I was a manager at BN for about five years so if this is helpful, this is what I tell people about the process: We do have the ability to get your book if we want to, even if it's self-published, but it is a financial risk for us, because if it doesn't sell then we're literally just stuck with it forever. (We had some odd ones that had been hanging around for a decade plus. That is obviously not ideal in any way.) We do have the ability to do consignment if we want to (meaning you provide the books, we sell them through our registers, and we reimburse you for a percentage of the profit) but that's a very new process, kind of a hassle, and not every store manager is willing to do it. (It also is not cheap for the author.)
So, some tips, specifically for self-published authors or those who are with very small publishers: you need to walk into the conversation prepared. Have your book completely finished, with an ISBN, and copies ready to go. (Yes, people would email and call us all the time before the book was even done, amazingly.) Ask to speak to a manager first off, because the person answering the phone might be a college kid working part time, or someone brand new or whatever, and they might not know what the hell you're talking about. Be smart and strategic about your approach (if you're writing a travel guide to a national park in Florida, for example, maybe don't pitch it to BN stores in California, and yes, that also happened to us a lot), and for God's sake, please don't be mean to us. You're not a customer, and we're not obligated to bend over backwards for you. Please be respectful, and treat it like a business relationship (which is what it is). It is not our job to make your book successful, it's our job to make our store successful, and if we can work together to make our goals align, then that's great!! But it's a financial partnership between our store and your book, not a service that we're providing you with. (Basically: please don't yell at us. I got yelled at enough by customers. It was always so much worse when it was coming from an author.)
Events help! Word of mouth helps! Swag helps! (Within reason - always ask first.) We're understaffed and underpaid and our stores are huge, we frankly don't have time to handsell every single book, and the bulk of people coming in are looking for the bestsellers. But we work there because we *are* booksellers, and we're just as passionate about our work as the employees at the trendy and hip indie stores. Like, we're not all corporate drones or anything!! (Some of us are, lol. But not all of us.) We do have a lot of turnover (low pay, you know how it goes), but every single store also has a core group of 6-7 veteran employees, some of whom have been there for 10-20+ years, and none of us would be doing this if we didn't consider it a vocational career. (again: *very* low pay. Why else would we be here?) So we all love books, we love talking about books, and if we believe in *your* book, then we're going to advocate for it. But we also have to work within the confines of our job, and obviously we have to put the needs of our store first. So if you walk in with a good attitude, willing to work together on something that will be successful for both of us, then everything will go a lot smoother. (And we'll fight harder for your book if we like you!! Just saying!!)
Hopefully that's helpful. The other important thing I would add is that we have zero budget, and I mean ZERO, to promote or market anything. We are always more than happy to host author events, but if we can't print it in our back office, then we can't really provide you with much help in the marketing/promo side of things. And all of this is subject to the preferences of a store manager, as well. My store was very open to events and local authors, because that was important to me so I made sure it was a priority, and even after I left I know my colleagues kept that up. But some other stores don't feel the same way, so sometimes you do need to take the store's temperature, so to speak. What works in Cali doesn't work in Utah and what works in Montana definitely doesn't work in New York.
I'm sure a lot of this is also applicable to indies, particularly the parts about being strategic and realistic in your approach. But bottom line - if you go into it prepared then you're going to have a much, much easier time than if you just start calling up random stores and asking without actually knowing what you're asking for. If that makes sense.
I hear SO MANY stories like this from my bookseller friends. My favorite? The guy who got mad and stormed out because she wouldn't carry his book about Buddhist meditation.
Yes, that's the way the publishing industry works. I've been selling my books only personally for the last 30 years, not through any other outlet. I used to sell my massive book production on university campuses all over the world, or on Skype, interacting randomly with people 101, ever since Ebooks were invented, I don't even remember. I sold a couple hundred thousands that way, very hard work, but I saw it as a hobby, I enjoyed it. Nowadays all is available only on my Buymeacoffee, but not many people are interested anymore in my legendary Restricted Serious Entertainment trademark, which is weird, the world has changed for worse indeed!
