Tips for Buying, Selling and Publishing Books
Looking For Interesting Books
To find the most interesting books in a library, look for the shelf where returned books are stored before they are reshelved.
-- Andy Steinberg
Spotting A Good Book
You can tell a book by its cover. The nicer the cover, the better the publisher and the more experienced the author.
-- Carolyn Lloyd
Estimating Lengths
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Most books average 5 letters per word, 10 words per line, and 40 lines per page.
-- Norman Brenner
Buying A Good Book
If you’re considering buying a book, open it at random and read a page. Do this three times. If you haven’t stumbled onto a vital part of the story at least once, don’t buy the book.
-- Gene Wolfe
Consulting For Publishers
If small publishers contact you, they’re usually short on time, money, or knowledge. If they call you more than once, they have boxes of unsold books in their garage. If they insist on hiring you, even if you decline, their partner is on their back about wasting money on the publishing venture.
-- Cliff Martin
Selling Books
A book of poetry sells no more than 800 copies, on average.
-- Scott Parker
Setting The Price Of A Book
When pricing a nonfiction book, estimate the cost of producing the first printing (including royalties). Then set a tentative list price that will allow you to make a 20 percent pretax profit if the first printing sells.
-- Richard Balkin
Selling Books
Ten percent of bookstore customers buy 90 percent of the books. Ten percent never buy anything.
-- Dave Ewan
Stocking A Bookstore
If you stock six of any bookstore item, you’ll sell three in one week, two more in one month, and still have the last one when you retire.
-- Dave Ewan
Book Publishing
If you ask a publisher if a new book is selling well, and she replies, “It’s too soon to tell,” – it isn’t – and it isn’t.
-- Walter Pitkin
Remembering A Book
For every worthwhile book you read, there will be one statement or story you’ll remember for a decade or longer.
-- Scott Parker
Publishing A Book
You can hype a book by a famous author to 250,000 copies. After that, success or failure depends upon word of mouth.
-- John Gill
Selling Science Fiction
Science fiction books with green covers don’t sell as well as those with blue covers.
-- Anonymous
Manage Your Collection
If you don’t remember what a book is about, it doesn’t belong in your collection. Donate it to your local library.
-- James Erwin
Determing If A Book Is Good
You should give a book 50 pages, and if you don’t like it, don’t bother. If you’re over 50, subtract your age from 100 and read that number of pages.
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-- Trevor Diamond
People Who Doodle
People who like to doodle make the least eye contact with others.
-- Dave Agresti
-- Compiled from RulesOfThumb.org
