Small Press Blog

No books for sale

Things continue to move forward. I received confirmation today from Lightning Source that my book will shortly no longer be available. It is my understanding that they have to wait until there are no orders to be filled and then they shut it down.

It seems odd that for a very short period of time I will have no books for sale anywhere. My three Ten Speed Press books are no longer available on Amazon except from outside sellers. At one point, I had four books all selling on Amazon and in bookstores. And then there were none.

Which is fine. By the summer, I will have at least five books and/or related products for sale on Amazon and elsewhere. That works for me.

I got the database back today. It is in even better condition than I would have hoped. It will be very helpful moving forward. That being said, I will be spending much of the next three days doing little else besides working with it. While all of the listings are in there and much of the additional text, I now must look at each of the close to 300 records and make adjustments where necessary. Some of those adjustments are editorial in nature and some are technological in nature.

I am excited about how this is all coming together!

Clearing the Sales Channel

As I noted yesterday, the second edition of Complete Guide to Online High Schools will be available within the next couple of weeks. This availability will include both the print and digital versions.

So what am I doing now?

Yesterday I sent an email to my rep at Lightning Source letting her know to suspend availability of the first edition. I don't want any further print copies sold now because I would prefer that people buy the new version. It will be better and more inclusive of the number of available schools now.

Part of the reason for closing down Lightning Source early is that there are sellers on Amazon still selling my book (although you will note that it is no longer available from Amazon). Where do they get the book from? From Lightning Source, for the most part. Some copies are used. I want that stopped because it is now all about sales for the second edition.

I also went to Payloadz.com to suspend sales of the digital version of my book. Truth be told, the second edition will never make its way there. It will start on Amazon in Kindle form and then, in a few months, I will push it out for sales elsewhere.* The world has changed a great deal since I began using Payloadz. To my thinking, there are now better ways to do digital. More on that later.

No turning back now.

New Book, Day 1

So the time has come to work on the second edition of my Complete Guide to Online High Schools. The first edition has sold well, but it is horribly out of date. Also and importantly, the field has changed. There are many more schools and what made sense just a couple of years ago, no longer makes sense.

What am I going to do differently this time?

• Focus on selling the book. I certainly missed some opportunities for sales.
• Understand that it does not need to be "Truth." It does need to be true.
• Work on the design aspects, but not overly so.
• Have more extra copies available for sales and as freebies.

What am I going to do the same?

• Still going to use Lightning Source as my printer and supplier. It is a model that has worked well for me.
• Increased use of digital versions. In addition to the PDF version from the first edition, I will certainly have a Kindle version.
• Outsource the design work, but in a frugal manner.
• Focus on Amazon sales.

How do I get started? It's time to update the database. Yes, it would make good sense to always have it updated, but that is just one thing too many for me to accomplish. Thankfully, I have my website from which to draw much of that information.

Daughter #2, who is always looking for a way to make a few bucks, is going to be doing some work for me on that project. She is only 13, but certainly can print out school listings.

I am going to make the attempt to check in with you on a weekly basis and let you know where I am in the process.

Money from Abroad

So in the mail today I received a check from Lightning Source, the printer for my book. To be honest, I was a little surprised because one of the nice things about LSI is that monthly deposit into my bank account. I pay no attention to it; it just magically appears. I can't even remember the last time I received a check from any of my major money folks (Lightning Source, Google Adsense, etc.).

So what was the check for?

It was for sales of my latest book in the UK. While I new folks there could buy it, I really had not seen any sales from there. The check was actually for three months worth of sales, the last month being July. This tells me that there are likely more checks in my future.

While I know, based on my site stats, that I get quite a few visitors from the UK to my online high schools website. Given that I have listed no UK online high schools in the book, this tells me I should take another look and see I can find some for the second edition out in January 2011.

I like checks!

There. I've said it. I like getting checks in the mail. As part of my publishing empire, I get checks from online high schools for paid listings over at Best Online High Schools. I got four today.

So what does this have to do with anything?

It is very difficult to make any kind of living with only one revenue stream. If the only thing that you do is sell one book (or two or three), unless you hit it big, it will be tough to make ends meet. Just as almost all writers have a day job (and many people do not realize that), so, too, publishers need to do more than just sell books to make a living.

Not even the big boys make their "living" solely from selling books. They sell rights. They sell non-book merchandise. They sell access.

