I’m not saying who did this, or where they are from, or in what way they are related to the recipient to protect the surprise.

But I just had to share the idea, because it was a nice surprise for me. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get people to buy books as presents… and here they turned the tables on me and is giving someone a listing as a gift.

Anyway, just though I would share… in case you know anyone with a book… or have a book and are good at hinting!

You can sign your favorite author-slash-friend up to sell their book here:

I know I am biased, but I think this would be a great gift!

When he released me from his embrace, Shelly Drobny reached into the air, strained upwards with his fingers, grasped something invisible, and shouted, “You’ve got the brass ring!”

The plan was a million dollars to begin with; more when we’d launched at least three new storefronts. The money would come in two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar tranches. Locations should be college-towns in markets where Air America Radio had broadcast affiliates. In fact, Vox Pop was to be the public face of Air America in dozens of towns being served by the progressive talk-radio network founded by Shelly and Anita Drobny a few years before.

I had driven in from Amherst on this October 2005 evening expecting a first conversation on this subject, but Sander Hicks’s friendship with the Drobnys was further along than I’d realized. I’d first met them at Vox Pop back in June, just prior to the BEA convention, when Shelly had done a book signing of his memoir Road To Air America. I hadn’t realized that in the meantime he’d agreed to have Vox Pop issue the paperback edition of the book.

Drobny was evidently impressed with Sander’s political and media activism, and with Vox Pop’s business plan and first year’s activity. Our first book, American Assassination: The Strange Death of Senator Paul Wellstone, published back in November of 2004, had sold through its entire two-thousand copy print-run in one month. Our second title, Sander’s own book, The Big Wedding: 9/11, The Conspiracy and The Cover-Up, had also sold through its entire print-run—twenty-five hundred copies—in one month. My book Rebel Bookseller had only sold one-thousand copies at first, but the reorders were still coming, and we’d gotten a starred review in Publishers Weekly. In addition, on that evening in October, just before dinner with the Drobnys, I watched Sander demonstrate our Instabook machine. It was quite an intriguing device, popping out a paperback book in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, I personally knew a bit too much back-story after a year of Instabook wrangling to be relaxed during a session of promoting the virtues of in-house book printing. The miraculous machine had a propensity for embarrassing breakdowns. Sander was lucky this time though, and the Instabook performed on cue.

Thus the dinner meeting was the culmination of months of courtship, and its outcome augured well for Vox Pop’s ambitious growth plan.

We’d opened the storefront one year before, in November of 2004, and our mix of musical performance, open mikes, political debates and book-signings–along with Holley’s café development and book-buying and Sander and Holley’s engaged, personable presence in the store–had quickly elicited a pleased neighborhood following. It turned out that people had been waiting for us: The Village Voice informed the city that we were straight out of Greenwich Village in the 60s. The New York Times reported that our arrival in Ditmas Park meant real estate values would soon be climbing. Sander and Holley had taken the apartment upstairs from the café, and with the arrival of their son in April, they looked the model young entrepreneurial success story.

Unfortunately our café product mix was rather inexpensive, we didn’t have very much seating, and there wasn’t enough space for a robust book inventory to be displayed. Monthly sales were at less than half break-even levels. Sander and Holley soon realized they would need a more extensive menu to satisfy their patrons and earn adequate income, but with no space for a kitchen this was problematic. Vox Pop applied for a beer and wine license, increased its selection of prepared-food items, and struggled with the mounting pile of bills.

Vox Pop had launched with very little capital. I had encouraged this: my mantra was, “You can’t get yourself out of trouble until you get into trouble.” I felt that when people saw how great we were, we’d find funding somehow. The first actual funders, perhaps unsurprisingly, though, were family and friends. Holley’s family, primarily, and Sander’s friends.

In particular, though, I was quite intrigued at Sander’s ability to convince our customers to buy stock in the company. When it came time for Rebel Bookseller to go to the printer, for instance, it was a neighbor who provided the six thousand dollars to buy three thousand copies.

Not that all of the neighbors were so happy about our presence. At the firehouse down the block some firemen referred to us as “commie coffee” and refused to patronize us. Apparently Sander’s activism in the 9/11 Truth Movement was perceived as unpatriotic. I told him our slogan should be “9/11, 24/7” in honor of the prominent display of 9/11 literature near the front door. Of course, he’d done serious, original research, traveling around the country to interview a variety of unusual individuals and learn their disturbing stories, so I never questioned his learning or his passion on the subject. And the success of his book showed that many others felt the same way about the importance of unveiling the entire story behind the 9/11 disaster.

