The Consafo Experiment Begins

Wed, 01/28/2009 - 09:47

Last September I had a crazy idea. I wrote about it in a blog post called, "Would you publish me?" In it I outlined a crazy idea that I was kicking around with Jeanene.

So now I'm ready to get started. The Consafo experiment in social network publishing has begun. The first Consafo project is a follow-up to my book of essays that Eerdmans published in 2004.

This time I'm not going with a publisher. Eerdmans treated me very fairly. They did exactly what they said they were going to do with the book. But Eerdmans gave up on the book - which was a business decision they made. So I ended up with the rights to the book in the end, and I've really loved that. I even built furniture out of the book boxes. I like having control over my own book. It's fun. When a copy sells I mail it myself. You know, I'm sitting around with the girls at supper and I say, "Hey, a book sold." Then I get a high five or "Hey dad, cool!". I put the book in an envelope and sometimes even put little surprises between the pages.

What's not to like?

So this time, I'm going it alone. IF....If I can get enough advance copies sold to pay for the printing. I don't care how much money I make, but I can't afford to LOSE money doing this.

If you're interested, the details are at the Consafo blog.

rlp

Well, you should know that

Submitted by rlp on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 22:51.

Well, you should know that I've given up any concern for having the book be in stores. That takes a lot of marketing and energy. That's a publisher's game not mine. With traditional publishing they are counting on sales by blanketing the country with books in high-profile locations, hoping to get people started buying and talking about it.

I can't possibly compete with that. And I'll only have 2000 copies anyway. Probably just 1500 after the advance copy people get theirs. All of these books will be at my house. I'll sell them to anyone who is interested. If a bookstore called and wanted some, they would demand a 50% discount. That's what publishers sell books to bookstores for.

What's my motivation to do that? Why not just sell them myself even if it takes a long time? Why would I care if it took 5 or 6 years to sell them all? I've thought a lot about the numbers. I sold 800 copies of my first book online AFTER the initial 3500 were sold by the publisher. I bet I can sell 2000 of these in a few years.

But I don't really care that much because I gave up on the idea of making my living selling books. I'm not planning on quitting my jobs. So now my motivation to get the book in bookstores is gone completely.

But let's also be clear about this: No bookstore is going to call me wanting books. Not one single bookstore. No one knows me. I don't have a publicity machine. It's not going to happen. So really, it's a moot question. It doesn't bother me because I've left that model of publishing behind. I don't need the bookstore. I don't need the validation of a traditional publisher. So without those needs, I suddenly am free to do things differently.

Now, if someone like you wanted one and didn't want to buy it online, I'd take a check or make some other arrangement. If a bookstore wanted a few copies because they had someone who asked for it, that would be fine.

I'm not planning anything. Keeping it as simple as possible.

It's the sort of thing

Submitted by rlp on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 22:55.

It's the sort of thing occurs to you when you:

1. publish a book and see how that process works;
2. discover that traditional publishing is no affirmation of your worth or ability as a writer;
3. give up on some crazy idea that you are going to write a book and sell a bunch of copies and make a lot of money.

I kicked around a lot of ideas. This is the one I'm going to try.

All of my books are for sale though me. I've not had the energy or inclination to send them to Amazon or any other place.

Click here for purchase links at my new blog.

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