In fact, there are many workable reasons NOT to be in bookstores:

• You do not have to pay a distributor, who will take a cut of your profits.
  
• You dont have to worry about shipping and returns.
  
• You do not have to fight for shelf space.

In most cases, selling direct to the public, or through bulk sales to institutions, is a much better way to turn your book into a revenue stream. With the Internet, tradeshows and other events, and seminars, you have multiple ways to sell direct, pocket 100% of the profits, and save yourself the hassle of trying to get into Borders.

I also recommend selling on Amazon.com. They do take a substantial chunk of your sales price, but its a wonderful way to build buzz about your book. Otherwise, unless you can truly benefit from the prestige of being on the bookshelves, leave the bookstores to John Grisham and Stephen King.

Pursue bulk sales.

Ninety percent of new authors are only focused with grasping all the people into bookstores to buy their book. And its grand if you can do that, but I give them all the identical advice: do not overlook bulk sales. They might turn your book from a funds -loser into a profit center in a few months. Bulk sales are a gold mine.

What do I mean by bulk sales? I mean selling your books in large quantities to an organization, which could mean anything from a corporation to a school district to a non-profit group to a church. You will have to give the organization a price break for buying in bulk, but you will get dozens, hundreds or even thousands of your books into peoples hands, which dramatically adds your word-of-mouth and viral marketing.

Promoting bulk sales is a pretty straightforward deal. Simply look at your book and ask yourself what companies, organizations or affinity groups would be interested in the book for their employees or members. If youve written a book on corporate team building, generate a list of corporations where you have personal contacts. If your book is about exercise for seniors, try contacting AARP. And so on. Marketing bulk sales is usually about personal contact, either by letter or direct mail.

When youre going after bulk sales, try to get to the "gatekeepers," the everybody who might make the decisions for a large organization. It makes much more sense to talk to 20 many people who have the potential between them to order 10,000 books than to sell them one at a time. Even if you only get orders from three of those gatekeepers, you will sell a few thousand books.

Be sure to offer a great bulk rate discount for your bulk buyers. The more books they buy, the bigger the price break. If they buy over 1,000, give them 50% off. You will still build some cash and you will start winning readers.

Always contruct your mailing and electronic mail lists.

There are two kinds of lists: physical mailing address lists and email lists, and you should always be building both. They are your promotional lifelines to your potential readers and customers, and everything you do to advertise your book should have some component that gathers personal contact understanding of prospective buyers.

The best way to make your list is quite simple: get people to come to your Website, offer them something of assessment of value, and require them to give you (at a minimum) their title and e mail address to acquire it. The kinds of things you can offer:

• Downloadable excerpts from your book.
  
• A subscription to your e-news letter .
  
• An advance discount on your book.
  
• An audio CD or other ancillary product.

Be creative. Is there something that pushes your target audiences buttons? Offer it to them. This kind of "opt-in" list, where people consent to receiving future understanding from you, is the gold standard of marketing.

Some other reputable ways you can make your list:

• Take names or business cards at a tradeshow or conference.
  
• Membership lists from organizations of which you are a member
  
• Get respected colleagues to e mail their lists asking their contacts to go to your web site to find something of worth to them.

But always, always be building your list. And contruct sure that your database software is solid, proven, regularly maintained, and backed up weekly.