David and I were talking about money today. (No, it's not a matter of making the rent.) We've received requests from people who can't come to an event but want an autographed copy of Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories. (Gosh! Blush!) We decided we'll pass along our smart shopper discounts from blurb.com to them--and you if you want.
You know we raised money to print the book and in the middle of our vc campaign blurb raised its prices. You also know we looked for discount coupons all over the place and found 20%, 25%, and 30% discounts to use when ordering books so we still wound up getting the same number of copies as we'd planned before the price rise.
On average, our copies cost us 30 bucks so we're gonna sell them to you at 30 bucks, plus postage. No tax. No charge for our autographs either. haha. You wind up saving $8 and you don't have to swill ginger beer or gobble very fattening gingersnaps at one of our parties. Check the bottom of this post for payment and shipping details. PayPal, baby.
This set me to musing about book pricing. When I was a book editor, we had a formula. X + Y + Z = $$. Not that actually, but it was a formula which took into account what we paid the author (minimal), what it cost to print the book (lots), and some profit (not much). Publishing had a profit margin similar to grocery stores: 3%, at least in the olden days. For contrast, when I worked part-time in retail during college, Weinstock's profit margin was 300%. Yowza!
But David and I aren't in this for the money. This has been an adventure, not a profit making enterprise. However, it is the gift giving season in America so give the gift of Ginger. Check out our stores at blurb.com and Logosportwear below--and if'n y'all want an autographed copy.
Ginger Gifts O the Season:
Ginger Snaps the book at http://blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
Ginger & Gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com
Autographed copies of the book, pay $30 + $5.15 postage at PayPal. Our PayPal address is gingersnapsphotosstories@yahoo.com. When we get the PayPal notification, we ship your book!
Showing posts with label ginger book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ginger book. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Ginger Hair Out for a Walk
Took my Ginger hair for a walk this morning along 24th Street for the first time since my return from New York. Looked pretty good in the mirror before I left and must have looked good to passersby because I got lengthy looks and lovely smiles from men and women. Either that or they recognized me from the newspaper.
We snagged our first interview in the Noe Valley Voice (November 2012 issue)--and I didn't even have to send a news release. Okay, it's not the New York Times but in our village of 20,000 it's big time. We were two of seven local authors interviewed for a lengthy article on new books from Noe Valley authors. Surprisingly, the neighborhood heavyweights--Cara Black and Bill Yenne--were not included.
People may not be reading print media as much elsewhere but in our neighborhood, which is full of tech-employed 20-somethings, they/we do read the Voice. Photos of the book cover and our main author photo were included, in black and white in print but glorious color online, which you know already if you clicked on the Voice link above.
Although the article did not drive hordes into Phoenix Books, the local bookstore carrying Ginger Snaps, it has resulted in more looks of recognition and some lovely smiles. Some of the LORs seem to be Gay as well. That's promising.
Obtaining press for your book is part of the selling and promoting process. At least it's writing. I admit to being a little lackadaisical about accomplishing this. But you should send your book out to online and print media reviewers. Usually, all they need is a pdf but check first. There are lots of online Queer lit bloggers. They take some finding but their readers are your target market if your book is Queer. If it's not, believe me, there are bloggers out there somewhere reviewing your kind of book. You just have to find them.
You should also send press releases to online and print media. And use social media. (I'm blogging, aren't I?) And contact radio and TV if you think you have a chance. Hopefully, everything you do will help you sell more books. If it doesn't, well, it may at least give you 15 minutes of fame--like my hair and me.
Speaking of selling, check out our Ginger stuff:
Ginger Snaps the Book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
ginger/gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com
We snagged our first interview in the Noe Valley Voice (November 2012 issue)--and I didn't even have to send a news release. Okay, it's not the New York Times but in our village of 20,000 it's big time. We were two of seven local authors interviewed for a lengthy article on new books from Noe Valley authors. Surprisingly, the neighborhood heavyweights--Cara Black and Bill Yenne--were not included.
People may not be reading print media as much elsewhere but in our neighborhood, which is full of tech-employed 20-somethings, they/we do read the Voice. Photos of the book cover and our main author photo were included, in black and white in print but glorious color online, which you know already if you clicked on the Voice link above.
