Getting Reviews in Newspapers

Once again, I was going to do a blog about press releases, but I just learned today that my book The Great Heist got a wonderful review in the newspaper, so I'm going to talk a little about newspaper reviews.

Many people say that newspapers are going out of fashion, and will be gone soon.  I disagree.  In fact, I believe they are one of the four best resources for writers.  (The others are radio stations, blogs, and podcasts.)  Though they have lost a lot of revenue over the past couple decades, and their staffs have unfortunately declined significantly, they are still relevant with a certain audience.  More importantly, they still have ways to survive.

The problem is when people equate newspapers with news print.  The assumption is that as the print medium dies, so do newspapers.  Not true; and the smart newspapers have been adjusting, getting onto the web, and creating apps for their product.  Just as heralding news on the streets was replaced by the printing press, so, too, has the printing press been replaced by computers and, to a larger degree, tablets.  It's the natural progression, and there's no reason anyone should be left behind as it's simply a different method of distribution; the content doesn't really need to change, (except perhaps for some adding of interactivity.)

The problem for the newspapers is financing.  Once purchased by millions of people, it has reduced to a tiny percentage of that amount due to the internet.  Television and radio reduced the readership as they came along, but this most recent threat was bigger because it approached the same audience: readers.  While TV and radio attracted people to watch and listen to the news, newspapers retained readership; people who prefer to read for themselves about what's happening rather than having it filtered through the emotions of telecasters or radio personalities.

That's how I get to my point.  Though newspapers and blogs may have a lower readership than television and Youtube, they retain the audience that is most important, readers.  Independent book selling is really more about selling to niches than it is about going for the mainstream audience.  Even if your book will appeal to a mainstream audience, you want a niche audience to start out with.  You want them to feel special, like they have a beautiful secret before anyone else.  Then utilize that base to launch off into a wider audience.  Newspapers have that loyalty, and a reader who cares about a newspaper, (or a blog,) will care more deeply about what they say, and are more likely to read a review or a story from them.

My books have thus far been a lot about Nebraska history, and I plan to do some more fairly soon.  I've therefore become acquainted with the people in charge of book reviews at The Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha Reader.  (I have not been impressed with the Omaha World Herald.)  I've sent them stories and free copies of the books every time they've come out, and I've shown gratitude every time they do a story or a review.  I also see what's going on in town before sending them things so I can refer to current events, and talk about how these stories will be relevant.  As such, I've gotten both reviews, and regular stories written about my books and their subjects.

Once I have that base, I branch out from there into blogs, podcasts, radio stations and newspapers around the country.  But having that base from a couple local newspapers helps tremendously, as I'm able to show others that first review, that first story, and how well it went over with their readers.

To see the review of The Great Heist, go to:

http://journalstar.com/entertainment/books/book-review-great-heist-is-fantastic-tale-of-lincoln-bank/article_ca0d72de-ed14-5b38-a5c6-6225da12a8b7.html

Peter O'Toole's Passing and the Huge Affect of Lawrence of Arabia on Me

I was going to do a post today about press releases, but I learned that Peter O'Toole died, and I feel I need to do a post on how the movie he starred in, Lawrence of Arabia, greatly affected my life.  Now, I recognize that he didn't write the book or movie about Lawrence of Arabia, nor did he direct it, and this subject isn't really about what this blog is based on, but because it affected me as an artist so deeply, I want to take this moment to talk a little bit about it.

In 1991, I was studying film making at New York University, and was trying to be a screenwriter and director.  But I had gotten discouraged by a lot of elements that go into filmmaking, and was ready to quit.  Then one weekend I went into Brooklyn to see a screening of Lawrence of Arabia just for the fun of it.  It was a full, day-long event.  I sat alone in a seat near the center.  Amber lights poured down on the curtains as music from the movie lulled us into the atmosphere.  When the music rose, the lights went down, and the curtains parted.  The first two hours blew me away, and they were followed by a two hour intermission, during which the audience went out onto the lawn and had a picnic together.  We returned to the movie to finish it off.

What particularly moved me was that it mixed the worlds of adventure and intellectual storytelling.  A lot of times people tend to think you have to choose between these two.  A lot of writers and directors have bought into this belief, and the genres have separated even further.  But Lawrence of Arabia reminded us that neither excludes the other.

I left the theater re-energized.  I remember sitting on the subway platform thinking, if I can bring back that sort of movie, I will remain in film.  It became my goal to bring back the epic.  I was further inspired when I learned that Steven Spielberg had also been inspired by the same movie, and so I was probably on the right track.

