The Christian Manifesto Interview

I was so proud of this interview when I was asked to do it. It isn't often that a non-affiliated (CBA) author gets to talk about appealing to that audience from outside CBA's market. Excitement quickly dwindled though as blog was shortly moved to another site and link merely reported as broken. New site doesn't show pictures and I doubt anyone ever finds it. Oh well. I tried. Here's the link to part two of the interview . . . at least until it's moved again or completely deleted.

Actually, I learned shortly after the interview was moved about the broken link, reported about it here on my blog and was told where the new link was. BUT you have to absolutely LOOK for the new link and it doesn't show up on google searches as the other one did. The only link that shows up is the broken one and it doesn't redirect you. This is such a powerful interview and was getting a LOT of attention until it was moved (with pics not showing.) It's almost as if someone gave me a gift and then took it away to give to someone else. Oh well. Here are the links for what it's worth.

http://www.thechristianmanifesto.com/index.php/2008/12/16/an-interview-with-sue-dent-author-of-forever-richard-part-1-of-2/

http://www.thechristianmanifesto.com/index.php/2008/12/19/an-interview-with-sue-dent-author-of-forever-richard-part-2-of-2/

Before this blog was moved, pulled from the original site because the interviewer went to help with another blog, or so I was told, it was getting a LOT of attention. I was so very encouraged. I've yet to figure out why the interview was "dumped" like this. Sorry. But that's just my impression. You have to pan for gold to find it now. The back links on the moved interviews don't even work.

Guess that's what I get for pegging Thomas Nelson as a fee paying CBA affiliated publisher. Though it seems like they'd be proud of this since they pay to belong and are CBA's top publisher. Or maybe it didn't bother them at all. :)

Where to find Sue's Books locally.

A great mystery to be sure!

Of course you'd think it would be a given considering what both Never Ceese and Forever Richard have done since their respective releases.

Yes. I'lll rehash:

-My debut novel Never Ceese short-listed for a 2007 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, the year Jonathan Mayberry won this category (go Jonathan!!)

-Never Ceese voted book club choice for the month of May 2007 at the ACFW

-Never Ceese short-listed for a 2009 Pluto Award

-Forever Richard making the long-list for a 2009 Pluto Award

-Forever Richard currently on the long-list for a 2010 British Fantasy Award

So why wouldn't you expect to be able to go into, at the very least, a local bookstore and find a healthy number of both on the shelf at least in the local section.

*Sue blinks both eyes as though puzzled herself.*

I don't rightly know but you most certainly can't.

My local Barnes & Nobles has ten in their warehouse but none on the shelf. Their explanation,

"Well when customers start asking for it . . ."

Wow!

Really?

Let me clarify my sarcasm. A larger publisher (only called this because now there are small publishers. Before they were simply called publishers) puts out a debut novel that, based on reviews that come later, royally sucks to high Heaven. Because this book came from a larger publisher, it is automatically without question ordered in mass, as per the agreement between bookstores and large distributors, and placed in a prominent position in the stores. The buying in mass automatically pushes said sorry book to the top of the best-sellers chart (neat how that works isn't it?) and double-standard is complete. There was no demand for this author before their debut novel was released. No one had to walk in and ask to see it on the shelf before it could be placed in said prominent position. What a ludicrous statement for a bookstore to tell a small pubbed author. No they don't single me out. This is what ALL small pubbed authors are told.

Books-A-Million, when I approached them about my books not even being at least in their local author section at once ordered twenty of Forever Richard which I quickly had them change to ten so my publisher wouldn't eat the books I couldn't possibly get rid of fast enough since the local section isn't the first place readers go to find books.

All ten did sell and nine more are on the shelf now but only of Forever Richard and not Never Ceese the paperback as that's through Lightning Source and no large bookstores carry POD's due to the fact that they don't come through a larger publisher and bookstores don't want to hassle with books they're pretty certain won't sell due to POD authors not being able to compete with the publicity wagons of large publishers. Sure a bookstore can send my books back for a full refund if they don't sell (and my publisher will eat the returns as most bookstores only have to return book covers or bar codes to get their money back from the distributor thus making the book unsellable to the publisher-how nice!) But most won't even bother ordering because it's simply too much trouble.

The Bookshelf up the road from me, an independent bookstore, does carry both of my books but I supply them. If there aren't any in the store, they can call me and I can bring one--if I have any.

And as far as Books-A-Million goes, I learned a few days ago that when those nine of Forever Richard are gone, they can't order anymore because my publisher who distributes through Bookmasters is in a dispute over an unbelievable amount of money charged to them for books that were returned damaged due to the fact that bookstores aren't required to return books to distributors in a resell-able manner (sorry but missing front covers or whatever is required to return for a full refund doesn't constitute a resell-able book.) As a result Bookmasters is now not sending the books out to distributors until the matter is resolved or so I'm assuming because now my book that was showing up in Books-A-Million's, available to the brick and mortar stores, is no longer showing up.

And to update on another matter, no neither I nor the other small pubbed author I invited to join me in a booksigning at my local Barnes & Noble have been paid for the books we sold. And no, we didn't sell a lot but that hardly negates the absurdity of the situation. Coming up on a year now and neither of us have seen anything.

Ridiculous!

And now for part 3 of my interview with the Christian Examiner.

Part 3 of my interview with Christian Examiner is now up here. Thank you Shelly Ring for giving me the time of day when so many don't. With people like you helping get the word out, I just might swing making a living as a writer. Time will tell I suppose. 

I don't want to mislead anyone though. Appealing to the audience CBA and ECPA affiliated publishers serve has not helped me at all. If anything, it's made things much more difficult. I have to explain to my main audience that I don't write for this group, that they just happen to enjoy my work otherwise general market readers won't touch my work at all. And to top it all off, CBA market readers who do read my work can't even find my stories where they shop because I don't pay to be affiliated with CBA or ECPA. 

It's slightly devasting when an author and publisher has so little control over how their work is categorized. So once again, I don't write for the CBA or ECPA market though I love each and everyone of their readers who've enjoyed my work. I wouldn't mind writing for a CBA or ECPA affilaited publisher but they have all turned me down. And since they do produce work for a very tight niche market of Christians and not all readers of faith, I dare say something would have to change before I'd accept a contract from them should one happen to fall out of the sky and hit me on the head. *Sue is so not worried about this happening she doesn't even look up or cover her head. LOL*

But yes thank you Shelly Ring! You so rock!