What is the point of having your book (or books) available in print? Surely the future is digital. Print books moulder unread on dusty shelves while we all browse our Ereaders, tablets and smart phones? Below is my experience of selling the print edition of “Lost in the Labyrinth of My Mind”, my latest collection of poetry, (http://moyhill.com/lost/).
I have given away copies of “Lost” in return for honest reviews in both print and electronic formats. Friends and several libraries have also been recipients of my book. Apart from free copies, I have sold a number of print books (8 at the last count). I usually carry several copies of “Lost” in my rucksack and if the conversation turns to books or what I do with my time, “Lost” is mentioned. At this point in the conversation I hand over a copy of my book, people flick through and (as mentioned above) have, on a number of occasions purchased a copy.
While it is true that I could bring up “Lost in the Labyrinth of My Mind” on a Kindle or other device, in my experience most people still prefer the physicality of a book and are more likely to buy when faced by a hard copy work. I may have lost out on opportunities to market “Lost”. For example I recently gave a poetry reading at the Poetry Cafae in London’s Covent Garden. Being unsure as regards the rules of selling books at such events, I refrained from doing so. However several other poets did mention (and sell) their work and I shall not neglect a future opportunity to market mine.
What about sales via the internet or through brick and mortar bookstores? As mentioned earlier, “Lost” is available on the Moyhill site. In addition it can be found in my local independent bookstore, Bookseller Crow, (http://booksellercrow.co.uk/). While I am extremely grateful to the publisher for creating a dedicated webpage and to Bookseller Crow for stocking “Lost”, as of today (14 April) no sales have been forthcoming via the publisher or the bookshop.
Why should the above be the case? In my local bookshop “Lost” has to compete with thousands of titles and while it has an eyecatching cover (for which I’m grateful to David Cronin of Moyhill), my book has to compete with many other works possessing well produced covers. Another reason explaining the lack of sales in my local bookstore stems, I believe from the fact that poetry is very much a niche market and works of poetry do not sell in the same quantities as fiction. While I publicise my writing via this site (newauthoronline.com) my presence is not that of a Carol Ann Duffy and if most people haven’t heard of you it becomes largely a matter of chance as regards whether they will browse (let alone buy) your book. In short “Lost” is a small tree in a big forest and it is a matter of chance as to whether a wanderer stops to rest under it’s branches and enjoy the scent of my tree.
Turning to Moyhill, they are an excellent company and I cannot recommend them highly enough. However my book is one of many on the publisher’s website and it is, again largely a matter of chance whether a browser will alight on “Lost”.
The advantage of selling face-to-face is that readers can engage the poet and/or author in conversation. They can browse your book, ask questions and even request you to read a short passage. Likewise, with poetry readings, if a person attending likes what they hear, they are more likely to purchase the poet’s work than if they passed by his (or her) work in a bookshop.
The obvious disadvantage to selling face-to-face is that you, as the poet/author can only ever reach a tiny percentage of your potential readership, none the less a sale remains a sale!
In conclusion, in my experience, selling print books as a little known poet is perfectly possible, however sales largely flow from face-to-face interactions with potential readers/buyers. Having a website and/or blog is a great way to get your name out there and generate interest in your work, it will not, however necessarily lead to significant book sales. Despite not having sold books via my local bookstore, I remain grateful to them for stocking “Lost” and I’d certainly recommend getting your work stocked (if you can) by a bookstore.

(“Lost in the Labyrinth of My Mind” is also available as an ebook and can be found HERE)