Whether a store has my stuff on consignment or not, I usually pass out promotional material to entice sales. I have a few fliers that I keep constantly updating, hoping the change may help to move books off the shelf, but not in the way that the one bookstore dude proceeds to “make space.” I use at least one flier at book signings and it seems it is always different from the previous gig. I mentioned some of the ideas I have had in order to market books earlier. However, I have an almost endless source of ideas. Some of these I have tried and so I should make them known to you.
14. If at first you don’t succeed
If you care to be a successful writer, the correct phrase to complete the chapter title isn’t, “Don’t become a bungee jumper!” You need to come up with plenty of ideas. Don’t limit yourself to only what others suggest. The sky’s the limit. I mentioned my thoughts driving home from the writers’ conference in Valley Forge. Unfortunately, none of them worked. My web site has had hits but not much financial success. In some ways though, the site has been beneficial and I hope it will eventually lead to an increase in book sales, even if people buy from Amazon.
WWW.BOBCOOKS.COM is the main approach to getting others to see what I have done. It has a great deal of information, including recipes, book recommendations, cancer cures and reviews of my books. There’s more than that. I described the scam, which wouldn’t have occurred without my site. I also received an email one day from an individual who got wind of my books and was interested in republishing my cookbook. The best part was that he said he had a marketing staff. When I heard that, I was thrilled. I had high hopes and it has been some time since this person contacted me so it hasn’t happened yet. I haven’t completely given up but with each passing day, hope seems to be fading, as recent attempts to contact him has produced no response.
Early in the year 2005, I decided to get my hair done at a friend’s place not far from my home. Michele not only does hair – she doesn’t just cut it – she also has a great voice and is a part of the Contemporary Music Ensemble, which I mentioned earlier. A few days after my encounter with her scissors, I asked if she’d like to sell my cookbook in her salon – I don’t think it would sell in a saloon! I told her I’d give her five books and she could keep 40% of the proceeds. She agreed.
Not long after that I stopped in to the boutique for another visit. When I gave my name to the woman behind the counter, she asked me for my autograph. I actually signed two that day. This was before for seeing eye dogs only was published, so I mentioned that book and was told that she wanted it too, as did another employee. A short time later, Michele handed me cash for the sale of five books.
I then proceeded to three other hair salons in the area with the same offer I made Michele. They all took on five copies of the cookbook and in the course of a few weeks, I sold a few copies. There was interest in the book and I even provided a brochure on all my books to entice sales. In November 2005, Michele saw that book sales were stagnant so I removed them from her establishment, which I had also done from the other three hair places. In the course of two months, I sold more books in three hair salons than I did in two bookstores over more than two years. Who said you have to sell books in a bookstore?
I have had many other ideas for selling books. When I told others, they remarked that what I came up with was a great idea. For example, I considered taking advantage of the characteristics of the recipes of my cookbook. Since not only are they are delicious, but also easy and healthy, why not try to market the book to vitamin and health food stores? I surfed the net and found some possibilities and sent emails and got a few responses. I sent out two or three copies of the book and got great feedback about my writing but no takers for adding the book to their establishments. I even went to a warehouse in the area that supplies a host of health stores. That sounded like a great opportunity. I dropped off a copy of the book and was assured that the person whom I was told to contact would get it. Somehow, that didn’t happen, so I dropped off another copy. I then tried to contact this guy but had no luck after leaving messages. I did this many times but you can only try for so long.
I still had the phone number of this individual who I couldn’t quite reach, but I wondered if I should forget this possibility and work on other ideas. There really was no reason to continue my effort to reach him but I dialed the phone anyway. He wasn’t there but the gentleman answering recommended that I send him an email, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. It was the right thing to do because within a few days, I dropped off twenty-four copies of The Read My Lips Cookbook.
Not long after the cookbook was published, I tried to get it into one of the grocery chains that has stores not only in Buffalo, but also in Rochester and a few other states. My creation had everything you could want in a cookbook – think healthy and delicious but don’t overlook selling power because of the humor. I sent the book out and then checked up on it, but no one knew where the book had landed. Then I was told to send it to a specific individual and I dropped it off to her. Unfortunately, I didn’t meet this person, although I tried. On calling and leaving messages for this human, I never heard back.
I didn’t give up but sent a copy of the book to an individual who writes a weekly food column for the corporation and thought she could be of some help. I wrote a letter to the company president, even sending him a copy of the book. I got nary a reply from either but finally, I got a phone call from a woman who wanted a copy of the book, so I sent one off. That was in November of 2005 and at this point, I had not given up. I finally talked to this woman and there seemed to still be a possibility of something happening. As a writer, one thing you need to do is never give up hope.
