Christopher Columbus

Brian Jud is an author, book-marketing consultant, seminar leader, television host and president of Premium Book Company, which sells books to non-bookstore buyers on a non-returnable, commission-only basis and conducts on-site training for publishers' sales forces.

Brian is the author of "How to Make Real Money Selling Books (Without Worrying About Returns)," a do-it-yourself guide to selling books to non-bookstore buyers in large quantities, with no returns. He has written many articles about book publishing and marketing, is the author of the eight e-booklets with "Proven Tips for Publishing Success," and creator of the series of "Book Marketing Wizards." He is also the editor of the bi-weekly newsletter, "Book Marketing Matters."

Brian is the host of the television series "The Book Authority" and has aired over 650 shows. In addition, he is the author, narrator and producer of the media-training video program "You're On The Air."

Reach Brian at BrianJud@BookMarketing.com or visit his website at www.PremiumBookCompany.com

Some independent publishers use what I like to refer to as the Christopher Columbus method of planning:

  • They do not know where they are going.
  • When they get there they do not know where they are.
  • And when they return, they do not know where they have been.

This is not a good way to run a business.

You can avoid this situation by writing a strategic, functional plan to market your books. Your plan should identify the most promising business opportunities. It should clarify your goals and the procedures you will use to move toward them efficiently. And it should integrate all the elements of a complete promotional mix into a strategic program to launch coordinated action. For a view of a new planning formula, look through these "ize"s.

There is a very good piece on the AAUP Web site about some developments in the university press world concerning so-called short-form publishing. Long-form means book length. Something is short-form when it is longer than an article and less than a book. In fiction we would call this a novella, but we don’t really have a term for this for nonfiction, unless we go back in time and raise the specter and form of the pamphleteers of the 18th century. O Thomas Paine, where art thou?

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