He's not letting you sell books yourself?

From the email, I have no idea. I responded:

Usually when I do a reading, the store purchases copies from the publisher/distributor, I read, answer questions from the audience, and then sign books. I'm kind of puzzled. I'm an author, not a teacher. I do have goody bags I hand out to kids with bat toys and treats. I'm not sure I understand.

Some publishers will sell books at a much lower discount to authors than bookstores. If a bookstore wants to help out an author they will sometimes let them sell these copies, which yields the author a lot more per book than royalties on the books the bookstore sells. The email sounded dickish, so I doubt that it is what they had in mind, but in theory the question about how to sell books could be an offer to cut the bookstore profits (by having you sell the books directly rather than having the bookstore buy them) in order that you make more money. Orca books, a local bookstore in Olympia, does that all the time - in part as a way luring authors to speak in our little town.

I guess I underget how much authors have to do on their own to sell books.

It's Onerous Task Number One for authors these days. Publishers want to know that you're going to do as much as possible, that they don't have to pay for, to publicize.

Which is why people who can afford it hire publicists, but I don't know a lot of authors who can do that.

It's Onerous Task Number One for authors these days.

Preach it.

Jesse, did you see this: [link]

It's Onerous Task Number One for authors these days. Publishers want to know that you're going to do as much as possible, that they don't have to pay for, to publicize.

Seriously. I was hired as an editor for my content and language expertise, not as a salesperson or marketer. But my company now expects me to do both while still paying me as an editor. And not in a small way: market development is now 40% percent of my annual assessment and sales is 20%, while my project load as an editor has not changed. That effectively means a 25% pay cut of my already crappy salary.

Joker Plush

Awww....

Allyson, insent with regard to all of the above.

As a benefit of getting me during the work day you get to hear me bitch about organizational politics.

To wit: Dear idealists at headquarters: if you think it's so important that X be protected, perhaps you should find the cash to protect X rather than badger me about it. X is not my responsibility, and in fact you have gone to great lengths to take all Xs out of my responsibility. You can't then insist I find $80K in my pockets to protect X. Do it yourself!

Argh. I've spent 2 years discussing this with them, and they just don't get it. Yes, X is valuable and important, but their insistence that only their way is the right way is just pissing people off and making us find ways around them. Frelling idealists.