It's been a while since I've been IN the bookstore (Amazon Prime is my BFF). Last night I snuck out and hit Barnes & Noble 30 minutes before they closed to do a bit of 'recon' work for the book I'm writing. I was disappointed at what I saw on the shelves. Not the books themselves, but rather the genre of book that winds up getting the most real estate.
1) very little (in my opinion) business and tech books, but two sections of accounting books for small business (hua?)
2) a full aisle of cookbooks
3) TWO full aisles of dieting books
4) Even more self-help books, and a good number of reprints of books that have outdated views
We should be feeding our brains as well as our bellies. I do have to say I'm very happy to see a lot of friends names on the book spines on the shelves though!
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Better enjoy them, before they are fully history!
http://www.fonstuinstra.net/?p=1615
Not to mention the 10 aisles of romance novels.
You found a bookstore. An actual physical location? Did you take a picture for posterity? 😉
Maybe it is not a reflection on the books…but the type of person who buys the books.
At our local B&N (phoenix) the marketing section is in a great spot over any other tech section. +Mari Smith's last two books are there but not +Jesse Stay's G+ For Dummies which should be day one required reading here.
Also self publishing is killing the quality of the shelves, as we won't see +Chris Brogan's G+ For Business book there either. (unless there is something I don't know?)
Also every Internet marketer is either pushing a Make Money w/ Kindle affiliate program of one kind or another. B&N is simply over whelmed. It's their inventory overhead that costs them so much.
Interested in covering this more +Lynette Young either +Shira Gal or +Denise Wakeman can give you a good lowdown on what is going on in self publishing.
Chris' G+ book is through Pearson, it should be on the shelves, no? +Jason Falls' No Bullshit book had a few copies on the shelf – same publisher. Mari's books are like Facebook bibles, they should be everywhere! I didn't look specifically for Jesse's book (I am 'for Dummies' blind since I don't normally purchase them unless a friend writes them), but have to assume it was there as well.
I'm assuming that a publisher would want their book on a shelf first as opposed to online-only availability? I've been approached by several publishers to write a G+ book (and still on the fence about it), but the book in me that is my 'fire' is to write about isn't tech specifically, but appeals to a much wider audience. I'm writing it on my own, and if I get a publisher, SUPER, but if not, I will make a killing self-publishing. This I have absolutely no doubts about. 😉
B&N has to stock in store stuff for the LCD – Lowest Common Denominator. People are not going to B&N for mid-range titles – they have to carry the biggies and the things that sell the most.
And perhaps there were that many dieting books because they've given that more space at this time of year (resolution time) – we also see tons of gym commercials on TV.
If anyone's looking for anything out of the ordinary they're going to hit the website or if they're in the store an employee is going to offer to order it from the website anyway.
Thanks for straightening me out, I did not see a publisher on Brogan's Amazon listing, thanks for the info, thought he self pubbed.
Honestly self publishing is a joke compared to info products. Can you define killing +Lynette Young? What kind of margins do you expect from a self pubbed book?
Chris, for me the benefit of writing a book (or several…) isn't only in the revenue generated from the book itself 😉
This is the new disease, people strive to fill their bellies but do no effort to feed their brains, days of sixties and seventies when a book worth fortune is past.
The revenue is not even a concern with my book either +Lynette Young … It's about being a Sybex published author in the An Hour A Day series.
But remember I have made my living for years off info products. But it takes an email list or a big JV. That is where the Kindle thing can make some good money for those that do not have that. But I am not going to try to sell an info product as a self pubbed kindle book for $15.
Or am I missing something here? Limited availability of an info product allows you to charge 10 times that price, get your time spent monetized fast and then move on to a new project.
Oh that reminds me, got a chapter deadline looming, gotta run :]
Oh, and Guy Kawasaki in his G+ post yesterday mentioned he is writing a G+ book…. Little market research for you :]
+Chris Lang a dead tree book allows me to charge more for my speaking engagements (grin). I do quite a bit of speaking and training outside the social media / tech fishbowl and with a book at the back of the room to sell (self pubbed or traditional publisher) I go from keynoting at a 500 person conference to keynoting and book signing at a 3,000 person conference 😉 for a much better rate.
ces magnifique
Now I see, Mari touched on this with me way back when she urged me to do my first in print book. But no one ever quoted $. I know IM well, but what people like you and Brogan do is a whole new world to me. Always something new to learn…
Now I see the back end. THANKS!
+Chris Lang be sure to ask for it so they order it. Once they see demand they'll order it. I'm told B&N is supposed to have a special dummies display that includes my book in it some time this month. I haven't seen it yet, but that's what I hear.
Don't forget the Teen Paranormal Romance aisle!
I plan to be pitching my local stores for local author appearances. +Gary Vaynerchuk put 200 in the seats a local store here on the Crushing It launch.
Also if you ever want to speak in Phoenix, I know the right peeps to do the same for any of you Jesse or Lynette…
Big networking group here can bring together 2000 peeps easy… (phoenix)
…that's for sure! …one 'decent'(?-opininons vary…my own? -'decent' is over-rating or pushing it too far…) but, let's put it this way, 1 set of 'popular' vampire/supernatural-teens-n-tweens trilogy made into a movie has opened the flood gate to literally hundreds of identical books…it's the billion-dollar bandwagon every 1st,2nd & 3rd rate writer & every publishing house is jumping onto…but, are actually breaking the wheels of that poor cart because the weight is too heavy-it'll bottom out soon though…I hope!
Correction: 'made into a movie' needs corrected to: "made into MOVIES"…atleast they haven't made a tv show from that specific triliogy although there are now dozens of those too…so much for originality!
+Chris Lang hook me up! Actually have a few 'left coast' (California) dates in my near future as well.
Don't think tech books work for book stores. Hard to pick demand, short shelf life and tech literate audience who are likely to buy cheaper online.
Sounds fantastic. If you do go for Kindle Publishing make sure you do it yourself, traditional publishing houses usually do a terrible job with Kindle Listings and leveraging Amazon to make more sales. I wrote a fun short Kindle article with some great info on this.. (11 Essential Tips To Make More Sales Publishing with Kindle)
+Shira Gal be sure to listen to the webinar tonight https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/876036416
found that the technique is the most neglected matter in the world because most by Persson (80%) pence in the world that the technique is attributed to those who have nothing n'on do in life.
as ignoring that they do not know well brings the art in the world then I want all this change we no longer neglect any branch more particularly the technique because it is very inportente in the evolution of the world apressyons and then see things as they are thank you.