The Worst Place to Sell Books is a Book Store

With famous people in the book business say this, then where are most of the books we read being sold.

Giants like Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup success says. “Only one out of seven people in the United States go into book stores to buy a book.” Book marketing experts John Kremer and Dan Poynter of the Self-Publishing Manual says something similar as does long time book coach, Judy Cullins, author of “Write your eBook or Other Short Book–Fast.”

You may disagree, but do you wonder why these experts say that the worst place to sell books is in a book store?

Because…

1. You are not famous, and your traditional publishing support amounts to a possible three-month book tour, billed against your sales. And it’s common knowledge that these don’t work well. Your book’s shelf life at Barnes and Noble or other brick and mortar bookstores is about three months too. And, you the author must promote it full time to receive less than 50% of the profits.

2. Your audience (who are they?) don’t go to a bookstore to find your book. They go to browse and aren’t’ sure what they want. If your book (as an unknown) is next to a popular author, only your book’s spine will show. Potential buyers will pass it by for the well-known name. In our San Diego Barnes and Noble, people bring their Starbucks coffee in to sit and read. If they spill coffee on your book, you will get it as a return, without a sale, and pay the postage.

3. Smart business people and personal growth authors know their audience is online. They can sell straight from their websites.

And they market online to get their readers to their websites, with article marketing, social media marketing, and with a business blog for the same purpose–at least once a week to stay in touch with their audience.

Your audience wants to know and like you before they buy from you. They will subscribe to your newsletter, your blog, and your free reports rather than get into a car and drive to the “brick and mortar” bookstore. After so many visits, many will buy your books or use your service.

4. Know that after three months of initial placement, your book will fade away unless you put on your promotion hat to get customers to the store. That is a whole lot of work of preparing your talk, scheduling of press releases, and even travel. Why market the hard way and travel, especially in today’s faltering economy?

5. Speakers among you like to sell books at the front or back of the room after educating their audience on why they need their information or how to’s. With the proper handouts, you can even sell your eBooks this way. I did at a San Diego coaching group. Pretty easy.

Speaking applies to giving teleseminars or interviews by video to market your book to your best audiences. And you market these from your email and Web site. This is one of my favorite ways.

I educate on the calls to help my audiences about writing chapters, writing blogs, and Linkedin marketing, so they can make a wise decision to get a little more coaching, so they don’t make unnecessary book writing or marketing mistakes that cost them sales.

6. Other problems with bookstores are…

*Seventy percent of US adults haven’t been in a bookstore for the last 10 years with the internet and Google at their finger tips.

*Bookstores will take 90 days, even a year or more to pay you for your total book sales. One local San Diego author had to take her distributor to court after non-payment for 2 years.

*Bookstores only order two or three copies at a time because of limited shelf space. If you aren’t well known, and don’t promote a lot, your book will disappear.

*Bookstores buy only from a distributor or wholesaler. They also take from your book profits.

If bookstores only sell 45% of the book sales, where are the rest sold? If a predicted 2 1/2 billion eBooks will sell in 2010, what does that mean? If American book publishers had net sales of $23.9 billion, where are these books being sold if not in book stores?

One answer is that even grandparents are online. Your book audience is awaiting your book, so be sure to put it in their “hands”.

Please give me your opinion! And if you want to find out more about online marketing, subscribe and receive my free eBook.

If you are ready to act NOW on getting your book sold online, see my social media coaching.