the importance of category research when choosing the right cover for your book.

Category research might be a theme for several posts from us moving forward. All to often, clients, potential clients, publishing friends and colleagues come to us with finished books (or book ideas). All to often, we come back to them with a myriad of questions - including, how did you come to that price, trim size, title, subtitle, cover, etc.?

For us, each of these "packaging" details must be dictated by the market into which we publish. While we always have an opinion, our number one goal is to ensure that our clients and colleagues are getting real-time feedback from the retail marketplace. In this case, our opinion doesn't matter. The marketplace, however, does.

Which, for today's post, brings us to price.

How do you choose the appropriate price for your book?

The first place to start is, of course, your P&L. Once you factor in your advance (for our publisher friends), your editing fees, copyediting fees, layout, design, printing prices and marketing budget, what is your profit margin?

As you know, a P&L is only as good as the person that creates it. For example, if I price a 196 page trade-paperback business book at $24.95, I'm most likely going to see a healthy profit margin in the end. The cost for editing, printing and producing such a book is often dictated at a per-word or per-page rate. Tiny book, tiny costs, big profit margin. That all sounds good, right?

The only problem with this particular analogy is that selling-in and selling-through a 196 page business book for $24.95 is going to be really difficult. People don't have the disposable incomes that they used to. And, more importantly, this particular lightweight book may not scream "value" to your end customer. Especially if they can get a similar book on the same topic for $12.95.

So how should you really set a price?

Let's work backwards.

Let's say you're publishing a book in Category X. Get on Amazon, go to the bookstore, peruse your bookshelf. Pull out all of the bestselling books in Category X. What's their price point? What does the consumer get for their money? Is your category driven by a 336 page trade paperback for $14.95? Do "unknown" authors charge a dollar or two less for for their book? Does the price point reflect a big author's name? A page-heavy book? Do some publishers actually charge less because price-point is their value proposition?

Here's what you'll discover through this simple exercise. The consumer is actually telling you, through book sales, the price they'll pay for a book on your topic in Category X.

If, for example, it's $9.95, $12.95, $14.95 or $19.95, then that's the price you need to get to. It doesn't matter that you're convinced that your book is so extra special that you're sure the consumer will pay an extra $10.00 for it. Research will show that's most likely not the case.

Everybody's on a budget these days. If your P&L shows that you have to sell 15,000 copies of your $5.95 book to make your money back, than that's what you have to sell. Charging $15.95 for that same book just to make your money back, in a category that can't sustain it, just means you won't sell very many copies of your book.

What you need to do is go back to your P&L and take a look at real costs compared to a researched price point. Figure out how many books you need to sell and develop a sales and marketing plan to make it happen.

Like so many things in our business, strong market research can prevent you from making some of the simple mistakes that can have long term, adverse affects on your publishing program. Setting your price is just one area.

So, let's make a deal. Next time you decide you need to charge $24.95 for that 196 page book to make your money back, rethink how - and why - you've gotten in to this business to begin with.

"But how many books will I SELL?" - Author Events Part Two

2009-08-12T14:33:00.007-04:00

One of the first things a publisher or author will ask of any marketing plan is "what is the return on my investment going to be?" The person with the checkbook wants to know that if they write out the zeros, they can plan on a significant return on their investment.

I hate to tell give them the only answer that anyone can give... "It depends."

Carol Zelaya, author of the Emily the Chickadee series, published by Richlee Publishing, launched her first children’s book in April 2008. She hired a fantastic PR firm to set up the launch, complete with a book signing tour covering four states that she expected would stimulate sales. Her expectations were quickly dashed.

“I mistakenly thought that once you were invited to do a book signing, you had really made it." says Zelaya "I was so wrong. Even when the stores did tons of publicity and put up big posters, no one came.”

But are sales the only purpose of an author tour? What results and returns can authors expect when the people don't show up at the event? Why do an author event if no one can guarantee sales?

“The thing you have to remember is the benefits outside of the event.” Says David Brody, author of several novels, including Cabal of the Westford Knight, published last February by Martin & Lawrence.

If you go into a tour looking at it strictly in terms of sales during events, it will not work, Brody says. “I may sell only 5 or 10 books at an event, but that is not the point. I have to take into consideration that the store orders the books a few weeks ahead of time, makes a display, puts up a poster; plus, the manager and employees get to know my book. At the event, who knows who will hear me and what they might tell other people? And after the signing, I will leave a few signed copies and those might get displayed for a few weeks. I can often attribute 50 or 60 sales to an event that drew only 10 sales that day. If you look at it that way, the economics make sense.”

So the question I put out there is this... "What is the REAL return on your author tour investment?" I'd love to hear from authors who have recently toured to see if they think touring is worth their time and money.

Bookstore Feedback - Part One

2009-07-30T11:34:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, we blogged about our research in to bookstore events. We also indicated that the results would be coming soon. We'll most likely separate our many findings in to several posts.

First is the results of an extensive telemarketing campaign that our team put together. I think you might be as surprised as we were....

Over the past six months, The Cadence Group called 1034 bookstores and asked following question:

“Do you host author events?”

We called a wide range of stores. We called independent bookstores. We called chain bookstore. We called gift shops. We called institutional bookstores. The answers we received were varied and surprising.

“I don’t do events anymore.” “I can’t afford the extra staff, time and effort that book signings entail.” “Will the author bring their own books?” “We don’t do well with author signings.” “We only book events from large publishers.” “We’re too small for events.” “We only book local authors for signings.” “Our customers don’t come out for events.”

This small sampling drove home how deeply the struggling economy is affecting retailers everywhere. It also highlighted the many ways that the face of event marketing in the publishing industry is changing.

When our marketing team started our calls, we expected an enthusiastic and positive response from retailers. We thought we knew that bookstores were ready, able, and excited to host local and regional authors. We thought we knew that retailers were looking for ways to draw people to their stores and that author events would be near the top of the list of how to do so.

We thought wrong. We'll let the numbers tell the tale...

Out of the 1034 stores we contacted:

825 were Chain or Institutional Stores
209 were Independents and Gift Stores
254 stores told us that they did not do events because they were too small or did not have the staff
117 stores told us that they did not do signings because no one came
21 stores told us that they were not booking events because they were not sure if they were going out of business or had recently closed their store fronts.
18 hung up on us
4 yelled and then hung up on us
620 stores did events and booked authors for readings, signings, story times or workshops

Out of 1034 stores, only 620 indicated that they do events. That's roughly 60% (according to my trusty calculator).

While that may seem like a high percentage, you then need to factor in location, region and genre. How many were children's bookstores? How many were category-specific? How many were located in smaller regions around the country?

When you start asking these questions and reviewing the results, you realize that 60% is not that high of a percentage at all.

So now the question is.....if fewer and fewer bookstores are hosting author events, what's the next "big thing" for marketing a new book?

And, if authors and events don't draw people to bookstores, than what, if anything, does?

Don't Judge A Book By It's Color

2009-07-24T10:42:00.006-04:00

Just yesterday, someone posted an interesting question to one of the discussion groups that we follow.

Basically, the question was "Does anyone have any idea what the "ideal color" for a business book should be?"

I was surprised by the number of responses that actually suggested a color! Blue, it seems, is the color people associate with business books. Apparently, content and subcategory doesn't matter. It should just be blue.

To me, responses such as these are dangerously irresponsible. How can a group of people suggest a "sellable" color without doing the extensive research needed to choose a book's packaging?

How can something as vitally important as a book's cover be reduced to the simple question of: "What color should a [insert your own category here] book be?"

