The Ink Tree Report August, 2004
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Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
Book Club Sales – Increasing the Odds
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What is a book club sale? It is actually a rights sale or a licensing agreement: you are granting permission to a book club the right to “borrow” your work. You have written a book, and now you are allowing a book club to print and distribute your book to its members.
You allow the book club to reprint your book in a specific language, in a specific format, for a specific period of time, in a specific geographic territory, to a specific group of people. You ensure in your contract that you maintain ownership of the copyright and of all other intellectual property rights, such as electronic, movie, other languages and territories, and serial rights – to name a few. Always seek good legal advice before signing a contract.
There are many book clubs, but most of the major clubs fall under the bookspan umbrella (www.bookspan.com). To find other book clubs that are appropriate for your book, do an internet search: on your browser, type in +(your book genre, e.g., cooking)+book+club.
The chances of having your book selected by a book club are roughly one in ten, which is really quite good. Imagine if your chance at winning the lottery was that great!
Tip #1 for increasing the odds:
It is important to know that book clubs are always looking for new ideas to entice their members, so if your book is well written and edited, has plans for professional graphic design, AND demonstrates a unique slant on your topic, your chances of being selected rise considerably.
Tip #2 for increasing the odds:
In saying that, it is important for you to know that the earlier you submit your book, the better.
Tip #3 for increasing the odds:
Book clubs are much happier receiving a typed manuscript six to twelve months in advance of your publication date than receiving a bound galley or finished book close to the publication date. A book club likes to introduce your book to its members near your publication date in order to take advantage of the reviews and publicity that you will be generating when your book is launched. The bigger the media splash you make, the better everyone’s sales will be.
Tip #4 for increasing the odds:
There are many categories of book clubs, so be sure to submit your title only to the appropriate clubs. Do not send your book to every book club that you can find. Each club’s membership has specific interests so be sure to submit your book only to clubs that might buy—you will again increase your chance of being selected.
For instance, if you have a humor book, it’s unlikely to be of any interest to a cooking club or to a mathematics club. If your book is regional, it will not likely appeal to a general interest book club, so submit that a regional title to suitable specialty clubs.
Tip #5 for increasing the odds:
There are rules to follow when submitting your book to the book clubs, so following them carefully should avoid unnecessary rejections.
Here they are:
1. Send your manuscript to the Editorial department at the appropriate club(s).
2. Include a cover letter that details the following information:
• summary of the book contents
• description of the book (size, binding, hard/soft cover, black & white or color)
• expected selling price
• number of pages
• number and type of photographs and/or illustrations (indicate if black & white or color
• notation if the book will be part of a series
• which volume the book is in an existing series and a sales history of the series
• intended publication date
• plans for publicity and promotion, and your intended budget
3. Include a brief author biography written in the third person. Be sure to talk about any previous books published and their sales histories.
4. Send photocopies of some of the illustrations and photographs. Please do not send original copies – they will NOT be returned to you.
5. Don’t forget your contact information and website if you have one.
Unfortunately, you cannot contact book clubs to follow up on your submission. It’s a case of “Don’t call us. We’ll call you”. Book clubs receive too many submissions to allow follow up calls or letters. If they are interested, they will call you, usually within two to six months.
Do you think that a book club sale is worth pursuing?
Absolutely! For very little effort you can achieve the sale of thousands of copies of your book. You will likely be paid a minimum sum per copy, but you will also not have any production costs, and a small sum multiplied by thousands can equate to a very nice check. Your only effort will be to sign a contract, provide your book on disk and collect that check – and just think of the free publicity! Thousands of book club members will read about your book. You can’t buy that kind of publicity!
© Copyright 2004 Ink Tree Ltd.
For more information on selling to book clubs and other large volume buyers (including how to reach them), click here.
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Tips You Can Use
The internet is a very powerful tool for selling books and a website should definitely be included in your marketing plan.
http://www.sitesell.com/inktree.html is an all-in-one site-building, site-hosting, and site-marketing system of software tools to help you succeed with your website.
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Have You Heard?
Are you writing and publishing children’s books and need a little extra help?
Click here to learn more about our newly released “101 Things You Need to Know About Publishing Children’s Books”:
http://www.moneyinpublishing.com/childrensbooks.htm
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Interesting Stuff
http://www.bookannouncements.com is a company that has created several marketing programs that will help authors and publishers reach book buyers at bookstores, libraries and media companies.
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Inspiration
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Albert Einstein
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Affiliate Program
Increase your revenue by helping other authors get published and achieve success. Sign up for our affiliate program and get paid to help others here: http://www.inktreemarketing.com/affiliates.htm
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Please submit your own tips, articles and experiences to us for possible inclusion in future newsletters. We’d love to hear your stories and share your advice.
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For more information on Ink Tree and our services for authors and publishers, visit us at:
http://www.inktreemarketing.com
Member of SPAN and PMA
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