This is helpful insight, thank you! Also, I’d take negative feedback mixed with some positive feedback over a no-comment-A any day of the week. I think the search for feedback is an indication that someone has a growth mindset, and we all know that’s a good thing!
Thank you for another great newsletter. The timing was perfect, I recently had a conversation about an author who compared finishing a project to postpartum depression. While I've never had children, I have friends who have suffered from this, and I'm always slightly horrified by the comparison. It feels trite. I'm a published author, so I understand the ups and downs, but for me it minimizes what some women experience. Your comparing it to the let down after a party or holiday is perfect. I'm going to use that when I hear the comparison again. Keep the newsletters coming! I love them.
"Do I feel vulnerable after I send this newsletter? You better believe it. It often feels like I just ripped off a band-aid. I await likes and comments and hope my writing didn’t fall flat."
Oh sister, I feel ya. I publish my Substack on Wednesday mornings and I run like Ralphie to the mailbox to look for his decoder ring for comments and likes.
I've been trained by Facebook to get lots of instant validation and feedback.
I feels like I put a lot of thought and work into something, and my readers just grabbed it and ran away. They wouldn't do that with a cookie!
A dear friend said, "Cookies are for eating, Substack is for reading." She's right. But still.
It has given me a much greater appreciation for writers, illustrators, photographers, etc who NEVER get any kind of feedback. How do they stand it? I asked a friend of mine who did an MFA if that was something they talked about in her program. She looked at me like I was nuts.
Same! I always feel so vulnerable, worried no one will like what I write, etc. We need to talk more about this as writers. It's so scary putting yourself out there, but as they say, the scary stuff is what you should be writing.
My 'stack is personal essays and it is capital P personal. Sharing the shizz doesn't make me feel vulnerable, but not getting feedback absolutely does.
What's been interesting, is my most loyal commenters, likers and payers are not my closest friends and family. I'm really, really having a hard time wrapping my head and heart around that.
I totally can relate to that. Unfortunately, it seems like when you step out of your comfort zone, sometimes those closes to you are the least supportive. I haven't figured out why yet though LOL.
"Do I feel vulnerable after I send this newsletter? You better believe it. It often feels like I just ripped off a band-aid. I await likes and comments and hope my writing didn’t fall flat."
Thank you so much for this it’s very insightful and helpful, as always. Dr. Ramani is great so glad you found her, she has lots of videos on her YouTube channel as well 😊
Day after your book releases definitely like the day after Christmas! And the second book pre-release is like planning the birth of a second child: exciting but in a low key way.
"If family members assume you are rolling in money, laugh, and it will confuse them. If they ask about your book sales, keep telling them it’s too early to know or that your publisher provides monthly reports, and you haven’t received yours yet."
This is extremely pertinent and useful advice, thank you.
I just wanted to come on and comment about a part of this post someone took issue with. I was by no means trivializing how the authors in the Lithub piece felt regarding post-publication and postpartum depression. I went through hell and back during my own postpartum depression experiences, which I have chosen not to write about because it involves my children, and they should hear it from me, not from something I write. I was also not suggesting, by any means, that setting a timer for 15-30 mins a day to be sad is some kind of cure for depression. If you have read my work here, you know I take depression seriously. The reason I suggested it was because it is a coping mechanism I learned while grieving the loss of my parents and brother. I'm assuming most people read the piece in the way it was intended: helpful suggestions to get through your book's publication.
Someday I’m going to start a club with all the people who have survived the narcissists in their life because these are honestly some of the most awesome people I have ever met, like maybe dealing with a narcissist gives you super powers? And also, one of those things you have to really go through to understand. Hope you find the book helpful.
