ACWC Writers Blog

WHO REALLY SELLS YOUR BOOKS ?
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 by by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted

I’ve always been a hometown gal. I buy my groceries at the hometown grocer over the larger superstore and shop at the local small town hardware store, who—by the way knows my name and still says, “Hi, what can we do ya for today? I buy my flowers from the street side plant store, and my veggies at the Farmer’s Market.

I love our local small businesses, but when my debut novel hit the shelves, I fell prey to the obvious; the chain stores from the Christian stores to the big boys like Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble. Not one of them carried my book instore. Needless to say, I was disappointed. My book was, after all, published by a large traditional house. Shouldn’t it be on their shelves?
Like any debut author, I could only imagine my novel prominently displayed on the shelves of these retailers. Being a small retail lover, I’m embarrassed our small local bookstore never occurred to me—well, in my defense. . .the store is in the mall and I rarely go to the mall (like I said, I’m shopping small and local over the mall).
But when a friend approached our local small bookstore and asked if he could get the book, it started a chain of events that I could have never imagined.

The retailer ordered seven books—six for my friend and one for himself. Unbeknownst to me, he read the book and then ordered thirty more. He purchased an ad in the local newspaper and called me to come by and sign the books. When I did, he plopped a sticker on the front that said, “autographed copy.”

I sent him an invitation to my launch party (he was one of 50 invitations) and I anticipated the law of average—one person for every 10 invitations. In the meantime, I visited his store several times as a patron. This store owner placed a 16×20 framed sign of my book cover at the entrance of his store, and strategically placed it on the top shelf of the main shelf.

THE LAUNCH PARTY

Before I knew it, my launch party arrived and I sweated the huge cake my husband insisted on ordering, wondering if those five people I anticipated coming could eat such a big cake.Mercycake

Not only did those five come but ten, fifty, one-hundred, ONE-HUNDRED-FIFTY people passed through my launch party. We obviously beat the law of average – but not by my hand. By the hand of this local retailer.
All that to say, had it not been for this wonderful small, local retailer, I’d have carried home a big chunk of cake. This retailer prominently placed my launch invitation on his counter and every time he sold a book, he’d say, “Drop by her launch party and let her add your name inside the book.” And they came.

As authors we tend to look toward the big chain retailers. It’s our dream for our books to be “out there.” But what does it mean to be “out there” if your books aren’t in the store? Most folks won’t take time to order the book from the chain store then return days later to pick it up. It’s not convenient.

Meet your local retailers

Get to know them. Advertise their store alongside your book. Send them thank you notes, visit them regularly. These people WANT patrons in their stores and they understand the business of selling books. They take the Field of Dreams Approach – “Build it and they will come.” And they do.
Mercystore6After 1 year, our I Love Books Bookstore is on the upside of selling nearly 800 copies of Mercy’s Rain. As quickly as he gets the book in the store it’s going right back out in the bags of customers. Mr. Moody’s personal efforts to better his store has given us both success. He continues to run ads in the local paper and make wonderful storefront window displays of Mercy’s Rain. The result. . . he continues to sell books.

Perhaps the bigger picture of marketing our books is not the chain stores, but getting back to the one-on-one customer level of the local small retailer. Big is not always better and it’s certainly not the mark of having arrived. Thanks to my local retailer, four months after the release of Mercy’s Rain local buzz is still growing and the novel is circulating our tri-city area. In the words of my local retailer, “I fully expect to sell another 100 books by summer.”
Support your local book retailers and form a partnership that stands firm. A joint effort brings success on many levels. Thanks to retailers like this Mercy’s Rain is a best seller.


Previous Posts

Get Rid of Gimmicks
Denise Loock
3/15/2024

Avoid Pronoun-Antecedent Dysphoria
Cindy Sproles
3/13/2024

Assignment 6 - Self-Editing Is Not For the Faint of Heart
Andrea Merrell
2/17/2024

Assignment 5 - What in the World is a One Sheet - Andrea Merrell
Cindy Sproles
2/8/2024

Assignment 4 - Storytelling Your Life Lessons
Lucinda Secrest McDowell
2/3/2024

Learn to Show, Not Tell Your Story
Cindy Sproles
1/26/2024

Spit shine that Work - Assignment 3
Cindy Sproles
1/20/2024

Oh! I Need a Professional Email Address?
Cindy Sproles
1/16/2024

Bio, Bio, Who's Got the Bio
Cindy Sproles
1/4/2024

Get in the Mood to Write - Assignment 5
Cindy Sproles
2/13/2023

Assignment 4 - The 5 Cs of an Elevator Pitch
Cindy Sproles
2/2/2023

Appropriate Emails - [email protected] - Assignment 3
Cindy Sproles
1/21/2023

Assignment 2 - Creative Non-Fiction
Cindy Sproles
1/15/2023

Don't Write Your Bio - Write WHY ME? - Assignment 1
Bob Hostetler
1/4/2023

How to Make the Most of Your Conference Experience - Assignment 7
Cindy Sproles
2/12/2022

