Sooo, a local book shop has happily said yes to stocking two of my books. Finally. I can't believe how many of Lansing's book outlets turn a blind eye towards local writers.

But this one was worth the wait. The Robin Books nestles inside of The Robin Theatre. When it's showtime, the book carts are rolled away and the audience chairs come in. When there's no show, it's a book shop! I love it - artsy transformers magic.

Dylan, who owns the place with his wife, is a huge-hearted wonderful guy and he's cute to boot. Plus, he's a hugger.

We're all excited to see if my books find their forever homes!

Unfortunately, the ease of self-publishing has made many booksellers more reluctant to stock local books. There are too many of them and the quality is all over the place.

What a clever venue!

PlurkDevi you aren't wrong. Still, it's not a bad thing that we have to get out there and prove ourselves worthy. The slacker self-pubbers won't bother, and thus a spoonful of cream can rise to the top.

How exciting! Maybe finding the right bookstore is just as important - people will be more likely to trust what they buy.

from a publishing/marketing standpoint, Ingram Spark suggests offering a 55%wholesale discount to book sellers AND make the books returnable. Unfortunately, if a book store orders too many and decides sales aren't good, the publisher, whether an indie press or a self-pubber has to eat the loss financially.

Congrats! The store sounds like a great match for your books!

Congratulations!

As a former bookstore manager, I can tell you that 55% discount and full returnability are standard, but that can be a tough pill for many independent authors to swallow.

Congratulations, and good luck!

Woot! Congrats!

PlurkDevi : yep, especially seeing how much it reduces publisher compensation on sales.

that's wonderful!!! congratulations!

My arrangement with The Robin Books is they buy them from me at 50% of the retail price, which is well above my purchase price, so I'm happy. And we're doing them on consignment. Latest text from the shop tells me they are selling nicely.

Woot!

Oh lovely!! I am afraid we fall in the category of artists who are better at creation than at marketing.

that sounds great!

I'm crap at marketing. I tend to hurl myself at a book shop, and if they don't nibble, I sulk for a while, then I throw myself at another one.... FINALLY I STUCK. But my methodology could use work.