Barnes and Noble, E-Books, Readers and Making Life Easy on Customers

Promises, promises.

Barnes & Noble said it would have an e-book store in 2006.

Then it backed off from the idea. But it’s b-a-a-a-ck! It’s talking e-books again, probably because it acquired digital-minded Fictionwise for--are you ready for this? $15.7 million. And probably because competitor Amazon is going after e-book sales.

The bad news is that B&N says their downloads won’t be compatible with either Kindle or Sony. In fact, downloads from some devices won’t work with Blackberries and iPhones (though B&N promises theirs will!)

B&N says they are working with another handheld called Plastic Logic. So that’s one more handheld device publishers and self-published authors will have to deal with.

Except for the e-book part, they’re all on the wrong track. Readers are customers. They just want access and they want it easily. They aren’t much interested in the petty competitions between giants. That’s what made the Net great. Access by all. Shouldn’t we be able to count on the smart guys to care about the end customer? Especially with one of the most successful models in all of history as a model?

Go figure.


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Free Bookstore Guidelines for Loving a Newsletter

If you love newsletters like my Sharing with Writers letter and some of my favorites like Penny Sansevieri’s and Joan Stewart’s, this may be sad news for you: Newsletters are losing their popularity. I attribute that to these possibilities:

1. Blogging has supplanted newsletters in many ways.
2. People are sending out fancy HTML newsletters which smack of big business and no personal care and that’s turned people off to them in general.
3. People have less time, or think they do.
4. People are so S P @ M conscious, they are overlooking educational opportunities available on the Web.

You may agree or not. Or you may think of other reasons. If so, I’d like to hear what you think.

To get the conversation started, I want to do two things today. I wanted to let you know why newsletters are still important and what you can do as a reader to utilize them better; thus you’ll find an article later on in this newsletter.

But I also want to increase my newsletter subscription numbers and hope you’ll help with that. Sure you can help! You can send a copy of Sharing with Writers to one or more author friends you think would benefit from more information on the business of writing. This only works, though, if you suggest they subscribe and tell them how to do it. It goes like this: “Carolyn will make it easy on you. Send an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to HoJoNews @ AOL.com and she’ll do the work for you.”

Or, if you're not already a subscriber, you can subscribe yourself using the instructions above.

I’m even going to bribe you a bit. I have a .pdf file of the things that Barnes and Noble requires for your book to be listed on its computer. Only books on that list can be ordered by a store manager--or special ordered by a store manager. So, even if you are doing most of your promotion online, you’ll still want this info so you can be sure your book is available to those who still prefer to shop in bookstores.

Yes, I’m using the honor system. You tell me you recommended this newsletter. I’ll believe you. I’ll send you the .pdf file. (-:

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Book Mark-Up, Barnes and Noble and Why It's All Worth the Effort

I count myself so lucky because in the process of consulting with other authors I get to learn new things myself. Also, my clients and friends are so incredibly generous with the knowlege they glean from experience. Here is a you-shouldn't-miss-this-one letter from Christopher Meeks, a fellow UCLA Extension Writers' Program instructor. And, yes, of course he gave me permission to include it in my blog. (-: Scroll down and you'll even find some important Barnes and Noble contact information.

Carolyn--

I learned a lot yesterday more about the workings of Barnes and Noble in relation to my signing on June 13th that's sponsored by Barnes and Noble. At one point, I had an executive in the B&N Small Press Department, Diane Simowski, call me, and between her and others, here are a few points I learned that impact POD publishers:

o POD titles are rarely on the shelves of a Barnes & Noble unless two conditions are met: they are returnable, and there's at least a 40% discount.

o B&N's computers show that a book's title is either a short discount or retail. A short discount means it's less than a 40% discount, which means a customer who wants it has to prepay it before it can be ordered. Individual stores are not supposed to order books for their shelves that have less than a 40% discount.

o The Small Press Department really won't help POD publishers because the department is basically meant for old-fashioned publishers who are small (under 4' 11"... kidding). That is, if one self-published a book and has boxes of books in the garage, an author can send his/her book to the Small Press department if it'll match various critieria, as follows:

- B&N will get at least a 40% discount
- Books can be returnable
- There is a marketing campaign, which you have to give details on
- You have a copy of the book (no manuscripts accepted)
- Trade reviews are a plus
- You have a note explaining what makes the book unique
- Your book can be purchased from one of B&N's approved wholesalers; B&N will not purchase directly to a publisher or author; therefore, an author/publisher has to make a distribution deal with one of these wholesalers and still leave a 40% margin for B&N

If you can meet these criteria, then send your book and all the details about it to:

Small Press Dept.
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
122 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10011

Once the book is evaluated and the criteria are met, the Small Press Department will show the book to their buyers, and the buyers decide whether or not to order any books. Diane said each buyer might decide on ordering one or two books to try it out at a store first.

