Comments on: [Resource of the Day] – Can Giving Away Ebooks Boost Sales of Print Books? http://www.seanjjordan.com/2008/07/14/resource-of-the-day-can-giving-away-ebooks-boost-sales-of-print-books/ by Sean J. Jordan Sat, 05 Nov 2011 08:07:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: SeanJJordan http://www.seanjjordan.com/2008/07/14/resource-of-the-day-can-giving-away-ebooks-boost-sales-of-print-books/comment-page-1/#comment-44 SeanJJordan Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:26:58 +0000 http://www.seanjjordan.com/2008/07/14/resource-of-the-day-can-giving-away-ebooks-boost-sales-of-print-books/#comment-44 Hi Neil, Thanks for the comment. My intention in the statement was to caution small publishers not to get big dollar signs in their eyes since this was clearly a unique situation, and since an increase of sales of 40% has a very different meaning to a bestselling author than it does to a writer who is just starting out. Since we're not talking about hard figures, we have to assume that numbers that are impressive to you should be impressive to us as well. With that said, increased sales of 300% are stunning on any scale, and I stand corrected if I seem to be downplaying that achievement in my post! I'm thrilled to see the eBook model working as a marketing tool, and I'm glad that it had a positive impact on indy bookstores with respect to your books. This is an interesting case to talk about, and I hope that good things come of it for the publishing industry as a whole. As a big proponent of relationship marketing, I can't imagine a better way for publishers to get in touch with their readers. Hi Neil,

Thanks for the comment. My intention in the statement was to caution small publishers not to get big dollar signs in their eyes since this was clearly a unique situation, and since an increase of sales of 40% has a very different meaning to a bestselling author than it does to a writer who is just starting out. Since we’re not talking about hard figures, we have to assume that numbers that are impressive to you should be impressive to us as well. With that said, increased sales of 300% are stunning on any scale, and I stand corrected if I seem to be downplaying that achievement in my post!

I’m thrilled to see the eBook model working as a marketing tool, and I’m glad that it had a positive impact on indy bookstores with respect to your books. This is an interesting case to talk about, and I hope that good things come of it for the publishing industry as a whole. As a big proponent of relationship marketing, I can’t imagine a better way for publishers to get in touch with their readers.

]]> By: Neil Gaiman http://www.seanjjordan.com/2008/07/14/resource-of-the-day-can-giving-away-ebooks-boost-sales-of-print-books/comment-page-1/#comment-43 Neil Gaiman Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:48:04 +0000 http://www.seanjjordan.com/2008/07/14/resource-of-the-day-can-giving-away-ebooks-boost-sales-of-print-books/#comment-43 Are you taking with a grain of salt the statement that putting up American Gods online had increased "sales of all my titles up 40% through independent bookshops". (Sales of American Gods itself went up 300% overall during the 5 week period it was online, but there was also some promotion going on in the chains, which messes up the figures.) That's a lot of books. (They also sold 1600 copies of American Gods online through a buy it now button. That's not a lot of books, but it's still interesting.) Are you taking with a grain of salt the statement that putting up American Gods online had increased “sales of all my titles up 40% through independent bookshops”. (Sales of American Gods itself went up 300% overall during the 5 week period it was online, but there was also some promotion going on in the chains, which messes up the figures.)

That’s a lot of books.

(They also sold 1600 copies of American Gods online through a buy it now button. That’s not a lot of books, but it’s still interesting.)

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