I am feeling sad and frustrated at the dearth of sales of Diary of a Plate Addict. I really did believe that I could sell 300 copies here in Raleigh. Two days in, and I have sold less than 1/10th of that total. Yup, 28 copies sold in Raleigh. Mostly to my best friends and long time beerknurd acquaintances. Which is understandable. Sure, some of them haven't ponied up the cash and probably won't. Thence begins my confusion. Diary of a Plate Addict is a souvenir book - it is full of pictures and little things that will sneak up on people - like all of the plates in the background, like the flip book, like all of the different glasses that are used as page numbers. Yes, it is expensive. But it is not a cheap book to have printed. It is, almost, a coffee table book. I had even contemplated making it into a coffee table book - hard cover, or at least heavily laminated, with a metal o ring type binding, but I am, now, glad I didn't. People balk at $25 for the book - what would they do if it were $45!
But is it truly price that is keeping people away in droves? I don't think so. Last night there were probably 300 people in the bar in the 4 hours I was there. How many people came up and asked about the book? Not one. Not a single person came up and asked me about it or took a look at it. So they didn't even know how much it cost.
What confuses me most, though, is the servers. Not one server has bought a copy. The ones I have harangued, only a little I hope, have all claimed poverty! Really? Most of the servers take home between $200 and $400 dollars in a night. Many of them have waited on me many many times and I have consistently tipped them decently. I am tempted to say to them (though I haven't) "Hey, sorry, I can't afford to tip you." One server told me about their $1000 debt or something - I basically stopped listening when she said she couldn't afford it. Really? A whole whopping $1000 debt? I laugh in retrospect. Another said she was poor - both of them I saw out drinking the night before. How much did they spend on their night out? $20? $50? $100? More?
Maybe people just don't buy books anymore. Well, that isn't the case according to Amazon! And this isn't a typical book - this is more of a souvenir than a book. True, it is interesting to read if one takes the time to do so. And the pictures are pretty good - even though taken by a bad photographer with an old point and click digital camera. But still...
I hate selling. I really do. It is part of the reason I never went into professional theatre or film - the idea of selling myself over and over and over again just didn't appeal at all. Sadly, selling books is very much like selling myself. And I hate it.
The reason this is in the writing blog is because, as a writer, I really enjoy the process of creating the work. But selling it is just frustrating as all get out! And they are both parts of the package. Glarp.
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