Sensory Perception Enhances Your Writing - Assignment 4
Cindy Sproles
1/22/2022

January 16, Assignment 3 - Bring Your Characters to Life
Cindy Sproles
1/16/2022

Assignment 2 - Titles & Sentences - Nancy Lohr
Cindy Sproles
1/8/2022

An Adjective Safari - Assignment 1
Denise Loock
1/5/2022

Assignment 5 - Don't Waste Your Conference Experience
Cindy Sproles
2/6/2021

January 24, Assignment Four - Time to Shoot the Weasel Words
Cindy Sproles
1/24/2021

Assignment 3 - The Role of Speaker Tags and Beats
Cindy Sproles
1/21/2021

January 10, Assignment 2 (1 of 2 assignments)
Cindy Sproles
1/10/2021

Assignment 1 - ACWC January 5 - Let's Start with a Bio
Cindy Sproles
1/5/2021

February 1 - Assignments 5 & 6 - Linda Glaz
Cindy Sproles
2/1/2020

How Not to Get an Agent - Assignment 7
Bob Hostetler
2/10/2019

It's Not What You Know; It's Who You Know - Assignment 4
Bob Hostetler
1/20/2019

Stay on Track with a Writing Schedule - Assignment 3
Larry Leech
1/13/2019

Assignment 2 - Finding Speaker Topics
Beth Fortune
1/5/2019

IMAGERY–WHEN THIS IS LIKE THAT
By Ann Tatlock
12/30/2018

Asheville Christian Writers Conference Privacy Policy
Cindy Sproles
6/4/2018

2018 Writers Charge
Cindy
2/18/2018

Getting Rid of “I” Disease - Assignment 3
Andrea Merrell
1/14/2018

Curb Your Adverb Addiction - Assignment 2
Denise Loock
1/7/2018

WHO ARE YOU? - Writing Your Bio
Cindy Sproles
11/17/2017

WRITING IN A PICKLE
Cindy Sproles
11/13/2017

THE NaNoWriMo CHALLENGE
Cindy Sproles
11/10/2017

BRINGING YOUR CHARACTERS TO LIFE
By Andrea Merrell
2/12/2017

DON’T LET SPEAKER BEATS RUIN YOUR MANUSCRIPT
By Andrea Merrell
2/5/2017

HOW TO CRAFT GREAT DIALOGUE
By Andrea Merrell
1/30/2017

AVOID REPETITION AND WRITE TIGHT
By Andrea Merrell
1/20/2017

THE QUOTATION QUOTA – ASSIGNMENT 2
By Andrea Merrell
1/13/2017

ELIMINATE THE EXCLAMATION POINTS – ASSIGNMENT 1
By Andrea Merrell
1/7/2017

WRITING ADVICE FROM MARK TWAIN: WRITE WITHOUT PAY UNTIL SOMEBODY OFFERS TO PAY
By Sandra Merville Hart
12/22/2016

WHEN THE STORY STALLS IN THE MIDDLE
by Sandra Merville Hart
12/20/2016

WHO REALLY SELLS YOUR BOOKS ?
by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted
9/20/2016

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR 15-MINUTE APPOINTMENTS
by Cindy Sproles
9/16/2016

ARRRGH! ANOTHER REJECTION – CINDY SPROLES
by Cindy Sproles
9/12/2016

FROZEN IN PLACE – ICEY SELF-TALK TO FREEZE YOUR WRITING
By Cindy Sproles
9/8/2016

THE BIO – THE FRAGRANCE OF WHO YOU ARE
by Cindy Sproles
9/3/2016

THE PAIN OF UNSOLICITED
by Cindy Sproles
8/29/2016

REDUNDANCY: AN EXCESSIVE, OPPRESSIVE, PERVASIVE DISEASE
By Denise Loock
8/26/2016

7 THINGS TO DO NOW TO BE READY WHEN WRITING INSPIRATION STRIKES – EDIE MELSON
by Edie Melson
8/23/2016

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR 15-MINUTE CONFERENCE APPOINTMENTS
by Cindy Sproles
8/20/2016

WHY SHOULD I ATTEND THE ASHEVILLE CHRISTIAN WRITERS’ CONFERENCE?
by Cindy Sproles
8/17/2016

YOU NEED A PLATFORM – LIVING A STORY- ASSIGNMENT 3
By La-tan Murphy
1/20/2016

THE ONE SHEET
by Cindy Sproles
1/8/2016

OVER-EDIT?
By Steven James
11/4/2015