Barnes and Noble Sale and Author Event Success | Live Replay

All right, hello and welcome everybody. So good to be here with you on another fabulous live Tuesday. All right, so today we have kind of a mishmash of a show for you. We're talking about Baker and Taylor's recent announcement that they have been sold to a New York hedge firm, hedge fund. I'm also going to talk about library usage. Me down. There was a really interesting article in the Atlantic, I think it was, got the notes here on the usage, library usage and it being down. Also, I want to chat about author events and what you can do to make your author event a smashing success. So a few ideas for you. Plus, while we're here, let's celebrate. Yeah. Okay, so lots to celebrate this month. We've had three, four books launched to date and a few more still to happen. So Marnie Spencella's book launched June 5th and normally I would have a copy here to show, but fun fact for you, somebody was walking by, poked their head in and was like, that book looks so amazing. So I lent it to them. So my copy is out there getting read, which is what books should be doing, right? So that's happening. Also we had Deb Myers book launch and I do have that one handy. It's called Redefining Family Wealth. So congratulations, Deb. Really, really fantastic guide for, for families and it really. Here, I'll read you this back part. It says building wealth is tricky business, especially in Christian communities. Many believe what they've always been told, money is intrinsically evil. You're stuck with past financial mistakes and wealth planning is only for the rich. So she's got some solutions for you. So very, very cool. Also, we had Justin Goodbred launch the Ultimate Sale, which is a book for people who run a business and they're planning their exit in the future and they want to maximize that exit. And then today, Treville lynch launched his book, what Is Enough? So really big congrats to Treville. And also happening this week, Lynae St. John is launching a book called Readme, which is a parental primer for the talk. You know what I'm talking about, right? The talk with your kids. So, yeah, lots and lots of great, great book news. All right, so if you're here, whether you're watching the replay or you're live, please do say hello and smash that thumbs up button. When we're live on Facebook and people do it, little things float across the screen on Facebook. It just makes me happy when you do it. Alright, so Baker and Taylor, it's sold to New York Hedge Fund Elliott Management and straight from the Hot Sheet, which is a great subscription service from Jane Friedman, which gives me publishing news twice a month and it has the latest and greatest information all the time. So she basically said she had put. James Daunt is perhaps best known for spending the last eight years getting the venerable, venerable, venerable. Hey, Nathan. Welcome. But once shaky Waterstones. So in the uk, Waterstones is a big bookstore chain. And so he actually was put at the helm of that when this same, the same hedge fund purchased Waterstones and they have 283 stores and he turned it around. And so now the hedge fund has purchased Barnes and Noble. Did I say Baker and Taylor when I started? I meant Barnes and Noble, I believe now I'm questioning myself here. I'm pretty sure it's Barnes and Noble. I had Baker and Taylor on the brain, but Barnes and Noble and they have over 600 stores and they're putting him in charge of the turnaround. So there's a lot of speculation as to what's happen going to to happen. And so I wanted to highlight a few things for you, whether you're about to launch a book or you already have a book in the stores, because there's some things you might want to be thinking about depending on which side of the equation you're on right now. So number one, relationships with your local bookstore is going to likely become more important because one of the things that Daunt did with Waterstones is really focus on local management and really get people that are on the ground and know their bookstores to choose the books that will be sold in that bookstore. So local relationships are going to matter even more if he does the same thing here with Barnes and Noble. Also, and I did write Rake Aaron Taylor in the description, I don't know where my brain was. I'll have to fix that after the fact. And also he was really known for cleaning up the stores and one of the things he said about Barnes and Noble is that there's too many books. So if you have books books listed there right now and they're not selling super well, you can expect some returns. So if I were you, and you're an author with books listed at Barnes and Noble right now and they're on the bookshelves, not just online, I would highly recommend doing some sort of Barnes and Noble focused promotion to generate sales. So this will secure your spot in the future, but it will also clear out inventory that they have on their shelves right now and that will help you avoid returns because returns can really put A big dent in your. If you're an indie author, they really can put a big dent in your income and sometimes even take cash out of your pocket, which can really suck. So I would be paying close attention to that. And also, if there's going to be less shelf space and you're seeking shelf space, it's never been more important to have a cover that stands out and looks amazing in print and in that little E version, because truly I can't think of any good analogies. Well, maybe it's like the Miss America pageant. It has never been more true that your book will be judged by the outside before they consider the inside. That's like Miss America, isn't it? So I don't watch pageants, so I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants on that analogy. But the COVID is so, so important. And we've seen this over and over again. If a cover is not as good as it could be, then there's so many things that