Aggiecon recap the third

There's a particular strategy writers often employ to improve sales numbers when they have a book out. As a rule, authors can order additional copies of their book from the publisher, generally at a 40 percent discount. The downside is that these author copies don't count as book sales as far as royalties are concerned--they may as well not exist, even though the author paid for them. Bookstores generally get a 40 percent discount on wholesale orders, or close to it, so authors in need of additional copies often contact local independent bookstores and make arrangements for them to place the needed order. It's no additional cost for the bookstore, since the author is footing the bill. Relationships are strengthened. Everyone wins.

I, being a new author with a new book, finding myself in need of additional copies of Voices of Vision, contact my all-time favorite bookstore, Adventures in Crime and Space. Willie says sure, they'll be happy to order me 15 copies. He'll check with Nebraska and get back to me with the cost (I plan to pay in advance). A few days go by, and no price. The time stretches into a few weeks. My emails go unanswered. Phone calls unreturned. I do not think it out of line to say my concern escalated. I was out of copies, and needed some ASAP.

Enter Edge Books from Louisiana. When I'm not buying SF from Willie, I'm buying them from Zane, and it just so happened they were going to be at Aggiecon. They could order the books in time for the convention, and I could pick them up in College Station. Zane was agreeable, and even ordered an additional dozen for their own sales.

I'm sure you can see where this is going.

At the convention, Zane had my 15 copies. Willie also had my 15 copies. So now I have 30 copies of my book, and my poor credit card is much worse for the wear, because it is never, ever a good idea to alienate booksellers, particularly when they're doing you a favor in the first place.

It's not like the books won't get used eventually. But now I have to deal with my wife accusing me of trying to put Voices of Vision into a second printing all on my own. Which is silly. There's no way I could do that on my own. But I can help it along...

There's another silly tangent to this already silly story. Crime and Space arrived on Thursday and set up then, and had all copies of Voices of Vision out on the tables. My copies along with theirs. Together, they made for two sizeable stacks that towered over the other books, but when I claimed mine, the stacks were considerably leaner. On Saturday, I was talking with Bill Crider, who'd picked up a copy and humbly asked for my signature on it. "Boy, your books are selling great," Bill says. "Willie started off with a big stack, and they're almost all gone already." I answer, as straight-faced as I can manage, "Selling like hotcakes. People know quality writing when they see it." :-)

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