This month I will make more money doing related activities than I will from selling books. I don't see that as a bad thing. I see that as part of the whole business thing.

A good example of what I am talking about is that Best Online High Schools website. I earn money in three ways:

• From selling books
• From Google Adsense ads
• From Featured Listings

None of that is hard work. It amounts to a few hours worth of emails. I rarely actually talk to anyone at those online high schools. Also, having the largest website devoted to online high schools also means that I get contacted for speaking at conferences. That is a direct result of my non-bookselling activities.

Relying solely on selling books, like relying solely on selling just one thing, is problematic. One thing goes wrong and you are out of business. Take, for example, the recent anti-social behavior of Amazon.com toward Lightning Source. While they have not contacted me (and I don't think they will; I'm too small), if my business was entirely bookselling, I would be really concerned. Really, really concerned.

How are you making money besides selling books?

But what if I want to use a subsidy press?

Okay, folks, I received yet another email about using a subsidy press like AuthorHouse or Xlibris. I have now reached the point where I no longer even need to read them. I already know what they say.

This writer was slightly differently in that she had already read Dan Poynter's book, The Self Publishing Manual, so had some sense of what the industry is like and what is required to sell a book. I give her credit. She is the first person out of the dozens of these emails over the last several years that has done her homework.

Here's her situation: She believes she is a good writer, but a lousy business person. She also does not want to ship books. (Ed. note: Can't fault her there; I don't and I won't.) She would rather have someone else handle the intricacies of actually getting the book printed.

Fair enough. Here's the problem, though. If you are not a good business person (or are willing to learn), it becomes doubtful that you should self-publish. Why? Because it's a business.

However, setting that aside, if you want to self-publish, I recommend one of two things:

1. Get a cover designed, format your text, and submit it all to Lightning Source. They will produce a book for you that will be listed fairly quickly on Amazon. You can then direct people to Amazon from your website. That's what I do. You can get the code to set up a link by becoming part of the Amazon Associates program (which will also pay you a little money for the referral in addition to the money you get from Lightning Source).

or

2) If you must have your hand held through the process, then go to Booklocker.com. It is the one and only subsidy press  that I trust. While I am sure there are others out there that are reputable, I prefer a subsidy press that makes most of its money off selling books and not on selling services to authors.

Both of those are reasonable options for people who do not want lots of inventory on hand (and, in most cases, I do not think you should have a lot on hand).

Amazon "Used & New" sales

I would encourage you to take a look at the used and new copies of Complete Guide to Online High Schools available over at Amazon. There are now twenty-five copies available.

Why is this interesting?

I believe that only one of those copies has actually had a previous owner. Remember that CGOHS is printed on-demand by Lighting Source. There are very few copies out there that are not owned by someone and that is a fairly recent purchase.

All the rest are small business owners advertising copies that they will then get from Lightning Source. By the way, most of those copies are for sale at a higher price than a buyer could get it from Amazon.

And sales have gone up!

A short while back I mentioned that Amazon had removed the discount pricing on Complete Guide to Online High Schools. I expressed my concern that sales would tank and that I would need to change the discount rate.

Well, at least for the moment, sales have gone up significantly. While I don't think it will last, I am also not going to change the discount rate until there is solid evidence that sales are affected by the Amazon change.

$8.28 for each book

$8.28 is how much I make on each sale from Lightning Source. I find that quite acceptable given that I don't need to ship the books.

Yes, I could make more money per book if I had them printed off-set. However, making more money per book is not the most important issue in my opinion. What is important is the overall amount of money you make from publishing and related ventures. In other words, if I am boxing, shipping, etc. books, that is time that I am not marketing books. That is time that I am not blogging. That is time that I am not posting on related websites. That is time that I am doing things that do not build my business.

So Lightning Source can keep the difference and I will keep working at selling books.

Lightning Source Pays

Yesterday I received my first payment from Lightning Source. It came exactly when they said it would and I like that in a compay. Sure it only amounts to a few hundred dollars, but it will be more next month, and more the month after that.

This business model works for me. Yes, I could go out and get a couple thousand books printed, put them in my garage, and ship them hither and yon.

Not.

As I have said elsewhere, I have limited time. And in that limited time, I need to write, market, and sell. Yes, I could make more *if* I could sell all of those thousands of books. One thing to know is that many of those books never get sold. Every single one of my books gets sold whether through LSI or the boxes I buy.