will struggle. And that's the large majority of people that contact me for marketing help because their book isn't selling, their cover isn't quite. They haven't invested the time and effort and energy and money it takes to create an amazing cover. So that's Barnes and Noble with their buyout. More will be determined in the future. Apparently Daunt is moving from the UK over to the US in the fall, so I suspect a lot of the changes that he'll be making will roll out then. Oh, the other thing that he did to Waterstones was he really put an emphasis on online marketing, so email marketing and connecting with readers. So that can be an opportunity for authors as well, depending on how Barnes and Noble does it. But in the meantime, build those relationships with your local bookstore managers if you're going to care about your bookstore distribution and do what you can to drive traffic and sales through Barnes and Noble and the stores in particular, if that's important to you. All right, so again, if you're here, say hello and make sure you're hitting that thumbs up button, whether you're watching it here on Facebook after the fact or on the YouTube replay. Either way, say hello, because it makes me happy and it also helps me get to know you and who's watching. And if you have questions, you can also post those. So library use down. So this was interesting. There was a big article in the Atlantic about how and I'll just get the stat here, the exact stat. I think it was 63% down. Yeah. Oh, here it is. 64% down in terms of books checked out of libraries. And this was in particular the Yale College Library or Yale University Library, the bass Library. So 64% decline over the last decade in books being checked out. And this is not just I to Yale. The study kind of went on to confirm that this is the case across universities all across the states. But it also talked about how that's not the same as library usage being down. It's just that people are not checking the books out and they're not reading the physical books in the library anymore. But the conference rooms are being booked from 8am to midnight. So the collaboration is happening and the archives are being accessed on a very regular basis for research. So there's still research happening. It's just interestingly not happening in the field. Physical takeout of the books, they're researching it in ebook format. And also, like I said, the archives are also main focal point. They're using the online services like look inside as well. Oh, Ryan just said, I could see you, but I can't hear, which made me panic for a minute, but it's because of where he is. He's at a board of education meeting where my book was recognized. Yay. That's awesome. Yes. I will slowly speak, Brian, so I can save a few of the good things for you for a minute. So, awesome. And congratulations. That's fantastic. So I'm just trying to see what else I wanted to mention. So the library usage being down, I wouldn't panic about this. It was just more of an interesting thing. But they also quoted something that I wanted to share, and it was a historian, Michael o', Malley, and he was summarizing humorously as they said, we learn to read books and articles quickly under pressure for the key points or what we can use. But we write as if a learned gentleman of leisure sits in a paneled study, savoring every word. So I thought this was kind of funny and interesting because, you know, I think we're all guilty of this when we write is we forget that people just want the point, right? They want the, you know, give me the thing that's going to make me rich, that's going to make me pretty, that's going to make me more likable. You know, all those things that I always talk about with the hook, they just want that fast. So you might feel like they're sitting on the beach savoring every word, but a lot of people are just skimming, which is why it's so important to have a great table of contents. Great subheadings and make sure your key points are delivered clearly in your book. It's also why layout is so important and templates can be okay, but for that nonfiction reader, having a great layout with key points really popping off the page is essential for getting the sale, but also for people just getting enough out of their book that they recommend it and tell others and post good reviews about it. So I thought that was very interesting, so I wanted to share that as well. Hey, Dave, Welcome. All right, so last thing I thought we would chat about quickly before we do our draw and we take our break for the summer. It's crazy to think that it'll be two months from now before we do another live, but it is time for a little rest and recovery. And also allow me some time to focus on working on a book because we are a company that writes and publishes and markets books. And I've been wanting to put out a book, you know, really helping you guys with all the stuff that I cover in the videos in a book format. But we've been so busy working on other people's books that I haven't done it. And not doing videos for a couple of months should free up some time for me because I put a ton of time into these videos for you all. And it's worth it. I love it and you guys show me lots of appreciation, so I know it's worth it. But a two month break I think will be good. We'll be back in September with awesome content every two weeks, Tuesday and Friday again. Are you a telemarketer? I could be. I don't really like being on the phone though, so I wouldn't be a very good one. I prefer the airplane pilot. Somebody else called me a pilot one day and I prefer that when I wear this headset. But no, I found the sound is better with this in my echoey fishbowl of an office that I have with this headset. Okay, so last thing I wanted to mention was if you are planning an author event, here's some tips for making it a great success. And when I'm talking author event, you might be thinking book signing. But for me and