Though I pursued that direction, I failed to bring back the epic, and even failed to become a filmmaker at all.  When I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I realized that Peter Jackson had achieved the goal for which I had set, and thus began my path back to books.

But what I wanted to talk about here actually has more to do with a line from the movie, one that has affected my entire life in movies, books, and even my personal life.  A lot of characters are trying to figure out how to attack the town of Akaba.  Major plans are being formed with strategies and tactics involving the sea, going up the mountains to assault the flanks, etc.  Lawrence and the Arabs he's with are behind Akaba and could take it easily, but a huge desert rests between them and the city.  Lawrence takes one of the men to the edge of that desert, thrusts his finger out into it and says, "Akaba is there.  All you need to do is go and get it."

Suddenly everything became simple.  All the plans and schemes could not topple the well-defended city.  But Lawrence showed that it was really quite simple.  "Akaba is there."  Stop planning and go get it.  To me, what it reveals in life is that a lot of the big plans and plots of how we'll go about them are actually excuses to not just do them.  I hear a lot of times people talking and talking and talking about these great things they're going to do.  This talk goes on for years, and they never do them, but they have great plans!  They have forgotten, "Akaba is there.  All you need to do is go and get it."  Though sometimes one needs a plan, jumping in isn't always the best idea, the plan can become the very obstacle you're trying to overcome.  It can become tempting to fool ourselves into believing we're accomplishing something because we're making plans or following a path we've set out.  We must be careful that these are not simply excuses from doing what really needs to be done.

This is one of the things I've always disliked about the empowerment movement.  To me, these life coach sessions and empowerment meetings often teach people all these strategies and mantras by which to achieve their goals, but if the people put the same time, effort, and money into simply doing what needs to be done, they would achieve them.  Most of the time, the people I've seen who follow the empowerment movement do so as a way to procrastinate from their goals, not achieve them.  I have yet to see someone who went to one of these empowerment groups actually achieve their goals as a direct result of the groups.  They usually find themselves several months or years down the line poorer than they were before, and, frankly, further from their goals, with lots of slogans to recite, but nothing to show for their efforts.

They need to know just one thing: "Akaba is there.  All you need to do is go and get it."  Now learn what's between you and your goal, set a plan to overcome them, (this should take no more than a few hours of research and planning,) and go and get it.  If you're still planning by tomorrow and not doing, or if you're joining an empowerment group or reciting slogans or mantras rather than taking action, then you're only making excuses for yourself.

The Hypocrisy of Many Independent Bookstores

I'm a big supporter of independent business; independent in my definition being a company run by one or a few individuals without the aid of a corporation or large business.  I admire risk takers who set out to carve their own niche in our capitalism, and I'm in awe of those who can make it work on an ongoing basis.

Working in the book industry, then, one would assume that I prefer independent bookstores.  And I have, mostly, throughout my life, just as I've preferred going into other independent, small shops in my neighborhood.  I'm a big fan of supporting one's local stores.  Even though I love the online revolution, that should not keep us from shopping at stores in our areas.  Doing so supports our neighbors and friends and helps us connect with the area in which we spend our lives.

Ever since I've started publishing my own books, however, I have grown to recognize a hypocrisy in a lot of independent bookstores, which has soured my view of them.  When I began distributing, I thought that my best allies would be these smaller bookstores.  The owners would surely understand the spirit of independent business, as they themselves struggle in that difficult industry.  A few of them were supportive.  A Novel Idea in my home town of Lincoln, Nebraska, and The Bookworm in Omaha, Nebraska, have been extremely good to me, not only carrying my books, but arranging signings, and promoting my books on their websites, etc.  A few independent bookstores in San Francisco have been supportive as well.  But the majority of them have not.

When I went to independent bookstores in the area I live now, (Los Angeles,) every independent bookstore turned me down.  One of them, Vroman's, allowed me to pay them to carry it on their shelves, but they would not consider ordering them under any circumstances.  This pattern repeated itself in almost every bookstore I've approached nationwide.  The reason they all gave is because my books were not published by a major, corporate run publisher.

I did consider the fact that perhaps my books were just not what they wanted, but I looked at what these bookstores carried, and aside from those people who paid Vroman's to carry their books, (and the few great bookstores like A Novel Idea,) no one carried independently published books!

These bookstores have been struggling to survive.  Large book chains like Barnes & Noble first started taking all the business away from them as many customers preferred the vast selections.  Then, with the advent of the internet, Amazon and other online stores sucked away even more business.  Finally, ebook readers have made buying so easy for the customer that it's nearly decimated the independent bookstores.  They are struggling to stay alive.