Below are some highlights from my response to the "color" discussion. I hope you find them useful:

Asking about the color of a business book doesn't take in to account so many important variables. To come up with a thoroughly competitive cover design, you should do the following:

1. Research the subcategory - leadership, time management, ethics, human resources, business management, management, how-to business, marketing, etc.

2. Purchase (or at least go to the bookstore and look at) the top sellers in your subcategory. Identify the colors, fonts and images used.

3. Find out what's working and why. Are they all the same color, same title treatment, same image pattern? I'm guessing not. Why not? Which of the books "popped" off the shelf most. Why? (the color could be why)

4. Pull out books in colors that you and your client like that are in your cover design. Put them in the shelf within your category. Can you see them? Why? Why not? Which colors will stand out on the shelf.

It's important to keep in mind that cover design is ultimately driven by the consumer. We teach people what to expect when they go in to the business category in terms of look, feel, trim size and even price. So, you want to be sure that you're what they expect. At the same time, it's important to stand out. If every book in your subcategory is blue, you might want to try red, or green or muted purple. You might want to try something very bright that practically leaps off the shelf.

Most importantly, there is no set formula for choosing "a color" for any category of books. you need to thoroughly research the subcategory and find out how you can match up against the competition and get noticed on the shelf.

Bookstore Events - Your Thoughts?

2009-07-14T13:23:00.003-04:00

The Cadence Group is doing some research in to bookstore events and we'd love your thoughts!

As we know, the landscape of book marketing is changing on a daily basis. Budgets are being slashed at all ends of the publishing process from advances to marketing to promotional placements to author tours. Publishers and authors are trying to figure out how to best reach their readers.

The avenue that we're currently exploring is the author tour, book signings, and/or bookstore events.

Do they work? The Cadence Group has interviewed a number of authors, independent retailers, publishers and chain bookstores. We'd love to get your thoughts and feedback as well.

What's your experience?

Results coming soon....

Old Friends, New Faces

2009-05-18T10:16:00.003-04:00

The Cadence Group, like several of our friends, is preparing for next week's book extravaganza in New York at BEA.

This year, the face of the show may look a little different. Many of our old friends will not be attending. Some won't go at all, others will be sending a limited staff. The show is expected to be a little smaller and a little less attended than years past.

We do believe, however, that getting together with a great group of book lovers will be a time of excitement for our industry. We're looking forward to perusing some of the new technologies, new titles, and "out of the box" concepts--those that have been announced and those that will surprise us on the show floor.

While we will miss some of our old friends, we're excited to "meet" several of our new friends and clients. And most importantly, we're looking forward to seeing what great things the book industry has planned for the future.

Are things turning around for Borders?

2009-05-11T13:46:00.004-04:00

Three months ago, it was announced that Borders was seeking to combine existing stocks in an attempt to bolster their stock prices to above a dollar. Three weeks ago, they announced that their stocks had risen above a dollar all on their own. The cost cutting and new management policies put into place by Ron Marshall seemed to be working. Investors were impressed and the stock has been rising ever since. Last closing, BGI was traded at $2.62.

Business journals that had recently written off the book retailer are now pointing to BGI's possible rejuvenation. Reporters, who in February named Borders as one of the top 10 companies guaranteed to fail in 2009, are now heralding a new day at BGI.

Will Marshall's changes be good for the company? What do you think of Borders' "turn-around"?

Do You Go To Author Events?

2009-05-04T17:36:00.002-04:00

One of the things we do here at the Cadence Group is set up author tours.

It is getting harder and harder to convince stores to agree to host our touring authors. It's not that they don't want to offer their customers an event, it's just that they cannot afford to.

Staff at bookstores nation-wide has been cut very deeply and stores do not have the staff to work an author event.

It is hard to convince a cash-strapped bookstore owner to staff up for an event when there is a good chance no one will show up. The extra staffing costs for even one disappointing evening can kill a store's profit.

So... my question for you is.... do you go to events at bookstores?

Educated by the Audience

2009-04-27T17:28:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-23T15:58:00.007-04:00

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

2009-04-13T23:08:00.002-04:00

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.

Borders Layoffs more Corporate Staff

2009-02-19T18:06:00.002-05:00

The net is strangely quiet about this layoff round.... if anyone has news about who got cut and who is left, please leave it here or twitter it to @thecadencegrp. Thanks!

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 19, 2009—Borders Group today announced that it has reduced its corporate workforce by another 136 positions, which were eliminated effective today. The majority of the jobs, which represent about 12% of the corporate workforce but less than 1% of the company’s total workforce, are based at the company’s headquarters in Ann Arbor. The workforce reduction was spread across virtually all business areas, including marketing, human resources, field management and corporate sales. The reductions were made at various ranks, ranging from entry level to middle management. Affected employees are being offered transition pay, severance and job placement assistance.

Today’s changes follow the company’s announcement just over two weeks ago that several top-level corporate positions had been eliminated to reduce management layers and help drive expense reductions.

“While reducing payroll is never easy and we respect the impact it has on employees and their families, it is one of the necessary steps we must take along with other non-payroll expense reductions to help get this company back on track financially,” said Chief Executive Officer Ron Marshall. “In this time of transition, I greatly admire the tenacity and focus that employees at all levels here have shown as we drive to significantly reduce expenses and bring other key financial measures in line. We will continue to move forward with deliberate speed to make the changes required to get Borders back on firm financial footing.”

A Game of "Chicken"

2009-02-09T17:48:00.008-05:00

I got a call from a publisher pal the other day asking me to help him rework his 2009 sales estimates.

Book #1? 1500 units. Book #2? 1000 units Book #? 2000 units....

As I go through the list it becomes clear that he cannot afford to publish most of his Fall line.

Looking over his list again, I see wonderfully written, smart, quirky books that in 2006 would have charmed the socks off of the media. At least one of them would have become a minor sensation and carefully nurtured by a score of pr and marketing people. The books would have sold between 5000 - 10000 in the first year to the bookstores and libraries who support new authors and small presses.

Today, the books are not going to receive any pr or marketing outside of the author's efforts and a few press releases from the publisher's office. In addition, while the publisher is realizing he has no money to promote, bookstores are realizing that they have no money to risk on smaller books without promotion.

It is a vicious game of chicken... publishers lament the lack of distribution and bookstores bewail the lack of promotion. And more and more consumers go on line. How are small publishers going to get the word out about new authors with print media crumbling in on itself and the online cacophony rising with each passing day?

The Power of an Apology

2009-02-04T09:31:00.000-05:00

Last month I messed up. I mean REALLY messed up. Never mind what I did, but suffice it to say... It was bad. It was an error, not an omission, but should not have happened and it impacted a client's book launch.

My client (let's call her Rebecca) called to let me know that she was beside herself and she rightfully let me have it. She wanted her money back. She wanted my head on a platter. And then she wanted me to really suffer.

Today Rebecca is my happiest client and has just signed up for another 6 months of service.

What happened?

I apologized.

When Rebecca called up last week yelling, my first instinct was to defend myself. I wanted to explain that there were extenuating circumstances. Iwanted to remind her that she was just as much to blame.

But I bit back the urge to interrupt and fight back. I ignored the voice in my head telling me that it was not FAIR to be blamed. I listened to what she had to say and then I completely copped to it. No excuses, no defense. I took full responsibility and promised to do everything in my power to make it right.

As I apologized and made a commitment to fix what I could, I gave Rebecca the only thing I could at that moment... I honored her by admitting she was right to be upset without a defensive tone or throwing around passive-aggressive blame. In an instant, I was once again her partner and would work with her to make things right.

