Writers are in the "No" Game. Good Advice From the Sporting World

Take it to heart. (Hat tip to Kevin)

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By Jason Boog on Jan 07, 2010 02:23 PM

As the NFL playoffs loom this weekend, sports writers around the country are dusting off metaphors and polishing their action verbs.

Today's guest on the Morning Media Menu was Matthew Shepatin, the sportswriter and author of the new book, "Madden Said to Summerall...The Best NFL Stories Ever Told." We discussed sportswriting, upcoming football games, and the stories behind the NFL playoff games this weekend.

Here is Shepatin's advice for aspiring sports book writers:

"I encourage anyone to get into sports writing and the publishing world. It's one of the things I hated when I was younger. People would tell me, 'You know what your chances are?' No matter what you pick in life, it's tough. So why not pick something you love? ... It takes a lot of patience and determination. Just like a football player. If it's a passion of yours, don't be discouraged by what other people tell you."

Barnes & Noble Holiday Sales Down 5.4% Over 2008

More bad news. Stores now order fewer books, don't even put all of them out for sale, AND return them early for credit. And sales are down. Again. Significantly. When I go into our local chain store and see how poorly trained the staff members are, how uncaring they appear, how little they really seem to want to sell books, it drives me to distraction. If I ran the store, sales would explode. I guarantee it. Note where their sales improved.

Read on:

The nine-week holiday selling period at Barnes & Noble was another rough one, with same-store sales down 5.4 percent at $1.1 billion (and bear in mind that the comps a year ago were down 7 percent from 2007). Sales at BN.com rose 17 percent however, at $134 million, in large part because of nook revenues recognized in that period. (BN.com had sales of $114 million in the same period a year ago. When the company reported second quarter earnings in late November, BN.com was up 9 percent for the period. So figure that recognized nook revenues are roughly between $10 million and $20 million."

Holiday sales were "lower than expected," and the company lowered their guidance on earnings for the full quarter from $1.30 to $1.50 a share down to $1.20 to $1.40 a share. BN already reduced full-year earnings guidance in November based on holiday doldrums and extra costs of ramping up the nook.

CEO Steve Riggio indicates in a brief statement it will take them another few months to catch up with nook demand: "Orders for nook remained strong throughout the holiday season, and, in fact, accelerated after we announced that we had sold out our initial supply. Demand remains strong in the New Year and greater than our supply, however, we expect production to catch-up with demand and be fully stocked in our stores in the next few months."

And books?

--tps

Happy New Year. 2010 Should be . . . Interesting

I hope your Christmas was good and that the turn of the calendar passed smoothly, happily, and healthily for you and yours.

2009 is now in the books (no pun intended--well, maybe a small one), and 2010 is upon us. Thankfully, we escaped the devastation suffered by so many publishers in 2009, although the last month of the third quarter and the first month of the last quarter witnessed dramatically higher trade book returns--something Savas Beatie has largely avoided throughout our history.

Happily, our marketing department's efforts paid dividends in 2009 by opening new sales outlets and increasing specialty sales. Sarah, Veronica, Kim, and Tammy also worked closely with our hardworking authors and opened many new opportunities for them. The result was significantly increased media exposure (ABC Nightly News, Fox News, CNN, and major syndicated radio talk shows) and increased opportunities for personal author sales. These author efforts, in turn, help drive people into the bookstores.

As we have been preaching year in and year out, author efforts translate into increased trade sales and reduced returns. In nearly 100% of the time, a book that experiences heavy returns does not have an author working Facebook, Twitter, on the speaking circuit, etc. In one case this year a very popular author suffered staggering returns in a single month, and the author is hardworking and does everything right. As it turned out, the books were returned in cases unopened as a means of paying down debt owed to the distributor, and all the returns were resold into the trade in orders received over the next sixty days. Since publishers carry the paper for these books (publishers do not get paid for four months after the month of sale), the returns are at the least very frustrating for both authors and publishers alike. They in payment directly affects the bottom line of any royalty statement.

Our 2010 Spring line-up (which will be set forth in a coming post) includes a wide assortment of titles and authors. We are very excited about each one look forward to presenting them to you.

In my next post, I am going to answer a question sent to me by a reader about changes in the book trade over the past decade or so, and how this affects our authors.

Many thanks for your support and all of us wish you well in 2010 and beyond.

--tps

Results of Recent Poll

Here was the question:

Which Savas Beatie Civil War battle-related title is the most original and influential?