I recovered from a relationship with a narc exBF by connecting with the women I call my Sister Exes - several other women who dated him. Because as my therapist said, "It's like siblings in a family. No one else really understands. " And yes, I wrote about it ;)
Great column. People who ask how many books I sell -- a pet peeve. You might as well ask your doctor how much they earn. When I was 16 I visited my uncle's cattle ranch in Oregon, and asked him how many cattle he had. My uncle skirted the issue, but my father pulled me aside. "You don't ask a rancher that question," he said. I got it.
No, your writing didn’t fall flat. I subscribe to a bunch of people on Substack and elsewhere and you’re one of the few whose posts I read from top to bottom. Not that you need my validation, but there you go. Thanks for being so interesting.
I'm currently in the throes of post book depression, which I thought I could avoid because I had it with my debut and thought I did All The Things to avoid it. Actually think there might be biological reasons behind it, because i had a similar experience with my dissertation. (long periods of anxiety, stress, cortisol, etc, then crashing when the big day passes) Not comparing it to a baby, but i think articles like that are good because authors tend to feel like they are the only ones feeling that way.
I read both of those LitHub pieces, and both gave me pause! I, too, suffered very serious postpartum depression, and granted, I may be eating my words when my debut novel publishes in November, but it's hard for me to imagine post-publication as being anything similar. Your "day after Christmas" analogy rings true. (I was mostly confused by the second piece; I am absolutely ready to shoulder lots of marketing and publicity for my book, but I definitely am not prepared to be calling bookstores, warehouses, and suppliers!)
I was a manager at BN for about five years so if this is helpful, this is what I tell people about the process: We do have the ability to get your book if we want to, even if it's self-published, but it is a financial risk for us, because if it doesn't sell then we're literally just stuck with it forever. (We had some odd ones that had been hanging around for a decade plus. That is obviously not ideal in any way.) We do have the ability to do consignment if we want to (meaning you provide the books, we sell them through our registers, and we reimburse you for a percentage of the profit) but that's a very new process, kind of a hassle, and not every store manager is willing to do it. (It also is not cheap for the author.)
So, some tips, specifically for self-published authors or those who are with very small publishers: you need to walk into the conversation prepared. Have your book completely finished, with an ISBN, and copies ready to go. (Yes, people would email and call us all the time before the book was even done, amazingly.) Ask to speak to a manager first off, because the person answering the phone might be a college kid working part time, or someone brand new or whatever, and they might not know what the hell you're talking about. Be smart and strategic about your approach (if you're writing a travel guide to a national park in Florida, for example, maybe don't pitch it to BN stores in California, and yes, that also happened to us a lot), and for God's sake, please don't be mean to us. You're not a customer, and we're not obligated to bend over backwards for you. Please be respectful, and treat it like a business relationship (which is what it is). It is not our job to make your book successful, it's our job to make our store successful, and if we can work together to make our goals align, then that's great!! But it's a financial partnership between our store and your book, not a service that we're providing you with. (Basically: please don't yell at us. I got yelled at enough by customers. It was always so much worse when it was coming from an author.)
Events help! Word of mouth helps! Swag helps! (Within reason - always ask first.) We're understaffed and underpaid and our stores are huge, we frankly don't have time to handsell every single book, and the bulk of people coming in are looking for the bestsellers. But we work there because we *are* booksellers, and we're just as passionate about our work as the employees at the trendy and hip indie stores. Like, we're not all corporate drones or anything!! (Some of us are, lol. But not all of us.) We do have a lot of turnover (low pay, you know how it goes), but every single store also has a core group of 6-7 veteran employees, some of whom have been there for 10-20+ years, and none of us would be doing this if we didn't consider it a vocational career. (again: *very* low pay. Why else would we be here?) So we all love books, we love talking about books, and if we believe in *your* book, then we're going to advocate for it. But we also have to work within the confines of our job, and obviously we have to put the needs of our store first. So if you walk in with a good attitude, willing to work together on something that will be successful for both of us, then everything will go a lot smoother. (And we'll fight harder for your book if we like you!! Just saying!!)
