John Grisham on FOX!

I love to see and hear large published authors such as John Grisham get on Fox news and try to talk about their massive literary windfall as though it were something they earned. Oh yes. There are just that few "great" authors in the world. And they're just "gosh-darn" glad to be one of them.

Only a handful get in with a big publisher (and rarely through an agent) where they can be sure to make a gazillion dollars. Really? Is the world that starved of literary talent? Just makes me sick to my stomach when I think of all the "grand" talent that will never get the chance.

Did you ever wonder why you never hear of authors who just make a living writing and selling their books?

It's because there are none. It doesn't happen. You either find a *cough, cough* way in with the big dogs or you go flat broke.

*Storm trooper speaking* "Nothing to see hear. These aren't the droids you were looking for."

Yes. Just keep believing that.

And the fact that anyone can "name a few authors" who in fact make a living only works to define the disaster.

A few?

There should be so many you couldn't possibly name them all.

What a shame!

A "leetle" about Sue Dent.

The Publishing Industry - Just so you'll know.

This very enlightening article explains it all in great detail and leaves no question as to why the publishing industry is the way it is presently. I quote it often and will continue to do so. The link I initially gave is a bit weird now though. So I've found a new link to the page:

This is the new link.

Though I've discussed it before it seems when I post about it again that new readers are immediately shocked and surprised. If you're an author and you want to understand more about why things are the way they are then you need to go to the link above and read it thoroughly.

For your viewing pleasure I will only quote some excerpts:

"The 1920s saw the founding of such important publishing houses as Simon and Schuster, Random House, Alfred A. Knopf, and Viking Press. Although Random House would grow to be the largest and most successful publisher in the country, and would hold that position into the twenty-first century, Simon and Schuster introduced some important industry innovations with long-term consequences."

*Sue scratches head* I wonder what those "important industry innovations" were?

"The Great Depression of the 1930s hit the book publishing industry as hard as it hit every other sector of the American economy. Booksellers at that time were mostly small local businesses, and to help them survive the economic hardships of the depression, Simon and Schuster invented a system allowing booksellers to return unsold copies of books for credit against future purchases. Other publishers quickly had to follow Simon and Schuster's lead, and the practice became the industry standard."

Well, I guess it was a good idea at the time. But I like the way this "industry standard" is described here: http://www.creativemindspress.com/business.htm

Back in the Depression, when bookstores were going under right and left, publishers realized they had to do something radical to keep booksellers in business. They came up with the idea of returns—a system whereby any bookseller may return any book, with little regard for how long the book was kept or what condition it was in. No one told the book business the Depression ended 70 years ago. We still have a system that—not to put too fine a point on it—sucks. Few other industries operate on what amounts to a giant consignment scheme.

LOL SUCKS! Really? Not only that but small publishers don't even get to see their returned books. The only way to survive is to make your books non-returnable. That way large bookstores can still order your books but not take you down with the ship. I sort of hate to say it but unless this return policy mess is straightened out, Barnes & Nobles is next. Good thing there are Independent Bookstores to pick up the slack. Independent bookstores that don't abide by Industry Standard that is. ;D

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.

Okay Lets Go Over it Again!

This is for aspiring writers who listen and read blogs posted by "published" authors who don't really know how the publishing industry works or ever worked but like to blog about it as though they do.

First off, it takes quite a bit of research to get the "truth" of the matter or if you're lucky you'll run across a link like this one here that explains it all quite nicely. ;)

Bottom line, Simon and Shuester started the return policy/"don't worry about sending the book back just rip off the book cover and send it to save on postage" during the depression to keep the then small bookstores/now chain bookstores from going under. The publishing industry has warped and mutated since then until no one knows what's going on anymore.

Sufficed to say EVERYONE involved in publishing makes money off an author's work but the author. And no small publisher can operate with chain bookstores as ALL chain bookstores operate by "large" publisher's rules thinking it's perfectly legal to send unsold, over ordered books back with the covers ripped off etc . . . and not pay for 3000 years after a book sales because that's the way "large" publisher have done it for years.

I'm still baffled that some really big name Small Press authors don't get this. They act like they don't know anything about publishing. It's right there for anybody to see. I certainly see it. There are more than 4000 copies of Never Ceese out there that I've not received one cent of royalty for and never will. Gotta love that!!! NOT!!!

