In the corner of the studio is my shelf of books. These are for conventions, book signings, direct sales, and any other venue I can sell paperbacks at. Selling direct to the reader is a market that most modern self-publishers don’t take advantage of and is one I highly recommend as I’ve been doing direct-market sales for eleven years, and convention sales for eight. Save for the occasional bad book signing, it’s always been a good method for me to move copies. Typically, I’ll order in a bunch of books in moderate quantities, anywhere from 25-100. Only once have I gone way over and got in 300 copies of a title. By doing it this way, I know I have stock for all my shows for a year, possibly two, depending on quantity ordered. By all means, there’s a small financial outlay at the start, but as discussed in my book, Getting Down and Digital: How to Self-publish Your Book, this cost is quickly recovered and everything above that is profit. Likewise, the more you get in, the cheaper your per-unit cost is thus making it fewer copies to recoup your investment and also increasing your per-unit profit.
Here are pics of the big bookshelf in the corner. Some book and comic stock also pepper the studio in other places, but this is the main go-to shelf, which is stocked two books deep and as high as is possible. Click the pics below for a closer look. Recognize the titles?