There is strength in admitting that we are wrong. No one is perfect. Admitting we are wrong without justification can help us lose our fear of imperfection. No matter how unfair we think it may be or what other circumstances are to blame, when something goes wrong, it is best to take a deep breath, look at the situation honestly and take responsibility for the parts of which you are responsible.

.... and then not do it again.

All The Best Sara

2009-01-27T09:00:00.016-05:00

Monday morning, Publishers Weekly Editor-and-Chief, Sara Nelson, posted an article stating that she was feeling optimistic about our country and industry. She mentioned the new government, the economy, and that her hope that layoffs in the publishing industry were abating. A few hours later, the word went out that Nelson had been caught in the PW layoffs.

The irony aside, Sara should feel optimistic about publishing and our world.

The publishing blog Beyond Hall 8 pointed out that publishing seems to belong to the young. To the casual observer, 28 year old phenoms are taking over the media. Even PW has a regular feature called 40 under 40. We should celebrate the energy and innovation that a constant stream of young hopefuls brings to our businesses. We should not begrudge the phenoms their moment in the sun.

But neither should we forget the contributions and value of our industry leaders. Sara Nelson showed herself to be a very capable leader. She grasped and touted new technology and innovations and never hid behind the comfortable "because we don't DO it that way in publishing." stance. Age is not the issue in publishing, innovation and willingness to pay attention is the issue in publishing. Sara Nelson paid attention.

Our industry is going to survive and grow because of people like her. Publishing is better off because of Sara Nelson. She is a consistent, classy, intelligent member of our community who spent her time at PW participating in industry events, showing new-comers a great deal of patience, and still found the time to post well-reasoned, well-written articles that kept our industry well-informed.

Best of luck, Sara... let us know how we can help... we owe you!

Job Security

2009-01-25T18:19:00.008-05:00

Over the last few months, friends and family members have lost their jobs and double-digit percentage points off their retirement funds. While the financial losses are devastating, it is the emotional losses that are having the deepest impact.

These wonderful, intelligent, people invested their money in and spent their days working for other people's companies. They believed in the comforting and well-advertised idea that fund managers would increase their wealth and that companies would reward their loyalty.

A few years ago, I traded my savings and retirement funds for the opportunity to start a small business. With that decision, I gave up any comfort my investments may have supplied and, instead, invested in my own future.

While friends and loved ones shook their heads in private while giving their unwavering support, they all wanted to know: "How are you going to deal with the insecurity of not having a real job?"

Today, it is easier to answer that question. I cannot be "downsized". My portfolio cannot be halved. Today, my risks, hard work and efforts are not a guarantee of security, but the results are more firmly in my grasp than those working for others. A venture-capitalized board of directors will never again have power over my future.

The sad truth is, no one has a "real job" anymore. Real jobs have not existed for decades.

Your query letter IS your cover letter

2009-01-15T14:36:00.004-05:00

Would you spend hours working on a resume only to throw together a quick generic cover letter and hope you get an interview? Probably not. In fact, in today's tough economic times, your cover letter is probably the most important piece of your "package" in any job search.

A good query letter is much the same. This is your calling card. This is your first introduction. This is the one page you have to make you, and your book, stand out from the hundred if not thousands of proposals that publishers and literary agents receive every year.

Writing a good query letter can be daunting. It can be scary. It can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Address your letter to a specific agent or editor at a specific agency or publisher. Don't send out something generic.
Make sure that you're sending your letter to an agent or publisher that works in your genre. One of the biggest mistakes that authors make is not doing their research. Agents and publishers list their interests and previously sold titles on their websites. Check them out and make sure your project is a good fit.
Show that you've done your research. Mention a book or an author than an agent has represented in your first paragraph. Identify why you picked this particular agent or publisher to query.
Sell yourself. Give you and your platform a full paragraph. Explain why you are the best author for your book and how you can sell yourself and generate book sales.
Be courteous. Let people know if your project is on multiple submission.
Identify a market for your book. Really. A real market. Add a statistic or two.
Be respectful. Use appropriate business etiquette.
If you're just sending a query letter, let the agent or publisher know what else you have available - i.e. A full proposal and two sample chapters are available upon request.
Have someone else read your letter before you send it. Even the best of writers needs an editor. Typos have no place in a good query letter.
Be succinct. Keep your query to one page. Identify why you've chosen a particular agent or publisher, pitch your book, identify your market, sell yourself, thank them for their time.

Good Luck!

Sued Over Returns

2009-01-09T11:53:00.005-05:00

Just saw this notice on PW Daily that Jasmine-Jade Enterprises is suing Borders and B&T over their returns.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6627843.html?nid=2286&source=title&rid=856897678

Fascinating... isn't it the publisher's responsibility to monitor and manage the flow of stock out into the market? As a publisher, my job is to keep an eye on my stock exposure...

It's pretty simple. Yes, the retailers and wholesalers will use the returnable aspect of books to their advantage. I have to make sure they don't do it to me. I use bookscan and sales data to keep my stock exposure below what I can handle in returns.

I hate returns and I despise the practice of returning books at 87 days to pay invoices, but if I sell a book on a returnable basis, I cannot very well turn around and cry foul when they get returned.

That having been said, I look forward to more details as this lawsuit unfolds. Perhaps there is more here than meets the web....

Everyone Will Want to Read My Book…

2009-01-07T19:56:00.003-05:00

No they won't.

The first rule in publishing is to know your audience. For authors and publishers, this means know your reader (the end consumer) and your business partners (retailers).

While you may believe that you’ve found the “perfect” book that is uniquely qualified to be all things to all people, it’s important to really know your audience.

Let’s look at this through the eyes of a potential publisher:

The Retailer—While the publishing business is moving more and more to online sales and marketing and finding a solid audience, it’s still important to ensure your book is “shelved” in the right place. While you may have written a novel for 8 year old girls that can have a positive impact on her 12 year old brother with special advice for mom and dad, that particular shelf doesn’t exist in the bookstore. Your book will be shelved in one category. This is important to know before you ever write your book proposal. You need to identify where it goes in the book store so you can determine what editor or publisher to send it to. They know their retail market, do you?

The Consumer—The consumer is the end audience for your book. This is the person that will pick it up, skim a few pages, and ultimately make a purchase. Whether it be for themselves, as a gift, or required reading for their occupation, that consumer is your audience. That means you need to know: Who they are? What they buy? How they shop? What the competition for their business is? Does your book “fit” your consumer? Do you have the right cover design, price, trim size? Are you shelved in the appropriate category?

These are just some of the questions that agents, publishers—and retailers—ask when they are pitched your book alongside thousands of other books. If you want to stand out in a crowded marketplace, it’s important to know your audience.

What Does Borders Need to Do to Survive?

2009-01-05T14:51:00.005-05:00

Borders Books and Music is now experiencing it's fourth major management shake up in 15 months. Over the last year, several key and not-so-key upper level positions have changed hands several times as Borders tries to find the right leaders to help them reclaim their position as America's favorite bookstore chain.

Sites dedicated to Borders employee opinion are full of complaints about 2008 staff cuts and management decisions, Borders stock prices have plummeted and they are in danger of being delisted on the Stock Exchange. It is a dark time for a chain that has worked so hard to be the "nice guy" in the publishing retail world.

George Jones has been replaced by Ron Marshall, a CEO who has experience both in books and in turning around companies. George was a good man with good ideas, and I wish him the best. He did what he thought was right and drove down Borders debt considerably.

But my most fervent hopes are with Ron Marshall. If Borders cannot turn things around and bring themselves back to health, things will be very bleak for publishers and authors.