After Shelly Drobny’s momentous announcement of impending venture investment, Sander and I began to wrestle with the operational implications. How would Vox Pop manage a rapid expansion? I felt that our successful public relations work in New York City meant we had to launch our first round of expansion in the region, even though the Drobnys had expressed an interest in college-towns around the country. As a compromise, we pinpointed collegiate neighborhoods: Greenwich Village, for New York University, and The Bronx, for Fordham University. Sander made appointments with real estate brokers and we spent several days together location-hunting. By January 2006, with little by way of follow-up contact from the Drobnys, we concluded that we might be able to elicit the first promised two-hundred-fifty thousand dollars by committing to a high-profile location in Greenwich Village. Village Comics, a longstanding bookstore on Sullivan Street one block from NYU, was closing down. Their twenty-one-hundred square foot storefront seemed perfect for a bookstore-café. The rent was high at seven thousand dollars per month, but I felt such a hot location with a full program of special events could earn enough to justify it.

We were heavy into negotiations with the landlord and needed cash to seal the deal. Sander tried to put Shelly Drobny on the spot. The bad news came: Air America Radio was suddenly in financial turmoil and the Drobnys were not liquid. Their Vox Pop investment would need to be postponed.

Our Greenwich Village deal was abandoned.

Meanwhile, we’d heard that the owners of a record-store and café in Williamsburg, Brooklyn wanted out, and were looking for someone to assume ownership. They were open to creative financing. Sander and I went over there one evening. The place was packed. It looked appealing, but the fixturing was restaurant-like and we worried that the space could not be configured for concerts or book-signings. As we browsed the CD racks in the attached record-store, the clerk asked Sander, “Are you the guy in that movie?”

“Horns and Halos? Yes, that’s me.”

The clerk str
aightened up a bit. “You’re Sander Hicks? That movie was awesome!”

We walked out of the store, and I said, “People recognize you in the street? You should run for office!” He gave me a sidelong glance.

A few days later I opened an email. Sander was being encouraged by friends to run for Governor of New York on the Green Party ticket.

Not likely, though, that this new venture is going to spell opportunity to new writers—every author in this anthology is a well-known veteran.

Tor.com is proud to announce the immediate availability of David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer’s definitive anthology, Year’s Best Fantasy 9.

This highly anticipated release also marks something we’re particularly proud of: Tor.com’s debut as a publishing entity, distinct from Tor Books and as a separate imprint under our shared corporate overlords at Macmillan.

YBF 9 is available only as a print-on-demand book, in keeping with our mission of always exploring alternative forms of publishing. Similar to the launch of the Tor.com Store, this title is one of our various publishing projects that seek to experiment with the available alternatives to publishing’s traditional sales, distribution, and delivery mechanisms.

Year’s Best Fantasy 9 is available in the Tor.com Store, of course, as well as via online retailers such as Amazon, B&N, and more. As you’d expect with multiple Hugo Award-nominated (and recent winner) editors like David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, the Table of Contents for YBF 9 is impressive (and I’m not just saying that because there’s a Tor.com story in there, which you can read in its entirety here); see for yourselves:

Elizabeth Bear, “Shoggoths in Bloom” – Peter S. Beagle, “The Rabbi’s Hobby” – Kage Baker, “Running the Snake” -  Daryl Gregory, “The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm” -  Lisa Goldstein, “Reader’s Guide” -  Al Michaud, “The Salting and Canning of Benevolence D.” – Naomi Novik, “Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake” – Catherynne M. Valente, “A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica” – John Brown, “From the Clay of His Heart” – Richard Bowes, “If Angels Fight” – Kij Johnson, “26 Monkeys and the Abyss” – Debra Doyle & James Macdonald, “Philologos; or, A Murder in Bistrita” – Geoff Ryman, “The Film-makers of Mars” – Marc Laidlaw, “Childrun”- Liz Williams, “Queen of the Sunlit Shore” – James Morrow, “Lady Witherspoon’s Solution” – Kristine Dikeman, “Dearest Cecily” – Randy McCharles, “Ringing the Changes in Okotoks, Alberta” – Kage Baker, “Caverns of Mystery” – Richard Parks, “Skin Deep” – Peter S. Beagle, “King Pelles the Sure” – Richard Harland, “A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead” – Howard Waldrop, “Avast, Abaft!” – Delia Sherman, “Gift from a Spring” – James Stoddard, “The First Editions” – Stephen Woodworth, “The Olverung” – Jeffrey Ford, “Daltharee” – Kim Wilkins, “The Forest”

GET THE GOODS ON THE INDIE WORLD. GET CANTARANEWS.
_____

I am an active user of Amazon.com’s author-promotion mechanisms. I have an author-blog on my book’s Amazon page, I submitted my book so it’s searchable on Amazon, I have submitted a review written by an independent reviewer for display on my book’s Amazon page. So far so good. However: the book I’m pitching is among other things an attack on Amazon.com.