E-books may give us authors and small press publishers to turn this all around but we've got to be smart about it. We have to learn from the past but dear Lord you have to know what the past is before you can learn from it. EGADS!

Why do e-book distributors allow for returns?

So in light of the fact that Smashwords, an e-book distributor, DOESN'T allow for returned e-books, one might wonder why any e-book DISTRIBUTOR might allow for this.

As far as I know a distributors purpose is to distribute things through their distribution channels making money off of what sells. If a publisher wants to make their e-book returnable that should be up to the publisher not the distributor. I have to wonder at any distributor that forces things on publishers as though they have the right to do this.

Wake up publishers!

Find a distributor that acts like a distributor. With the publishing industry leaning toward e-books as opposed to print books, WE the authors, small publishers and self-pubbed authors of the world have a chance to SHAPE how things happen. Or we can sit back like a bunch of mindless imbeciles and pretend there isn't a RIGHT way to do things.

I can not understand why anyone would want a Kindle published on Amazon when Amazon gives the buyer 7 DAYS to return the book. Not when there are other e-book distributors that leave that choice up to the publisher. No. Amazon isn't the only "distributor" doing this but they're certainly the loudest ones.

Kindle version of Never Ceese!

What's that you say? Never Ceese is now available in the infamous KINDLE format? Has Sue Dent lost her mind?

That's right folks, Never Ceese is now available in KINDLE format and not through Amazon!!! Simply go to this link here. Say it once, say it twice, say it three times.:

SmashwordsSmashwordsSmashwords

and purchase Never Ceese in a variety of e-book formats including but not limited to Kindle. Straight from the publisher, Black Bed Sheet Books via Smashwords.

The jokes on you too Amazon, as you won't be giving this Kindle away for FREE via your little "Lending Library" scheme that you force Kindle publishers to participate in just so Amazon can sell more Kindle e-readers.

So off you go people with Kindles and every other e-reader device. The future is here and so are the e-books.

Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award

Below is a fine example of what everyone should know about anything labeled "Christian" when it comes to publishing.

Nothing can be grander for an author than to learn their work appeals to an audience they never knew existed. At the same time nothing could be more disconcerting than to be collectively ignored by each and every publisher and media outlet that serve that audience.

Even the awards for books written for this specific audience are geared to "weed out" undesirables or rather those authors who dare to write outside CBA's restrictive guidelines that target a denomination instead of embracing the fact that we all serve the same God.

Yes, like many awards labeled "Christian" I considered entering this one (why wouldn't I? I are one.) I went straight to eligibility and found this:

Books must be Christian in nature, promote the Christian faith, and intended for the Christian marketplace. The Christian marketplace is defined as the marketplace that is served by CBA member retail stores

Wow! They even went a step further to define "Christian market place." Even took it one more step further to say that CBA, an exclusive trade organization (because member publishers and bookstores have to pay fees to belong) actually serves a specific audience of Christians and not all Christian readers.

For those who are new to my blog, I'll briefly lay out my experiences with attempting to gain marketability in the "Christian Marketplace." I was told that all I needed to do was have my books approved by Ingram's Spring Arbor. I did that. Keep in mind, I don't write for CBA's audience. Didn't even know what a CBA was until their audience started raving about my books. The next thing I learned was that Spring Arbor approval isn't what it's cracked up to be. Large Christian Bookstores do not order books based on Spring Arbor approval. They only order books from publishers who serve their "target" audience.

In the past they only ordered books from CBA affiliated publishers but have moved a tiny minuscule nudge to allow books from non-affiliated "targeted" publishers. I've since had my books "unapproved" by Spring Arbor.

The conclusion is that based on the eligibility rules, the winner will be the same old same old. Tacking the label "Christian" on simply marks it as "targeted" work which is fine if that's what you enjoy reading. Just don't think it represents titles that appeal to general market readers, Christian or otherwise.

Aw, you probably didn't anyway. Most folks already know. ;D

Why are large chain bookstores going under?

*******
Note: facts suggest that Christian chain bookstores are going under for a completely different reason than the one given here since they weren't around during the depression. I may blog about that later.
*******

As with anything, there are many opinions out there but I tend to gravitate to finding the facts. Not that it will keep things from happening the way they're happening but at least, armed with the facts, I can help others understand should they want to.

