Print books are by no means dead, they are very much alive. Yes kindle e-books are selling like hot bread but there is still a market for print books.
Libraries, Bookstores and Supermarkets
When I first wrote my books I never had libraries in mind for sure. Well to be honest, I didn’t think most things through and didn’t have any detailed marketing plan in mind. But it was very pleasing when the local library asked to purchase 7 copies each of my initial two books.
Prior to my publisher mentioning the supermarkets to me, I never thought of them as an outlet for my books, yet I have received good sales over the years through them with my inspirational fiction book, You Can Rise Up.
Bookstores are a bit trickier, as they don’t accept books as easily, and even when they do, the books can sit on the shelves for more than a year without sales. My latest book, Meet the Imaginative Joe Dreamer, hit the shelves of Book Nook in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands less than two weeks ago, and I have so far made three sales. This is no massive achievement, but it’s still sales. Sales mean that those customers who bought the book had some interest in the book and its content to have made the purchase. Moreover, it didn’t take a year for me to make a sale, it took less than two weeks to sell three copies. This is with no active promotions. I did not do a local book signing and I have done no local advertising of the book thus far. No television talk shows, no radio talks, nothing. Just word of mouth and the bookstore’s flier on the door. That will change, I promise. Marketing is always a must and not just digitally, but also locally.
Print books versus E-books
I must admit that I do prefer publishing e-books over print books, but with good reason. Honestly, it is a very painful process going the print route. Figuring out what to put on the back cover, doing multiple rounds of editing, doing revisions and reprinting. Then ordering enough copies for local distribution and determining the best channels to market locally. It has been very challenging.
E-books are easier for me. I do just a front cover. If I need to make changes I easily do so and re-upload the document to kindle direct publishing. Easy peasy.
Despite the ease with going the e-books route though, it is a huge satisfaction when I see my books displayed on shelves of supermarkets and bookstores, and any author should take pride in that also.
Journey of Miracles
Well as you would guess, my next book release will hit the kindle stores first, before they hit bookshelves. Journey of Miracles through a Young Girl’s Eyes is currently on pre-order on Amazon. It will be released later in May. The print version will follow eventually, but it will not be too soon :-).
Karlene
.