FridayFix™: Your ALL-PRO & THE MVP preorders have been cancelled!

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ALL-PRO & MVP pre-orders cancelled

THE ALL-PROThe short version: All existing preorders for THE ALL-PRO and THE MVP will be cancelled any minute now because we’re switching distributors. A new preorder for each book will be up in the next couple of weeks. I’m sorry about the extra work, and do hope you’ll come back and preorder again! The silver lining here that the books will come out a month sooner, on September 3, 2013.

The long version: Back in 2011 we partnered with Diversion Books, a publisher, and Perseus, a distributor, to put THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER into stores all over the US and Canada. We did a bunch of number crunching and soul searching, then decided we could manage printing 3,000 copies of each title. Then Perseus’ sales team got reallllllllllly excited about the books, and by the time we went to print, we’d agreed to print 10,000 copies of each. We’d print a ton, Perseus would do co-ops to get the books on the front-of-store tables, cover-out at airport bookstores, and we’d be The Next Big Thing. We reasoned that, out of all of us, we knew the least about distribution, therefore we’d take the advice of the pros and soon cash in all them monies.

THE MVPAnd then … nothing like that happened. We printed the 10,000 books, and everything else fell flat. No co-op (for reasons we still don’t understand), no airports, no marketing. And no Next Big Thing, of course. We sold okay, but not for an initial print run of 10,000 books. (Sadly, had we stuck with our initial projections, we’d have done GREAT and be getting ready for our second print run.)

It’s been rough. Scott and I hate to lose, and hate to give everything we’ve got and have that not make a damn bit of difference. And that’s exactly what happened here. But, we are also people who don’t much cry over spilt milk. It is what it is, and it’s time to move onward and upward.

To that end, we’re changing distributors. Perseus will ship the remaining inventory for THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER to our new distributor, and we’ll start fresh with THE ALL-PRO and THE MVP. Because the ISBN for a book is tethered to the distributor, we’ll lose all the preorders when that ISBN effectively goes away.

As ever, we’re moving forward and working harder to bring you guys the best stuff we can.

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About The Author

I'm the Director of Døøm here at Empty Set Entertainment, and a founding partner at Audacity Events, a San Diego based management company that builds world class events and manages one-of-a-kind talent.  I'm a movie geek, Doctor Who fan, skeptic and science nerd. I don't like chocolate all that much.

Comments

  2. ARealGirl

    Thanks for the offer, but you’re spot on: we have great collegues at Diversion Books (who are *mostly* but not entirely ebooks) but all of us together weren’t making a dent with the distributor.

    In fact, it’s the team at Diverson helping forge the transition path.

    Reply
  3. Katsushiro

    Hey, really sorry to hear about the publishing and distrubution issues. If it helps at all, I have a pretty good contact at Diversion Books (tho I thought they were ebooks only?), their recently hired main Marketing person. I could put in a good word or make a connection there if you need it? Sounds like your main problem was with Pegasus doing the brick and mortar distribution, after all. Either way, wishing you guys the best of luck and success with the new distributor!

    Reply
  4. ARealGirl

    Giant pain in the ass doesn’t even begin to cover it.

    We distribute all the hardcovers, but the way bookstores work, as you might imagine, is kind of an old boys club. Each bookstore, which now mostly means Barnes & Noble in the US, has a computer system with ordering software that draws from the few distribution houses that are well entrenched and part of the system. 

    So, we’re too small to bother with from where they sit without working through one of the bigger houses.

    Anyway, I do enough. I don’t need to add every remaining bookstore in North America to my list of things-to-do.  🙂

     

    Reply
  5. BubbaDOOM

    Just litened to the podcast. Stupid question: couldn’t ya’ll start your own distribution/pub. house business? From what I’ve seen over the years you guys are smart hard working entrepreneurs. Or would that just be a giant pain in the ass?

    Reply
  6. scottsigler

    @Octopon: As BigJohn mentioned, these are for THE ALL-PRO and THE MVP, books III and IV, respectively. If you’re thinking of the big paperback sale of THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER, then yes, those shipped. 

    Reply
  7. BigJohn

    This is regarding the paperbacks. Only The Rookie and The Starter have shipped in paperback; The All-Pro and MVP have not.

    Reply

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