Amazon.com is the last resort for authors who cannot manage to get their books into bookstores. To pretend that it’s a GOOD place to sell books is to ignore the words of its founder, Jeff Bezos, who recently PERSONALLY told the biggest Amazon booster that Amazon actually sells a far smaller percentage of “little” books than was being touted.

Specifically, Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson wrote a book called The Long Tail in which he said that books below the 100,000 rank on Amazon.com’s bestseller list account for 57% of all Amazon sales. He extended this statement to suggest that since presumably the top 100,000 sellers were the same as the 100,000 titles carried nationally by the big box book superstores, that therefore Amazon could essentially take credit for being the key distribution channel for millions of “little” books that couldn’t get into bookstores around the country.

Such a statement would naturally make many frustrated authors feel that they should use all possible means to ensure they benefitted from Amazon’s fabulous sales mechanisms.

But Jeff Bezos personally told Chris Anderson that this statement in the book was wrong. Bezos says that it’s PROBABLY 20%-25% of all Amazon sales that are going to books ranked below 100,000 in their bestseller list.

There are over 4 million books listed on Amazon.com. Therefore, more than 3.9 million books are accounting for 25% of the book sales on Amazon. 



Amazon is a LOUSY place to sell books. For most authors. 



You can use all their promo systems. I do. But this won’t help you very much. You have to be above (better than) the 100,000 bestseller-rank level to be seeing perhaps sales of 100 books per year on Amazon. It won’t generally be worth much work-time to achieve this mediocre status! 



If you’re above (better than) 100,000 in their bestseller list, then, according to Chris Anderson, this means you should be among the favored books that are already represented in big box superstores anyway!! So, why would you be working so hard on your Amazon sales?



Look—three thousand brick-and-mortar bookstores in this country (chain and indie). If you’re falling back on struggling to sell a hundred copies annually on Amazon, then are you sure you shouldn’t be struggling to get your titles onto the shelves of bookstores instead/also/more-so? Are you finding that impossible? How about linking on your book’s website to your local independent bookstore, via their IndieBound.com affiliate mechanism (which does pay you a royalty). Or, even better, TELL your local bookseller who is not stocking your book on her shelves that YOU ARE SENDING HER CUSTOMERS. Have your friends place special orders for your books through that local indie bookstore! Make the bookstore understand that you’re pitching all your hand-built traffic and sales to them. Make your local bookseller love you. Get their support by providing them with your support. Your local bookstore is starving; You are starving. You can help one another! 



Amazon is a huckster. Like The Music Man.



Authors gain traction in this society through personal buzz. Word of mouth. But online is a mythological environment. You’re up one day and forgotten the next. 



If you get out into the real world, shake hands, make phone calls, offer assistance to booksellers and trade favors with them, you’re creating more authentic relationships. This is the best use of your time, to further your career as an author. 



Amazon does not love any author. Your local bookseller can LEARN to love you as an individual, and to promote you, and to tout your books to other booksellers. 



It is a slow process, building a professional identity as a great author, among the crowd of authors. But it’s worth it. It pays off in the long run. Make friends with as many individual, real-world, front-line booksellers as possible. This is how to build your sales. 


Sure, set up your Amazon webpage properly, set up a nice website—run a Google ad-words campaign—SURE do those things. But much more important is to establish life-long relationships with professional booksellers. They’ll stick by you over the years.

BookBurn Spring 09 – Breezes of Inspire from indiebookman on Vimeo.

Stop by the website and listen!!!!

http://www.umbrellaradio.org/

BALTIMORE BOOK BURN EVENT!

We have selected three of our favorite local authors and have invited them
to BURN THEIR BOOKS!

Are we really going to burn them?

Heck no! We are going to celebrate them (and all indie books!) by bringing
them to light!

Each of the three authors will read an excerpt from their book. They will
then be available for questions, conversations, and of course – to sign
their books!

As if that isn’t enough, our favorite Baltimore-based musical performer,
sahffi, is going to be on hand to play a few of her amazing songs. And to
top it all off, you will be able to enjoy the great coffee of Koba Cafe -
easily one of the best joe-joints in town!

