Part of the Answer?
Written by David on February 23rd, 2009Look at what Muumuu House sent me when I ordered Ellen Kennedy’s book (no, not the kitty):
Maybe the publishing industry as a whole would be doing better if every publisher lovingly wrapped each purchased book in colored paper and sealed it with a sticker of an original, hand-drawn animal thingy saying “thanks.” Who wouldn’t like that?
Seriously. Other publishers should not use this exact technique, of course, but a small gesture of caring, a small gesture demonstrating shared taste, a small first step toward community building can go a very long way.
I will likely buy a book from Muumuu House again.
I would not seek out an illegally copied Muumuu House book or ebook. Almost certainly wouldn’t anyway, but I feel in my gut that I want to support them.
I follow Muumuu House on Twitter and am curious to see how they are doing and how this book is reviewed.
My attitude is not all a result of this packaging, but the gesture definitely helped. It didn’t cost them much and didn’t require too much time or effort. If you want to look at it in cold business terms, they got a pretty damn big return on their marketing dollar (or their marketing penny).
I keep thinking of reasons why publishers, whenever possible, would be better off selling to their readers directly. There are so many reasons.
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26
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i like the photos
26
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Tao needs to make money because his sale of 60% of the royalties to his novel will lose him money.
Tao projects sales of the book at 13,000 at the Publishers Weekly website.
For argument’s sake, say the book is priced at $20 and Tao is getting a royalty of 20%.
That would mean he’d get $4 in royalties for every book sold.
Four dollars times 13,000 copies is $52,000.
If 60% is 3/5 and Tao’s royalties are roughly $52,000, then he’s sold $31,200 of his future earnings for $12,000. He loses almost $20,000 in income, a big gain for the shareholders.
Let’s say the book is priced at $15 and his royalties are 15%. In that case, he’d be getting $2.25 in royalties for each copy sold. That would mean that assuming Tao would sell 13,000 copies, his total royalties would be $29,250.
His shareholders would have 3/5 of that, or $17,550. He would lose $5550 in income.
But if the book sells only 10,000 copies, Tao would do better.
He’s given himself a financial incentive to sell fewer books, based on whatever break-even point the book price and his royalty rate are.
Of course, he may be in dire need of the cash now, but it seems like the more successful the book is, the worse Tao will end up financially.
So buy those Muumuu House books and keep Tao Lin from the poorhouse!
26
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Holy crap. I’m too brain dead to check your numbers, but you may be on to something there. So if I only have money to buy one book, Tao would be better off if I purchased a Muumuu house book by someone else and did not by Richard Yates when it comes out? Hmmm…
27
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If he makes more than $20,000 in royalties, Tao will lose income. That’s simple math. He sold 60% of something for $12,000. That makes $20,000 total.
If his royalties are, say, $50,000, he will have sold something worth $30,000 for $12,000.
Thus, he would lose $18,000.
If someone can correct me on this, I’d be grateful, but it just seems like fifth-grade arithmetic to me.
27
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at least his parents were smart enough to scam other peoplem,
tao’s so dumb he scammed himself!!!!
27
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“Anonymuos,” who are you, and who are your parents?
27
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their not the ones in here:http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/complr17469.htm
or here:http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2002/12/16/daily53.html
hey genious david, your the one who interviewed a guy about money without considering his parents ways of getting income thru crime
27
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Old, irrelevant news, “Anonymuos.” Or is it “Kimmy”? Or is it “Anonymuos”? Choose one.