Hopefully that's helpful. The other important thing I would add is that we have zero budget, and I mean ZERO, to promote or market anything. We are always more than happy to host author events, but if we can't print it in our back office, then we can't really provide you with much help in the marketing/promo side of things. And all of this is subject to the preferences of a store manager, as well. My store was very open to events and local authors, because that was important to me so I made sure it was a priority, and even after I left I know my colleagues kept that up. But some other stores don't feel the same way, so sometimes you do need to take the store's temperature, so to speak. What works in Cali doesn't work in Utah and what works in Montana definitely doesn't work in New York.
I'm sure a lot of this is also applicable to indies, particularly the parts about being strategic and realistic in your approach. But bottom line - if you go into it prepared then you're going to have a much, much easier time than if you just start calling up random stores and asking without actually knowing what you're asking for. If that makes sense.
I hear SO MANY stories like this from my bookseller friends. My favorite? The guy who got mad and stormed out because she wouldn't carry his book about Buddhist meditation.
Thank you so much for writing all of this. It confirms a lot of what I’ve heard.
What a generous comment! Thank you for sharing!
What a generous comment! Your store was clearly lucky to have you 😉
Yes, that's the way the publishing industry works. I've been selling my books only personally for the last 30 years, not through any other outlet. I used to sell my massive book production on university campuses all over the world, or on Skype, interacting randomly with people 101, ever since Ebooks were invented, I don't even remember. I sold a couple hundred thousands that way, very hard work, but I saw it as a hobby, I enjoyed it. Nowadays all is available only on my Buymeacoffee, but not many people are interested anymore in my legendary Restricted Serious Entertainment trademark, which is weird, the world has changed for worse indeed!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/extras
This is helpful insight, thank you! Also, I’d take negative feedback mixed with some positive feedback over a no-comment-A any day of the week. I think the search for feedback is an indication that someone has a growth mindset, and we all know that’s a good thing!
That's an interesting perspective -- "wanting feedback = growth mindset" -- I like it. Thanks for this paradigm shift.
You’re welcome! Thank you for the willingness to consider it. ✨
Thank you for another great newsletter. The timing was perfect, I recently had a conversation about an author who compared finishing a project to postpartum depression. While I've never had children, I have friends who have suffered from this, and I'm always slightly horrified by the comparison. It feels trite. I'm a published author, so I understand the ups and downs, but for me it minimizes what some women experience. Your comparing it to the let down after a party or holiday is perfect. I'm going to use that when I hear the comparison again. Keep the newsletters coming! I love them.
Thank you so much.
"Do I feel vulnerable after I send this newsletter? You better believe it. It often feels like I just ripped off a band-aid. I await likes and comments and hope my writing didn’t fall flat."
Oh sister, I feel ya. I publish my Substack on Wednesday mornings and I run like Ralphie to the mailbox to look for his decoder ring for comments and likes.
I've been trained by Facebook to get lots of instant validation and feedback.
I feels like I put a lot of thought and work into something, and my readers just grabbed it and ran away. They wouldn't do that with a cookie!
A dear friend said, "Cookies are for eating, Substack is for reading." She's right. But still.
It has given me a much greater appreciation for writers, illustrators, photographers, etc who NEVER get any kind of feedback. How do they stand it? I asked a friend of mine who did an MFA if that was something they talked about in her program. She looked at me like I was nuts.
Same! I always feel so vulnerable, worried no one will like what I write, etc. We need to talk more about this as writers. It's so scary putting yourself out there, but as they say, the scary stuff is what you should be writing.
My 'stack is personal essays and it is capital P personal. Sharing the shizz doesn't make me feel vulnerable, but not getting feedback absolutely does.
What's been interesting, is my most loyal commenters, likers and payers are not my closest friends and family. I'm really, really having a hard time wrapping my head and heart around that.
