Distribution: How to Beat the System....
.. ..
As I sit here contemplating my plans for 2010-2011 I’m
brought back to a series of emails I shared with Mr. Robert West who happened
to be at the time a President of a main stream distribution company, mid sized
publishing house as well as a firm acting as a literary agency. The emails stem
from the time period of late 2006 into 2007.
....
Our brief online acquaintance came about when I was
considering shopping “Love Don’t Live Here”. I was actually just viewing all my
options because in the end I winded up not selling the title. Seeing that we
could not meet upon these terms at this point Mr. West propositioned me in
regards to distributing a few of his company’s titles to the street market. In
return he would provide a $40,000. expansion loan to Third Eye Publishing. I
turned down the offer because some of the language used seemed like it was
leaning toward an imprint setting instead of a loan to pay off, and a separate
deal to distribute a few of his companies titles. ....
Mr. West did take an interest into my distribution program,
realizing that although Third Eye Publishing was distributed by Biblio
Distribution to the mainstream market, this market only represented about 15%
of our sales while about 80% came from direct to consumer, in the form of store
signings, street signings, online sales, and distribution to vendors. He
realized just like I realized this is capital gained either right away or
within a very short period of time. Capital feeds a company, and without it a company
will fail. The pay turnaround for most distributors ranges anywhere from 60 to
180 days. And this all depends on whether the distributor is servicing the mom
and pop bookstore market or the mainstream bookstore chains. There is no
written rule in stone as to the payment schedule and there are a whole bunch of
other things which factor in regards to sales and payments that a distributor
takes into consideration.
....
Looking back on Mr. West’s words I remember him saying in so
many words that an independent publisher should be careful as to depend too
much on distributors because it’s very possible they could kill your business.
....
Take
Note: The services provided in the ways of distribution, storage,
shipping and other fees are expenses transferred over to the publisher. This
means less profit for the publisher. Most distributors charge around 60% off
retail. After all expenses and fees over a period of 6-12 months this 60%
actually becomes somewhere around 2-10% more.
....
About four months before Biblio Distribution went out of
business I realized that I was starting to deviate from my original business
mission of concentrating mostly on direct sales. I’ve never been a quitter yet
my intuition and experience told me the probability of duplicating my own
success in regards to sales with that of authors signed to the company would
almost be impossible taking into my program and how it was built around my
talents and capabilities to court readers on and offline, develop my own
mediums of marketing, and last but most importantly I’m a good salesman.
....
As fate would have it Biblio went out of business and I
found myself wrestling my companies’ titles out of the hands of the company
which took over their contracts. Given my program and looking at theirs I
realized it was not a good match. I could care less about my companies’ titles
being stocked in stores if they are not going to be in the areas I need them to
be at. Although things went smooth with Biblio I did realize that many mainstream
sales reps who work for mainstream distributors know it all, but really know
nothing when it comes to African American titles. I decided that once this
matter was resolved I would gladly go upon my way. The idea of distribution to
me is very basic. It’s about one protecting the integrity of their name,
company brand, reaching their audience and building a personal relationship
with them. You don’t need distributors, stores or any other medium to do this. They
(distributors) should be assets to your business not chains to bind you. The
mishap as I will consider it woke me up completely about all these different
mediums who are just basically a hassle and hindrance to me completing my
goals.
....
Solution:
If
you’re like me then you write consistently and within a decade will have an
extensive body of work. Therefore you need to always look out for your best
interest. This is if you’re a serious writer. Now I’m not talking about you
folks who’ve been crooks and scammers your whole life. Now you decide to write
a book because it’s the popular thing to do, and you’re under the impression
you can get rich over night. I’m not just talking about dudes, I’m also talking
about them ladies who plot and scheme all day to get by. Now you think writing
some hood tale is just one more scheme to add to the stack. The rest of this
column is for true writers who want to make writing a profession, and also want
to make a decent living from this because they can write and they can put
together a body of work, work by work and because of it will be able to make a
salary which will grow every year.
....
The
Math Is Simple: You do not need to sell 100,000 books to be
successful as an independent author or publisher. If you start off with one
title at retail value of $14.95 and have a modest goal of selling 2,500 copies.
