Game Time

It’s Friday, so I thought I’d make this post a little more fun. Match the four quotes below to the people who said them.

1. “A book is 10% writing and 90% marketing.”

2. “Book publishing would be so much easier without the authors.”

3. “You were right about social networking; I think it’s helped our marketing enormously.”

4. “Writing a book and selling a book are two very different things.”

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A. Gunny Pop, author of Once a Marine

B. Richard Lowry, author of the upcoming book New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah

C. New York editor Jonas Faukman, in The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

D. James Hessler, author of Sickles at Gettysburg


One is obviously not connected to Savas Beatie. The other three were said to me by some great Savas Beatie authors, all in the last week! As we say time and time again, we are very lucky at Savas Beatie to work with some great authors.

I wish I could post this upsidedown, but I’m not sure how to do that. =)

Answers: 1.B; 2.C; 3.D; 4.A

Stay tuned next week for posts on each of these points.

Selling Author Copies – A How-To

It is very important to us that our authors sell copies of their book at service club events, library talks, and conventions. It’s a great way for the author to get exposure and earn some extra money. We have authors who go through hundreds of copies of their books this way each year. Also, each copy they sell themselves will lead to a sale through another source down the road, so it’s beneficial all the way around.

I’ve received a lot of questions from authors lately about the process so I made a Tip Sheet that we will be giving to each new author. I’ve included the contents of it below for anyone who may find it useful.

• Always bring a cash box with you to an event. Keep this close to you on the table, away from customers and people browsing or, ideally, under the table.
  



• Have change (lots of $1s and $5s and some $10s) in your cash box before the event so you can easily make change in the correct denominations for customers. Write down this starting amount beforehand so when you count your money at the end of the event, you can verify you aren’t short.



• Print out a small sign that says “Make Checks Payable To __________” and prop it up on the table for people who are writing checks. This will save most people from asking you who they should make a check out to, or at least give them something to refer to as they write your name or company name on the check.



• Count the number of books you have before the event starts. Bring a receipt book or tally sheet so you can track how many copies you sell. After the event, count the number of books you have left and your earnings and refer to your receipt book/tally sheet to make sure that everything reconciles.



• Only keep a few copies or a small stack of books nicely displayed on the selling table. These are copies that people can pick up and flip through. Keep the rest of the books that you are selling under or behind the table. Hand these to customers after they make their purchase so that their copy is brand new, and people aren’t walking off with unaccounted for copies.



• If you have a long line of customers, it helps to have two lines: one where customers purchase the book from someone who is helping you collect money and a second line the customer gets in after making their purchase to get the book signed by you. This keeps everything moving smoothly and avoids a jam at the table when people want to chat as you personalize their copy.



• If you are selling books in the state where you live and that state has sales tax, you need to charge state sales tax. Find out that amount. The easiest way to collect sales tax is to add tax into the price you are selling the book for. For example, if you live in California with 8.25% sales tax, sell a $32.95 book for $35.67 in California.



• If you can, always bring an extra person or two along with you to help manage the table (collect money, answer questions, take photos, etc.) so that you can spend the most time possible with customers signing their books.
  
  

October Events – Please Join Us!

There are two great Civil War events west of the Mississippi in October. For us out here in California, that’s saying something! =)

Here are the events details. Each link provides information on the schedule, speakers, registration info, etc. I am pleased to say that Savas Beatie has a presence at both events.

When: October 3
What: Rocky Mountain Civil War Roundtable Symposium
Theme: Lee Invades the North
More info: http://rmcwrt.blogspot.com/ and http://savasbeatie.com/ProgramV7.pdf

The panel includes a slew of Savas Beatie authors: Russel Beatie, Bradley Gottfried, Lance Herdegen, and Timothy Smith. Many Savas Beatie titles (including special signed editions of a few!) will be for sale.

When: October 23-25
What: West Coast Civil War Roundtable Conference
Theme: 1863 Campaign for Chattanooga, Tennessee
More info: http://www.chattanooga2009.com/

Ted Savas will be attending as the conference book dealer, and The Maps of Chickamauga will make its debut this weekend.

If you attend, please email me some photos after the event and we will use them in a future newsletter.

Old Cornerstone Bookstore

I took a trip to New England a few weeks ago, and we spent a nice (but very hot and humid!) day in Boston. Here I am standing in front of the former site of the Old Cornerstone Bookstore. My photo of the plaque posted on the building came out very blurry, but there’s some background info on the old bookstore here.

Built in 1712, the bookstore is one of Boston’s oldest surviving structures. Many famous books such as The Scarlet Letter were published here when the building was occupied by a publishing company/bookstore. I wonder who is turning over in his grave knowing that it is now an “Ultra Diamonds”? =)

Summer Intern's Final Post

A big thanks to Parul, who wound up her last week at Savas Beatie. Her final blog post is on SB Insider here.

We really appreciated all her work and help this summer, and wish her the best of luck with the start of a new school year.

Where did the summer go? . . .

Interview with Ted Savas

Our summer intern Parul is winding down her time with us. She conducted an informative interview with Savas Beatie Managing Director Ted Savas, which you can read in full here.

Authors - Be your own promoter while traveling

Here’s an example of how one author has promoted his own book effectively.

Mark Hughes, the author of "The New Civil War Handbook," notified us in early June that he would be vacationing and could make stops at various locations where he could do book signings.

One of his destinations was California, so he and his family were able to come by and visit our office. It’s always nice to meet an author, and we don’t get too many visits up here in Northern California. It was a definite bonus for us to meet the Hughes family. While in California he also visited the Nixon Library and mentioned to us that they sold Civil War books in their bookstore. We followed up on that lead and now the bookstore is placing an order for the Handbook.

Some of the venues that he planned on visiting included Chickamauga, Chancellorsville, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Manassas, Harper’s Ferry, Ford’s Theatre, Antietam, Gettysburg, Fort Sumter, and Kennewsaw Mountain. Quite a trip! We were able to schedule book signings at about half of these places resulting in the pre-sale of 193 books. You read that correctly. Those stores that weren’t able to have Mark in for signings did accept review copies of his book and are in the process of approving the book for their inventories. Mark also spoke to the rangers and bookstore managers of the places he visited but at which he didn’t do signings, and that has also resulted in his book being considered at those locations.

Of the locations where he did signings, more than 80% of the books sold and those bookstores are placing re-orders. Mark Hughes has referred us to some of the other places he visited including the Clara Barton National Historic Site. He has also set up signings on his own including one at the Mauney Memorial Library near where he resides. All of Mark’s efforts have increased the visibility and sales of his book.