larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
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« on: December 31, 2009, 01:17:51 AM » |
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I am lucky to live in a town with a really good independent bookstore. They have regular readings, book discussion groups, a fine selection, and they support local authors. Except for me!
About six months ago I dropped the store manager and email and suggested that the store carry my book. It is in paperback now for $20. It is an academic book but about a popular regional topic. They sell lots of books like mine. No dice. I mentioned that I do some public talks in town and that folks often ask where they can buy my book and I wanted to send them to the local store rather than Amazon. I got back some odd explanation that even though my books retails for $19.95 it would cost the bookstore more like $24 a copy so they could not sell it. I gave up.
Tonight I had a brain storm. We were on our way to the bookstore so I grabbed an extra copy of my book from my stash downstairs. I signed it: "Thanks for supporting our independent book store! LarryC." I stuck it in my coat and smuggled it into the bookstore and left it on the shelf amid similar titles. I was going to leave it at that when I noticed a sticker on another title that said "Autographed Copy!" I carefully peeled off the sticker and put it on my book.
I will let you know what (if anything) happens.
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thundering_m
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« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2009, 01:58:10 AM » |
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Just bookmarking this.
(and wishing I could find out the title without invading your privacy, LarryC)
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-TM
Thundering Marshmallow
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barred_owl
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« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2009, 02:26:52 AM » |
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Larryc, that was a bold move! I'll be interested to find out what happens, too.
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...I can't help rooting for the underdog underbird. |
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yellowtractor
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« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2009, 11:05:13 AM » |
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What a boneheaded bookstore. Larry, I wonder which distributor(s) they're using. This can be a problem, depending on the distributor--but there are ways around it, as any decent bookseller would know, esp. with a local author and an engaging local/regional topic.
When this has happened to me, I've read at local libraries and brought copies of my own books to sell (I usually keep 8 or 10 on hand, for this express purpose.)
Your move is "bold," sure, but it means you're out the cost of a book. Ideally, in Western publishing, money flows toward the author/publisher, not away.
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i think is good for every one only the think is that we will always scares about that. |
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larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2009, 11:27:01 AM » |
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I see it more as a prank than a marketing move. Though if a year from now the book is still sitting where I left it the joke will be on me.
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yellowtractor
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« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2009, 11:30:39 AM » |
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I see it more as a prank than a marketing move. Though if a year from now the book is still sitting where I left it the joke will be on me.
If it is, don't try to recover it. The joke would be rich indeed if you were arrested for stealing your own copy of your own book back from the store. |
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i think is good for every one only the think is that we will always scares about that. |
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larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2009, 12:42:12 PM » |
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I see it more as a prank than a marketing move. Though if a year from now the book is still sitting where I left it the joke will be on me.
If it is, don't try to recover it. The joke would be rich indeed if you were arrested for stealing your own copy of your own book back from the store. That would a great scene in a comic novel. |
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prytania3
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« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2009, 12:42:40 PM » |
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And people wonder why the Independents go under.
My local B&N was happy to carry my book.
YT is right. The guy is a total bonehead.
Good luck with your experiment, though.
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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galactic_hedgehog
Procrastinating, Python-quoting, Blue Blazer-drinking, chocolate-chip cookie-eating, Pastafarian, Not So
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,564
Mind Ninja
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« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2009, 12:46:40 PM » |
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What would happen if someone came in to the bookstore looking for your book (or any other one they don't have on the shelves)? Would they actually refuse to order it?
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Your professors were probably afraid of your galactic genius and did everything they could (behind the scenes) to thwart your hedginess. Hedgie loves to read. |
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jonesey
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« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2009, 12:55:15 PM » |
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Part of the issues is about returnability. I had something published in a small press this summer and I can't get any of my local bookstores to carry it (certainly not any of the Big Chain Stores). The issues is their ability to return unsold copies of said book, which, as I understand it, is difficult with a small press. So, I end up hawking my stuff on Amazon et. al which makes people think I published through a vanity press or somesuch. Gah.
I love books, but I'm not a fan of the publishing industry.
Good luck, Larry!
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Jonesey, I know you're a being of sensitivity and refinement. |
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polly_mer
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« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2009, 12:57:55 PM » |
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What would happen if someone came in to the bookstore looking for your book (or any other one they don't have on the shelves)? Would they actually refuse to order it?
I've had that experience. We lived in a small town where the local independent bookstore refused to do special orders of some books. What was strange was that they were popular books that had made the best-seller lists. Somehow the argument was that the bookstore was too good? high-minded? snotty? to order that kind of trash (yeah, only us weirdos ever want a copy of A Brief History of Time or The Physics of Food in a town where the college was >90% science and engineering majors) and instead preferred to have three copies of some obscure treatise on an outdated concept. Yep, they sure showed me. Instead of them getting the profit on my purchases, I drove to an even smaller town half an hour away and bought used books of all kinds from people who were happy to carry "trash". |
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If you haven't got either the anatomical or metaphorical balls to post your own question on a pseudonymous internet forum, then academia is the wrong job for you.
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llanfair
Village idiot and Very
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 23,199
Whither Canada?
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« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2009, 12:59:21 PM » |
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Great idea, Larry! If that idiot won't carry your book, he deserves to go under.
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This place stinks like a pair of armoured trousers after the Hundred Years' War.
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kedves
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« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2009, 01:06:51 PM » |
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Shopdropping X gentle gaslighting? Good luck with it!
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larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2009, 01:07:03 PM » |
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Larry, have you tried sending friends and acquaintances into the store looking to purchase your book?
A friend special ordered three copies through the bookstore and they didn't have a problem with that. It is hard to say what is going on. You know, I am enjoying this. I am thinking about doing this all over town. A man needs a hobby. |
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llanfair
Village idiot and Very
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 23,199
Whither Canada?
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« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2009, 01:07:48 PM » |
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Larry, have you tried sending friends and acquaintances into the store looking to purchase your book?
A friend special ordered three copies through the bookstore and they didn't have a problem with that. It is hard to say what is going on. You know, I am enjoying this. I am thinking about doing this all over town. A man needs a hobby. Keep us posted! |
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This place stinks like a pair of armoured trousers after the Hundred Years' War.
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