Originally, I was told that for my event, B&N wanted to order my books a month in advance, which meant my book had to be available at that point. That meant if B&N could order it, so could anyone, and it would be available on Amazon.com. Diane underscored what you said, Carolyn, which is publication dates are not all that holy. JK Rowling's books might be strict, but many others are not. Hence, my book with a June 13th publication date might be available in May.

I also learned that my first book, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea, listed at $12.95--which originally had a 40% discount to bookstores--now has only a 15% discount from Ingram to bookstores. That means there's not a lot of incentive for a bookstore to want it, and at B&N, anyone who wants it has to prepay. That kind of kills the book completely at bookstores. If Barnes and Noble can get at least a 40% discount, their computers will show the book as retail, and thus they won't make the customer prepay. Individual stores who like the book--if it gets good press thanks to a good frugal book promoter--can order it more easily for their store. Less than that discount, managers are not supposed to order it at all.

I now need to find out if Lulu can bump up the list price and if so, how much will it cost me? If it costs me $100 to change the price as I think it will, and I bump up the list price to $14.95, which will be the price of my new book, I might make only 32 cents more per book (at a 16% royalty), which means I will have to sell 625 books to pay for the increase, which is unlikely in the next year.

So as I go into the marketing of my new book, these are things on my mind. There's no point in my sending my book to the Small Press Department at Barnes and Noble because my book won't meet the criteria. Some POD publishers now will offer returnability, but that means authors won't be getting as much royalty because money will be held to pay for returns. Then again, if you get more sales in bookstores, it's something to consider. I don't know if Lulu offers that, but I'll investigate.

As for my opening, I'm now told I should bring all the copies of the books, which B&N will sell. They will then order that many books from Ingram and give those books back to me to replace the ones they sold. Why give B$N so much profit? If I sell a hundred books or more that night, I'll show up on the Los Angeles area best seller list. Once on the list, people will take note, and the book can keep selling. I'm told one author who sold over a hundred at her opening landed on the list and stayed there for a year. Now my trick is to get people to come to the reading & publication party on June 13th at the Beverly Hills Library. The reading will be done by four different actors, so it's a paid performance. The library sells $10 tickets for the performance, but I have to say, it's a good show. There will also be food and drinks, so it should make a good night.

Best,

Chris Meeks

Diane L. Simowski
Small Press Dept.
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
122 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10011
tel: (212) 633-3549
fax: (212) 463-5677
dsimowski@bn.com
www.bn.com
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

Questions a la Ann Landers--Giving Away 55%? Yikes!

Question: Did you happen to ask Linda Keller, the Community Relations Manager with the Dayton, OH, [She shared some of her wisdom in a previous newsletter of mine.] Barnes & Noble what percentage her store expects from the sale of books featured in her store? Locally, the B&N wants 55%. If this is what B&N stores expect, I might just as well give the 1,100 books that I still have in my spare bedroom away!

Even the local Books-A-Million wants 50%. I didn't write my book to make money but to almost give it away isn't something I relish either. No wonder little guys like me have trouble marketing our books . . .

From Lloyd King, author of To 'Nam with Love, a book of poetry
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Dear Lloyd:

I can't speak to any specific B&N location [Lloyd lives in LA] but generally stores want 40%. That's what I've been asked for, at least, and that seems to be the norm. Considering retailing in general, this is a low percent; that's why bookstores also get to return their books. That 55% figure appears to be Amazon's requirement and that of some other online stores.

Having said that, this is not so much a problem involving the bookstores' markup (they, after all, have high overhead and must make a profit to exist!). This is a problem that many self- and subsidy authors make: They don't mark their books up enough (gross profit) to cover the costs of doing business. You know, like a promotion budget, discounts for distributors and for wholesalers and, yes, for their own profit.

Printing books on a digital press (POD) makes it more difficult to be competitive because books printed that way cost more and so it is harder to mark up enough to accommodate these costs and still compete with books that are self- or subsidy- or traditional-published in large quantities on an offset press. Printing on an offset press costs less and less per book as the runs (number of books) increase in size. Books printed in huge quantities in China can cost so little that even with all of the chunks taken by the sales pipeline, the publishers make a hefty profit per book.

So, what do you do if you are already published and your profit margin and retail costs are skewed against you? I'm going to return to a refrain you've heard in this newsletter and in more detail in The Frugal Book Promoter. And here it is:

Bookstores are not the best place to sell books.

That is true of almost any book except those that are destined to be true bestsellers -- the ones by the John Grishams and Irvings of bookselling fame. The best places to sell books are at speaking and teaching venues where the author is the star, conferences where the author speaks, alternative outlets like catalogs and corporate sales, etc. (Again, all these subjects are addressed in your Frugal Book Promoter, so I won't bore you by mentioning them again.).

In your case, Lloyd -- as the writer of poetry -- the best place to sell books is at your own launch (I understand yours was very successful) and at readings -- perhaps at coffee houses and the homes of friends who will invite all their poetry-loving friends and (because of the subject of your book) all those interested in military matters.