They have fought this trend with the same acumen that I presented at the beginning of this writing, that people should support their local stores.  They also argue that people should support independent retailers in general as large corporations generally are not interested in individuals, and wind up employing people at minimum wage who might otherwise run their own businesses and make a comfortable living.

So why, then, do they reverse their thinking when it comes to independent publishers?  Why is it that people who purchase books should do so at an independent bookstore, but independent bookstores should purchase only from big corporate publishers?  They are telling the public that they should avoid the convenience of online purchasing, and the variety offered at large chain stores in order to support local, independent stores, but they refuse to support local, independent artists.

It is an inexcusable hypocrisy, and one that I believe ultimately is hurting them.  As more and more authors publish independently, they are seeing which bookstores are supporting their work, and which ones are not.  And here's the ultimate irony, the companies that are being supportive of them are the big ones.

Amazon has been the biggest supporter of independent authors.  Their Createspace website gives authors the ability to publish paperback copies, and directly onto Kindle.  They then sell the books on Amazon, giving them the exact same exposure they give all other books.  When someone purchases a book similar to mine, Amazon lists my book as another possibility the purchaser might like, right along with every major publisher's work.  And they don't charge me for it.  They simply take a percentage just like anyone else would.

Barnes & Noble, while not having a service like Createspace, does carry independent books if they believe they will sell.  Doing so is a very bureaucratic set-up, but even if you don't go all the way through the system, simply making your books available to Createspace's expanded distribution service makes them available to individual Barnes & Noble chain stores who want to carry it.  For instance, when I published Pro Bono - The 18-Year Defense of Caril Ann Fugate, I first tried to go through the Barnes & Noble system.  They sent me a kind letter saying they probably would not carry it in all their stores because they prefer to have large orders that require massive stocks of product, which independent publishers can't generally afford, but the book was in their system, and individual stores could buy them.  So I went to the Barnes & Nobles in Lincoln and Omaha where the story took place, and all but one began carrying the book.

I want to support local, independent bookstores.  I love being a part of the community of A Novel Idea, even though they are more than 1,500 miles away from me.  I would like to do the same with bookstores closer to me.  But as long as this hypocrisy exists, my books will continue to sell in the larger stores.  And who do you think I'm going to be supportive of, Amazaon, who has helped me in my endeavors, Barnes & Noble, who does occasionally carry my books, A Novel Idea and The Bookworm of whom I've become a part of the community, or the majority of independent bookstores which refuse to even look at my books?

And as more and more people write and independently publish, more and more will learn that this hypocrisy exists.  And who do you think those tens of thousands of people will support?  Where do you think they'll send their customers during their promotions, radio interviews, on their blogs, and in their social media?  And if independent bookstores think people will simply buy their independent books at Amazon, but will get the books from big publishers at their stores, think again.  Once you're in Amazon and you purchase one book, they reward you for buying more there with free shipping, discounts, recommendations, etc.

If independent bookstores do not get wise soon, this will be the next wave of trouble that hits them.  And this time, I doubt they'll survive.

As for me, what I do when searching for books, I look to see if the store carries independently published books, even if I'm not going to be buying one that day.  If they are asking customers to purchase from their independent stores, who are they to turn down independent publishers?  I know they can't carry every independent book, there are far too many.  But if they will not even consider them; if they carry no independently published books, then I'll do the same thing they do; I'll turn them down because they're independently run.

My KDP Direct Kindle Countdown Deal Experience

My book The Great Heist - The Story of the Larges Bank Robbery in History just finished its Kindle Countdown Deal and I have to say, I'm very disappointed by the results.  I was warned about this, and I might have made a few mistakes, but I'm disappointed nonetheless.

I'll start by explaining my previous experience with Amazon's only alternative promotion option, the free giveaway, which I did with my last book Pro Bono - The 18-Year Defense of Caril Ann Fugate, which I did last year.  I had two promotional periods, one for two days, and another for three days.  The first one gave away a few hundred books, and the second gave away thousands, nearly ten thousand.  It jumped the book to the top of the bestseller list for its category, and caused a few hundred real sales after the promotion period was done.  It was a good start, and I did it a second time, generating thousands more giveaways and hundreds more sales.  The second go-around was lower, but it was a good way to finish off my KDP Select program before going to a wider release to all the readers.  This was without radio or blog promotions, just an entry in Pixel of Ink.

This method worked well, though I felt that there should be an alternative to giving away thousands of copies of one's books.  The subject matter of Pro Bono was such that many people would spend the money to buy it, but they didn't learn about it until it was free, and at that point they got it without paying anything.  I appreciate the hundreds of sales I got, but it's a bit frustrating when us struggling independent authors have to give away so many thousands of copies for free while the wealthy larger ones get their covers plastered all over the front pages of Amazon and other sites.  In short, though I appreciate greatly all the help Amazon and Createspace has given me and other independent writers and publishers, I would like to see an alternative.