Stock prices aside, Borders deserves a chance to reinvent themselves. I have nothing against, Barnes and Noble, but Borders is a strong supporter of local arts, launches new authors on a regular basis, and works with publishers in a cooperative manner.

So I ask.... why do you think Borders is declining? What would YOU do to improve things at Borders?

Ingredients for the Perfect Nonfiction Book Proposal

2008-12-22T08:56:00.002-05:00

Lately, we have been getting a lot of calls and emails asking what goes into a book proposal. We are happy to post on any questions, but we thought this overview might be helpful.

When you are ready to pull together your "bits and pieces" and introduce yourself to the agent and publishing community, here are the elements you need to have ready to go:

Strong Positioning Statement – this is your elevator speech. 4 sentences or less on why your book will sell, who will buy it and why you’re qualified to write it. Remember, 4 sentences or less.

Overview—You get a full paragraph or two here. Describe what the book is, the subject matter it covers and why it’s relevant. Make sure you use marketing language and put your best face forward. You’re selling here.

About the Author—Make yourself shine. Highlight your media appearances. Talk about your blog or seminars or workshops. Be specific about your expertise and experience. Convince a publisher or agent that you have something to say, people are interested in what you have to say and you know how to sell your content.

The Market—While statistics may just be numbers, the reality is that numbers matter. You need to show that there is a large population of readers that will by your book. If you have a self-help book, talk about the number of people facing the problem that your book discusses. Business book? How many business out there are struggling with a problem that you have a solution for? Percentages, populations, and lots of facts drive the message here. If you have a message that people are clamoring for, most likely you’ve found an audience for your book.

Marketing Plan—The days of the publisher doing the marketing for your book are over. Any well-crafted book proposal includes the author’s own marketing plan. How are you going to sell your book? Think strategically and realistically within your budget. Do you have a website? If so, how many unique hits do you get a month? Have you been doing any workshops or seminars? Do you plan on writing articles for your local newspaper? Do you have contacts in the media that will help you get on radio or television? Have you posted articles about you and your book online. What’s your plan to get the word out about the book?

The Book—Include a detailed outline. If explanation is needed, 2-3 sentences per chapter that provides an overview is most likely enough to get you noticed.

The Competition—And yes, there is competition out there. If there’s no book exactly like yours, what books will be shelved near yours? What books have the same purchaser? List the competition. Consider including a sentence or two under each competitive title and highlight why your book is unique or different. Be realistic when listing competitive titles and how you’re book appeals to the same audience.

Endorsements—Talk to your friends. Talk to your colleagues. Talk to your acquaintances. Call in any favors. You want to show that people are reading your book and are excited about it. If they haven’t read the book (because it’s not quite finished, which is fine), get a quote about you and your program. How are you changing lives? How have you and your message impacted the people around you?

Sample Chapters—Read the guidelines for the agent or author you’re submitting to. How many sample chapters do they request with a proposal? Remember to proofread, proofread, proofread. No typos here. Include the best sample chapters of your book. This is your opportunity to show that you know your subject, know how to write about it, and can create a polished manuscript.

SASE—If you’re submitting unsolicited proposals, remember to enclose a SASE. Otherwise, you may never hear back from the publisher or agent with valuable advice or feedback.

Good Luck!

Before You Sign on the Dotted Line….

2008-12-15T21:51:00.012-05:00

It’s thrilling when a call comes in from a client exclaiming “I’ve been offered a book deal with a publisher!”

We understand how exciting this news can be. All of the legwork and persistence has paid off and now it is time for advance monies and congratulations!

Aquisition editor, Bethany Brown, shares with us a few tips for authors dealing with the joys and stresses of negotiating their first publishing deal.

While getting the offer may SEEM like crossing the finish line, the reality is your work has just begun. Before you sign your contract, Brown stresses that it’s important to know your rights, understand what you’re reading and perfect the art of negotiation.

Most importantly, please consider the following:

The Publisher – Do they have your best interests at heart? Does your book “fit” with their existing list? Are you satisfied with the relationships you have built with that publisher?

The Deal – Make sure you read any contract carefully before you sign. Does that offer you’ve been made match industry standards? Have you done the math – and fully understand –the amount of money you’ll be making per book? Have you figured out the number of books that must be sold for you to earn back your advance?

The Marketing—While many people believe that a marketing plan should come with the contract, that’s simply not the case. Publishers, and editors, are too busy to develop a marketing plan for each book they take on. However, you can do some digging on your own.

Request a Catalog – have you heard of the Publisher’s books? Specifically, can
you research some of the books they’ve published in your same category and find
out if they’ve received any press

Speak with a Publicist – it’s perfectly appropriate to request 10 minutes of a publicist’s time to find out if they have experience working with your type of book and find out their “generic” marketing plan for your category.

If you’re satisfied with the publisher, the deal, and the marketing department, it’s time to move to the contract. If you don’t have an agent, we’d strongly suggest that you get a second set of eyes to review your publishing contract. Unfortunately, your family lawyer probably isn’t qualified to do it for you. Talk to other authors. Get online to check out publishing contracts. Call a consultant. Make sure that you’re getting outside advice on what you should be asking for.

Finally, don’t ever be afraid to negotiate. While the reality is the publisher may not be able to meet all your demands, you won’t know until you ask.

Advice for Self-Help Authors Looking for an Agent or Publisher

2008-12-11T08:56:00.012-05:00

Yesterday, The Cadence Group received an email from an e-book Self Help author who wanted some advice. She says she will soon be looking for an agent and wanted to know where to start. My intrepid partner, Bethany Brown, offered her this great advice:

1. If your plan is to seek a publisher or agent in the near future, you need to start building your platform right away. In particular, if you're writing nonfiction. It's important to make sure that you – and your book – stand out in a crowd. A great way to do this is to start blogging, build a website, write articles for newspapers and magazines, and perhaps try to secure some speaking engagements and/or workshops using some of the ideas from your book.

2. Start thinking about your book proposal now. There are a lot of great books out there to guide you through the process. But a good book proposal requires a lot of research and planning. Mapping out the elements now will help you “fill them in” as you do your competitive research, build your platform and think about your marketing plans and strategy.

3. Get to know your category. Your book will only be shelved in one place in the bookstore. Make sure you understand your competition. How do you differentiate yourself? Is there a market for your book? Do you have a unique hook? Does your book "fit" with your category in regard to length, content and packaging.

4. When you’re ready to move on to trying to find an agent or publisher, might I recommend that your first stop be your local bookstores. Pull out books that are similar to yours and/or that you really like. Check the acknowledgement page. A good agent will often be thanked by the author in the acknowledgements. Look at the copyright page. Who published the book? Make a list of your top 10 – 15 agents and publishers and go home and check out their websites. Do they accepted unsolicited proposals? What format do that want to see your proposal in? Do they prefer a query letter as first contact? Pay close attention to their requirements and follow them – you don’t want to be discounted from the outset for a minor mistake.

5. Always make sure you research any agent and/or publisher before agreeing to work with them.

List of books we recommend for authors:

How to Write a Book Proposal, Michael Larsen

Nonfiction Book Proposals Anyone Can Write, Elizabeth Lyon

How to Get a Literary Agent, Michael Larson

Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why, Jeff Herman

Writer’s Market 2008

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents 2008: Who They Are! What They Want! How to Win Them Over!

THE TRUTH about Amazon.com

2008-12-10T14:36:00.007-05:00

I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Barbara Holstein to New Shelves. Dr. Barbara is the author of several books including her latest, The Truth. I asked Dr. Barbara to share with us her experiences navigating the world of Amazon.com.

