THIS IS REALITY

A long time ago in a galaxy far away an author told me she could sell 5,000 books if I published her. As of today that book has yet to sell 1,000 copies. I'm not complaining, any time we can sell a book, we're pleased. My point today is, selling 5,000 copies of a book to the end consumer is damn tough. As Jay Ford Thurston, author of two SPI books (Following in the Footsetps of Ernest Hemingway and Out of the Rainbow) knows, books get sold one at a time. Jay recently emailed WH (World Headquarters) to report that he'd sold 25 books in two weeks. If Jay plans on selling 5,000 books this way, it will take 400 weeks, or 7.69 years. If any author can sell 5,000 books, it is Jay Thurston.

Meanwhile, back at WH, we keep trying to get all our titles noticed. We send out hundreds of review copies, make hundreds of follow-up calls, dream up promotional plans, schedule author appearances, contact bookstore managers and buyers, mail out cataloges and sell sheets and promotional flyers, send posters to event managers, create our own events out of thin air, and generally hype, hype, hype, books in every way we can think of.

And the net result of all this dedicated (Thank you Nan and Beth) effort is, we pretty much get ignored. But not always. And when we do get noticed and someone buys a book or agrees to a plan or passes on information about one of our titles, it is pretty damn exciting.

When I worked in Nome, Alaska, the motto on the masthead of the local paper (The Nome Nugget) was, "Illigitamus nil carborundum," meaning, "Don't let the bastards wear you down." I've always transmogrified that to mean, "Wear the bastards down," when it comes to promoting books. Another quote I've liked for years is, "It's ten percent inspiration and 90% perspiration that grants success." Another I like is, "I"ve worked and slaved for thirty years to become an overnight success."

While I can't attribute these last two quotes, I can attribute the success of promoting Savage Press books to persistence, patience, determination, and persistence, and persistence, and..., oh yeah, persistence.

Keep the faith.