Author! Author!

I've been interviewed on the BusinessInfoGuide.com website. Take a look, leave a comment, buy my book, find lots of good info on the site.

Found

I thought the Russian publisher of my book had gone out of business. I wasn't able to find them for a long time and my contact didn't answer my emails, so I just figured they were gone. But it turns out they are not.

Grevtsov is still there, and so is my book. And there are more reviews on the Russian publisher's site (9) than there are on Amazon.com (2).

I'm still trying to get it translated and published in Vietnam, as I'm writing articles for two different supply chain magazines in that country.

New Site

I set up a new, dedicated, website for the book. I'm still in the process of adding the shopping cart and more information. It's supposed to be easy with the web hosting company I'm using (1&1), but it's not quite as easy for me as I expected. Plus it takes some chunks of time that I find difficult.

But, the basic page is up, I'm working on the shopping cart, and will be adding more content soon.

Stay tuned.

Lessons Learned

Some lessons learned:

1) Don't believe everything you read.

2) Don't ship U.S. Postal Media Mail if you want something to get somewhere anytime soon. Refer to #1 when reading the USPS website regarding transit times for Media Mail.

3) Do NOT ship U.S. Postal Media Mail if shipping from Hawaii (or Alaska) if you want your package to get to the mainland in your life time.

4) Read the fine print. USPS website does, in fact, mention that transit times quoted do not apply to Alaska and Hawaii.

5) Media Mail means surface shipping, not a priority, hold on to the packages until the next ship leaves.

6) Just because the first time you shipped Media Mail your package arrived in about 7 days, doesn't mean that the next time it won't take 16 days.

7) Get a FedEx account.

8) Amazon, for all their 21st century internet wonder, can not put items into inventory when they are received.

9) Amazon takes 7-10 days to enter items into their system after they have been received.

10) Read the fine print.

11) People won't buy an item that is Temporarily Out of Stock.

12) When advertising that your items are "Available on Amazon.com", refer to items #2 - 11.

13) Temporarily Out of Stock sometimes means "we have it but we don't say we have it or we don't know we have it."


p.s. Feel free to order The Small Manufacturer's Toolkit on Amazon now, as they are in their warehouse at this very moment, despite what the status says.

Books Shipped

I shipped out another 5 books to Amazon today. That's up from the 2 on their first order. I saw that the two I had sent them were sold and my page says Temporarily Out of Stock. Not good. People won't buy if it's out of stock. I thought Amazon had a super-duper inventory tracking and ordering system, but it is not as robust as I expected. Millions of items to keep track of, sure, but if you're going to be that big you've got to have the systems to back it up. They're good, but they need some work.

So after a couple of days of waiting for an order from them I contacted them. I am impressed at how quickly they do respond when I send them a message, and they answer the question too. Not bad. They told me I can monitor the inventory and send them an order request when their inventory is low. Not the best solution from my point of view, but I will do that since I want to sell the books. As soon as they answered my question they also placed the order, which I promptly sent them today.

I also found out about Amazon U.K. It is a totally separate entity (operated separately). I can register with them and do the same thing I'm doing with Amazon U.S. - Except - I have to have a U.K. bank account to do that.

O.K., I thought. Can I do that and is it worth it? Being an American English book, how well will it sell in the U.K.? But I thought with all the internet banks out there now setting up a U.K. bank account shouldn't be too difficult. Oh, how naive I am. No Can Do. Apparently, without being physically present in the U.K. and having a U.K. address it is impossible to open a bank account. And it sounds like even if you have those it's not always that easy to open an account if you're not a citizen. Being a business, I'd have to set up and register my business in the U.K. before I could open a bank account there.

Probably not feasible at this point, nor even necessary. This is when I start to re-think signing up with a distributor, one who has overseas offices. Or this could be a wonderful excuse to go back to Scotland!





Golden Ox Publishing

Golden Ox Update

Not a lot of news, but a few updates on the Golden Ox Publishing biz.

The Small Manufacturer's Toolkit is selling, though not yet like hotcakes, even before my first ads are printed. I'm starting with some advertising in some APICS Chapter Newsletters around the country. Pretty low cost and should hit a fair number of highly potential prospects. Advertising in the APICS Magazine is a little out of my budget at this point, and although the magazine goes out to at least 40,000 people around the world, for that kind of money I'd want to target a more narrow manufacturing niche. We'll see what happens when the ads start to hit.

I'm wondering about Amazon U.K. versus Amazon U.S. I went to the Amazon U.K. website and my book is listed, but I'm wondering about the connection between the U.S. and U.K. operations. The U.K. price is still at the higher price the original publisher was selling at, not my new lower price. Also, the content I updated was not updated there. I know the original publisher stocked books in the U.K., but I think that was at their own warehouse. I'm thinking the U.K. operation is totally separate and I need to work with them as a totally separate entity. I've contacted them, so we'll see what they say.

