AUTHORS, PLEASE DON’T DO THIS

authors please don't do this recently I found this blog post of a woman whose blog post his title authors please don't do this she's talking about working at a bookshop and some things that some authors have done that she really did not like but I also was looking at the responses to this particular blog post and there's one in particular that this was like the reason I wanted to show him this but then I figured oh you guys will probably want to see this too lumely we already know that some authors are going to face out their own books or ask their friends and family to do this in our stores this can be a minor inconvenience for us since it may be messing up a themed display or your face out maybe replacing a book we are trying to feature for a special time-sensitive reason indeed bookstore staff do pretty much always know which books we've chosen to face out but sometimes we smile and let your stand if we love the book you've turned outward this is a mildly risky move because if you do mess up a bookstore display and someone on staff notices they may be hurt and you don't want to booksellers you want to endear them to you I've worked retail and technically grocery store you guys have set up somebody just comes in it's like I don't like this brand of paper towels let me set up this brand of favorite towels or maybe they hide the ones they like or something which is really relevant right now actually I wouldn't ever have the audacity to do that yeah I mean I guess like I don't know if they're actually sorry helps that much I mean what I'm thinking in my own book store consumerism I don't think I'm particularly like if I see the front of a book I don't know if I'm more drawn to it a much better approach is to walk up to the counter introduce yourself saying something like hi I'm charming author insert your own name there and I see that you have my book thanks so much for carrying it I'd be happy to sign any copies if you'd like we at the Flying Pig that's a great name does a good man almost always say yes they'll all caution you that this is not universal some stores may say no because stock levels need to be controlled and bookstores are not supposed to return unsold copies that are autographed so that happens try not to feel bad they are just being uber practical hardcore stock warriors the strategy then would be to create a nice relationship with them so they remember you and will give you or will give your books a second look you can do this by chatting about some of the new books you've loved there's almost nothing as bonding as shared book enthusiasm and if you actually buy something at the store you've made the first move in a good-faith contract of mutual support makes sense I remember and this is uh through the grapevine but I used to work with a girl who had worked at a book store it's girl remembered Stephenie Meyer coming in before Twilight was huge because Stephenie Meyer lived in Arizona and she would come in and apparently she would do this very thing she would move stuff around and put her her books like out and on display or something don't take that as absolute truth but that's what I heard now she's a best-seller so I it was what we're hearing is so I guess I was wrong earlier authors please do this is wanna be successful interesting as tempting as it may be please oh please do not call bookstores and ask for your own books pretending to be someone else for one thing we have caller ID for another there's just something obvious about these phone calls they don't sound the same as regular inquiries you know how your voice transmits into false stilted tightness when you have to answer an automated voice system on the phone instead of talking to a human being suddenly you can't even say your own name or the word question or the number - normally well it's similar with these faux phone calls about your book the difference is palpable and it leaves both you and the clerk uncomfortable please don't come into the bookstore and do that same thing we have Google and you have a website we can see what you look like that's hilarious Alan even worse please don't have friends or family call the store pretending to be interested in buying your book so that we will order copies if you aren't planning to send real business our way it is rude to try to trick us into carrying a book that will not have your support yes I didn't realize people did this recently we encountered a new low point attempt at guerilla marketing our staffer David pointed to a couple of books and said what the story on these I looked at them two different titles and paperback and shook my head I don't recognize them I said he said I think this lady left them in the store he told me that he had been helping another customer up front in the store on a busy sale day over the weekend and he'd seen a woman bend down in front of the NPR book picks endcap this is the first book case most customers notice when they come into the store and turn right its prominent David said the woman had given him kind of a funny look and he'd seen her doing something on the bottom shelf but he was busy helping someone else so he didn't have a chance to check in with her before she ducked quickly out of the store I asked David you think she left these books here hoping we'd sell them he said I think so these and the other copies other copies I went up front and there were more books on the bottom shelf the person had left six copies of books we hadn't ordered displayed them as though they were NPR picks this takes a lot of gall and is definitely not the not the done thing I have a couple thoughts on this one so one I don't think those books would ring up for them because if you know if I if I picked one up and was like I want this and then they tried to scan it it's not good it's not gonna work so they're not gonna sell it to you so it's not gonna work in general but - it'd be like if someone brought their own avocados and left them in the produce yeah how is she is she just trying to get like people to see it and maybe that's more it maybe she's trying to oh wow they are book that's calamari so this is well it's gonna look really bad when the person let's say somebody does see the book and they're thinking wow okay honey they go to ring it up and the person at the friends like yeah we didn't put this here somebody just came in and drop it off I would then be like Oh anyway there is more it says David had googled the author and said she was not the same person who left the books nor does she live in Vermont perhaps it was a family member or friend we can't figure out the aim of this move would someone be calling in a few weeks to see if the books had sold and want payment our staffer Laura had a kind thought maybe she asked a friend to drop off some books for consignment and her friend didn't know what that meant this is a generous idea but I have to wonder what friend doesn't ask the bookstore staff and instead decides to plop the books on a shelf face out and run it has me wondering is there some lecture out they're advising authors to do these things to get their books noticed because I have to say that at indie bookstores at least your best bet is not trickery or gimmicks but is still the simplest if not the easiest one to strike up a real conversation with a bookseller let me go through there is a specific one this one an industrious author boy this ready alright let's get to it I was surprised by the tone I'm sorry you guys sometimes get mad at me by the way in which I changed my normal okay I was surprised by the tone of this article I always thought that bookstores and authors we're in I'm sorry it's so hard not to vibe as I'm reading it I always thought that bookstores and authors were in partnership