I recently received an email from an indie author bookstore that wants to stock my books.

My response is not elation or gratitude, it's suspicion.

I think this industry is making me a cynic.

Anyhow...

P.J. Boox http://pjboox.com/ was started by "award-winning(?) author and illustrator, Patti Brassard Jefferson in the summer of 2015. Brassard describes herself as a self-published author who released her first book with an indie publisher (how does that work?) and so on and so forth to the end that apparently she can "relate".

Her store only accepts self-published and indie authors (are these not one and the same?), "as well, micro, small press, vanity and subsidy publishers may submit books. Traditionally published large publishing houses and imprints may not."

Already I'm having difficulty with the pitch and wondering if Brassard wrote this how she became an award-winning author? I mean is there a difference between micro and small press? Aren't vanity and subsidy publishers the same thing? Is a traditionally published large publishing house the same as a large publishing house or a traditional publisher? Does the writer know that saying the same thing only using different words is still being redundant?

Anyhow, let's cut to the chase.

Brassard doesn't want to stock my books she wants to rent me shelf space in her store.

For $80.00 and a one time set up fee of $18.00, I can rent a shelf that will fit six books max for four months. If they sell your books in the store you get 98 percent royalty. If you want them to sell them online you ante up another $15.00 set up fee and they take twenty percent.

You send them your books and every month they send you the money you earned that month.

So lets crunch some numbers, shall we?

My novel Abandoned Dreams sells for $9.99. I order six to fill the shelf and have CreateSpace ship them to PJ Boox. It costs $26.57

I add the set up charge and the shelf rental of $98.00 plus the cost of the books for a total of 124.57. If I sell all six books at $10.00 = 60.00, less 2%@ $1.20 = $58.80 net. I'm in the hole $65.77.

What about if I sell more than double that, say 13 books at $10.00 = 130.00, less 2% @$2.40 = $127.60, but printing and shipping has just jumped to $49.07, so I'm still in the red $46.04.

My brain's getting tired but suffice to say I would need to sell about 20 books in four months to break even and just a few less in the next four month cycle to pay the shelf rental considering the setup fee is waived. I fare even worse with books sold online by PJ Boox.

Will a bookstore in a strip mall in Fort Myers, Florida sell more books (a lot more) for me than Amazon considering they have my books available in all major English speaking countries in the world?

So let's sum up shall we? Taking advantage of the offer presented by PJ Boox means more hassle and less profit and grinding my teeth every time I have to think, say or write that ridiculous name.

Sure I want to see my books in a bookstore, but I'm waiting until they pay me rather then the other way around.

Stay Calm, Be Brave, Watch for the Signs

30

Book Giveaway Win a copy of

THE BIG PICTURE, FOREST or ABANDONED DREAMS

Enter at

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway

Video book reviews of self-published authors now at

Not Your Family, Not Your Friend Video Book Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH45n8K4BVmT248LBTpfARQ

Cover Art of books by self-published authors at

https://www.pinterest.com/rod_raglin/rod-raglins-reviews-cover-art/

My novels, FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend, The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic and Abandoned Dreams are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and as e-books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

The ECO-WARRIORS series:

Book 1, Saving Spirit Bear – What Price Success?

Book 2, Loving the Terrorist - Beyond Eagleridge Bluffs

Book 3, Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients

are available as e-books an paperbacks at

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

A man's bookcase will tell you everything

you'll ever need to know about him.

Walter Mosley

Bookshelf is a special place for a book lover. It's a place where one loves to hang around, relax, plan but also challenge oneself, research, analyze and organize. Now you can personalize your bookshelf on BookLikes with new options in your shelf table view.

Here's what to do to know more about books you read and shelve.

Your table view has received new options which can be viewed in bookshelf settings.

Here you can choose how your shelf table view should look like, you can select new columns, hide and show book information and stick to the data you need the most. 

Here are the new options of your shelf table view, all columns are optional and can be edited any time in your shelf settings.

The new columns will be added to your shelf table view. You can change the layout of the table view anytime.

These new options are available only in your admin view, no changes will be added to your shelf on your public blog. 

Those of you who don't remember all the shelf features please have a look at our post Your Shelf from A to Z where we share and describe the bookshelf features in the cover and table view.  

Don't pick up random books. Plan you reading ahead with the reading lists which are great for sharing book series, book recommendations and presenting a reading guide for other book lovers. 

Your reading list guide can present an endless number of books. You can choose the book order to suggest where to start or show the titles according to your preferences.

When you find a reading list that works for you, you can not only Sign in but also Like it and add all listed books to your Shelf page. The books will be added to a thematic shelf named after the List and will include the reading status if selected.

This will help you to stay up to date with your reading plan and keep you on reading.

You can easily reach your lists on the Reading Lists page which presents now your lists, lists that you've liked, and the BookLikes community's reading guides.

It’s time to hit the bookish road with the brand new books. We’re opening new book discover paths on BookLikes: new book releases and free ebooks.

Warning: this can lead to a TBR pile out of control syndrome :-)

The Book Catalog page received a new book folder with new book releases in 2014. You can look them up using the book category list on the left and shelve new titles published in 2014. 

The second path is even more exciting. The Daily Deals page got a new tab, called Free ebooks. We present here a huge bunch of free Kindle ebooks so get ready for an intensive book hunt! The page is updated daily.

Happy shelving!