If you truly have 1,100 books in your garage, your run of books was much too high for your genre -- poetry. You may still sell them all but it will take time and persistence. Lots and lots of poetry readings and maybe a promotional gimmick or two. Here's an idea for you. When you write your next book, you might offer this one at a discount when people buy the other as an example. Or do what Amazon does. Offer two related books (yours!) at a special price.


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

Your Book, B and N, The Truth and the Fallacies

When I was speaking at the Pen to Paper Symposium in Dayton, OH, I was lucky enough to meet someone whose hair is the same color as mine. Ha! She thinks lots like me, too. Here is what Linda Keller, a community relations manager for a B&N in the Dayton area says about books and promoting (and trust me, she's probably seen authors make every mistake in the book: "The author must be a marketing genius."

Yep, you knew that. That's why you read this blog or my newsletter.

She also says, "Bookstores don't know all the new books that are being published. The books we automatically receive are deals and contracts between store buyers and publisher reps. If your publisher's rep feels strongly about your book, he/she will push the chains to carry it. If not, then that's your job."

We knew that, too. That's why you own a copy of The Frugal Book Promoter.www.amazon.com/gp/product/193299310X/qid=1149015406/sr=2-1/

However, she also says, "Any bookseller in a Barnes & Noble has the authority to order copies of books for shelf inventory (as long as the books are returnable). You will have to tell us about your book. Call. Stop in. . . . But please understand, how that dream turns out . . . is this a career? or a hobby?"

Now that's something we might not be so aware of. So many stories go around about B&N policy. Some may be true. Some may be misinterpretations of the facts. Some may be based on anger or disappointment or revenge. But like anything else, you will need to know what you are doing if you want your book to appear on B&N shelves. Here is the Barnes & Noble Acceptance Criteria and how you can conform to it.

Barnes and Noble will accept books into their database for sales based on "subject matter and salability." That last word can cover a lot of territory, from cover design to formatting. Further, should a self- or subsidy-published book be accepted, that does not guarantee that your book will be shelved in B&N stores, only that it available on a special order basis and tha (should you have a signing or other event at a B&N store) your book will be available to be ordered by the store manager. By going through this process, your book may well appear in the B&N online store but the online store and the brick and mortar chain two are separate entities and acceptance for the online store does not guarantee acceptance in the other stores.

Here is what you must do (if your publisher hasn't) to have your book listed in the B&N database:

 Your book must have a 10 or 13 digit ISBN. For more information on these numbers go to www.bisg.org/isbn-13/index.html. It may take ten days or more for you to get your ISBN and their guidelines vary; you probably will not be able to buy only one. Sometimes you can find a small publisher who will sell one of theirs to you. That kind of arrangement may present some problems so be sure to explore them with the publisher you work with. The address is:

ISBN Agency
630 Central Ave.
New Providence, NJ 07974

Their phone is 877-310-7333. Their fax is 908-219-1088. The website is www.ISBN.org.

 Your book must have a barcode. That's how merchandise is sold these days. It must be scanable. For a list of commercial barcode supplies go to www.bisg.org/barcoding/bc_suppliers.html. If your book has already been printed without a barcode, you can have labels printed and applied to the back cover of your book.

 Because B&N puts most of their titles on shelves spine out, they prefer perfect bound books with a well-designed spine that gives browsers essential information about your book. If your printer tells you that your book is an Otabind, that is equally acceptable.

 Your book should be available through a wholesaler. Wholesalers may ask for a 50 to 55% discount from the cover price. If you haven't selected a retail price that is high enough to allow for their percentage, you may have difficulty here. Many also will expect you to ship your books at your own expense. Bookstores (not just B&N) tend to prefer to order their books all from one place or from as few places as possible to make invoicing and payables more cost effective. Large stores like B&N also like to put their better selling books on automatic replenishment. They probably cannot do that if they are buying your book from you or your publisher.

 B&N will look at the price of your book. Is it competitive with other similar books?

 Be prepared to tell B&N what makes your book special, or why you are the one to have written your book. Can you back up that information with what you have done to promote your book, with reviews, etc.?

 Before you submit you book, enter the information on your title in Bowker Books in Print. www.bowkerlink.com.

 For consideration send a finished book (B&N is just like any other process in publishing, you must follow the submission guidelines exactly; When they say "finished" that's what they mean. No manuscripts or galleys.) to:

The Small Press Dept
Barnes&Noble, Inc
122 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10011

For more information call 212-633-3388 or fax them at 212-463-5677. Do not expect an answer for about six weeks.

The latest information on this process may be found by going to B&N online at www.bn.com. Scroll down to the "Services" section and click on "Publisher and Author Guidelines." Find more information on working with B&N find the "For Author Connection" link at www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

Note: Some subsidy publishers and most traditional publisher will take care of this B&N application for you.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview and AuthorsCoalition, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.