SO PHYSICAL BOOKS AREN'T ABOUT TO DISAPPEAR

As I have been saying in my newsletters now for almost ten years... Physical Books are NOT going to disappear... they aren't even going to be supplanted by eBooks. According to Nielsen Book Scan 2015 physical books sold were 17 MILLION more than 2014. 571 MILLION books.

So what does this say? Well, it doesn't say rest on your laurels. If you know what laurels are. You had better get out and bust it even harder in 2017 if you expect to stay in business. Distribution, bulk selling, direct selling, social media... dozens of ways to get the word out and the cash register ringing. Just remember that you DON'T have to go eBook if you don't want to.

It is YOUR strategic plan and YOUR future. I would rather do less work, make less sales, and make each one more profitable. That's just where I am in the process. I do not want to make $1 a book on my orders, so eBooks are out for me. Yes, you could sell 10,000 of them...but if I sell 2,000 physical books and make $5 each on them. I have made the same amount of money with 1/5 the bookkeeping and tracking and customer service. In fact, if I could I would sell 2,000 books to one customer and really minimize my work. but that is just me.

You are free to have any strategic plan you want... but DO have one... or you will bounce around like a pinball with every new fad and fancy and likely never make any real money in this business. I have been fortunate to have made a living... more than a living... for many decades in publishing. And you can too.

Plan, Execute, Succeed, Exit.

Martin