S D Enterprises asked to fill out publishing survey!

I know, right? At first I was honored but after reading the survey I was just sort of stunned. All I can say is that you should always keep in mind who is being surveyed whenever you read the results of any survey. Here's the letter I received to let me know what the survey was about and who was conducting it:

Dear Sue,

On behalf of The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and The Book Industry Study Group(BISG) we are requesting S D Enterprises to participate in our new joint industry statistics project, BookStats.

The aim of the program is to track transformational shifts in how book content is produced and sold in the age of digital. The new data product, to be released annually at first, will provide a comprehensive view of book sales aggregated by revenue, units, categories, formats and distribution channels.

Our efforts to improve the accuracy and quality of data collection rest primarily on the commitment and engagement of publishers like you. Whether large or small, we are hopeful that everyone will want to stand and be counted.

The survey is just ten questions and shouldn’t take long to complete. All data is absolutely confidential and it is important for you to know that your individual sales information will never be shared or used other than as part of the aggregate totals reported.

As a way to thank you for your time and commitment, participating publishers will receive complimentary access to the data once it is published.

First off I can't imagine how I even qualified to be asked to participate. What a joke! I know the reason though. I bought a block of ISBN's from Bowker. To be able to do this you have to set yourself up as a publisher which involves acquiring an EIN and saying you're a publisher. There are no other requirements.

The survey questions are for "real" publishers who have "real" sales which are only large publishers. I can show you the questions and you can laugh along with me. I think I'll save that for the next post though.

So oh boy another stupid survey coming down from the publishing industry that shows absolutely NOTHING!!! Just what us small press authors need.

What Rachael, the author, should do next.

This is what I've decided to call my little series to help my friend Rachael. So get used to seeing this title. ;D Rachael has already, or is almost done, with the first step of becoming a successfully published author. She's considered what being a published author means to her and she's asked someone whose achieved the published status how they got where they are. She also sees that where I am, though not monetarily the nicest place to be, is in fact ahead of many others in the "game." Sadly, it is quite the game.

For the type of published author she wants to be she has made a very good first step as well. She's ignored those who said, "save money and join a writer's group to help critique your work and help you edit your work." Bravo Rachael because editing is a profession and very few will succeed at the level you want to be published without the kind of an edit a professional editor can give you. And be fore-warned that if you throw J. K. Rowling in my face, I will throw her right back in yours. Everyone is capable of winning the lottery and that's all I'll say about that.

The reason it's so important for a new author to get a professional edit is because it will drastically increase the chances of being picked up by a small press who can SOMETIMES offer you a better line of distribution than you can get yourself as a self-publisher. More on that later.

Also your work will "shine" superior over ALL the other self-published authors out there who either a) think they can scrimp and forego a professional edit and do just fine or b) think a small press will love their work as it is soooooo much that they'll edit it for them which is of course bullhockey but let them figure that out for themselves.

Larger houses are the only houses that have in-house editors and you won't be seeing them anytime soon if ever and that's even if you get the all-powerful-agent which is another big waste of time to pursue.

Egads! So what do you do. Okay. Here's your next step. It's professionally edited with a 2% error rate. Go out straight away and buyth up a block of ten ISBN's from the Bowker-god-of-publishing and assign one of them puppies to your book. I know another expense but well worth it. It's quite simple to get a block of ISBN's from Bowker. Go here and apply for an EIN number and create yourself a little publishing company. Mine is S D Enterprises. It's just that simple. Then go to Bowker.org I think it is (google it. It's simple to find) and get your block. Sure, LuLu and Create Space offer you a free ISBN should you choose to use their services but their ISBN will always tie YOUR book back with them as the publisher. NOT GOOD!!!! Buying your own block of ten is a small price to pay and the book is your forever more.

Once you've done that you can price shop around to see what printer offers you the best price on printing your book. I used Fidler Doubleday for my first book Never Ceese before I was picked up by a publisher (more on that later.) It was easy to submit the doc file and cover file which I designed myself. If you don't want to or don't know how to design your own cover they'll even do one for you but I'd suggest hiring someone to do you a cover and someone who is familiar with the submitting process. But honestly, it's not that difficult. And no, those who do book covers aren't hard to find.

Once you have a submittable book cover and your ISBN you can go to places like Lightning Source and check them out. Or even Create Space or Iuniverse B&N's POD (please no!!!! LOL) But yes, you're good to go. And you can even start submitting to small presses too with the absolute certainty that they can't take your work.

Next blog will be about the pros and cons of seeking a small press over just sticking with a POD and doing it all on your own.

Interesting article about CBA member bookstores!

This article I found is certainly interesting to me since so many who are members of the Christian Booksellers Association, a fee-based trade organization, like to claim at every turn that member stores do represent and carry fiction that all manner of Christian would find appealing. This is one of those rare moments when they confess that they aren't THE Christian market but a segment of a much broader market.

I can hear the Titanic creaking even as I read.

Interesting article here.

Is Spring Arbor CBA? Of course they are. A fee paying member!

**And by "of course they are," let me reiterate that this is MY opinion and based on what I consider being a part of something is. That's just in case someone wants to get technical. Ingram/Spring Arbor and CBA will most assuredly claim otherwise based on their own interpretation. Does it matter? Not really.**

The wonderful thing about having your own blog is that you can deal with things in your own yard. So here's a comment left on one of my post that I felt was important enough to address here section by section otherwise you get bogged down in the sort of double-speak. The italics is from the writer and my response follows. I found it to be a very intriguing response.