Fast forward to the end of the year 2006 and I’m doing a few exercises when the phone rings. It just so happens to be the woman I mentioned and she relates to me the fact that at this time, they won’t be selling my cookbook in their stores. I should add that this phone call came about because I sent another letter to the company president, about a month before. I was disappointed, but somehow accepted this fate. I asked her if she had read the book and her answer was in the negative. I can only ask how someone can make a decision on a book without reading it? C’est la vive.
Despite this, I didn’t give up and implored her to read the book and maybe the future might see my book in these stores. That reminds me of a time over a quarter a century ago when I was in Central Park in New York for a concert. I recall that the Brooklyn Bridge with Johnny Maestro was one of the acts but I can’t recall any of the others. Halfway through the event, the emcee came on and introduced John Lennon. He asked John if there would ever be a Beatle reunion. The singer replied, “You never know.” The emcee then questioned the celebrity as to the hope for such a future event. The former Beatle said, in the voice of a true politician, “There’s always hope!”
After my novel came out, I headed over to the casino in Niagara Falls. At that time this was the only casino in the cataract city and it was in New York. Now, Canada has the Fallsview Casino on their side of the border, among others. Actually, the book would be great for casinos since anyone reading it might stop buying lottery tickets and instead head over to these gambling places. I asked about getting the book into the gift shops but was told I had to call someone for information. I wrote the number down, went home and a few days later called. Unfortunately, they didn’t carry many books so that idea didn’t pan out.
At the same time I got in contact with a few gambling magazines in the hope of spreading the word on the novel. I emailed a woman named Monica, not Bill’s acquaintance. By the way, my mom’s middle name is also Monica but she was never an intern. This Monica was in Las Vegas working with some publishing company and I sent her a copy of the book. She said that even though they didn’t publish the book, they might try to sell it. However, that never happened. I tried to reach her again after that, but the person I talked to wasn’t interested in my book on dumb things that people say and do either. She said that Monica had left the company.
I mentioned the author at the writers’ conference who wouldn’t stop talking. He had written a cookbook or two so I listened to some of his ideas. His books were at some of the gift shops in the National Parks and he had plans for more, so I thought about that possibility. His cookbooks are theme related, i.e. historical, unlike mine but I figured I wouldn’t let that stand in my way. I secured a list of all the state parks in New York and sent out feelers for my cookbook in those locations. The response wasn’t very good although I did send out a few copies. One woman read the book and loved it but said that they wouldn’t carry it at that time. In fact, I added her kind words about it on the information page for the cookbook on my web site.
Because of the nature of the book with its eight chapters, I thought about the possibility of it becoming the New York State Cookbook. There are chapters in the book that talk about my living in various places in the state. In all there is a concluding chapter on Buffalo, two chapters on Westchester County as well as chapters on Binghamton and Syracuse. With that thought in mind, I sent a copy of the book to Governor George Pataki. He never warmed to the idea and perhaps never even opened the book. I did repeat the exercise with Governor Eliot Spitzer and he thanked me for it, but that was the last I heard. When we have a new governor, I’ll send it to that person too, and it doesn’t appear that I’ll have that long a wait.
When my 2005 book made the scene, I went to the National Park Service web site and sent an email about it. I got a very favorable response from a gentleman named David who thought that the book would do very well in the gift shops of the parks. He made this conclusion just from my description of the book and what he found on bobcooks.com and he gave me the phone number of a woman to contact who then passed on to me an email address of another woman. I emailed the latter but got no response so I got her phone number and called. It was obvious that she had not read my correspondence and had not been to my web site. She asked what the book was about and I told her but she figured that it didn’t fit in to the themes of the park. I thought people went on vacation to get away from the troubles of the world. Thus my book was perfect for every gift shop. Besides, wasn’t one of the themes of the park to make money? I didn’t relay those thoughts to her, though.
Somehow I convinced her to at least look at the book and sent her a copy. One thing David did mention was that the person whom I was to contact dealt with about 150 gift shops, which seemed promising and something that I should seriously pursue. David’s words were really encouraging but it was up to the woman, whose name escapes me. I got no response after a few weeks, so I called or emailed and her feelings hadn’t changed and needless to say I was very disappointed. I emailed David again with the tale of his fellow worker but he didn’t reply.