Still got plenty of other things I still need to do, like updating websites and such. Got to squeeze that in somewhere.

On another note, I'm evaluating my first real prospect for another author's book to publish. So far I like what I see, but there's a bit of work to do before I commit. I've talked with several other authors, but this one is the first real prospect. Meaning the author is well along with the writing and serious about looking for a publisher. It seems a lot of "authors" talk more than they write, or aren't as far along as they think they are. Still, I have a few potential books I'm keeping my eye on.

Interview

I have another interview scheduled this week. I've been interviewing people who's organizations are doing something well in the area of Business Operations, for inclusion in my upcoming book.

I've been a bit surprised at how difficult it is to find people to interview. You would think that most people would jump at the chance to talk about what their organization is doing well. It doesn't have to be the entire organization, doing something well in one area is enough for my needs and enough to inspire other people to improve their performance.

I also ask everyone I interview if they can refer me to someone else that they think I should speak with. But not one person has recommended someone else. Is it that no one is really happy with their suppliers, customers, or anyone else they do business with either professionally or personally? If that's the case, I need to change that. That's why I'm adding all the great information I'm getting in these interviews into the book.

If you know of any organization that's doing something well in the way of Operations, please let me know. Contact information would be even better, but just the name of the organization will give me a start.

Stacked

My books arrive Wednesday. 900+ pounds on a pallet. I figure about 25 cases or so. I will be getting my exercise that day. Anybody want to exercise with me? For now they will be joining me in my apartment, which means I'll be making about 25 trips up and down the stairs. I'm tired already.

I'm still waiting to hear from Amazon regarding my application and all the particulars of getting the book on there, or transferred over from the original publisher.

I was also looking into getting it onto, or keeping it on, Barnes & Noble and Borders. Barnes & Noble has a program for small publishers to list and stock their books, but Borders only works through one of the major distributors. That got me thinking more about using a distributor or wholesaler or not. Here's what I'm thinking.

At this point do I really need my book listed on every possible book selling website? Or is Amazon, where it seems the vast majority of people go, and Barnes & Noble, as well as my own website, enough? I'm thinking that I'm pretty well covered with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, my website, and personal sales when I give presentations. Then, if sales are going gangbusters I can re-evaluate. If the book was brand new it might be different, but since it's a few years old already (though the material is no different than if it were written today) the distributors aren't going to put as much effort into selling it. If they would anyway. I suspect I'd have the same complaints I had with my publisher. They have much higher selling, and newer, titles that the smaller market titles get little, if any, marketing effort.


The Small Manufacturer's Toolkit







Golden Ox Publishing

Working the Numbers

Well, been doing a little calculating. Looking at how many books I'm going to have to sell to make money. On the bright side, I'm confident they will sell at the new lower price. $39.95 as opposed to the original price of $79.95, which was then raised to $93.95. I wonder if they really meant to take my advice and lower it to $39, but that somebody typed it wrong and it came out to $93?

To sell them, Amazon is a must and probably the primary channel, at least to start. The thing with them is that they take a hefty cut, 55% discount off the List Price. Sure they've got all the operations and the overhead that goes with it, but that's pretty steep. But besides Amazon, what else to do? That's a big question.

There are wholesalers and distributors, and there are the bookstore buyers. Some bookstores only buy from the largest wholesalers, and if you're not listed by those wholesalers you won't get in those bookstores. Some distributors supply the large wholesalers. It's all a bit convoluted. Especially if you're a small publisher or self-publisher.

Bookstores only want books that sell. That makes sense. So the wholesalers and distributors only want books that sell. That makes sense too. Large publisher's books are, on a whole, more likely to sell because 1) they have bigger marketing budgets, and 2) they go through a very rigorous vetting and production process meaning that the quality of the final book is likely to be very high.

But, with the proliferation of small publishers and self-published books there are plenty of distributors willing to service them. But here's where the decisions come in, many distributors want exclusive rights to distribute your book(s). That has advantages and disadvantages, so you have to decide. I won't go into that right now, but I'm at the decision making point right now.

Stay tuned.









The Small Manufacturer's Toolkit





Golden Ox Publishing

Some Days

Some days just aren't as productive as others.

Did I mention that this new publishing venture is on top of my regular work? So, regular work, writing the new book, running, then the new publishing biz. So if I don't get as much done on any particular day it's not a surprise. Did a few things, but nothing worth mentioning.