Over the last several months, Dr. Barbara's book has steadily grown in rank and increased in sales through Amazon. The sales and success can be traced directly back to her efforts on the site as a participant in their numerous discussion groups and using the tools they offer. We could all learn a lot from her.

So, with that, I encourage you to enjoy this short and helpful article about her experiences on Amazon.com:

If you ever want to experience a deep forest with wild rivers and secret caverns, without even leaving home, I suggest you take a trip to the Amazon. That is www.amazon.com .

It is an amazing place. I've been visiting it on and off for more than a year and I am still getting to know my way around. When my newest book came out last January, THE TRUTH (I'm Smart, I'm a Girl and I Know Everything), The Cadence Group suggested that I have a profile page and do reviews of other authors.

Since that time I have created a profile page, have reviewed about 70 books by other authors, and am still doing reviews as often as I can.

I have started a few discussion groups and posted answers to others.

Also, I have tagged my own book, with explanations. When I have been able to chat with someone who may be reviewing my book later, I remind them to make sure to Tag.

All of these steps have taken a lot of time and effort. I don't know which of these steps has benefited THE TRUTH (I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know Everything) the most.

That's the thing-it is a trip into the Amazon, and like any adventure into the great unknown, we don't always know what is working and what is not. But I can tell you, have faith and take the adventure. You will have a lot of fun and for sure your book's Amazon rank will profit. My book was #13 a few days ago in the top 100 for BEING A TEEN. That is a great reward for taking a trip into the unknown!

I wish you great success and happy adventuring.

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein,

http://www.thetruthforgirls.com/ , http://www.enchantedself.com/
Psychologist, Happiness Coach and Author

Book Marketing

2008-12-08T14:40:00.004-05:00

Book Marketing is the act of letting the end user, the reader, know that your book is available and where to find it. Successful books are marketed in a manner that results in a reader purchasing your book and taking it home. A well-marketed book starts with a well-written marketing statement

Starting with the Basics:

To create a truly effective marketing statement, start with the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

Who will actually shell out the money to buy your book? Outline their age, finances, gender, and circumstances.
What makes your book worth the consumer’s dollars?
Where will your readers find your book?
When will your readers need your book? At what point in their lives will they need your book?
Why is your book more appealing than others in the same category are? (Be brutally honest here. Do you compete on price? Is your information more up to date?)
How will your potential readers find out about your book?

Your Positioning Statement

Get all this down on paper and look at it. You are now prepared to write your book’s positioning statement. When you are ready to present your book to the world (readers, bookstores, publicists, buyers, etc.), the most important tool in your arsenal will be the positioning statement. This statement is 100 words that outline for a potential buyer the reasons why your book will be of interest to their clients.

These 100 words should not outline what your book is about. This statement exists to talk about the potential market for your book and how you, as the publisher, plan to reach that market.

For example, if you have identified your core readership as business executives looking for a new job, your positioning statement could look something like this:

Shut Up and Hire Me is a step-by-step program designed for the busy business executive. Each chapter was written and designed to be read in less than ten minutes. Unlike other career guides on the shelf today, Shut Up and Hire Me draws from the wisdom and experience of CEOs from more than thirty Fortune 500 companies. Interviews, combined with proven techniques, are provided to help executives find and land their next position. Author Bill Billiam has hired top New York PR firm, Blown Out of Proportion, and is the author of such previous works as: Better Dead than Unemployed and More Money for Less Work.

Try it and see what you can come up with!

Do You Have What it Takes to Be Published?

2008-12-04T11:18:00.004-05:00

It is every writer’s dream to see his or her book in the front window of the local bookstore. It is fun to imagine tall, colorful stacks of your books surrounded by throngs of curious readers flipping through the pages while others rush to the cash register with their copy.

Feel free to continue this fantasy as you finish your manuscript, but in order to make that dream come true, the time is coming when you have to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like a publisher.

Whether you are going to publish the book yourself or work to have it published by a mainstream publishing house, believe it or not, writing the book was the easy part. Your work is just beginning.

The first step on this journey to being published is to realize that for publishers, the dream location is not the bookstore shelf; that shelf is simply a short stop on the way to the real destination … a reader’s bookshelf.

The only bookshelf that truly counts is that of the consumer.

If you’re truly serious about getting your book published, then you need to shake off the fantasies and take a good, hard look at the challenges ahead. This isn’t meant to discourage you. On the contrary, the better prepared you are, the more successful you will be in reaching your goal.

The path a writer’s work takes through the publishing process, into the retail market, and then onto a consumer’s bedside table is arduous. I know that, as a writer, you are enthusiastic about your work and determined to see it through to book form. While these are certainly helpful qualities in battling the challenges ahead, there is one tool to help you overcome the obstacles and push forward during the final stretch: knowledge.

Take the time to learn about the industry as a whole, how to think like a publisher, and what steps to take to create a successful book. Step by step, maneuver the book industry's websites, discussion groups, newsletters, and advice forums.

Here are some importants sites and newsletters that will help you learn more about the industry. Check them out online!

Publishers Marketplace
Publishers Lunch
Publishers Weekly
Shelf Awareness
Yahoo Self Publishing Group
Publishing Basics

The best way to start a journey is to learn as much about your destination as possible. Once you know where you’re going, you’ll be able to plan your route to get there. So set your writing aside for the moment and explore the book industry and learn everything you can about that oh-so-important part of the publishing industry: the reader.

What To Send to a Bookstore Buyer?

2008-11-30T18:47:00.004-05:00

When selling a book to the bookstores, libraries, and chains, remember that the people seeing your book sales kit see hundreds of sales kits a day. They will choose a very small percentage of the books they see. Your kit can make the difference between a purchase order and a politely worded e-mail (We regret to inform you …). When you send a package to a buyer for consideration, it is your first and perhaps only chance to impress them. Here is a checklist of what is recommended for inclusion in your package:

Color printout of the cover on heavy, glossy paper.

A bound ARC/galley or comb-bound manuscript if the book is finished. Sample chapters printed out if it is not.

Fully outlined marketing and publicity plan

One-page title information sheet with :
ISBN
Title
Subtitle
Author
Author bio
Author hometown
100-word description of book
Order contact information
Book category
Retail price
Page count
Trim size
Ship date
Publication date
Format
Print run
Co-op and advertising budget
Title and ISBN of previous books by author or in the series
Title and ISBN of books similar to yours

Top Ten Reasons Why Your English Teacher-Mother-Neighbor-Friend-Church Secretary Cannot Edit or Proof Your Book

2008-11-26T10:36:00.007-05:00

An avid reader with a red pen is not a good substitute for an editor who knows how to polish and refine another's writing.

The amateur editor or proof reader does not know all the elements to look for.

They have not developed the years of training it takes to catch almost every mistake.

They do not know the proper arc and format of each type of book.

They do not know The Chicago Manual of Style standards for book publishing.

They do not know how to code a manuscript for the designers.

Yes, they catch every spelling mistake in their daily lives, but they do not catch every spacing, line setting, page number, and margin error.

They are not practiced in working in the publishing industry. They cannot offer the advice and guidance that a professional can.

They do not have the software and computer skills to work as efficiently as a professional.

Hire an amateur, and you will might lose your chance to publish a good book and end up publishing a could-have-been-good book.

Things I Am Grateful For

2008-11-25T19:20:00.002-05:00

Bethany Brown joining The Cadence Group and being such a HUGE asset right off the bat.
Our wonderful clients and authors.
Book readers everywhere.
The fantastic group of designers, editors and printers who have made this year such a success.
The book buyers at the bookstores and libraries who were willing to take a chance on new books.
Friends and family who made this all possible. Those who, when hearing I was leaving my job to start my own business, said: "Go for it!"