Before I got the bad news from this woman, David mentioned that I should contact the National Parks individually because of the way they are run and I started to do this. I sent out emails but the response was not very encouraging, so in December 2005, I sent out mailings with a query letter and two pages of book reviews that might entice gift shops in the parks to stock my books. I have not restricted consideration to a book or two as I feel that every one of my books has potential for sales in these places.
In January 2006, I began follow-up on these mailings. If you work with the National Park Gift Shops – and that may be a stretch – you must remember that the people you talk to work for the government, if I’m not mistaken. That’s the bad news. The good news for me is that I have written another book on comatose happenings – I will try to get it published in 2008 –and have gotten some material from my dealings with these people. So far, it looks as though I have wasted my time with regular mail when I should have just gone to the phone. Mail gets lost and never reaches the right person but the other option means you have to deal with “voice maze.” Email isn’t any better.
Using the telephone and getting through to the person you need to reach still has its problems, although some people might return your call. They may also say they are not interested. I talked to one woman who mentioned something I hear day after day in my endeavor with these gift shops: the books don’t relate to the theme of the park. She also mentioned limited space on the shelves for books. I thought about recommending the shelf space clearer whom I described earlier, but I thought better of it. Nonetheless, I must have said something right because I sent out two books to her that same day. Unfortunately, that was the last I heard from her.
A day after this conversation, I heard from a woman at another National Park to whom I had sent all four of my books. She said they were being reviewed and I should hear from the committee soon. I didn’t get my hopes up too high, even though she said she was reading one of the books and liked it, but I never heard from her again. Making phone calls may be the best approach, and you will get rejected by some, but you could have luck with others. You can’t succeed if you don’t try.
I had another strange adventure in the city I mentioned earlier, Savannah. To really get in the mood for this experience of mine, you should see the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and I also recommend the book by John Berendt – one of the best books that I read in 2007. I did both and then saw the movie again and things were clearer to me.
This all started back on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2005. I visited that same city on a business trip / vacation – I included the former description to get deductions for my taxes – and thought about visiting gift shops to place my books. I stopped in to three of them and asked if they carried authors other than local ones there. In each case I was told, yes, and given a business card since the person I should talk to wasn’t there. There seemed to be some hope and I enjoyed a delicious meal of blackened mahi-mahi over angel hair pasta at the Shrimp Factory on River Street. I had the shrimp at Bubba Gump in Daytona Beach the next night. I recommend both establishments.
Eventually I contacted the three gift shops by mail, but nothing came of it, but one day I got a phone call from Mohini Bhowani, owner of Gift World. She wanted to buy copies of the cookbook and book on missing intelligence capers. I shipped them and received her check shortly thereafter. I sent a letter a few months later asking if she needed any more books and if she wanted me to come and do a book signing. I didn’t hear anything but in early 2007, I decided to escape the cold of Buffalo and head south. One destination that I thought about was Savannah, possibly doing a signing on March 1.
I called the store ahead of time and when I told her who I was, the woman answering said I needed to talk to Mike, but he wasn’t in. She told me to call back, which I did and I had a conversation with him. He thought that would be a good time for a signing, as it would be warming up a bit. I sent him a flier and thought he’d email me, but I heard nothing. I called back again, but too late because the person I conversed with said Mike wouldn’t be in until Friday. However, I hoped to be in Mississippi by that time, away from the snow. She nevertheless encouraged me to come by anyway on my trip.
On March 1, 2007 just before noon I stopped in to Gift World and asked the woman handling t-shirts if the man I was looking for was in. She said, “Not until four o’clock,” but she said I should come back at 12:30 in the afternoon. I left and returned shortly as she directed, but was told that he wasn’t in and I had to come back at four. When I did so late in the afternoon, I met Haresh, the son of the owner and we talked and concluded that the signing would be more successful in a few months. I dreaded the heat of the summer but he said that the middle of May should be fine. I then mentioned that I had sent a flier and talked to Mike, but he replied that no one named Mike worked there. We agreed on May 15th or thereabouts, so I promised to send a flier and he in turn gave me his email address. I had a fine meal there that night at another restaurant, but not Paula Deens’.
I sent the stuff and emailed him shortly thereafter, but I didn’t call. Maybe I should have since he never contacted me. I didn’t return that spring to Gift World and I’m not sure what to do about the whole thing. Should I go back? Perhaps, the owner truly wanted to sell books, whereas her son wanted quicker and larger profits, such as from t-shirts. From the book by John Berendt I just described above, the citizens of the area want your tourist money but not for you to set up a business there. Toss into the mix the weird stuff that happens in Savannah and I think I figured it out – almost.
