| If you track some of my articles I can make it | | | | cannot flummox you. Returns should stay within |
| appear that I have had an adversarial relationship with | | | | certain acceptable statistical parameters. Typically, it |
| big publishing companies, and that I prefer to be an | | | | isn't the product that causes returns; it is in how the |
| outsider. | | | | product is sold and marketed. Hint: If you over-sell |
| While I do have a soft spot for self-publishers, of | | | | the idea that something can be returned, that's what |
| which I am one, I have benefited significantly by | | | | you'll get-too many of them. |
| accessing my larger and better-financed cousins in | | | | (3) When a book or a series works for you, spin off |
| the business, as a colleague and an author. | | | | new titles and new libraries. |
| Big publishers can be great learning partners, and I | | | | (4) The best model for selling books is by |
| look back on my formative years in sales and | | | | subscription, and by scheduling your releases at the |
| management with Time-Life as having been especially | | | | best intervals, while sending and billing them |
| valuable. Here are fivethings Time-Life taught me. | | | | automatically. |
| (1) The goal is not to compete for the same | | | | (5) The key is to create a new reader, as noted in |
| population of eyeballs. Time-Life Books (TLB) sought | | | | (1), and then to transform the person into a collector |
| to expand the reading public, and did this by opening | | | | of everything you produce. |
| its own very aggressive direct sales organization, in | | | | Whenever I write a book I know exactly what it will |
| which I was employed. If you are thinking of writing | | | | take to sell it. The only question is whether I have to |
| a book, don't automatically assume that the | | | | roll-up my sleeves and do it myself or use a larger |
| bookstore channel is the best one for you. TLB sold | | | | publishing company. |
| millions of books per year via telephone and mail and | | | | Few of the outside publishers I have worked with |
| at kiosks and displays in tourist venues. | | | | can match the skill, creativity, and results of |
| (2) Guarantee your product with a return privilege if | | | | Time-Life. |
| you want to succeed. You WILL get returns, so they | | | | |