The State of The Industry: As Evidenced by Book Expo America

This is from my "In the News" feature in the coming edition of my Sharing with Writers newsletter. Those who would like to subscribe may do so automatically by going to http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com to fill in the subscribe box in the left column of the home page or clicking on the "newsletter" link at the top of the page for more information.

In the News: Evidence of recession abounded at BEA. Some big publishers like Random House cut way back on their booth space and two of my favorites, Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt didn't show up at all. That the show was 21% smaller is disturbing, of course, but worse is that those publishers who did show up appeared to be cutting back on marketing funds even for blockbuster authors (evidenced by fewer signs and even fewer of the usual giveaways). Even reader copies were hard to come by.

Of course, publishers who buy/rent booths have been saying for a long time that there are few book buyers on the floor and fewer librarians, who historically are the people publishers want to reach.

So, the good news? The opportunities to reinvent publishing seem to be widening. POD is becoming more and more accepted (venerable publisher Perseus put together an anthology of first lines from show attendees' contributions and published it on demand in two days) and there was that great Espresso Book Machine we've been hearing about that will produce an entire (darn good) paperback in less than four minutes right in-store at the whim of the customer-reader.

And, oh yes. New York was gorgeous. They had celebrated Fleet Week only a few days before, had just started refurbishing Times Square, and the place was alight. Maybe residents can see they are in a depression but a visitor would never, never know.

(Some facts were gleaned from David Ulin's article in the LA Times's Calendar section on Monday, June 1.)


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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.

Q&A: Hate Amazon But Don't Mind Learning to Get Along?

This question came from one of my favorite online egroups, Word_Mage (word_mage-subscribe@yahoogroups.com) listmomed by Billie Williams. One is from a writer who says she loves Amazon and that if she weren't a tree-hugger she'd carve that into the trunk of a big oak. And, of course, she suggests the chapter in the Frugal Book Promoter that talks about the perks Amazon offers.

Then another member was she was really ticked with them because the reviews of her book had gone missing, had even sent them a blistering note. She said she was "as mad a wet hen." So she was glad to see another point of view.

Then another told her to cool it, that sometimes Amazon is just working on stuff and that, like ghosts or fog, they disappear only to reappear in a couple of days. And I commented said that is true. You know how these e-group threads go. (-:

Of course, I still had to chime in with more, a la Ann Landers. So here it is:

Carolyn's Advice:

In the Frugal Book Promoter , I start the chapter with something like "Authors love to hate Amazon and, sometimes, I hate to love them."

The fact is undeniable, though: Amazon can do wonders for writers and that without them -- especially those of us who publish with POD technology (on occasion or exclusively), we are pretty much lost if we intend to do much volume book selling. Collectively, the booksellers certainly aren't going to do it for us.

Therefore we are duty-bound (for the good of our books) to learn Amazon's perks and how to use them effectively. As an example, I am about to take pictures of some of the farm antiques I have from the polygamist grandfather's farm and post them to the This Is the Place page in the photos feature. (This Is the Place is about five generations of hardy Utah women who all married into the Mormon religion and found the hardships inherent in that situation hard to overcome.) It's based on my own genealogy.

So, be mad as a wet kitten, if you want. But keep learning to work within Amazon's system. Let them know where problems exist. Here's how:

 Wait a couple days to see if the problem resolves itself, especially if it involves disappearing features.
 Use their feedback feature to communicate. Do it politely.
 Be persistent if they don't respond.
 When they do they will give you a URL to respond if your question was resolved and another if it wasn't. Use whichever suits the occasion. Know that the one that clues someone (someone apparently higher up on the Amazon totem) that the problem wasn't resolved, gets action quickly but don't use it without good reason.
 Send a thank you.

You want to stay on Amazon's good side. After all, they're just working people like you and me. Approach it that way and you win (and, yes, so do they!)

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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.