Many businesses seem to be failing in light of the internet or the ability for others to provide something digitally and quicker than the brick-and-mortar store. And while I'll agree with this theory in part I do not feel it is the primary reason for the demise of larger bookstores.

Does it matter what I think? No, not really but if you read on you'll at least know why I feel the way I do and perhaps you'll sleep better tonight.

Here's an excerpt I've posted before from an article I link to quite frequently. Since it is in an on-line encyclopedia it is unbiased and can't readily be pulled or changed due to my linking to it. I only point this out because many articles I find on the internet now lead to dead links having been moved all together. While I say that I'm not worried about this link going anywhere, I've copied it none-the-less. It has valuable information in it. Here's the link and here's the excerpt:

"The Great Depression of the 1930s hit the book publishing industry as hard as it hit every other sector of the American economy. Booksellers at that time were mostly small local businesses, and to help them survive the economic hardships of the depression, Simon and Schuster invented a system allowing booksellers to return unsold copies of books for credit against future purchases."

(Warning long sentence coming up. Read with caution.) I typically use the above excerpt to point to the reason why once-smaller-now-larger bookstores don't give a poop about small pubbed authors while pointing out that it is this return policy that bites small press in the butt so that they have to make books non-returnable just to keep once-smaller-now-larger bookstores from taking them down which as a result keeps once-smaller-now-larger bookstores from ordering small press books because they can't return them whenever they darn well please causing small press to eat the print cost of their book because AS WE ALL KNOW, no POD publisher wants to pay for shipping of the returned-from-the-bookstore books to be sent back to them. (long sentence over.)

Today I will use the excerpt to point to a much different issue. If large publishers cared so much back in the depression that one of them, Simon & Schuster and subsequently the others for sheer survival--broke protocol and created a return policy that would help the bookstore more than the publisher, then why aren't they acting today? These are THEIR bookstores. The same ones from the depression.

Where is the call to arms? I don't see it? The larger chain bookstores of today are the once-small bookstores of yeasteryear. Where are these wonderfully gracious publishers?

Many still point to ebooks as being the demise of the brick-and-mortar bookstores. I say "nay-nay." I say that if larger chain bookstores embraced and worked with small press (afterall there are more of us than them) the same way they work with larger publishers or at least offer us something as lucrative, they most likely wouldn't be in the shape they're in today.

I'm certain that large publishers (starting with Simon & Shuster) meant well by offering the hang-by-the-neck-until-dead (for small press anyway) return policy but after reading the above excerpt, one has to wonder at their motive. Okay, maybe not everyone but I certainly do.

Small press publishers might help but it's difficult to do this when the door is shut and locked to their presence. I'll not mention the insults that are heaped upon small press when they actually attempt to ask for the type of agreement larger bookstores share with larger publishers. Ooops.

I hate to see this happen as I hate to see any large entity go down but it's their own fault . . . in my opinion.

Oh and since small press books are swatted down at every turn, here's the best place to go to find Black Bed Sheet Books recently published edition of Never Ceese

Buy Never Ceese here!

Hey, if I didn't tell you, how would you know?

Forever Richard selling. Ho-hum.

I suppose I should be more excited about Forever Richard selling, (at least so I've noticed it moving up in ranking on Amazon.) So sad I make nothing off the sell of the book. What a wonderful job I have. I pour my heart and soul into something, also as much money as I can stand to lose and I make nothing back and neither does the original publisher of Forever Richard thanks to BookMasters or rather "the publishing industry." Wonderful. Good thing writing isn't what I depend on to make a living and even sadder that no one can make a living writing. Something's wrong with an industry when all you have are the writers who seem to spring out of nowhere to lavish their "gift" upon the world as though they were just waiting to be discovered. Meanwhile there are all those writers who have to have five REAL jobs just to do what should be considered a REAL job. So sad. :(

Looking forward to Black Bed Sheet Books republishing Forever Richard. I'd do it myself but just plain tired of pouring money into a bottomless hole. So yeah, buy Forever Richard and hope enough folks buy Never Ceese through Black Bed Sheet Books to bring me enough funds to pursue finishing Cyn No More.