for some of the authors we've worked with and some of the successes I've seen out there, an author event can be something more of an event. Like one of the things I did for a launch was a burpees for books. So if you bought a book, I did a burpee. And if you bought three books, I did five burpees or ten burpees or something like that. And we did it at the local CrossFit gym. So here's where this is. Cool. So I had posters put up around and I put them around the city at some of the partners that were already partners with the CrossFit. Like there was a supplement store, a running store, some other places we put up those posters. So it gave promotion to the CrossFit gym, but also to my book and the event. And then we live streamed it. So we promoted that on the website, on the Facebook, Twitter. I don't think we were using Instagram very much at the time, but we promoted it everywhere. So it was really a partnership event because the CrossFit gym also promoted it. And then we made it, we live streamed it. So if you couldn't watch, you could purchase books online, send us, send somebody to the receipt and we would still do the burpees for your purchase. So it allowed you to come in and get your book signed and cause us to do burpees or it allowed people to buy books while we live stream. And I also did a charitable donation. So for every book sold during that event, we donated proceeds to a charity. So it was a win win all around. It was a big event and it really was to drive awareness of the book and be a partner and really partner up with some of the local establishments that I was a frequent member of, a frequent participant of. So, so my recommendations are kind of those things I just touched on. Make sure you're emailing it and putting it on your website and when you do that, have an add to calendar link. Very simple to put them together. You can Google how to do that, but if people add it to their calendar, they're more likely to show up, whether virtually or physically. Create a Facebook event and get them to RSVP because that will remind them and it will also tell their friends that they're going or interested in this event. And you can also consider sending real invitations. If you've got clients or, or friends or colleagues or people you want to thank, send real physical invitations because those will get paid attention to. And it will also kind of has that tactile feel that makes it feel more important, more significant. And of course, as I mentioned, livestream it. And when you partner up, whether it's your local charity, your indie bookstore, your CrossFit gym, you could even do our SPCA in the city that we lived in at the time. They just did a huge build of a brand new facility and I considered doing the event there so people could see the New facility and partner. And all proceeds would have gone to the SPCA as well. Hey Ann, glad you could join us. Welcome. And you know, so things like that, like there could be a charity location that is a cause that means something to you. In the end, we were kind of like, well, there's no tie in to the SPCA and the book that I was launching, so it was harder to tie it in. But medical practices, co working spaces. I'm in a WeWork right now and I did quite a few events and I've talked to authors who've done events because they do them here and it doesn't always sell a lot of books, but it gets people aware of your existence. And so it can be a great way. And wework is actually really, really good. They don't charge you and you can come to the space, you can sell books, you can, you know, if you come with food and drink, you'll have attendance. People will come and talk to you just to get your free food or free drink. So there's lots of ways to do this to make it a success. And you usually will benefit in that whoever you're partnering with will also send out some sort of a mention of your event and you and your book to their network through their newsletter, through their portals or whatever they have. So that's kind of the win win there. So hopefully if you do an author event, it's a big, big success. There's lots of other things we could say, but those are kind of the essentials I wanted to touch on for today. So if you guys don't have any questions, I'll do the draw for today and that'll be it until September. I'm kind of sad, actually. Makes me sad. But I know time flies and it's summer, so it'll be September and we'll be back together again before you know it. So, all right, here we go. And of course, these folks, all these folks that have commented on the day a video was released, they get entered to win. And you can choose whether you want a mug or a journal. The journal is right here, buried under some paper. One second. And it's the oh so soft Book Launcher's journal. Alright, so drumroll please. We've got our winner. Our last winner before the summer break. Feels like there's two there, but there's only one. This person's already won twice. Okay, well, Ron Neitzel, I'm pretty sure you've won both a mug and a journal, but thank you. So you won. I drew a backup though because I was like this person's already won twice. So Ron, email us@teambooklaunchers.com if you do want to collect another journal or mug. But but also this is a brand new person. I think this might have even been her first comment. So congratulations. Oh, and names upside down. Latonia. Latonia. I think it's Latonia or Latonya. Congratulations. I'll put it up here. There you go. So congratulations. Email us@teamteamooklaunchers.com if you want the mug or the journal and make sure you give us your mailing address so we can put it into the mail for you. And thank you so much for your comments, your shares and your likes. I really, really appreciate it. And yeah, if something really exciting happens over the summer that you guys need to know about, I'll be there for you. Otherwise, we'll be back in September with your next live. All right, take care. Thank you.