Trying to Sell Books

Eric,

Just wanted to let you know that at least in my Barnes and Noble, the Stuart’s ride book is my best selling Civil War title. I had to bring in four more last week. It’s been very easy to hand sell.

Best
Rob

You know I wasn’t kidding the other day when I mentioned that Amazon.com had laid their hands upon thee. A useful benediction, since they decided your books could sell and actually put up all your available titles. Before Stuart’s Ride you couldn’t find squat there. That’s going to get you a lot more exposure than boiler plate on the blog.

Wanna sell books, get a painting of Lee frenching Jackson, with NB Forrest lurking in the background with revolver in teeth, shooting reins (er, wait: reverse that…) Oh and use GETTYSBURG in the title; no matter what the subject is.

Eric, with ZERO credit being directed back at me, I was informed by our local Borders manager a couple weeks ago that the titles that are reviewed in The Free Lance-Star (by myself, or the other CW guy Dane Hargrove) fly off the shelves. I noticed this when all the copies of your Stuart book, and Richard’s Stonewall book disappeared the week following the T&C going to press. Therefore, I would say get these titles reviewed in as many newspapers as you can.

Unlike the academic-like analysis that is published in the Civil War magazines (which I love and applaud), our thousand-word reviews tend to be focused toward a broader, more “blue-collar” audience, and we like to appeal to the casual reader or fringe-enthusiast. “We” meaning the CW community are going to buy the books regardless… its “John Q. Notabuff” that may need to be sold to. In other words – market to the masses my friend. You’ve already got us.

BTW: My review of Eric’s “Rush’s Lancers” will be running in the next week or so. Stay tuned… and then go out and buy it. 🙂

Michael, you’re quite right – our Stuart book really spiked again right after your review! It created quite a stir in sales.

Valerie – that’s one of the things we did upon release of the Stuart book… mailings to CWRTs. We think that really helped. We needed a second edition one week after release (literally) when the first sold out, and the third hardback edition, only four months after release, is just being ordered.

We’re really humbled and tickled by the sales.

J.D.

The ‘glitz’ of the subject helps sales. Stuart, like Lee, Jackson, Mosby, Forrest et al. on the Confederate side, usually get a great deal of interest. Secondary figures like Turner Ashby, Jubal Early etc. get less of a response, but there is still interest among the initiated, especially if the individual was involved in some well known incident. Of course, blood & guts usually provokes interest – the likes of Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson, Champ Ferguson, the Lawrence raid, the James boys etc. have their own audience looking for something new on the subject. On the Union side, books on Chamberlain, Grant, Custer etc. can usually get good numbers especially if there is something ‘new’ in the telling.

That’s why I think your book on Dahlgren will do very well. He had two things going for him, a controversy at the time of his death and a controversy today. And, too, he was a young man who, unlike many, had an entrance into the highest levels of government because of his father. That makes him an ‘insider’ to a certain extent.

Tragedies play well too as do, of course, controversies. Dahlgren’s short life can be seen in both of those lights. He had everything to live for but died in the commission of what might be viewed either as a brave attempt to bring the war to an early (and thus less bloody) conclusion or, in the alternative, a vicious dishonorable act contrary to the accepted rules of warfare. Again, I know that the raid is not the focus of the book, but it certainly must be considered its culmination. In a way, it’s like Lincoln. Whenever anyone thinks of Lincoln, their first thoughts are usually about the assassination even though there was a lot more to Lincoln’s life than the last few hours in which he was not even an active participant!

Perhaps books that are less focused on a single person or event – such as your upcoming on Rush’s Lancers – would do even better if any advertisement included those particular points at which the subject intersected a ‘famous incident’. For instance, as you mentioned, the Lancers ALMOST caught up with J.E.B. Stuart in his ‘ride around McClellan’. In other words, they came within a few moments of being as, if not MORE famous than Stuart: “The command that caught an impudent General in his audacious raid!” and so forth.

Except for the very scholarly, most people buy books because something within those books piques an interest. People may BUY an encyclopedia, but they don’t usually read them in bed! Ergo, to foster sales, people have to see something in the book other than the mere ‘nuts and bolts’ of history – some story that garners passion and interest. At least this is why I buy a book.

Eric,
Although pretty new to blogging, I wouldn’t underestimate the power of your readers getting the word out about your books on their blogs. I think it would definitely help to have links to your books in the blog entries/ reviews, but this brought a different question to mind. Does a book that sells on Amazon net you any money, or are those books already considered ‘in circulation’ for lack of a better phrase?
What about the various NPS bookstores? I saw (and purchased) my copy Plenty of Blame to Go Around at Gettysburg since I happened to be visiting. The tie-in for that particular book there is rather obvious, but what about other popular parks? Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville both have pretty good stores, and most of the ones that I’ve seen contain more subjects than that particular battle.
Civil War periodicals, of course, but what about groups other than the CWRT’s? The U.S. Cavalry Association (www.uscavalry.org), for example, might be interested in stocking a few copies of each in their “Sutler’s Store”. I’m not sure how much visitation they receive monthly/ annually, but most of those people would very likely be interested in your writing.
I’m not sure exactly how to contact them, but the military may provide you several options as well. First would be the military libraries at places like Fort Leavenworth and Fort Knox. Second would be the bookstores at both of those places, the one at Fort Knox unsurprisingly focuses on the history of cavalry and armor forces in the US and elsewhere. Field grade officers receive their professional education at Leavenworth, and all new young tank and cavalry officers are trained at Fort Knox. I would think they would be a very receptive audience. Third would be people in the Army at large, perhaps taking out an ad in the Army Times. The Army recently expanded the number of units designated as cavalry, which has led to more interest in cavalry history and traditions. While this is most prevalent (an unkind person might at times say manic) in the three remaining cavalry regiments, there is a great deal of interest in other cavalry units as well. Unfortunately the museums of the two remaining regiments from the Civil War are currently in transit due to unit moves, as I know they both had bookstores.

Rob,

Great stuff. Eric and I are VERY fortunate in that we have a great publicity machine in Ted Savas and Sarah at Savas-Beatie LLC. Ted definitely promotes his books, and he’s always thinking. He pushes his authors to do everything possible and is constantly throwing out ideas. Ted only wants authors who will “work” their books, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to do so.

J.D.