Although the article did not drive hordes into Phoenix Books, the local bookstore carrying Ginger Snaps, it has resulted in more looks of recognition and some lovely smiles. Some of the LORs seem to be Gay as well. That's promising.
Obtaining press for your book is part of the selling and promoting process. At least it's writing. I admit to being a little lackadaisical about accomplishing this. But you should send your book out to online and print media reviewers. Usually, all they need is a pdf but check first. There are lots of online Queer lit bloggers. They take some finding but their readers are your target market if your book is Queer. If it's not, believe me, there are bloggers out there somewhere reviewing your kind of book. You just have to find them.
You should also send press releases to online and print media. And use social media. (I'm blogging, aren't I?) And contact radio and TV if you think you have a chance. Hopefully, everything you do will help you sell more books. If it doesn't, well, it may at least give you 15 minutes of fame--like my hair and me.
Speaking of selling, check out our Ginger stuff:
Ginger Snaps the Book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
ginger/gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Ginger Dreams Great and Small
Our New York soiree was about what I expected it to be. We had the smallest attendance of any book tour event so far but we had exactly the number of people I expected so that's a wash. I met new people and reunited with old friends, which were twin hopes. We were in the elegant apartment of Eugene Jen, and he was a handsome and gracious host. He exceeded my expectations.
Publishing a book is about dreams and expectations as well as the creation and production of it. You can't help but hope, but you need to get a handle right away on your expectations. Is your dream of writing the great American novel realistic? Can you really expect your book to be a best seller?
On the other hand, you don't want not to dream. If you didn't dream, would you be an artist in the first place? Would you ever create a book at all?
I feel David and I have had realistic dreams and reasonable expectations all along. I thought we'd print a few copies for family and friends but then sales opportunites came rolling along and 50 seemed more reasonable. But I didn't want to pay for 50 copies upfront so we raised money. Our goal was $1500 and we netted $3500. If our goal had been $5000, we would have been disappointed. $1500 was all we needed.
Raising money meant 30 copies immediately were committed to backers so 50 didn't seem like much any more, especially since we now had an 8-stop book tour, not the one party we expected. So we raised our print run and our ultimate sales goal.
Our first event had two-thirds the people we expected so we decided we were being unrealistic. We revised our attendance goals for the next four and we have been happy each time instead of disappointed. The numbers have been about what we expected.
Publishing a book is work, whether you do it on your own or thru a major publisher. You don't just create the thing and never lift a finger until you open the royalty check. It's work so have fun with it. Being disappointed is not fun. Dream big, dream small, but dream realistically and you'll want more. If the gingersnap meets or exceeds your expectation, you'll want another. And another and another and another.
Have sweet dreams with our ginger book and tees!
Buy Ginger Snaps at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
Buy ginger &/or gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com
Publishing a book is about dreams and expectations as well as the creation and production of it. You can't help but hope, but you need to get a handle right away on your expectations. Is your dream of writing the great American novel realistic? Can you really expect your book to be a best seller?
On the other hand, you don't want not to dream. If you didn't dream, would you be an artist in the first place? Would you ever create a book at all?
I feel David and I have had realistic dreams and reasonable expectations all along. I thought we'd print a few copies for family and friends but then sales opportunites came rolling along and 50 seemed more reasonable. But I didn't want to pay for 50 copies upfront so we raised money. Our goal was $1500 and we netted $3500. If our goal had been $5000, we would have been disappointed. $1500 was all we needed.
Raising money meant 30 copies immediately were committed to backers so 50 didn't seem like much any more, especially since we now had an 8-stop book tour, not the one party we expected. So we raised our print run and our ultimate sales goal.
Our first event had two-thirds the people we expected so we decided we were being unrealistic. We revised our attendance goals for the next four and we have been happy each time instead of disappointed. The numbers have been about what we expected.
Publishing a book is work, whether you do it on your own or thru a major publisher. You don't just create the thing and never lift a finger until you open the royalty check. It's work so have fun with it. Being disappointed is not fun. Dream big, dream small, but dream realistically and you'll want more. If the gingersnap meets or exceeds your expectation, you'll want another. And another and another and another.
Have sweet dreams with our ginger book and tees!
Buy Ginger Snaps at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
Buy ginger &/or gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com
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