You Are What You Think

2008-11-24T09:12:00.006-05:00

Okay everyone... I mean it. It is time to turn off CNN and stop obsessively reviewing every news feed about the economy.

I know the book industry (and most other industries) are in the crapper and that there are huge losses being reported every day.

But it's time to get down to business. I've had enough of the hand wringing. I am sick of the culture of panic that we have all agreed to live with.

If it is true that we are what we eat, that we become, in large part, a sum of what we put in our bodies, than I believe that it is also true that we become a sum of what we put in our minds. I am not a huge fan of mind-body-hooey and can promise you that I will never read The Secret, but I do know this: We create our own reality.

If we spend all of our time being afraid of the future, we will not have the energy to improve that future. If we spend hours each day talking to cohorts about how bad things are, we are wasting opportunities to make them better.

I plan on spending some time each day working on ways to help my small, fledgling business survive this "down-turn". Not only do I plan to survive, I plan to thrive.

People are going to need books and companies will need help coming up with creative ways to make and market books.

I can spend the next few months blaming everything on the market or I can start believing that every day hold new opportunities, even in a recession. I can either wallow in depression and accept defeat before it has arrived, or spend my day happy and excited, doing my best.

How are you going to spend your day?

Julie & Julia

2008-11-23T18:49:00.003-05:00

While I know the rest of the world has already read and celebrated the brilliance of Julie Powell, the author of Julie & Julia, I am just getting to it.

What a fantastic book! I have been laughing so hard outloud that people are looking over at me with disapproving looks.

Go get it. Read it. Enjoy.

How To Get The Cover Design You Should Have

2008-06-23T11:29:00.002-04:00

It’s not hard to learn what a properly designed, professionally published book looks like. Thanks to Amazon and the Internet, you can do much of your research from home. A lot, but not all. Your fingers won’t be able to do all the walking. You also need to get your legs moving … up, down, and around the aisles of your local bookstore.

Internet chat rooms, industry magazines, and online bookstores can provide some good information, but if you are serious about becoming a savvy, market-driven publisher, you need to spend a great deal of time in the marketplace. It is time to get out from behind your desk and get out among the books.

When you get to the bookstore, wander up and down all the aisles … not just those of your favorite categories. With a pen and paper in hand, slowly pace around the store moving your head back and forth noting titles that jump out at you from the shelves. After six or seven aisles, go back and look at the books you wrote down. Were they face out? Were just the spines showing? If the books you noticed were spine-out, what do the spines have in common? Was the lettering large and easy to read? What colors were used?

Now go wander around the display tables—all the tables, not just the ones you would normally peruse. What cover do you notice first? Which books do you think about picking up? Write these titles down. Go to the next table and continue to notice your reaction. Write down the titles of the covers that draw your eye there. Once you have cruised all the tables and aisles, you will have a strong list of the spines and covers that appealed to you.

Your list from the bookstore is a great way to discover what you like in a cover. The next step is to find out what the bestselling books in your category look like. This can be done online. Go to Amazon or BN.com (or both) and pull up the top-selling books in your category. Scan through the covers and see what colors are hot right now. Check out the fonts and see what the books have in common. For example, for a while, many bestselling self-help books were yellow and blue. During that same period, a majority of the bestselling business books had white covers and huge lettering.

The colors, fonts, and looks that herald an up-to-date cover change constantly. Once you have done your research, don’t rest on your laurels. Return to the bookstore and check bestselling lists every month to stay current.

You have found what appeals to you and identified what a new bestselling book in your category looks like. Can you find a book on the bestseller list that has the qualities that appeal to you? Can you find two or three? Grab the covers from the Internet and make a file to later give to your cover designer.

What Happens Next?

2008-06-16T16:24:00.003-04:00

A client of mine has just crested 4000 units sold into the "traditional" book market. She has sold to bookstores, online and libraries. She has made no money. The cost of manufacturing and promoting her book to GET 4000 sales has far outstripped what she has made.

Another client pre-sold 3000 copies of each of her three books into a national chain. She has yet to see a dime for books sold 8 months ago. The big retailer does not need to pay the little guy.

Returns are killing the creative publishers, slow-to-pay wholesalers are crippling the small houses and the shipping costs are climbing at a dizzying rate.

I would suggest that a fully executed, well marketed sales campaign handled totally on line makes some sense. Shoppers look for information on the web now. Why not offer them the books they need while they are on line?

Amazon and others buy in small, appropriate quantities, rarely return any books and pay monthly.

Are stores the wave of the past? Is brick-and-mortar dead? Dying? Is there any reason to stay with actual bookstores?

Booksellers will say that they provide a valuable community service, that they can recommend and nurture a wonderful gem of a book in a way the internet cannot.

Total Crap.

Yes, bookstores are a lovely place to spend an hour and they are a community resource, but in this economy and with time at such a premium, the average reader can get the exact same services from a trusted book review blog.

Word of mouth has moved on line. It may be time for book retailers to do the same.

More Layoffs at Borders Group Inc.

2008-05-15T08:36:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I got the call from a VP at Borders that it was to be his last day. Long time merchandise department employees were being moved out and a new structure was being put into place. This was the third such call I'd gotten in the last few months from Ann Arbor. Over the last year, Borders has been structuring and restructuring, working and reworking their systems to try to find the right balance between the old way and the new.

With so much speculation about whether or not Borders will be sold or if they will declare bankruptcy, I am glad to see Borders is still working to try to find answers for their business. I hope they find what they are looking for... the thought of a Border-less book industry makes me a little queasy.

For years, Borders was seen by publishers as the "good chain". They were open, more laid-back, their schedules and processes were less rigid than other retailers. They were the Ben & Jerrys of the book world.

But times have changed, things are looking bleak, financial reports are in, and Borders is not as successful as their more corporate rival.

I put it to you... why not?

Distribution... The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2008-05-14T07:36:00.004-04:00

Not all distributors are created equal. There are good and not-so-good distributors.

The good ones will keep the books in their warehouses, send their reps out to bookstores to present the books to the buyers, take orders, ship the books, negotiate the cost, bill the stores, and after taking their cut, hand over all the profits paid back to the publisher. When possible, the reps who sold the books to the book buyers will give the publisher feedback as to the reaction the books received. Direct, front-line, market-driven feedback is the key to a good distributor. They can help you keep your determination and focus when books are taking a long time to sell. More often, the feedback can teach a publisher about the changes necessary to the next print run of the book to increase the salability.

The not-so-good distributors will warehouse a publisher’s books and wait for a bookstore to order them. Once the order comes in, they will ship, bill, and handle the accounting, but there will be no follow-up, no creativity, or marketplace-driven marketing or feedback.

Be careful when choosing a distributor. Make sure you do your research. Contact a few of the publishers listed on the distributor’s Web site and ask how they like working with their distributor. Call your local independent bookstore and ask if they carry that particular line of books.

I recently asked Greg Snider of Blu Sky Media Group, a well respected distribution company, to offer some advice about what to consider when researching distributors:

Some questions to ask a prospective distributor:

1.) How long have you been in the distribution business?
2.) How many publishers/companies do you distribute?
3.) How many titles/products do you distribute?
4.) What genres/categories do you distribute?
5.) How many sales reps does your company have? (In-house or outside commission?)
6.) What are your set-up/cataloging fees if you were to accept me as a client?
7.) What percentage of net sales do you take as your distribution fee?
8.) Are there any additional monthly charges that I might incur? (Warehousing, order fulfillment, returns processing, administration, etc.)
9.) How far in advance of my release date do you need to properly sell my title?
10.) What is the length of your agreement?