I totally can relate to that. Unfortunately, it seems like when you step out of your comfort zone, sometimes those closes to you are the least supportive. I haven't figured out why yet though LOL.
"Do I feel vulnerable after I send this newsletter? You better believe it. It often feels like I just ripped off a band-aid. I await likes and comments and hope my writing didn’t fall flat."
Yes, exactly what I was going to highlight!
Thank you so much for this it’s very insightful and helpful, as always. Dr. Ramani is great so glad you found her, she has lots of videos on her YouTube channel as well 😊
Day after your book releases definitely like the day after Christmas! And the second book pre-release is like planning the birth of a second child: exciting but in a low key way.
Ahh, the Jersey Shore ... that brings back such sweet memories of Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island (back in the day.)
I’m about 20 mins north of LBI.
Tom's River?
“Find your puddle” - love that ☺️
You need mugs with Find Your Puddle on them!
Yes!!
"If family members assume you are rolling in money, laugh, and it will confuse them. If they ask about your book sales, keep telling them it’s too early to know or that your publisher provides monthly reports, and you haven’t received yours yet."
This is extremely pertinent and useful advice, thank you.
I just wanted to come on and comment about a part of this post someone took issue with. I was by no means trivializing how the authors in the Lithub piece felt regarding post-publication and postpartum depression. I went through hell and back during my own postpartum depression experiences, which I have chosen not to write about because it involves my children, and they should hear it from me, not from something I write. I was also not suggesting, by any means, that setting a timer for 15-30 mins a day to be sad is some kind of cure for depression. If you have read my work here, you know I take depression seriously. The reason I suggested it was because it is a coping mechanism I learned while grieving the loss of my parents and brother. I'm assuming most people read the piece in the way it was intended: helpful suggestions to get through your book's publication.
Thanks for all the helpful insight.
Someday I’m going to start a club with all the people who have survived the narcissists in their life because these are honestly some of the most awesome people I have ever met, like maybe dealing with a narcissist gives you super powers? And also, one of those things you have to really go through to understand. Hope you find the book helpful.
John Berryman said surviving a crisis that doesn't kill you is the first step to being a poet.
Amen.
I recovered from a relationship with a narc exBF by connecting with the women I call my Sister Exes - several other women who dated him. Because as my therapist said, "It's like siblings in a family. No one else really understands. " And yes, I wrote about it ;)
https://larastarr.substack.com/p/the-sister-ex-saga
That is such a great story!
Great column. People who ask how many books I sell -- a pet peeve. You might as well ask your doctor how much they earn. When I was 16 I visited my uncle's cattle ranch in Oregon, and asked him how many cattle he had. My uncle skirted the issue, but my father pulled me aside. "You don't ask a rancher that question," he said. I got it.
He was right!
"Oh no. Not another A! This is terrible.” hahaha this is great.
My husband is a very funny guy.
No, your writing didn’t fall flat. I subscribe to a bunch of people on Substack and elsewhere and you’re one of the few whose posts I read from top to bottom. Not that you need my validation, but there you go. Thanks for being so interesting.
Thank you. I am my worst critic.
I'm currently in the throes of post book depression, which I thought I could avoid because I had it with my debut and thought I did All The Things to avoid it. Actually think there might be biological reasons behind it, because i had a similar experience with my dissertation. (long periods of anxiety, stress, cortisol, etc, then crashing when the big day passes) Not comparing it to a baby, but i think articles like that are good because authors tend to feel like they are the only ones feeling that way.
I read both of those LitHub pieces, and both gave me pause! I, too, suffered very serious postpartum depression, and granted, I may be eating my words when my debut novel publishes in November, but it's hard for me to imagine post-publication as being anything similar. Your "day after Christmas" analogy rings true. (I was mostly confused by the second piece; I am absolutely ready to shoulder lots of marketing and publicity for my book, but I definitely am not prepared to be calling bookstores, warehouses, and suppliers!)