You can see from what I have been through that people don’t usually gives authors a break or any help. I have put ads in magazines, such as New York and either Woman’s Day or perhaps The Ladies Home Journal. I forget which; it was quite a while ago. The latter ad resulted in fifty hits a day to my web site but unfortunately, very few sales. Had I waited until I had a bit more experience selling and some good reviews on the cookbook, the outcome may have been different. I will probably get a few more ads placed in magazines that can produce results without a huge investment. An ad in Oprah Magazine will reach millions, but you’ll spend thousands of dollars.
The key here is not to spend a great deal of money to do this. Any free advertising is well worth it. I thought about advertising my web site, with a special emphasis on the recipes and my 2005 book, in the parish bulletins of churches in Western New York. My plan was to do it for a year but cover a few churches, say four churches for three months each. When I got material on the procedure, that idea seemed doable. However, the woman in charge mentioned that I could only have my ad in one church bulletin and I would have to do it for an entire year, with no splits.
I tried to explain that my approach would still give their organization the same amount of cash, with a bit more work but there would be an advantage, insofar as the blank spaces on the back page of the bulletins would be minimized. This would actually be beneficial to them. Logical as my argument was, she didn’t buy it. I decided to try it anyway and in December 2005, I had my ad, which would be the same week after week in a parish about five miles from my home for one whole year. That turned out to be money I could have used to buy beer.
I also got involved with Val-Pak, which is a means of spreading advertising for various companies in the area through mass mailings. Basically each business has a coupon that tells of their product and offers some kind of discount in order to get a sale. It wasn’t cheap and I was required to do it for multiple months. After the coupons were created, I received some of these extra ones so I figured, why waste them? I put the surplus around the mailboxes of some of my neighbors, but not in them because that’s illegal. I did get a few sales from the Val-Pak attempt but it really wasn’t that successful an endeavor, as I didn’t get back my investment.
This came about when I lived in East Aurora and for daily exercise, I used to walk down the roads near my house. I was a bit leery during hunting season when the air was filled with gunshots. I’ve heard of cows being shot accidentally and am allergic to bullets in my body. I didn’t really want any more surgery. I had enough already. However, one day while I strolled down West Blood Road, one of the neighbors doing some yard work, asked if I was Bob Swiatek, and I replied that indeed I was. It doesn’t take long for word to get out. We talked for a while but he didn’t buy any books.
Somehow, my effort was introducing me to the public. I was getting experience, costly as it might have been. I didn’t really see the big picture of what was going on. And yet that happens to each of us. A few things that occurred years ago would not really have meaning in my life until the new millennium. There are two slightly different words for this occurrence of events in our lives: serendipity and synchronicity. Some events almost didn’t occur, as the next chapter will explain.
15. Plant the potatoes now
An old man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his potato garden but it was very hard work as the ground was hard. His only son Fred, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.
Dear Fred,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.
Love DadA few days later he received a letter from his son. Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, don't dig up that garden! That's where I buried the BODIES.
Love Fred
At 4 am the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Dad,Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love Fred
I hope you enjoyed this heartwarming story and got a good laugh. You may have wondered where it was leading and that is precisely why I included it. Over the course of our lives, events occur that we really wonder about. There I go again ending a sentence with a preposition! These happenings may make no sense for many years. Some of them may be painful, physical as well as mental but eventually, we see the light.
In an earlier chapter, I mentioned Antwone Quenton Fisher’s book, Finding Fish. One of the quotes you will read in this book by a young man facing difficult odds growing up is, “Everything that happened did so for a reason, at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way.” I’m sure many people agree with his assessment and I am no exception. I already mentioned what led me to write my first book, but a few other events occurred and certain individuals came into my life over the years that played a huge part in my becoming a writer.
Had I not ventured off to Binghamton in the fall of 1970, I may never have gotten my four books published. I may never have even started any of them. That should be quite clear. There were people and events that brought this move about. I recall one day in 1968 that I received two pieces of mail. The first was a notification that I had been granted a teaching assistantship at Seton Hall University. The second wasn’t anywhere near as welcome – my draft status had been changed to 1-A by the United States government. This meant I could be drafted into the U.S. Army, see the world – at least Vietnam – courtesy of Uncle Sam. I thank God that I never had a chance to be any part of the military service. I like to travel, but not to ‘Nam in the late 60s! Besides being allergic to el toro crappo, I had more than my share when I spent two long, never-ending years in ROTC at Canisius College, all because the school had no physical education classes. This mail had a great deal to do with my leaving Buffalo that fall.
