Book Selling University to come to Philly
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
A book-selling conference features talks by book marketers
I always wonder why so many people want to write books. Do they think they're going to get rich? It's so rare for an author to make significant money. Sure, the James Pattersons and the Jennifer Weiners of the world are doing just fine from their books, movie rights and other ancillary sales (and, btw, also giving back generously to the publishing community), but their experiences are such a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of books published every year.
Brian Jud makes it his business to help authors make money. Jud runs a company called Premium Book Company LLC, and he is also the executive director of the Association of Publishers for Special Sales. Special sales refers to book sales that take place in non-book outlets. For example, when I published my book, Elements of the Table: A Simple Guide for Hosts and Guests, I thought it would be great if a bridal registry bought multiple copies to give a free book to every bride and groom who registered. That's an example of a special sale: a bulk purchase to a specific vendor. This type of sale can potentially be very lucrative — although it's very hard to get.
Jud is taking his special-sales show on the road and bringing it to Philadelphia next week when he runs the 2nd Annual APSS Book Selling University. The conference will be held at the Embassy Suites Airport Hotel next Friday and Saturday.
The conference offers a range of expert speakers, including Jud, John Groton, former VP of special sales at Random House, and other book-marketing and sales experts. The conference opens with a talk by Dan Poynter, a self-publishing guru. His book, Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual, is pretty much the bible for those ready to embark on being their own publisher.
The bottom line is, it's the rare case these days when an author doesn't have to shoulder much of the burden of selling his or her own book. And as the industry fights even harder for a share of the leisure time of consumers, this will become even more the case.
More info about the APSS conference here: http://tinyurl.com/kxucber
