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Just saw this piece in the online Times, they claim to have seen a letter from Waterstones about how much publishers will need to pay to get their books 'well promoted' this Christmas.
Hmmmm. One of my books was a "Waterstones Paperback of the Year" this last Xmas. So it was piled up on those 3 for 2 tables at the front of each store.
The thing is the publisher didn't have to pay for that to happen. It was selected by Waterstones because they thought it would sell. Then the publisher sells it to Waterstones at a fairly large discount (presumably to pay for the 3 for 2 thing). So I'm not sure whether this report is accurate (though, of course, it could be).
I would think it is true.
As it's known that publishers do pay to get the front of the house slots and the cardboard special stand ups, so it's not unreasonable that big booksellers who already ask for discounts would see these key spots as a payable marketing opportunity.
What does everyone else think?
Wherever you place books in the shop, there will always be an enterprising author who sneaks in and moves their own book to the front! And quite right too. If we don't publicise ourselves, we have to rely on the economics and big business of stuff like 3 for 2 deals rather than the quality of the book itself to earn us our place on the displays.
All things like this does is make it more difficult for new authors to be accepted, especially in certain genres, as the acountants will have another reason to say no, they probably want guarantees of sales, rather than a slow build up of sales over a set of books.
When John Harvey talked to our Writers club last year, this subject came up. He had finally got a publicity budget, and it did make a difference in how many copies were bought.
So for the rest of us, self-marketing and word of mouth recommendations will become very important.More so than ever.
Comments
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1945931.ece
The thing is the publisher didn't have to pay for that to happen. It was selected by Waterstones because they thought it would sell. Then the publisher sells it to Waterstones at a fairly large discount (presumably to pay for the 3 for 2 thing). So I'm not sure whether this report is accurate (though, of course, it could be).
As it's known that publishers do pay to get the front of the house slots and the cardboard special stand ups, so it's not unreasonable that big booksellers who already ask for discounts would see these key spots as a payable marketing opportunity.
What does everyone else think?
When John Harvey talked to our Writers club last year, this subject came up. He had finally got a publicity budget, and it did make a difference in how many copies were bought.
So for the rest of us, self-marketing and word of mouth recommendations will become very important.More so than ever.