Yes, you do want to sell books.

On your web site most especially.

Most author websites include the obligatory amazon.com button; a few others process to their publishers. For the most part, the convenience and price are OK; the cut amazon takes from your publisher is a dent in what the publisher will eventually grant you.

But there are other benefits to making your site the point of purchase:

• Money. If you buy a standard of 200 copies from your publisher, expect about a 40% discount. That's decent enough for your website sales to clear a modest profit after S&H costs.

• Audience connects. This is another way for your fans to connect to you direct. Especially for capturing their e-mails for future updates on your next project.

• Popularity proof. The best book promotion for your current book sets up your next book; by showing your publisher the e-mail lists, sales and other direct connects, you're drawing out that much more of the dollars your publisher is willing to spend on the next go-around.

For those of you wary of taking on the hundreds of orders, Mr. Obie Joe advises use of a fulfillment house. One of the best, and willing to scale for a few dozen to more in orders is BCH.

Books in the Street

The Book Tent at the world-famous New Orleans Jazz Festival. At this week's NOLA Book Fair, readings in the street, a screening of the documentary about John Kennedy Toole at Snug Harbor, and author panel discussions at Three Muses. In many ways, NOLA native brothers Ronald and Bryan Williams, owners of music company Cash Money Records, and kingmaker of Lil Wayne, learned streetside the worth of selling books like music. Much has been made of lessons learned from the dramatic shifts in music promotion and sales as predictors for the book industry. Use more digital, expand to unconventional venues, reward your fans consistently....with one exception. As access to products collapse their profit potential, music acts can still make a moola by touring. Authors can't, for the most part.

Their first line of the Cash Money Records books suggest the Williams brothers strategy rests with impulse buying. Plus, their backing from Atria/Simon & Schuster should grant decent production oversight and distributorship. But much of their list -- Raw Law: An Urban Guide to Criminal Justice; Justify My Thug; and Pimp, a memoir by the late Iceberg Slim -- trend toward street lit, a successful genre, but not one that encourages fan loyalty. Mr. Obie Joe will be intrigued to see the pricing. Will fans be tempted to spend $10 on Raw Law, or put it to the $35 tour t-shirt?

Love this quote from Vernon Brown, the Williamses' attorney and business manager: "Our books will also be sold at our concerts. When you're out in front of 18,000 people, some will buy books, some not. But right now many of those fans aren't being told what books are great. We'll do that."

Told. Interesting verb. Not asked, not invited. Still, if they've got first dibs on Lil Wayne's post-Rikers memoir, our cash is ready.

Wasting money on your ARC?

An ARC, or Advanced Reading Copy, has several uses. For garnering reviews, especially in media intended to create buzz or library sales, a large scale mailing of ARCs is essential. Most ARCs have the last-to-final edit, though rarely an index or TOC, and a plain cover. The emphasis really is on the quality of the writing and/or information.

For all of the attention on the production of the ARC, authors and publishers often forget the most important step: distilling which publications get the ARC, and which get the book.

Go see the Midwest Book Review, and inhale their excellent list of Pre-Publication and Post-Publication advice, and places to get reviews. Make your Excel sheet to carefully denote the submission guidelines.

If you don't believe in the worth of this, instead of wasting your stamps, just send to Mr. Obie Joe.

Book reviews your own mother would love

So just how discriminating, skilled or objective are the blogger book reviews you can get from newly launched booksneeze? Judging by the Browse Reviews section, fandom seems to inspire most of the book reviews. Categories in children's books; entertainment; conservative politics and Christianity have the most reviews. Many of the books are from small publishers; The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield is the only title we recognized as major.

That said, the number of reviews is impressive: most books garner on average 50+ reviews. Even more killer is the SEO booksneeze does for your title. On searching for The Chronological Study Bible, the first five google results were reviews by bloggers coordinated by booksneeze. It didn't replace amazon.com, but it gave another layer of conversion possibility for a new reader. Plus, there seems to be informal cross-posting with Amazon.com and other sites; each review gets around.

TIP: Make your own audio book

Not every book get to be an audiobook, but every book gets ito be heard. Check with your publisher on their policy on excerpts, and if their definition of "fair use" is generous, get out the iPod. Make an excerpt of your book as an audio feature on your site; a podcast on another site; or a download via iTunes. If you're comfortable with your voice, go do that, but if not, look for a volunteer via your local college drama departments. Why do the audio and not just the book trailer? Because an audio recording is stickier in the task of familiarizing a new reader to your work. (And definitely check out LibriVox for free recording software, hundreds of free downloads of books in the public domain.)

Ready for the Fall.

Obie Joe Media is ready for new business. Just in time for the August slow, and the Fall feast.

Give us a call. Let's catch up. Truly, Obie Joe Media is eager to hear what's new with your book. 

On hiatus

The Obie Joe particles and people are booked full, and won't be able to take on other projects until the Summer. We hope to see everyone later this year.