I asked it because I received recently two messages, one via phone and the other on email about two different books (both listed in this poll) and how "influential" and "original" each book was for the reader. Of course, that got me thinking . . .

Here were the four books I selected, and how people voted:

Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862, by Cunningham (edited by Joiner-Smith): 7 (31%)

Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg, by Wittenberg-Petruzzi: 6 (27%)

The Maps of Gettysburg, by Brad Gottfried: 3 (13%)

Those Damned Blackhats: The Iron Brigade at Gettysburg, by Lance Herdegen: 6 (27%)

Shiloh, which was behind for the entire poll, won on the last vote cast. The manuscript, written as a Ph.D. dissertation 45 years ago, was decades ahead of modern interpretation of the battle. It was Main Selection of the History Book Club and the Military Book Club and 2.5 years later is still selling strongly there. Although we are out of the hardcover, you can now get it in paperback. I commend it--and all these books--to you.

Crafting books that are both "influential" and "original" has been my intent since forming Savas Beatie. The last thing I wanted to do was spend my time putting our books that add nothing of substance to the ongoing study of the Civil War. It is not an easy task, and we are all appreciative of the enthusiastic support readers have shown for our books.

And in case you do not get our monthly e-letter, our Christmas special this year includes FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING for any book purchased through our website. Just use the coupon code: freepriority.

--tps

Merry Christmas from . . . All of Us

Sarah, Veronica, Kim, Alex, and Ted.

Click here to see what our traditional office party looks like.

Yes, I am in that sort of mood.

-tps

Dust Jackets: The Inside Back Flap

I am heartened by the response these posts about dust jacket have generated, not just with comments but by phone calls and emails. I was unsure this series would be received well. Thank you.

The back inside flap is important in a way the front and back covers and spine are not. While the former are all readily visible (one way or the other), the back flap is never seen unless and until a potential reader opens the book. In other words, the other exterior elements have done their job and the book has been cracked open.

[RIGHT: Inside back flap of Confessions of a Military Wife, by Mollie Gross.]

Oddly, some publishers leave the back flap completely blank (!) or consider it little more than a spill-zone--an area that allows for text on the front flap to spill over onto the back. This is very short-sighted.

We generally use the back flap, from top to bottom, this way:

1. Description Carry-over: Text about the book is continued here.

2. Author biography: We explain to the reading world who the author is, and why she is qualified to write the book;

3. Promotion: We use the remaining space to promote other books by this author, or other related titles we have published that will also be of interest to the reader.

4. Company and Illustration Info: Here we place our logo, company contact info, jacket credits, and design credits.

AUTHOR LESSON: Make sure you bio is tightly written and includes suitable credentials to establish your expertise.

PUBLISHER LESSON: You are going to pay for this space anyway, so you might as well use it to advantage.

--tps

Dust Jackets: Spines--More Important Than You Think

Most publishers treat spines as the ugly stepchild of jacket design. It's the smallest part of the jacket and thus the easiest to ignore. All a spine needs is the title running along it, the publisher's name/logo on the bottom, and the author's name on top.

Right? Well . . . not so fast.

Think of it this way. How many books in a bookstore are face out? One percent? Two percent? In most cases, Publishers/distributors PAY to place these books face out. (Didn't know that? Another post I need to write.) Whatever the number, it is a very small one.

[Pictured on the right is the spine of Sickles at Gettysburg, by James Hessler. Click to enlarge.]

The vast majority of books are shelved spine out. When a customer walks through a store and is faced with hundreds or even thousands of books and the only thing he sees is a spine . . . that ugly little stepchild suddenly takes on an entirely new meaning, doesn't it?

We strive to add a little spice to our spines. We do so with a mixture of color, font style, and arrangement of components. Can you read the title from six feet away? Can you tell what the book is about? These are important questions we consider when designing the spine.

But there is a more important (and usually ignored) aspect to spine design you should think about. When we use a set piece graphic on the front cover (a painting or photo, for example), our designers often place it on the spine (assuming there is room width-wise). This little touch of class not only looks nice, but it jumps out at a potential reader because it is so different than most of the spines around it.

AUTHOR LESSON: If your publisher asks for your advice on cover design, suggest that the spine be paid a wee bit more attention. Adorning it with a photo or painting that mimics, as far as possible, the front cover is often all it takes to stand out in a crowd.

--tps