January 17, 2006
I will arise and tango now
Emmis's new distributor has finally gotten things sorted out, which means that Holy Tango is finally available from Amazon again. (Also, Amazon reviews? Those things actually do help sell books. If you enjoyed the book, please consider writing one.) Now that the book can be readily bought without scouring used bookstores, it seems like a good time to reflect on this "giving books away" experiment.
In the 3 weeks or so between offering the book for free and Christmas, the book sold 130 retail copies, which is not going to get me on any best-seller lists, but is significantly better than the 3 copies I sold the week before releasing the eBook. Also, that number doesn't include any used copies (of which Amazon also sold out), or copies sold through Daedalus (which bought a block of books in bulk from Emmis), so the total number is probably closer to 180. And lots of people ended up spreading the word about the book. All in all, I consider the experiment a success.
In other news, author Carl Lennertz (founder of BookSense, now in marketing at HarperCollins) recently started a blog, and it turns out he's a Holy Tango fan -- he's been featuring excerpts from the book. Cool!
Posted by Francis at 02:24 PMFrancis, I know you're still workin' this Holy Tango thing, but I'm ready for the sequel. How long must I wait? How long?!?
Posted by: Orange at January 18, 2006 10:39 AMGeez, I restart Six Things and now you want a Holy Tango sequel! There's no pleasing some people.
Posted by: Francis at January 18, 2006 10:56 AMDunno if it got counted, but I got Holy Tango from Overstock after reading it online. During a meeting. In which I almost fell out of my chair several times. Especially whilst reading "Likeable Wilma."
Posted by: Dan at January 18, 2006 01:57 PMNot to mention the hordes of admirers it has created. (You may or may not be aware of pockets of Holy Tango fannishness out there, but, trust me, they exist!)
Anyway, I tried to find copies of it to give away for xmas gifts, but, sadly, no dice. Now, however, I can stock up for gifts over the course of the year!
Posted by: CC at January 18, 2006 02:09 PMI'm very demanding, but I'm worth it.
Posted by: Orange at January 18, 2006 02:30 PMYour book's being offered as a package deal with "The Underminer: The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life." Have you got enemies?
Posted by: Jess at January 19, 2006 03:08 PMI do, but that's not why my book is offered as half of that package. Mike Albo's book was featured alongside mine in an issue of Cargo last year. I expect quite a few people bought both books at the same time, and Amazon seems to pair books together by seeing, among people who bought a given book, what other book was bought most often.
Posted by: Francis at January 19, 2006 03:26 PMOh, and CC, having read your blog now, let me say that between women who post topless or semi-topless shots of themselves to their blogs and women who hook up with guys on Craigslist, I clearly have the best fans in the world.
Posted by: Francis at January 23, 2006 08:55 AM