My Marketing Experiences (5th instalment)

Marfa Ridge, Malta

My latest marketing experience was the result of an invitation from my local Rotary Club to give a presentation at one of their weekly meetings.  I spoke about my self-publishing experiences, together with another topic that they requested which was of interest to them, on the basis that afterwards signed copies of my book would be available for sale with the profits being split 50/50 between myself and the charity of their choice.

I only sold 3 books, but the comments and suggestions for future marketing have proved to be very useful.  In fact, it was as a result of that presentation that I set up this blogspot, and I am now selling my first book in Kindle format.

Previously, an electronic version was available via lulu.com , but this did not prove to be very successful, probably because very few people know that electronic versions of books are available on Lulu.  Also, payment is via PayPal which can be difficult when you are only making sales rather than sales and purchases, because there is a minimum amount of money that can be withdrawn from your account and a maximum per annum.

I would add that I found setting up electronic versions to be free of charge, and easy to do.  Also, that  the percentage of the sale price that the author receives when selling a book in Kindle, or other electronic formats can exceed the Royalty received when selling hard copy books.  Therefore, it is to be recommended.

Another recommendation from Rotary Club members was to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter.  I am now in the process of setting this up with links to this blogspot.  The problem is that time is precious, and my time should be spent writing books rather than being continually involved in updating communication pages.

In fact, my next book – A Ticket to Zululand – is now nearing completion, and I have to get on with proofreading etc.  Therefore, I have decided that I will only be updating my blogspot once a month in future.

In my next posts, I will be covering other marketing options that I have been offered, but at a high cost.  I have not taken advantage of any of these so far because after evaluation, I did not believe they offered value for money.  All marketing/advertising is a risk, but there are some areas where I felt the outlay involved could not be justified.  I will explain why later.

My Marketing Experiences (4th Instalment)

The Blue Grotto in Malta

Before achieving success, I had a third unfortunate Maltese marketing experience when I asked the local owner of a Post Office & Souvenir Shop on the seafront if she would be kind enough to sell my book.  She agreed and I left five copies with her, again on a sale or return basis.

During the previous summer, this shop had displayed racks of books for sale outside their premises and, in fact, I had even purchased books from them.  However, there had been a drop in the tourist trade in that area due to the closure of a local hotel, and presumably for this reason the Post Office stopped displaying books outside.

I later discovered that my books had been placed on a bottom shelf inside the shop, virtually hidden from view, and when I visited several months later, they were still there covered in dust by this time.  The owner then gave them back to me with the comment that unfortunately they had not sold.

My next attempt was much more successful possibly because (I believe) the books were put on display on the counter where they could be seen by anyone making purchases.  And they are still being sold from there – this is at the newsagents, Graphics in Triq il-Qaliet in Marsascala.  I recommend those wishing to purchase the book in Malta to visit this shop in Marsascala where the shopkeeper is friendly and sells a wide range of items.

I would add that some copies of my book have also been sold at La Spigola Restaurant in Marsascala.

My latest sortie into the realms of marketing has taken place in the UK, and this also proved to be a success.  However, I will provide more information on this experience in my next post.

My Marketing Experiences (3rd Instalment)

Fireworks in Malta

As mentioned previously, two Maltese distributors who I contacted, replied to my email regarding the distribution of my first book entitled ‘A Ticket to Malta’, as I felt it would be of interest not only to those visiting the island, but also to local people. 

Both of the distributors stated that they would require sole distribution rights, and so I had to decide on which one to approach first.  With the airport being a good place to reach tourists, I decided to set up my first interview with the distributor who not only had a large chain of bookshops throughout the island, but in particular, was the only one with stores in the airport.

I had a very friendly meeting with their Distribution Manager who agreed to take 15 books initially on a sale or return basis.  However, he explained that they would be putting a 100% mark-up on the price I sold the books to them for.  I was so delighted to have the opportunity for my book to be sold at Luqa Airport, Malta, that I agreed; realising that obviously there was no alternative.  Nevertheless, it meant that my book would be priced at nearly twice as much as other books of the same type being sold at the airport despite the fact that I personally had only added a few pence per copy to the actual cost price. I was concerned that it would not be purchased because of its high price, but I was proved wrong.

Surprisingly, and to my great joy, copies sold slowly; each time I visited the airport I checked on their availability and noticed that the number on display was gradually reducing.  Apparently, it had also been distributed to other shops in that chain of bookstores, but I never did discover it in either of the two shops in Valletta.

After waiting for some time, I then started to ask about payment against my invoice; after all, it was obvious that at least some books had sold.  Therefore, I enquired how many were still available for sale, and asked if they would like some more.  I was never given an answer to either of these questions, and therefore, I still don’t know if they actually had sold out.

However, eventually after several contacts, I was referred directly to their Accounts Department, and my invoice was paid, but it came in two instalments.  I did not think this would be a problem as the money was being paid in Sterling, from a Sterling Bank Account to another Sterling Bank Account, but despite this my bank decide to load charges on both payments; the reason given was that the funds were coming from abroad.

The bank charges completely wiped out the small profit I was due to make on the sales, and in fact, I made a loss.  I believe that with the sale price of the book being so high, the book distributor was disinclined to take further copies, and I could see no advantage to me personally in them doing so.

But I had received some publicity from the placement of the fifteen books and, therefore, I was grateful for that.  As a result of this experience, I decided I would need to find a cheaper printing process (possibly in Malta) if I wanted to distribute my books via this method in future.

Not daunted though, I still had some other ideas for marketing in Malta, which will be covered in my next post.