A quick stroll about the Internet tells us that Holiday sales have not been brisk. This should not be a big surprise with the current state of affiars. How have you made out this season?
Holiday Sales Blog : Dismal Holiday Season Precursor of Greater Pain
When it comes to positioning products for the spring selling season, some retailers appear to be taking pages out of their holiday season play book. Gap is already planning a 30% off spring promotion, while Talbot’s and J.Crew Group are …
Early reports show poor holiday sales
Early reports show poor holiday sales Retail sales fell as much as 8 percent this holiday season, according to preliminary data from SpendingPulse. Dismal holiday sales caused some retailers to open their doors earlier than ever today …
Drop in Holiday Spending Spells More Trouble for Retailers in ‘09
Described by industry analysts as one of the worst holiday season sales periods on record, December’s retail sales figures plummeted 4% from last year’s.
The Sad State of Publishing; My Disastrous Holiday Book Tour - Bob …
The Sad State of Publishing; My Disastrous Holiday Book Tour. Rate: 63 Flag. snowman tour. Frosty Receptions, Lukewarm Sales;. The Worst Book Tour…Ever. (I want to thank and apologize to those who sent me emails and comments. …
Bookstores Struggle with Lagging Sales | Books & Writers | New …
That’s IndieBound’s pitch for buying books for the holidays, and the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver liked it so much, it became the forefront of its holiday marketing campaign. That caught the eye of the book trade …
Amazon Cleans Up in Sales | Gear Live
While most retailers lost money this holiday season, Amazon is pleased to announce that they did just fine, thank you very much. Their best sellers included the Wii, the iPod touch and Samsung’s 52-inch LCD HDTV.
Amazon Shines Amidst Holiday Retail Woes - Think customers: The …
The big story this holiday season has been the economy, and how retailers are really hurting this year. Figures released before and after Christmas reveal low revenues across the board and a dour look at 2009 sales. …
Have you guys seen this? I missed the launch, but Buzz, Balls & Hype brought it to my attention, and it looks intriguing. Plus, as I'll point out in a bit, it may have some potential for children's/ YA authors...
"Bit o’ Lit is a booklet-sized magazine that is handed out for free to commuters in Washington, DC as they board the bus or train on Monday evenings. The booklet’s primary contents are book excerpts, paid for by publishers, which passengers read on their ride home.
We believe that while readers support the idea of reading new books, in practice, they are hesitant to risk their time and money on untested books or authors. This is undeniably why there were no new authors among the thirty bestselling books last year.
With Bit o’ Lit, we give readers samples of new books at the key time: when they are bored on their long ride home. Thus, Bit o’ Lit brings new authors to the public’s attention in an unprecedented way. Readers will be able to judge for themselves whether or not they enjoy the writing."
I'm interested in this effort because 1) they are supporting local authors as well as authors who are doing book tours at local stores, like Politics and Prose. 2) They actually included a YA title as one of their excerpts---The Death of Jayson Porter by Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner Jaime Adoff. 3) They had a nice article featuring some humorous, practical tips to up your family's reading time. 4) If I were commuting daily, I'd read it. I don't know if I'd rush out and buy any of the books afterwards, but I'd certainly take a free gander at a few pages. 5) Kids and teens do ride the Metro. All the time. So how about a kid edition?
However...as exciting as it sounds to have your work promoted to thousands of Metro riders, the one sticky part may be that line "paid for by publishers." It's $150 a page for those 4-6 page excerpts, even though the magazine sells ads, too. This $600-$900 fee is supposed to cover per-page costs for printing and distributing 20,000 one-time copies. (See their FAQ for the nitty-gritty.) But will it result in higher book sales? Will enough commuters step off the train and go buy a whole book? Or will the booklets be fun to read, but not cost-effective for a publisher? As a local author, I'll be waiting to see. And to see if they include more children's/YA titles.
I'll let you know the next time I ride the Metro on a Monday. Anyone seen this yet? Jennie? Susan?
When my husband goes to work, he wears his Air Force uniform. Some days, that's a green flightsuit; other days, it's his dress blues; and sometimes, it's his camouflage shirt and pants (the "battle dress uniform" or BDU.) But in most cases, no matter which uniform he wears, he carries a plain, black, inexpensive backpack slung over his shoulder. And in the outside mesh pocket of that backpack, he carries---for every passerby to see---postcards of the cover for Letters From Rapunzel.
It makes me smile to think of the double-takes he must get, when people see a warrior carrying an image of a children's book. (That's an Air Force coin next to it, if you're wondering.)
He often comes home and tells me "I sold a copy of your book today." I think he must have hand-sold several hundred copies by now. The latest sales were to: the guy who financed our car, and another officer after a pin-on ceremony. Watch out if you sit next to him on the subway!
I think I'm going to start calling him my Secret Weapon.
I get a lot of junk mail in my oh-so-awful Hotmail account. Hotmail is convinced that no matter how many times I've said no, I really really need a degree from Phoenix University. I've informed Hotmail that this is not the case. I've explained to it that I have an MLIS degree that I'm perfectly content with. I've held said degree up to my computer screen so that Hotmail will see it and stop letting Phoneix University spam into my mail. Nothing works.
So when I saw a post with the title "Fwd: Winter sale: 50% off selected fiction and non-fiction", I was not impressed. Not even when I saw that whoever was writing me knew my name. Then I got over myself and actually read the e-mail.
Oooooohhhh.
Remember the New York Review of Books? Well they've this sweet habit of republishing classic children's book titles when no one else will. The Lost Island by Eilis Dillon. Mistress Masham's Repose by T.H. White. Captains of the City Streets by Esther Averill. The Wind On the Moon by Eric Linklater. That sort of thing.
So basically NYRB is having a big old 50% off sale, where you can buy any of those four books I just mentioned for half off. Might as well go buy yourself a classic. I hear nothing but good things about the T.H. White book, after all. I keep meaning to read it myself, but have never gotten around to it. You'll have to let me know how it is.
The sale ends March 11th, by the way. FYI.
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I picked up the June 2 issue. The excerpt from "The Story of a Marriage" by Andrew Sean Greer has pushed that book onto my summer reading list, so I guess it's working. And I loved the tip on getting kids to read by telling them they have go to bed at 8 sharp -- unless they want to read, in which case bedtime could be pushed to 8:30. (From a Bit O' Lit article by Shannon MacDonald.)
I don't get to take the metro to work, so I haven't seen it... I'll have to get Dan to snag me a copy.
Madelyn, I love that tip, too, and I used it with my own kids---back when they had to go to bed before me. Worked like an absolute charm. My son would curl up with Calvin and Hobbes and I swear he learned to read in that "extra" half hour.
Thanks, Jennie! Or rather, thanks, Dan!