They are trying that alternative with Countdown Deals where your book is offered at a discount, and they list your book as on sale, as well as put a countdown on it, letting people know it's going to go on sale, and then how much longer that sale will be.  The price then slowly creeps up until it's back at the normal price.  The sale can go on for up to seven days.

I looked for other people's experiences before trying it myself.  Oddly, I found very few people had written about it.  I guess that's because it was new, but I'm still a little surprised.  The few that I did read said it hadn't gone very well for them, and had little advice on how to make it work.  I decided to try anyway with The Great Heist.

I wanted to set up my sale to begin the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The logic was that the day before Thanksgiving is supposed to be the biggest travel day of the year, and that weekend has everyone returning, so they'll want something to read.  When I went to set this up, Amazon said I couldn't start the sale until the day before Thanksgiving because of when I entered it into KDP Select.  This seems odd to me, and frankly, I was very frustrated.  I knew my sales would do much better if I could have the lead-up to Thanksgiving rather than through the holiday itself, and it seems completely arbitrary to make the person have to wait a while before they can enter something into the Countdown Deal.

But I figured that the deal included a lead-up promotion to the sale itself, so I went ahead and started it on the 27th and had it run through the whole holiday weekend.  You are allowed seven days for this sale, and there are two sales you can do.  Thinking this seven days was for both sales, and thinking both sales were the same, I set the first one for three days and the second for four.  I didn't realize until it was too late that I could have done seven days on both sales, and one of them is for the UK while the other is for the US.  Luckily, I got the one for Thanksgiving in the US.

I didn't see it listed anywhere special on the Amazon site during the lead-up or during the actual sale, but I'll be honest, I didn't look that hard.  I was busy throughout the holiday.  It might have gotten buried in all the black Friday deals, and this year everyone jumped on advertising early, so it could have gotten buried in all of that.  This was why I had wanted it to run the weekend before, but Amazon's arbitrary requirement of waiting a certain length of time after signup didn't allow that to happen.

I did tell everyone I could about the sale, and I listed it on Pixel of Ink, but in the end, I only got 26 sales.  That's it.  I do admit that I made a few mistakes.  I should have given up on Thanksgiving when I found out I couldn't sell the weekend before.  I should have had the sale go on for seven days.  And I should have looked closer at the marketing to see if Amazon was promoting it they way they say they will.  However, judging from the experiences of others who have gone through this program, it seems I've had a standard experience.

What's worse, I can't take what I've learned from the experience and do another US sale.  I'm stuck until the next 90 days, and even then I can only do it if I go exclusively with Amazon.  When i did the free promotion, the reason I did two days and then three days was so I could learn from the smaller one, make improvements, and do better with the second one.  This one's all or nothing, and it seems most people are winding up with the latter.

Don't get me wrong.  I love Amazon and what they're doing for independent authors and publishers.  Createspace is, in my opinion, the greatest thing to happen to literature since the printing press.  I really mean that.  But I want to see them follow up with better ways to promote.  It seems that so far they have few ideas.  When I first read that they had special promotional deals under KDP, I thought they meant advertising, banners on their web pages, special mailings... something like what the big publishers get to do.  When I first saw that giving away free copies of the book WAS the special KDP promotions, I thought I must be reading it wrong.  They have followed this up with "allowing" us to sell our books for lower price.  This shows a lack of creativity on their part, and gives us few options.

There's another book buying company that does promotions so well, they should be used as the model.  They are drivethrufiction.com.  The way they handle it is that every month, an author gains a certain amount of points.  These points are based on how many titles they have up, how long they've been registered, and how much they've helped the community.  So when you give a review to another book, you get points.  Sometimes they give you points for helping out on the forums, and just being a part of the community in general.  I've gotten points for pointing out some glitches in the website.  You can redeem these points by purchasing advertising time.  This can be a banner on the top, on the side, written advertising with links, a listing in your specific category, etc.  You can even send notes to people who have purchased your work to let them know you're releasing something new.  This system is exemplary to independent artists, and should be used by all independent writing sites.

I'll be honest, unless KDP comes up with some better promotion plans, I won't be using it anymore; or at least I'll be getting away from it as soon as possible.  I might try the free promo again for a book that I just want to get out to the public; especially if it's part of a series where they can purchase more books.  I'm still very loyal to Createspace, and will sing the praises of Kindle and Amazon in general, but thus far, I don't see much use in their "promotional" deals.