What you should expect from a distributor:

1.) To correctly list your title data for ordering with all the major brick and mortar, online retailers, and wholesalers.
2.) A thorough presentation of your title to the major retailers and wholesalers in their territory.
3.) Inclusion into the distributors catalogs.
4.) Inclusion of your title in the tradeshows the distributor exhibits/attends.
5.) Timely processing of your title’s orders and returns.
6.) Monthly printed or online sales and inventory reports.
7.) Monthly communication via phone or e-mail to discuss progress.
8.) Access to marketing and advertising opportunities with wholesalers, retailers, and/or consumers.
9.) Continual sales of your title even after the first season.

What you should not expect from a distributor:

1.) Miracles! Your books will not magically appear on every bookstore shelf.
2.) To do all the work. Without a solid, well-planned advertising/marketing campaign geared toward your audience, the distributor will not be able to sell your title to the retailers and wholesalers. This is the publisher/author’s responsibility and not the distributor.
3.) Guaranteed sell through. Once a distributor gets your books onto a bookshelf, it is the publisher’s job to make sure that they fly off the bookstore shelf.

Getting into a distributor’s catalog is a difficult task. It is a very competitive segment, and good distributors are careful to only take on clients whom they feel will be successful. Every successful publisher increases a distributor’s reputation; an unsuccessful publisher can drive a distributor’s reputation down.

What you can do when approaching distributors to improve your chances:

1.) Have your book/advanced reader copy professionally designed. Packaging is key to all products including books, so a professional design is a must.
2.) Have your book professionally edited. Do not use your cousin Susie who’s an English teacher at your local high school as your editor. You need a professional to help you make your book the best it can be from a content standpoint.
3.) Have a detailed plan for your marketing, advertising, and PR. Also, include your budget of what you intend to spend. We see so many submissions from publishers/authors who do not have a plan to let consumers or their target audience know the books exists.
4.) Be willing to listen to the professional. Distributors, retailers, publicists, book shepherds make their living selling books. If they give you advice regarding your book, take it. It may mean the difference in selling a ton or none.

Distribution contracts usually start at two-year terms. They are taking a big risk by taking you on, and they want to safeguard that decision by protecting their investment with a minimum two-year term. It takes at least two years to launch a program properly and to start to see results. They are well within their rights to ask this of a publisher. However, you are well within your rights to get certain agreements from them as well. You should be able to get out of your contract if you can show that your books did not receive the activities contracted.

A distributor’s cut could vary from 25 to 40 percent of the net billing of each book. Some distributors will claim 15 - 20 % distribution fees, but after the charges, fees and add-ons, the total is back up over 25%. Just about every distributor has additional monthly fees, and most require an initial deposit for new clients, but it is up to you to add up what you are really paying. Don't be fooled by a lower initial number. So the math.

Before you balk at the cost, keep in mind that it is very difficult, expensive, and time consuming to handle your own warehousing, purchase shipping materials, and learn how to ship exactly how each store wishes their shipments to arrive … and everyone is different. (It’s a little joke they like to play on publishers. I am convinced that bookstore owners get together every two years to devise slightly altered yet completely incomprehensible trafficking instructions.) Then comes the billing, monthly statements, handling claims for books damaged in transit, taking in returns, and reconciling the amount due with what the bookstore believes is due.

After that, consider the money and time it takes to tell the country’s thousands of buyers about your books. The sales reps working for distributors have long-standing relationships with the book buyers in your hometown, across the country, and in the major chains. You would not be able to start a fledgling relationship on your own with these buyers. What an experienced sales rep can often do with a phone call, you could rarely accomplish with six months and a great deal of research, e-mails, flyers, catalogs, paperwork, and free samples.

But nothing replaces a publisher’s drive and efforts. The main thing to remember is that a distributor is often as good or as bad as the relationship between the publisher and the distributor. If yours is one of thousands of books on the oppression of clover farmers in New Guinea in your distributor’s catalog, you will not get the time and attention you desire. If you are not out there pushing your book into the press and media, creating a demand for your distributor to work with, they will not keep you for long.

Take your time choosing a distributor. Make sure you are a good fit and that you both share the same goals for your books. If you cannot find a good fit with the distributors that are willing to carry your book, consider doing your own marketing and sales for the first year. Better to wait and do for yourself than be trapped in a loveless “marriage” with the wrong distributor.

Creating Your Sales Schedule

2008-05-05T14:24:00.004-04:00

So many publishers and authors call me wanting to get into stores right away. I get calls in March from hopeful authors wanting to get onto Mother's Day table displays. I hate disappointing people, but I have to tell them that stores choose displayed titles 5-6 months before hand. Stores buy books with a set monthly budget that is used up many months before hand. If you want to successfully launch your books into the retail marketplace, let’s take a look at the items you will want to cover in the months leading up to your publication:

Eight months before your book’s pub date:
Send your book’s data to the wholesalers, retailers, Internet companies, and industry databases.
Hire publicity and marketing firms or create publicity and marketing plans on your own.

Seven months before your book’s pub date:
Contact all database departments and confirm that your book is in their systems correctly
Create sales packages containing sample chapters, table of contents, a color cover, sales information sheet, and a marketing plan.

Six months before your book’s pub date:
Send sales packets to the wholesale and retail buyers.
Write cover copy and marketing plan for back of the Advance Reader’s Copy
Design ARC.
Send ARC files to printer.
Send ARCs to buyers.
Call buyers to follow up and present book information. Request promotion and placement for your book.

Five months before your book’s pub date:
Research potential promotion and placement opportunities appropriate for your book (front-of-store tables, postcard mailings, Internet ads …).
Check again to see that all databases have your book information and have it correctly.

Four months before your book’s pub date:
Send ARCs to reviewers.

Three months before your book’s pub date:
Call reviewers to follow up on review packages.
Buy ads and initiate marketing for launch during pub month.

Two months before your book’s pub date:
Send finished books to buyers with request for orders and updates on your marketing buys.
Participate in a library outreach campaign through your distributor or find a service that allows publishers to announce books to librarians.
Send copies of your finished book to companies, corporations, and catalogs that you feel best represent your book’s audience.

One month before your book’s pub date:
Call all key buyers and confirm orders are in place

This is by no means a complete list, but it will give you an idea of what successful publishers plan for and the schedules they keep.

Hardcover vs. Paperback

2008-04-28T11:28:00.004-04:00

The days of books having to be launched in hardcover are over. Important fiction and non-fiction are now releasing in paperback all the time.

According to Independent, Barnes & Noble and Borders book buyers, people don’t buy books in hardcover the way they used to. These days, 75 percent of the DOLLARS spent on fiction are trade paperbacks. Remember how less expensive paperbacks are, factor in the price difference, and this means that less than only a small percentage of the fiction books sold in America are hardcover. And those sales are usually reserved for big houses with established, big-name authors.

Yes, there are exceptions, but if you want to maximize your chances of stocking and sell through, you will not take the chance that you will be one of the very few exceptions. Everyone thinks that they will be different. They aren’t.

I know that hardcover books are more appealing for authors. They think of hardcovers as more legitimate. They believe the hardcover will bring in more dollars. They believe that libraries want hardcover and think that they cannot get reviews with paperbacks. But those ideas are outdated..

Reviewers now review trade paperback fiction all the time. Libraries have less money than ever before and many prefer trade paperback for new authors. The ever shrinking number of Librarians who prefer hardcover can be served with Hardcover Print-on -demand.

