In the last five years, I’ve published five books — the first through a traditional royalty publisher and the rest at home. One of the most helpful resources I’ve had in that adventure is the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA). It’s a friendly group of folks who meet on the second Saturday of every month to share their knowledge of self-publishing. This month, I’ll be the speaker.
The meetings cost $5 for non-members and $3 for members, and despite having worked in publishing since 1994, when I launched Music & Computers magazine, I learn something every time I attend.
One of the most motivational parts of each meeting is the “elevator speech” segment, in which everyone gets just 30 seconds to promote his book or services. (In case you aren’t familiar with the term, the concept is that you unexpectedly find yourself in an elevator with a Powerful Person — Oprah, say — and have just the 30 seconds between floors to pitch a deal.)
A chess clock at the front of the room marks the time limit with a ding!, and attendees who overshoot are quickly drowned out by mass grumbling. Stick within the limit, though, and the audience is very supportive. It’s an excellent lesson that when selling something, you really need to consider your audience and play to their interests.
It’s fun to see how authors use that tiny window to grab attention. I still remember the guy who announced, “My name is Bill, and I wrote a million-seller.”
Everyone gasped. Bill basked in the silence for a moment, then grinned, “Yep — I’ve got a million of ’em in my cellar.”
Here’s my first elevator speech:
“Hi. My name is David Battino. My wife and I write and publish a series of children’s books called Storycard Theater. It’s based on a traditional Japanese street-performance format that lets you read a story while showing the pictures. [Show front and back of Momotaro card stack.] To read a normal picture book, you have to twist away from your audience like this.
“Last year, we won the Dr. Toy award for Top 10 Creative Products in the country and we’re currently ranked number 1 on Google. More at Storycard Theater.com.”
Maybe it was my beginner’s earnestness, but that little speech got the biggest applause that day. (I think the “number 1 on Google” part referred to being the top hit in a search for our own name, but it was an elevator situation!)
I realized later that I hadn’t said anything about the content of the books, so I addressed that in a later meeting:
“Hi, I’m David Battino. Imagine you had the chance to call up 50 of your musical heroes and just rap about creativity for an hour. And then you chopped up those 50 interviews and remixed them into a giant cocktail party of a book — with a DVD. That’s The Art of Digital Music. The Library Journal gave it a starred review. The leading magazine in the field called it an 'absolute must-read.' And now my publisher is up for sale and has completely stopped promoting it, so I’m looking for ways I can continue that momentum. Speaking of fantasy, I also write children’s books. Thank you.”
As I recall, that spiel went over well, too, but in retrospect, it seems gloomy — and more about me than the audience. I returned to more upbeat themes in future meetings.
Still, the Elevator Speech is a neat strategy to apply to any number of life situations. If you’re stuck creatively, try boiling down your concept to a few short phrases you can speak aloud with conviction. Then reduce that to a punchy caption or headline; you may be surprised by the clarity that brings. There’s a classic episode of This American Life called “Break-Up,” in which the narrator stumbles onto a wonderfully poignant song lyric while bellyaching about a boyfriend. So often, creativity is about juxtaposing disparate ideas and seizing on the sparks that fly.
In fact, the title of my talk this weekend is “Your Book Is Only the Beginning: Growing a Publishing Business the Holistic Way.” Writing books has enabled me to pull together so many interests and opened so many opportunities — opportunities that seemingly have very little to do with the printed text. And yet, it is all related. So I’ll be talking about bringing big projects to life and getting happily caught up in them. Hope to see you there!
BAIPA Holiday Meeting
Saturday, December 13, 2008
9 a.m.–12:20 p.m. (I speak at 11:15)
First Congregational Church
8 North San Pedro Road
San Rafael, CA 94903
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@Phil: Could you please spell out what's involved in registering with Baker & Taylor? I looked for a link on their website, but didn't see anything obvious.
Yeah, their terminology is confusing, but the people we've dealt with there directly have been friendly. Try their Supplier Info page. You'll see several PDFs that lay out the terms and process.
Also, I should clarify my earlier comment: B&T is not exactly a distributor. It describes itself as a "demand-driven wholesaler." It gets orders from bookstores, relays them to you, and then re-ships the books you send. The terms are tough:
Note that you pay shipping both ways. Before we sussed out our packaging, B&T returned a number of our books as "damaged," even though they had the most minor scratches.
Fortunately, a BAIPA member gave me this tip: Instead of writing off those books, you can sell them in the Amazon Marketplace as "used" at a discount price. We quickly blew through our scratched inventory that way, because it was a great deal for everyone.
@Daivd, could you please spell out what's involved in registering with Baker & Taylor? I looked for a link on their website, but didn't see anything obvious.
I have a friend who has gotten a fabulous book, A Fuller Explanation, back into print on lulu.com ( http://www.lulu.com/content/664771 ). He has encountered difficulty getting it listed on Amazon.
Thanks.
@David: How do you get around the stigma of being a "self publisher"?
With the rise of print-on-demand, blogging, and other self-publishing technology, that stigma is shrinking, but you raise an important point.
The best way to get your product taken seriously is to have a high-quality product. Getting a publishing deal is the traditional way to certify that quality, but another way is to win awards. There are numerous award programs out there, and many require just a copy of your book and a small fee to enter. Our Storycard Theater books won the 2004 Dr. Toy Awards for Top 10 Creative Products and two 2008 Parents' Choice Awards. That creates a story we can tell when presenting them to distributors, reviewers, and conferences.
Also, if you register your book with Baker & Taylor, a national distributor, it gets into the Amazon database, conferring more legitimacy. And bookstores and libraries like to order through Baker & Taylor.
The million-seller goal is inspiring, but as a self-publisher, you also make much better margins, so you don't need to sell as many units. (It's the same with music.) As I explained in my talk, standard royalty rates are 10% of the publisher's net returns, which comes out to just 4–5% of the cover price. On my traditionally published book, I actually make more on Amazon referral fees than publisher royalties.
The other important concept is encapsulated in my talk's title, "Your Book is Only the Beginning": By putting out a quality book, you certify yourself as an expert, which can lead to other income opportunities. Several BAIPA authors have turned their books into lucrative speaking careers.
But financial aspects aside, hopefully you'll find that making and sharing a book with the world is the most satisfying part of all.
How do you get around the stigma of being a "self publisher" to get your product into the mainstream? Or should I say, get it taken seriously by the mainstream so that you can get a million sales?
@Mike: That's a great idea, and I just suggested it to BAIPA's president. To get reasonable audio quality, they'd have to make everyone step up to a recorder at the front of the room — or maybe pass around a handheld recorder like a baton.
Searching for "elevator pitch podcast" on iTunes turned up only a handful of shows, and the sound quality was generally awful. (One show works by recycling voicemail pitches.) But the concept of podcasting bite-size audio nuggets is intriguing.
Both your speech and the BAIPA sound interesting. Any chance the club might start recording and podcasting their monthly meetings? That'd give those elevator speeches a global audience.