Book Roundup

As the end of the year approaches (!) I am trying to get a handle on the Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed(room)? books I have out on consignment. The St. Louis Genealogical Society has had 5 of the books since day one and I have received no payment from them. The weekend before last when I was in their office I noticed that only 2 books remain on the shelf. Have they sold 3? My neighbor bought 1 there, so I know I am owed for at least that book. The lady in charge of the shop is a little hard to get in contact with, so I have sent her an email and hope to hear back from her soon.

The Webster Groves Historical Society is the easiest to deal with. They had sold 3 more copies of the book, so I went over there yesterday and was paid in cash for those. While I was there, a local woman was looking through the original Webster Groves tax books in an attempt to research the history of her home. She has checked my book out of the library a couple of times, so she was familiar with me. I gave her a few pointers on other places to look. It was a little disconcerting to hear her say that our library told her they have nothing except my book (yay!) and a CD with a spreadsheet on it listing some of the tax payments. There is so much more at the library than that! When our library renovation is complete I definitely want to schedule a session on how to research the history of your home.

The current president of the historical society asked me (again) to serve on their board. Unfortunately their board meeting conflicts with the St. Louis Publishers Association meetings, so I just can't do it. I told her (again) that I would really like to work with the archivist in organizing the historical society collection. No one knows exactly what we have, which is a shame. That is when she told me that the archivist left this summer to move to Oklahoma. She then wanted to know if I would take over. I explained that I am not an archivist - I am quite sure there are things one should know about handling and storing the old records. (Such as the fact that our original real estate tax records dating back to 1897 should not be on metal shelves close to the floor in an old building!) I really would love to help, but I am a bit concerned that if I step forward I will be biting off way more than I want to chew. I'll have to do a lot of thinking on that.

Today will head over to Puddn'head Books. The last time I was in there they were getting ready to move across the street, so we decided that I would bring more books over after the move. At that time they only had one book left on the shelf and I had given her 9 the time before. So I will be looking to collect some money there as well.

All of this points to one of the biggest drawbacks of self-publishing. In addition to being the author and the publisher, you also become your own distributor - at least in St. Louis where the one distributor was driven out of business when Borders collapsed. This means you have to be responsible for getting your books out in the market, tracking them and collecting payments. Definitely not the fun part of the job.

I'm Excited!

Tonight the President of the Webster Groves Historical Society called and asked if I would be interested in doing a talk on house research for the society. Would I, would I? Peg leg, peg leg. Oh wait, that's an old joke. They would like to hold it in the Hearth Room behind the Hawken House, and of course they would want me to have my books available as well. They will take care of all the publicity. She said she thinks it is a really interesting topic, and mentioned how great it would be for the audience to hear about it from the author. That's me! How cool is that?

This is exactly what I want to do with my book - help people get started with the researching process. I always figured that I would be able to sell more books with presentations than through a book store, and I really enjoy public speaking. Weird, I know. I used to do it all the time at my old job, and still give classroom presentations to kids about composting. But I love working with adults, especially if they are interested in the topic. (Not always the case in my former job - doctors did not always like to learn about why they were being sued for malpractice.)

The calendar has not been set yet, so I don't know when my talk will be (somewhere between March and August was all she knows at this point), but now I have the proper motivation to get my presentation put together. Who's been sleeping in YOUR bedroom?

More Places to Buy the Book

The St. Louis Genealogical Society has agreed to sell my book on consignment at the office store, so yesterday I dropped off five copies. Their agreement is to keep $5.00 of every book sold, leaving me with $12.00 (they round the book price up so they don't have to deal with change.) That is actually more money then I'll make selling through a book store.

My second stop of the day on Thursday was to the gift shop of the Webster Groves Historical Society. I had agreed to donate a book for the Webster-Kirkwood Friendship dance, which has a silent auction going on in addition to dinner and dancing. All the money raised during the auction will benefit the two high schools, even though this dance is put on by the two historical societies. While dropping off the book, I inquired about the possibility of having the local historical society sell my book in the gift shop. They readily agreed, so I left five books on consignment with them. I'll donate 20% of the book price on each book sold to the organization. they have a boutique and open house coming up on December 6th, so that should be good exposure for the book.

Better than agreeing to carry my books in the gift shop is the fact that they asked if I would do a presentation next year at one of the historical society meetings. They would like me to do a program on how to get started with your research, and sign copies of the book. Yes!