this was very us versus them or the misunderstood booksellers who must deal with the unwashed masses of social Claude midlist authors I mean I like how she put that I have spent a significant amount of time on book tour visiting stores especially independent bookstores I take time to chat with booksellers and offer to sign books I always ask if it's okay and let them get the exact books that they want me to sign whether it's one copy or ten all in all I've signed about fourteen hundred copies of my book in 200 plus visits to stores in eighteen states in the past seven years so I I do some thoughts on that I don't understand is she's not doing the thing they wanted they said hey talk to us let us know ask if he's doing all the things they requested she is just getting a little show Bodhi here there are 18 states in the past 7 years but you know like otherwise she's not who they're talking about yeah otherwise you know yeah anyway read the article if I put signed books back in section which I always offer I face them out always why so now she's not yeah now she's now she's not now she's like I do everything else you said to do except for this one and I mean plain why I don't do this one thing my books are signed by the author now and according to most sources they should sell better than UNH's titles I carry stickers just in case the store doesn't have any so this fact is always visible on the front cover but if they go back on the shelf spying out no one can tell they are signed it's as if I never stopped it sorry I'm putting in this snobbery so keeping your own stickers a safe sign by the author that's getting a little weird for me I think ya have a strange thing to do I would I would once again ask if well I guess I guess that's fair too but I would imagine like each store has like their own like emblem or like you know like maybe a personalized virgin so you know like you got it I don't know I think it's kind of weird look at it from my perspective she starts by saying this is very us versus them and then she's like look at it from what I have to say look at it from my perspective I've taken the time and energy to seek out your store sign books and get to know more about your business often in the midst of a very hectic schedule I bring gifts for the book sellers often food since that's my genre I promote my stops via social media often I end up selling books either mine or other authors titles while I'm store because I'm outgoing it not shy about talking with customers another thing sometimes you guys are like you emphasize the typos like no I'm reading out loud like what it says that I have to stop correct it as you go but to then just put my book slash books back in section spine out while facing out a copy or two of another authors books right next to it well this feels unjust it communicates that an author's time and effort doesn't warrant any any value in your store I would never take my books out of section and put them on what's obviously a co-op table but I do know that some friends and relatives have done this and I even when I tell them not to do that it's hard to stop the well-meaning the industry is a bit murky to navigate and I'd like to see bookstore owners be a part of Education for authors you know like the original blog post especially as more ditch conventional publishing to head into DIY is that what we're calling self-published I think there's a lot of money to be made with self-published authors especially genre series on both sides this example may sound a little crazy but it shows how hard some authors by navigating the publishing world friends and family stop doing that like it's not that hard to make them that just means so Wow they mean well even though it was really annoying though unless you have permission to turn the book out don't touch don't do it just put it back even if you're a little sticker because the thing is I don't know so if they pull it out and see though oh wow what are the odds I grabbed a copy yeah maybe it'll be like a little surprise in there maybe they'll be more inclined to buy it so I'm not going to buy a book I'm not interested in just fine yeah I'm not so big on signature is that right so she's like I put in all this time to be really nice to you she's grace to them with her presence of power I just don't like well using social media she's promoting it well it's not very authentic I feel like what she's missing in the original part is come in be a person be nice talk to us get to know us and then we'll probably like you more but when it's very obvious when somebody is only talking to you and associating with you because they want something in return that I feel as always I also just feel like she seems like she thinks very highly of herself just the whole I promote my stops we have social media like like she's bringing so much business to these little indie bookstores yeah they're doing okay yeah now maybe in the grand scheme of people buying books perhaps the book stores you know maybe they're not doing as well with digital things that sort of you know the prevalence of audiobooks and Kindle and stuff maybe before ordering online ordering online exactly in that regard but her this person I don't know it's gonna like help a whole lot i man I just find so much of what she says to be very entitled oh and look that's even is this the response from the original person someone else is someone else the original person is actually super nice when they respond but another person yeah you're right a practical bookseller is another person and says and yet your comment is very I'm doing you a favor yeah exactly it yeah don't start messing stuff around I like how this lady - she's like first off I don't do some of the things you find annoying which therefore justifies the thing I do happen to do that is annoying so we're also another thing is see you're like being like educators like do you really need to be told that come on like you really need someone to like like okay if I were an author and I did that I would know that I'm like it's a little shady and if then someone was like like hey don't do that one be like thanks for educating me I had no idea you didn't like I'm sorry it's also not the booksellers job to educate anybody enough just go ask just this idea of you educate me and then when you do educate me and you give me an answer I don't like let me tell you why I feel like you're against me but also I almost feel like if you're just like leaving books somewhere it gives off the vibe that you're not proud of your work I I don't think it gives off the vibe that you're not doing so well yeah cuz I mean if if you're really confident and you are gonna go up to a person talk and try like sell your book but if you're like they probably won't take my book so I should yeah well ask my friend look dropping yeah this doesn't this is exude confidence in your product so I don't know if you're a bookseller tell us your thoughts if you're an author tell us your thoughts if you are the industrious author tell us your thoughts if you're miss mrs. Bloom Lee Elizabeth bloom Lee thanks for your your post information yes I felt it was educational so thanks for taking that time bye-bye [Music]

Channel: Elliot Brooks

Views: 18,144

Rating: 4.9770555 out of 5

Keywords: author advice, advice for authors, authors please don't do this, authors don't do this, booksellers give authors advice, how to get your book in bookstores, writer, writers, writing advice, brandon sanderson writing lecture, brandon sanderson lectures, what writers shouldn't do, what not to do as a write, self published, self published author, indie, booksellers give writers advice, booktube, authortube

Id: h7ujQ78EoLQ

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 21 2020