If you were to sell some of these copies yourself at full price or $10, market
the rest to the libraries, independent bookstores and vendors and give them 60%
discount ($6 a copy) you would make anywhere between $14,000-$25,000 roughly.
The goal is as many direct sales, sales to libraries and vendors as possible so
there are very little if any returns.
....
If you can accomplish writing a new book every 12 months, by
the fourth year you will be making no less than six figures without even trying
hard. Let me tell you it’s not hard to sell 2,500 copies of your own book
within a year. You should be able to duplicate this every year because
customers always want your previous work, as well as your first work. Well, if
you cannot muster up these sales then you need to hire or network with someone
who can (I’m not for hire by the way).
....
For authors who are experienced sales professionals then
your goals should be greater every title. Nevertheless the math pattern is all
the same. I’ve been able to do a whole lot more in regards to my own titles. I
will say to authors who are also publisher be very careful because if you are a
successful author, unsuccessful published authors can offset everything you’ve
accomplished. It’s like taking three steps forward to be pulled back two steps.
This also has negative effects in the ways of distribution.
....
Some may say who the hell this dude is? Well to them I say,
“I’m one of the main reasons why many authors who weren’t doing street signings
or traveling to other states now do. In the past I influenced the growth of the
....NYC street....
market. I also financed a few vendors. I could go on and on with the things
I’ve done to influence this market. I will say that I no longer am involved in
the street market in regards to other authors and publishers, mainly because of
some of the simple minded fools who’ve tried to spit on my name behind my back
and thought I’d be fool enough to help them in their endeavors. So for those of
you who may ask who this guy is; hopefully I answered your question. Over the
years I’ve heard many things said behind my back by certain authors and in some
cases literary professionals. You have the ones who dislike me because I won’t
join their little clicks, and then there are also the ones who think they can
play both sides of the fence. You know the ones who smile in your face and then
eat and drink with your enemies. I actually know a few of them. I call them my
friends. The word to me only means to “fry in the end”. Those who are my
A-Alike (meaning we are alike in mind in spirit) I call brothers I don’t call
them friends.
....
Looking back on 2005 when I released the revised edition of Love Don't Live Here I can say there was no African American author who championed the cause to see more fiction which instead of glorifying the negatives in the neighborhood showed the negatives and presented options as well. Well, atleast a more broader way of looking at the cause and effects of the negatives. When I came in this market most writers were scared to death to even
speak about it online let alone take their butts into the street. Now there’s
these cats who think they can steal my image and recreate their own in the
hopes I will go away. Not that I'm caught up in personality because, I'm not. I do what I do because I'm just doing my duty and working with the tools the Creator has given me to work within his plan. What they don’t realize is that they don’t have my
experience, life history or accumulated knowledge. This is some of the
ingredients you need to build a readership from this group-they are not just
readers of certain works they are also supporters of the creators. This is why
most entertainment fiction writers fail at non fiction or even fiction which
surrounds itself around a serious social issue. What other author with an urban
lit title that has been able to push several thousand units of a novel
published independently by them which has a strong cultural message and is not
street at all? And this is because I am who I am and this is not a gimmick
(read through the many magazine articles I’ve written on my myspace page in
regards to African History, spirituality and other matters). I’ve been of
service to man since a teen, I didn’t wake up one day and say let me try this
because someone else has created a lane. And I didn’t do it because it seemed
like something that’s about to become the new thing. I wrote “Love Don’t Live
Here” back in 1990 because I saw single parenting amongst young black women as
a real important issue within our community. I wrote “Survivor” I Changed The
Rules Part 1 my autobiography because it encompasses real life experiences to
help others, not some text book folly that one hasn’t experienced but that they
can only assume this is how it goes. I say to all you new and upcoming authors
be true to who you are with your work. Find your own lane and don’t be a
copycat. When there is nothing grandeur and new about you, you will not shine,
nor will the sun radiate of you. That’s metaphysics and of the Creator so don’t
get offended because it’s very real. But the things I speak about in this
article in regards to sales only touches the surface. The fact is the science of
selling is deeper and it all has to deal with self, knowledge of people, how
they think, life energies etc. Its way too deep for me to expound upon here. I
will end this with: Being true and
different in your work is one of the greatest marketing and branding tools you
can come up with. This is one way to get sales.
....
The best to all of you in all your endeavors.....