From Eric Grimm purportedly of CBA. At least that's the way he signed the blog entry.


Hi Sue, CBA is a trade association and has nothing to do with deciding which books a wholesaler or distributor, such as Ingram/Spring Arbor, carries or sells.

Ingram/Spring Arbor is Ingram's so-called Christian arm which is why many call it Ingram/Spring Arbor and not Baker & Taylor/Spring Arbor or name-your-distributor here/Spring Arbor. You see no other distributor/wholesaler has a specific "Christian" arm that I'm aware of.

And of course the Christian Booksellers Association, a trade association, has nothing to do with deciding which books Ingram/Spring Arbor approves for distribution to the "Christian" market now that Spring Arbor is owned by Ingram and not run and owned by CBA the trade association that spawned it and sold it to Ingram way back when. HOWEVER and this is a BIG however, books "approved" for distribution to the "Christian" market by Ingram/Spring Arbor have no more hope at seeing the inside of a "Christian" bookstore than any book not approved. The only books that automatically and without question see the inside of a "Christian" bookstore on-line or otherwise are those published by CBA affiliated publishers who write for a very targeted and denominationally restrictive audience. I still can't get into a Lifeway or a Mardel's or any other "Christian" bookstore and that's with both titles being approved by Spring Arbor. The only thing that can happen is those bookstores CAN order them if someone wants one. Of course no one promised otherwise so I guess that's okay.

CBA does not charge fees to stores to carry books.

Who said they did? CBA charges fees to publishers who want to have their books in denominationally exclusive "Christian" Bookstores. And of course they require them to write within denominationally discriminative guidelines. Interesting to note too that no publisher who is affiliated with CBA has to seek approval from Ingram/Spring Arbor. Well isn't that interesting.


Spring Arbor Distributors is a division of Ingram Book Group, a private company.

True dat! But then that's pretty obvious.

CBA has no ownership, investment, or other financial connection to the company.

Okay.

Spring Arbor is a CBA member.
Ooops, that's sort of a financial connection so forget the okay from a moment ago. This comment sort of negates that one.

CBA does not censor books

Ridiculous statement. They do censor books all day long. They sensor them to appeal to their core market audience and admittedly do so. Many member publishers even go as far as to list the very restrictive submission guidelines. Amazing that someone would make the statement that this doesn't happen. CBA was formed in 1950 by Baptist Bookstores of the day so that they could provide store visitors with targeted fiction that wouldn't offend them. They've not moved far enough away from that agenda to appeal to anyone other than that very "closed" market.

or otherwise prohibit trade association members from buying what they want to purchase or sell.

This part is true. But who cares. It doesn't mean anything.

Retailers sell books based on what their customers will purchase, not on a discriminatory selection process,

"Christian" retailers or rather CBA member stores sell books based on whether they are put out by member publishers. Sorry. Done that. Been there. Was hung up on by each and every member store I called even after I told them my book was approved for distribution to the "Christian" market by Ingram/Spring Arbor. They look at affiliation first, then they'll consider it second if it fits their core-market audience. But that's on a store by store basis.


other Christian stores sell products that reflect who their customers are, which mostly they are active Christians.

Other Christian stores? I assume you mean non-member Christian stores. Who knows.

Bottom line is it's a waste of time to seek approval from Ingram/Spring Arbor as the only benefit is that a non CBA title can be ordered through CBA member Christian bookstores. So authors save yourself the time and headache. It ain't worth it!!!!

My favorite video!

Every now and then I get the itch to put something together. I love this song and I love how the little slide show came out. If you haven't seen it before, enjoy! If you have seen it before, enjoy it again. ;D

Click here to see the video!

Special Pricing for Bookshelf Book Signing.

Here's a break down on pricing for Never Ceese and Forever Richard for the booksigning at The Bookshelf in Ridgleand, Mississippi on Saturday December 18th, from 12:00 until 4:00.

Never Ceese the paperback published by S D Enterprises retails for 12.95. It is already on sale for 10.00 so that will remain as it is.

Never Ceese the hardback, out-of-print, retails for $14.95 and is already on sale for 9.95 so that will remain as it is.

Forever Richard retails for 14.95 and is also now out of print but will be republished by Black Bed Sheet Books very soon. It will sell it for 12.95.

So the break down is:

Never Ceese (paperback from S D Enterprises): 10.00
Never Ceese (hardback): 9.50
Forever Richard: 12.95

If you have a copy you want signed, by all means bring it. ;D

Hope to see y'all there.

To my friends in Louisianna!

I've been getting a lot of hits from a press release I did like four years ago in Lafayette at their Festival of Lights. I hope that means y'all think I'm coming and want to buy books. If so, the press release is old. :( If you would like for me to come and sell books, well I'd love to!!!! Just get your local bookstores to hit me up.

BTW I lived in Mandeville for four years! Placed foosball in Metairie too many times to count and would LOVE to come visit and do a signing. Just have your local store contact me and I'll be down in a flash. sdent1@bellsouth.net of course!!!

Love y'all,
Sue