Another letter for the BAIPA News [July 2008]
Being an author and a publisher can pull at us in different ways – and being small, independent publishers means that there are dozens of tasks we need to complete on a regular basis. Some days I get up gung-ho and step right into the external tasks on my plate – calling people, making connections, negotiating, asking for help. And some days I turn off my phone and write or read. I used to fight this. I used to push myself to make those calls or I’d get angry with myself if I couldn’t sit down and read a manuscript or write.
I went to the TOC (Tools of Change) conference in San Jose a week or so ago. It was all about publishing and how it’s changing. And about the tools others are using to move this industry into the 21st century.
It was a great conference. It was a mix of novice sessions and advanced. Since I’ve been online since, yikes!, 1985, and I built my own early sites in Notepad, some of the basic electronic / web stuff I already knew. But, there was plenty I didn’t. In addition, I met a lot of people, which was really the highlight of the conference. Who came, and who didn’t was really interesting.
Hope to meet up with you at the Tools of Change Conference put on by O’Reilly Media. I’m looking forward to hearing about all the changes happening in the publishing world. I’m sure I’ll be exhausted when I come home, but they have some great speakers lined up: Chris Anderson, Tim O’Reilly, John Ingram.
I love books and writing and publishing — at least the book world. And now I’m gonna sit and absorb what others have to say aboaut what’s happening. It’s an exciting time and O’Reilly are certainly qualified to put on a conference like this. I heard that at BEA much of the conversaton was about technology and how the book world is changing.
We all know publishing is changing. From Craig’s List to The Wall Street Journal to print on demand, technology has changed and is continuing to change how we publish books, magazines, content. How do we know what is going to last and what is a fad? How do we know when to invest and when to stand and watch? How do we know who knows what they are talking about?
We don’t like to think we are so shallow. Judging a book by its cover has come to have many levels of meaning in our culture. We don’t want to be shallow, but we all seem up against the belief that pretty ones do better in the world and life. That how we present ourselves to the world matters — from getting a partner to making more money.
Well, with books it’s the same thing. In our time challenged lives, we make choices all the time about stuff based on first impressions. I read somewhere that bookstore visitors spend about 8 seconds on the front cover of a book and if they turn to the back cover, they spend another 15 seconds. So, you tell me. Is the cover important?
Okay, so you’ve written that novel. And you’re publishing it yourself. Now what? Do you have what it takes to market your book? To sell enough copies to make it a success? I talked with one author who has done just that. Yes, it takes effort. Yes, it takes time. Yes, it’s scary. But it can be exciting, too.
I met J.Brooks Dann the other day for coffee at the Starbucks on 4th at Brannan, in SOMA. We had been introduced by a mutual friend and had met face to face at a BAIPA meeting. We got to talking about his book, Anecdotal, a novel he has written and is marketing successfully.
We talked about how he has achieved the success he has with his book. What stuck with me is: “I’m not afraid to get out there and sell my book.”
He has distribution in about 30 bookstores now. But what’s really interesting is how he got that distribution and what else he has done to sell his books. He holds readings — in bookstores and bars… mostly in the West. He meets store managers and owners face to face. He delivers the books to the stores. He travels. He makes himself vulnerable. He opens himself to rejection, to slings and arrows, and people being insensitive and critical.
Cinnabar Bridge 