So come out to support local writers, local music and local business. You
cannot go wrong.

Can’t be there? You can still enjoy the event! WE WILL BE WEBCASITING LIVE
VIDEO OF THE EVENT at BookBurn.com.

The inaugural Book Burn event will take place:
7PM, Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Koba Cafe – 644 E. Fort Ave, Baltimore MD

Presenting:

The Journey, el Camino, Angelo Solera
To Love Mercy, Frank S. Joseph
The Dark Dreamweaver, Nick Ruth

With special musical guest, sahffi!

For more information, visit BookBurn.com

SEE YOU THERE!!

Have you considered using on-demand printing, but wanted to see for yourself how it works? Effective March 23, 2009 through June 1, 2009 you can set up as many titles as you like, and with an order of 50 copies Lighting Source will waive your one time set up fee.

It’s simple:

1) Go to www.lightningsource.com and complete an application.

2) Set up your title metadata online. Enter the code FREESETUP in the promotional code field.

3) Upload your files or send your book

4) We will send you a proof of your book for your approval.

5) Approve it and place your order – 50 copies of each title to one ship to location- and your set up fee will be automatically credited to your account when your order ships prior to July 10, 2009.

This offer is good on all print and bind types in our standard list of products- Color interior, B&W interior, perfect bound paper, case laminate and jacketed hardcover.
Use FREESETUP on as many titles you like within the promotional period and save even more.

Got that? So, if you have been thinking of using them anyway remember promotional code: FREESETUP

If you are interested in reading your book at future Book Burns, please let me know via the AuthorsBookshop “contact” page.

For more info, visit BookBurn.com.

————————————————————————–

BALTIMORE-BASED ONLINE BOOKSELLER SET TO “BURN” BOOKS
AuthorsBookshop launches new series of book readings by local authors

Baltimore, MD, March, 18, 2009 – After having been stigmatized for years, independently published authors are watching the decline of the mainstream publishing industry with excitement. As the major publishing houses slash staff, budgets, and the number of books they publish, many in the independent publishing world are seeing an opportunity materialize before their eyes. Even the main-stream media has noticed: small presses and self-published authors suddenly appear to be the future of publishing.

On the forefront of this new movement stands online bookseller AuthorsBookshop and its new series of “Book Burn” events – book readings featuring local independently published authors, hosted in locally owned venues around Baltimore.

“The mainstream publishing industry is falling apart,” explains AuthorsBookshop founder Brad Grochowski, “and this opens up a great opportunity for the indies. We have been working for a few years now to bring some great indie books to light. Our Book Burn events will give local authors a great venue to share their books, and bring welcome traffic to some wonderful local shops.”

The online bookseller announced today that it is launching the Book Burn series and will kick it off with an inaugural event at Koba Cafe in Locust Point. This first event of the series will present literary works from three Baltimore-based authors; Angelo Solera, Frank S. Joseph and Nick Ruth. The three books being presented; “The Journey,” “To Love Mercy” and “The Dark Dreamweaver” represent a broad spectrum of subject matter and style. To round out the evening even further, the event will present local musician sahffi as it’s first musical guest.

The event will also be webcast in real time, bringing an international audience to the books and local shops alike. “The technology is finally here,” proclaims Grochowski, “Indie books now have an international presence. We have been selling books all over the world – now we are bringing book readings to a global audience. It’s really exciting.”

AuthorsBookshop is a Baltimore-based online bookseller that specializes in selling independently published books. Launched by Grochowski in 2005, it has developed a reputation for working closely with authors and small presses to bring more attention to their books, while offering sales terms far more reasonable than larger online book vendors.

The inaugural Book Burn event will occur at 7:00pm, Wednesday April 22nd at Koba Cafe, 644 E. Fort Street, Baltimore MD.

###

In it, I list 10 (almost) free things you should be doing to sell your book online. I wanted to share them here as well.

3) Email signature: This one is so easy I hesitated to include it. But it’s such a good way to spread the word about your book. It’s so completely effortless and free, I couldn’t leave it out. In your email settings, set your signature with your name, the title of your book and a link to its primary online sales point. You will be surprised by the people who notice and follow the link to your book.

I would only add that if you can add an image to your signature, consider unsing your book’s cover image. I’ll warn you – some people hate images in a signature block. I don’t think it’s such a big deal though. And if it helps the world to become more familiar with your cover, it can’t be a bad thing.

gmail, unfortunately, does not allow this. But if you use Outlook or other major email software, you should be able to do it.