Yet, there were other events and people that affected what I am doing today. I have mentioned some of them but not all. There are days that we experience and people who sneak into our lives and then leave just as mysteriously that become part of the big picture and we don’t realize it. What would have happened if I had not written down the name of the book by Dan Poynter? I may never have had my books published. On the other hand, perhaps a royalty company may have gotten my career as a writer started. From my experience throughout the early part of 2007, I don’t believe that would have occurred.
An event happened just after my 2005 book was published that I should relate. I have an email list of addresses. I don’t spam people but every so often may send out a mass mailing, for some good reason. If I send jokes and the like, they have to be gutbusters, not to be confused with ghostbusters. I don’t recommend this type of communication. Instead, if you can, take advantage of your service provider to accomplish the same feat by individually emailing one person after another the same material. It will take longer, but it should be beneficial, and if you get into a rhythm, you can do a lot of copying and make it appear to be personal when every gets the same email.
One of the people whose address I had was Sue LoTempio of the Buffalo News, whom I mentioned earlier. She has a great deal to do with writers and the literary community in Western New York, although I didn’t realize it at the time. I don’t recall how I initially got in contact with her but I had sent her emails about some of my book signings, especially a fundraiser for tsunami relief. I didn’t hear from her and I was about to delete her email address from my list of people, but somehow, I didn’t.
When my book came out in June 2005, I emailed her about it. About three weeks later, she sent me information about Gusto at the Gallery on Friday, November 4, 2005, a free event at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery that would showcase local authors. Sue asked me if I wanted to get involved as well as provide the names of other Western New York writers who would like to be a part of that evening. I responded by saying I would be interested and gave her the name of Diane Newton – who I mentioned before – an author of award winning suspense from Lockport, a town northeast of Buffalo, as well as founder of the Authors Guild that I mentioned earlier.
Diane helped immensely by providing the names of people who should be invited and the Authors Guild became a main part of the evening. There were a host of local authors that night and in addition a group of work sessions were set up, each being an hour. There was a panel discussion in addition to stints on writing children’s books, how to publish, a non-fiction workshop and mystery writing. I got roped into a session on writing humor. If you’ve gotten this far in the book, you can probably figure out why I was assigned that hour slot. There was a great deal of interest in these sessions and overall the night was a huge success. I may not have been a part of the evening had I dropped Sue LoTempio from my email address list. You never know – I’m not talking here about LOTTO tickets!
The story doesn’t end there. At first I was reluctant to do the gig, at least the work session, but then I figured I can do it. I started writing about the role humor plays in books and I had quite a few ideas, which developed into a number of pages on the subject. In fact, I got so gung-ho that I put a page on my web site about writing humor. You can’t miss it if you go to my home page. Before the big night, I decided on a different approach. Instead of giving a boring lecture, followed by a time for questions, I decided on starting with the latter. Since this was supposed to be a “work session,” I figured it was for the people, so I would get them involved right away. After an hour had passed, I would probably have talked about most of what I had initially written anyway. In fact that was the case.
Those of you who use your heads for more than keeping your ears apart and never became a part of for seeing eye dogs only or any of its coming sequels – there seems to be no absence of material – have probably realized that this book evolved from that work session. One thing you don’t know is that I met some great people in the session, even had my groupies there and that night, sold a few books besides. Had I not done the hour, I probably would never have heard of Non Campus Mentis, which I described earlier. Moreover, the gentleman who talked about that book and was kind enough to email me its title, since I probably wouldn’t have remembered it, has the same last name as mine. His first name is Ken, the same first and last name as my younger brother.
I could go on, so I will, since you can’t stop me. I liked the book by Anders Henriksson so much that I went to the web site on the back cover of the book and ordered two copies of it from a bookstore in Brockport, New York, about fifty miles from here. I also sent out two emails in the hope that I might be able to peddle some of my latest book, since it too is about missing intelligence. So far, I got one response and before long I dropped off copies of all my books at the Lift Bridge Book Shop in Brockport. Perhaps I can sell a few books there, and remember, most stores won’t sell your books if they aren’t on the premises. I have included a sample of Non Campus Mentis in the last chapter.
Little things can make a difference and you can’t despair despite all the el toro crappo thrown at you. Just make sure you wear a raincoat, or the clothes you plan to wear to the Gallagher concert. As bad as it seems, it might get worse, but don’t lose hope. More likely, your perseverance will eventually reap