Well, Boys and Girls - this is the 150th blog post on Hungry Tiger Talk. I hope you have been enjoying it.
While I have enjoyed sharing interesting and rare items from my collection, telling tales of my Ozzy exploits, and serving as an all-things-Oz news hub, on some basic level this blog was created for mercenary purposes. It was meant to promote Hungry Tiger Press and, more specifically, our on-line store. And frankly, the blog hasn't done diddly-squat for sales.
Most of you seem to have a fondness for L. Frank Baum's writings. Have you tried any of his non-Oz books? The two Flying Girl books are among the finest books he ever wrote!
We have both collected editions of Eric Shanower and Skottie Young's Oz graphic novels for sale.If you order them from us, Eric Shanower will be delighted to sign them for you! We have three very inexpensive graphic novels reprinting Walt Spouse's very rare 1930s Oz comic strip! Seriously, come check them out!
And we have published several really terrific and beautiful traditional Oz titles: Edward Einhorn's superb Living House of Oz, Eric Shanower's Salt Sorcerer of Oz, and Eloise Jarvis McGraw's The Rundelstone of Oz.
We also have a beautiful edition of Ruth Plumly Thompson's Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz available, as well as the only complete edition of Thompson's rare first novel, The Wish Express.
There is so much else as well. Come look around the store! Do you really have everything? If so, how about getting an Oz or Baum book for a kid you know?
Lastly, please spread the word about the TIGER TALK blog and Hungry Tiger Press, if you can. And here's to the next 150 blogs!
It seems to me that your Oz books aren't selling well because they are overpriced. Seeing it from the customer's point of view, they don't want to pay a whole bunch of money for a book. And, yes, there is the whole concept of supply vs. demand, and it could be that the demand is very high, which would justify the high price. If that is so, then maybe promoting your books would take a little more effort than simply publishing a blog. (Don't get me wrong. Blogs are fantastic tools for promoting and selling products, but sometimes other things need to be done in addition.) Have you tried using Amazon to promote? They do just as well for promoting as for selling. I can recommend a book called "Sell Your Book on Amazon," by Brent Sampson. I was a little bit gun-shy about buying that book because it got some bad reviews, but I just got started reading it, and the information in it is very helpful for publishers as well as for authors, and it's very well written.
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder why you think our Oz books are overpriced. They are the same prices we had on them when we started on Oz books twelve years ago. $24.95 for a 250 page, cloth bound, illustrated hardcover, with extras like cover-stamping and pictorial endpapers just doesn't seem pricey, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteAnd the 4000 people that bought PARADOX in the late 90s never expressed any concern over the price tag that I recall.
Somehow I thought that they were paperbacks. I don't know why.
ReplyDeleteBooks of Wonder does books exactly the way that you specified, and I have bought books from them before, so what I told you as far as price wasn't exactly truthful, I have to admit.
I can only suggest that a more aggressive approach to promotion besides blogging could also boost your sales. I don't know exactly what else you're doing, but anyway, it was just a thought.
So, the bottom line is, my comment wasn't intended to be condescending, but helpful, rather. So, I can only say I'm sorry if what I wrote seemed patronizing.
No Problem - I'm looking for differing opinions and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteActually our books are a bit more decorative than BOOKS OF WONDER's are. Most BOW books don't have decorated endpaapers (much less color endpapers)nor do they have have front cover stamping. For ourhe new Oz books we've tried hard to make them as classy as possible.