Hardcover books from new authors or small houses are rarely, if ever, stocked nationally by major chains; therefore, sales are far less likely than in trade paper. (Example: If a national chain book buyer likes a book from a new publisher, he or she might take in 150 of a hardcover versus being willing to test 800 to 1,000 of a paperback.)

A well-known fiction buyer with more than twenty-five years’ experience has seen the passages of our industry and has kept himself up-to-date with the changing elements. When asked about hardcover versus paperback, he had this to say, “With so many small presses pitching fiction today, publishers should be obsessed with placement. They cannot get placement with hardcovers. Hardcover sales are hemorrhaging…. Please, tell your publishers to stop publishing in hardcover.”

That said, there are times when publishing a book in hardcover is a good idea. Many books are not published for the bookstore shelves. You may be publishing a book destined for corporate sales or you may be a speaker who plans to sell your book from the back of a Marriot Inn conference room. In these circumstances, publishing a book in hardcover and making the extra dollars that come from the higher price might be best.

Always keep the customer in mind when you are choosing the type of book you are going to publish. For example, if you have written a crumpet cookbook, your potential readership may have more disposable income and prefer a book that lays open heavily and will be used and reused often enough to warrant the durability of a hardcover book. If you have written a cozy mystery, your readers may not appreciate a $25 price tag and having to hold up a big, heavy book for hours while they read.

If you are concerned for your older readers, who prefer hardcover because of the bigger type, print your paperback with a larger font.

The bottom line is this... identify your reader and make sure you are creating a book that meets their desires and specifications, not yours.

Til later - AC

Books are here to stay

2008-04-24T08:26:00.005-04:00

Why do people buy books? What kind of people buy books? What kind of books do they buy? The answers to these questions are changing rapidly. It used to be that if you had a specific need (job interview, wedding, new baby, etc.) you would go to the store and pick up a book on that topic to educate yourself on the newest thoughts on that subject. Books were the preferred tool for disseminating new information. Not anymore.

Magazines (also a changing animal) hit the scene and trained readers to grab for the “highlights” on a topic. No longer did people feel that they needed a deep, thorough understanding of their topics. They learned that they could “get the gist” in three to five pages at most and, in most cases, do just fine.

Then came the Internet. Think you have lupus? Log on! Want to cultivate a pink-and-white-only garden that will not be eaten by your local deer population? www.girlydeerresistantgardens.com to the rescue!

The people who think they are too busy to read a whole book and cannot find the time to catch up on the stack of magazines piling up on the counter can now have seventy-five words on any given subject electronically handed to their inbox to be downloaded and absorbed in seconds.

But what about novels? Fiction? Yes, there is still a strong market for beautifully written, well-edited, sharply crafted fiction. Keep in mind, however, that the competition from popular, established authors and brand-named celebrities with clever marketing/ghostwriting/PR teams have driven the chances of a new writer’s work appearing on a national chain’s bookstore shelves way, way, way down. Therefore, many talented writers are moving to Web-based and self -printed digests.

Fans of savvy, edgy writing are flocking to Websites to get their daily dose of prose. Every day, established, talented book authors are writing 3000–5000 words for readers who will never see those words in a printed book. ’Zines, Web digests, salons, and blogs are changing how fiction readers get their fix.

This does not mean that books are dead. In spite of the Cassandra-like warnings from experts over the last 100 years that the book was becoming obsolete, books are here to stay. Newspapers, radio, and television did not kill the book nor will the Internet and iPod. Books offer a sense of comfort and reliability that other mediums simply can’t touch.

What is changing is how we think of "books". E-books are getting an erratic and ever strenghtening launch into our culture. It will not be long before hand-held electronic book machines gain full and total acceptance by an entire generation of readers who will still refer to what they are holding as a "book". It is a book. A book that is more environmentally friendly than paper and more handy than carrying six to ten pounds in one's suitcase on a long vacation.

Let's not get too hung up on what a book is and keep our eye on what we need a book to be.

For people who hear a particularly compelling speaker and want to learn more about there message, there are books. For those riding to work each day who want to escape into a good story, there are books. For those who want to deeply explore a topic and have a reference to which they can always go to, there are books.

There will always be books.

Bookstores as the new Top 40 radio station?

2008-04-23T08:52:00.008-04:00

It seems that each day brings another industry bulletin about how a bookstore has closed or how a chain will be reducing the number of titles it will carry. Brick and mortar stores are having to make hard choices; limiting their selection.

High retail rents, gasoline for delivery trucks, the economy, and unemployment can all be blamed, but not for long. Yes, it is time for consumers to tighten their budgets, but that is not the driving force behind the reduction in titles on bookstore shelves.

As a culture, we have become used to "shortcuts" and "hot-keys" in our work and home life. Our radios offer the same 100 songs each day with only a smirking nod to "independent" music. Technology does more than entertain and assist us; it often makes our choices for us. As we sink more deeply into our dependence upon technology, we lose our willingness to work for our pleasure.

Gone are the days when we slowly browsed a library or bookstore shelf looking for the perfect book to fit our mood. Those of us who find the time to read a book no longer have the time to search for one. We reach for the review section, listen to the latest NPR praise and ask our friends what their bookclubs are reading.

Armed with a vetted list, we can log on line or run into a bookshop and make a beeline for the front table. Chances are, the 11 books we have heard good things about are stacked there.

It is not that America does not have time for books, we don't have time for bookstores. That is bad news for both parties. We want a quick hit, a guaranteed success, a sure thing. There is nothing wrong with that, but it will forever rob us of that one amazing "find" that could have altered our thinking; the hidden gem that could touch us so personally and deeply.

I understand the America is asking for fewer choices and that the bookstores have to do what is best for their business... I guess I was just hoping for more time before the book industry became what radio degenerated into 30 years ago.... a place for the masses to be told what to enjoy.

Your Book's Journey

2008-04-22T14:12:00.000-04:00

It is every writer’s dream to see his or her book in the front window of the local bookstore. It is fun to imagine tall, colorful stacks of your books surrounded by throngs of curious readers flipping through the pages as others rush to the cash register. Feel free to continue this fantasy as you pound the keyboard, but if you’re interested in turning the vision into reality, then suspend the writing and read on.

In order to make that dream come true, you have to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like a publisher. For publishers, the dream location is not the bookstore shelf; that shelf is simply a short stop on the way to the real destination … a reader’s bookshelf. The only bookshelf that truly counts is the consumer’s. This blog has been created to guide your book into (and then out of) the hands of people who actually paid money to read it.

If you’re truly serious about publishing your book, then you need to shake off the fantasy and take a good, hard look at the challenge ahead. This isn’t meant to discourage you. The better prepared you are, the more successful you will be in reaching your goal.

The path a writer’s work takes through the publishing process, into the retail market, and then onto a consumer’s beside table is arduous. On this journey you will encounter misleading signposts, paths damaged by overuse, and rough road from underuse. But you will also experience a number of wondrous sights and resting places. The sweeps and turns of the publishing path can be fascinating—but even more rewarding if you know the lay of the land ahead of time.

As a writer on the verge of publishing, you are enthusiastic about your work and determined to see it through to book form. While these are certainly helpful qualities in battling the challenges ahead, there is one tool that will help you to overcome the obstacles and push forward during the final stretch: knowledge.

The best way to start a journey is to learn as much about your destination as possible. Once you know where you’re going, you’ll be able to plan your route to get there. So set your writing aside for the moment as we explore the book industry and the oh-so-important destination: the reader.

To be continued...