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

 

 

 

 

The re-issue of my novel Spirit Bear is now available for pre-order.

 

This was my first novel and though far from stellar it deserved better than to languish on my publisher’s website. So when the contract expired I yanked it and have re-issued it as an indie publication, both in paperback and e-book.

 

Will it do better? Let’s just say it can’t do worse.

 

I fixed a few typos, tweaked the front and back matter, designed a new cover and added the word “saving” to the title. It’s now called Saving Spirit Bear.

 

I began by using Amazon’s Createspace to publish the paperback version. I find this platform pretty straightforward and the turn around time remarkably quick. Unfortunately, Createspace does not have a pre-order option, so the paperback is out there and available for $7.99.

 

I took advantage of Kindle Matchbook, Amazon uses the same files from Createspace to publish a companion e-book on Kindle Direct Publishing. The only condition is you have to sell your e-book for $2.99 or less.

 

It’s too easy, really.

 

KDP has a pre-order option so I’m trying it out.

 

The book-marketing gurus tell you this is the best way to “gimmick” yourself onto the New York Times bestseller list – briefly. The deal is you promote your book in advance as a pre-order and the day the book is released those pre-orders are converted to orders all at once. That could give you a real bump in the ratings – maybe enough to make it to a bestseller list.

 

If you make it to that esteemed position, however briefly, you can legitimately(?) promote yourself as a bestselling author, forever, on any book you write. You’re not saying the book is a bestseller, only that at one point in time the author had a bestseller on the New York Times bestseller list – thus, a NYT bestselling author.

 

And saying a book is written by a New York Times bestselling author evidently sells more books.

 

Can this possibly work?

 

Only a couple of months ago my novel, The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic had two sales in one day and my author rating jumped from 2,593,668 to 173,973, a gain of 2,419,695 points.

So yes, I would imagine this gimmick can actually work.

 

In my quest to become a New York Times bestselling author I’ve also lowered the pre-order price to 99¢ from $2.99.

 

I’ve also published Saving Spirit Bear on Smashwords which allows you to set up a pre-order account without even uploading a book. The price there is also 99¢ during the pre-order period, after which the e-book will be $2.99.

 

From now until November 8, 2015, when the e-book edition of Saving Spirit Bear becomes available, I’ll be trying to find ways (like this blog) of letting readers know about this pre-order deal.

 

Here are the links to pre-order Saving Spirit Bear:

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0150PMX0Y

 

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/575296

 

Both KDP and Smashwords allow me to check to see how the pre-orders are flooding in – or not, so I’ll keep you posted.

 

I’d like to become a New York Times bestselling author, but I’d rather not do it manipulating sales figures and ratings. However, when I read all the excellent independent authors whose books are abandoned in the backlists of Amazon and Smashwords for no other reason than the lack of publicity I realize I have to give this a try – for them as well as myself.

 

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs.

 

30

 

 

Video book reviews of self-published authors now at

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

 

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

 

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

 

Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and a buy link to my Eco-Fi series ECO-WARRIORS Book 3, Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

ECO-WARRIOR Book 1,

Saving Spirit Bear is available at

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

ECO-WARRIOR Book 2, Loving the Terrorist - Beyond Eagleridge Bluffs is soon to be re-issued.

 

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

 

 

 

 

No Nonsense No Gimmick Guide to Marketin... As an author, I have read a variety of books on book marketing and publishing. Eric Beebe’s No Nonsense No Gimmick Guide to Marketing Your Book definitely stands out at the top of the list. I found that his book was easy to read and relate to. Most writers don’t have a marketing background, and I thought this book plays well to that audience. The book is divided up into a variety of sections, and Beebe breaks down the aspects of what a writer needs to know quite well. It’s well organized and logical in its progression. The writing is clean and professional.

One thing that I enjoyed is that it really plays well to the current landscape of publishing, especially how it affects self-published and Indie authors. If you fall into that category, then this is a book that you will want to read. I like how things were explained and I felt that there were some elements of it that I could incorporate into my own marketing plan. Even if you’re not business or marketing savvy, there are things that you can take away from this book. For writers out there of all stripes, you should check out this book. I am glad that I did.

Carl Alves - author of Reconquest: Mother Earth

The trope and the film trailer are what got me to read this book. I love friends to lovers stories but I forgot Ahern writes these gimmick books. I should have remembered what happened with P.S. I love you, which is in part an epistolary novel: I didn't like it. I hated Love, Rosie.

 

Rosie's and Alex's story is told wholly through letters, emails, notes from teachers and online chats as well as the odd birthday and Christmas card. Except it's not, because the epilogue is in plain prose. I guess Ahern herself realised just how superficial and emotionally disconnected novel she'd written.

 

Apart from a certain vocabulary trick, each and every letter writer sounded exactly the same. I also had to suspend my disbelief for a few gutless plot twists that kept the story going two hundred pages after it should have ended.

 

I laughed at times, but that wasn't enough to make up for the gratuitous fat and slut shaming.

 

The frustrating thing about Ahern's bad books is that I can see them being adapted into good films. I certainly liked Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler better than I liked Holly and Gerry on the page.

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