Stories 4 You

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

An extra help to get you into bookstores (Part 1).

Let’s be honest, which is the indie author who hasn’t ever dreamt of having his books in bookstores? The only problem is that Bookstores are quite difficult to approach, as they require the possibility to return the copies that do not sell.
For an author a book is a piece of his/her heart, but for bookstores a book is a business, and unfortunately Amazon doesn’t give the chance to return unsold copies, but is this really the end of all the hopes? No!

IngramSpark offers the chance to publish print on demand books giving the possibility to offer a wholesale discount for the bookstores and the chance to return the unsold ones.
The problem? It doesn’t offer the chance to give a buying link to your future customers, nor it gives you an author page, and you need to have your own ISBN.

Amazon, on the other hand, gives you all the flexibility you want, because it has a direct store where customers can buy so you will have a purchase link to put on your website, Newsletter, Facebook page, business cards and so on. Not to mention the possibility of an author page where all your publications can be browsed by potential buyers.

The solution? Of course, there is a solution, but handle it with care.
You can publish with both Amazon and IngramSpark. To do this you need to buy your own ISBN, which in the end of the day is not such a silly idea, although, the Amazon offer to have one for free sounds great.

Having an own ISBN makes you in charge and in control of your production as you become the publisher, and Amazon the distributor.
The catch is that you first publish your e-book and paperback with Amazon, remembering NOT to choose the extended distribution, as this will be taken care by IngramSpark.
Once the title is set, you proceed to publish your paperback with IngramSpark, choosing your wholesale discount, and how the bookstores should deal with the unsold copies. You can choose to have them destroyed or have them returned to you, and try to sell them at book signing events, or as material for giveaways.

There is a fee for publishing with IngramSpark of 49 USD per title, but I don’t consider this a big issue, if this is the price for having my book distributed in bookstores, I am in to invest, even if this is only the chance.
Another nice feature given by IngramSpark is the possibility to have also a hardcover version of your book. I like the idea, and a hardcover is always nicer to have when reading a book (personal preference).

I have published the second book of my series Deadly Deception with IngramSpark, and if you stay tuned with me, next time I am going to tell you about the differences in printing qualities and why you need to have for both your proof copy.
Have a great day!

COMMENTS

Erika M Szabo via Google+

3 days ago - Shared publicly

Good advice for authors by PJ Mann at #OurAuthorGang

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Bonita Gutierrez shared this via Google+

2 days ago - Shared publicly

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Joe Bonadonna

2 days ago - Shared publicly

Very good and sound advice, PJ -- thank you for posting this.

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Joe Bonadonna via Google+

2 days ago - Shared publicly

Today on #OurAuthorGang, PJ Mann - Author gives us some excellent tips on how indie authors can get their books into bookstores.

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Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

2 days ago - Shared publicly

Author PJ Mann shares tips on how to get your indie book into bookstores on #OurAuthorGang today.

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Ruth de Jauregui

2 days ago - Shared publicly

Oh thank you so much. This is an issue I was worrying about and here's the answer. One question: One ISBN for both Amazon and Ingram, or two - one for each distributor? Back in the day, we had to have different ISBNs but we were working with different imprints, so it was a little different situation.

Great post and thank you again!!

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Chris Weigand shared this via Google+

3 days ago - Shared publicly

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Cindy Smith

3 days ago - Shared publicly

good advice

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Cindy Smith shared this via Google+

3 days ago - Shared publicly

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Rick Haynes

3 days ago - Shared publicly

You learn something new every day, as the saying goes. And today, I did. Thanks for the info PJ Mann. I'll take another peek at Ingram Spark.

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Toi Thomas via Google+

3 days ago - Shared publicly

Today, PJ Mann offers tips for getting indie books into bookstores. #OurAuthorGang

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Eva Pasco

3 days ago - Shared publicly

Interesting information!

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Susanne Leist via Google+

2 days ago - Shared publicly

Toi Thomas originally shared this

Today, PJ Mann offers tips for getting indie books into bookstores. #OurAuthorGang

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Monday, January 28, 2019

Women in Science Fiction - Virginia Woolf

Ruth de Jauregui

Virginia Woolf (1902)
By George Charles Beresford

Today, I want to talk about a rumor spread on the internet. There's been some articles claiming that the famed English author Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) wrote science fiction under the pen name of E.V. Odle. While Woolf was a prolific author, the claims of writing as E.V. Odle are simply not true.

Woolf's closest brush with science fiction was her novel Orlando: A Biography, which featured a young nobleman who lived for three centuries. In addition to the unusual premise of his long life, Orlando also changes sex in the novel, from man to woman, at about age 30. The novel encompassed feminism, gender, literary history and unconventional lifestyles.

A commercial success, Orlando has been analyzed by many, from popular magazines to scholarly tomes. Yet the inspiration for the novel was clearly stated in Woolf's diary on October 5, 1926, "And instantly the usual exciting devices enter my mind: a biography beginning in the year 1500 and continuing to the present day, called Orlando: Vita; only with a change about from one sex to the other."

Woolf and author Vita Sackville-West met through the Bloomsbury Group of English writers in 1922. The long relationship, began as romantic and sexual and evolved into friendship by the 1930s. Sackville-West was very supportive of Woolf and encouraged her to have confidence in herself, to write and rest instead of wearing herself out with physical activities.

Vita Sackville-West in 1926

Sackville-West's son, Nigel Nicolson, wrote: "The effect of Vita on Virginia is all contained in Orlando, the longest and most charming love letter in literature, in which she explores Vita, weaves her in and out of the centuries, tosses her from one sex to the other, plays with her, dresses her in furs, lace and emeralds, teases her, flirts with her, drops a veil of mist around her."

According to some sources, the two women remained friends until Woolf's suicide in 1941. Other sources, however, indicate that their friendship ended in 1935 over politics and the looming Second World War.

Meanwhile, the true E.V. Odle (1890-1942) was an English editor and author, the first editor of British Argosy Magazine between 1926 and 1935. He published The Clockwork Man (1923), the first novel of a cyborg. The clockwork device in the protagonist's body allows him to travel from 8000 CE to the present, where he plays cricket and describes his experiences in a machine-regulated future.

Odle's known works also include a short fantasy "The Curse upon Isaac Knockabout" (April 1923 Gaiety) and a second novel, Juggernaut, which was reportedly published as an ebook in 2016.

Amazon: Virginia Woolf Author Page
Amazon: The Clockwork Man by E.V. Odle