Progress

Well, got a little bit done. Started the Amazon setup process. It's pretty straightforward, just takes time. With the book already there I'm not sure of the next step, but either way it takes them a day or two to process what I've done so far.

Got a little bit of writing done, but I'm not moving nearly fast enough. I write slow to begin with (I run slow too, I wonder if there's a theme here) and I keep getting interrupted. I have to write my articles for the Vietnam Supply Chain magazine, which eats into my time. But that actually works out pretty well because I use a lot of what I write in those articles in the book. It changes and expands for the book, but the basic ideas start there. Well not actually start there, the ideas usually start from what I'm writing or will be writing in the book, and they come out in a quick magazine format article before circling around back into the book. Something like that. Still, need to focus on the writing. Focus, focus.

But late now, so time for bed and recharging so I can write and work tomorrow.

Year of the Ox

It's 2010 and it's the start of something new. It's the start of Golden Ox Publishing. I thought I'd try what many other blogger's have done before me and chronicle the start of this new venture. Where to start?

I've started a book publishing company - Golden Ox Publishing. I started it to publish my upcoming book, Deliver On Your Promises - Success Through Business Operations Excellence. I started it because I wasn't entirely happy with the publisher of my first book (The Small Manufacturer's Toolkit), a large, international publishing company. Yes, they were very good at some things, basically all the things involved with book production, but when it came to marketing and selling they fell woefully short. It's a good looking book, I have to say, but it was overpriced from the beginning and didn't sell well. Also, I learned one of the big secrets of publishing with the big companies. You, the author, is primarily responsible for marketing. Although they have all the knowledge and resources for marketing books, they are mostly reserved for the best sellers. As an unknown author in a niche subject, you get pretty much nil. Not completely, but it sure felt that way.

I kept telling my contacts at the publisher that the book was overpriced. I wrote it for a specific market, which I know pretty well, Small Manufacturing companies and the owners, managers, and others who work there. Priced at $79.95 originally, they were not going to sell in large quantities to this market. So totally ignoring my requests to lower the price, they actually raised it, to $93+. Can you believe that? I couldn't. I tried and tried to get them to lower the price, but to no avail, and sales were going nowhere. That meant that not only were the books not getting into the hands of the people who can really use it, I was not getting any royalty payments. I know the book is good, and useful, because I have gotten nothing but great feedback and reviews. The book had very positive reviews in three trade magazines; APICS - The Association for Operations Management, ASQ - The American Society for Quality, and IIE - The Institute for Industrial Engineers, who apparently have changed their name recently (I'll try to find copies and/or links and put them up on my website). And the feedback I've gotten from people who bought and read the book has been great.

Since I was getting nowhere with the publisher, I asked them if I could buy the rights back to the book and maybe the remaining inventory. Being a large buerachracy, there was a lot of back and forth with questions and offers and counteroffers, but I finally got it. I obtained the rights to the book (print version, not electronic) and bought all the remaining inventory. Now the fun begins.

I was planning on starting the publishing company to publish my next book, but it's starting now with my first book. I have the rights and I received the first couple of boxes of inventory. Now I have to market and sell and plan on what to do next. That's what this new thread of this blog will be all about. I'll lay out my plans and keep you up to date with my progress. Please feel free to let me know what you think. This is going to be what they call "a learning experience." And, of course, if you want to buy a copy just let me know (but as for now please check Amazon first). That will be the subject of another post...

Oh, and I will be lowering the price to a more appropriate and reasonable $39.95.

Save, Save, Save!

I suppose I'm like most authors of successful, but not best selling, books. I check my sales and ranking on Amazon.com regularly. I can always tell when a book is sold (note "a", meaning 1) because the book's ranking jumps from its usual 1.5 million position, up to 200,000 or so (once a couple sold at a time and I was up around 20,000 or so - woo hoo!).

My biggest jump in sales was when the price was discounted about 40% down to around $40 or $45. That was when I started paying more attention to the price of the book.

Personally, I think ("personally" and "I" are redundant, I know) the book is overpriced. I understand how the publisher priced it where it is, partly based on the expected market value and partly based on the cost to produce (small production run for a first time author), but I really think it would sell much better at a lower price.

The original price was $79.98. Sure it's a 400+ page book, but it's not a college text book (though it could and should be used college Operations Management courses), it's written for working people, specifically people who work at small manufacturing companies. I think it would sell like hotcakes at about $39.98. It has gotten nothing but good reviews, and everyone who's read it (OK, everyone who's commented to me) tells me it's great. It's even been translated into Russian. But people just aren't willing to pay that high a price.

But instead of lowering the price, I noticed that the price went up. From $79.98 it went up to $89.98. Huh? If it's not selling fast at $79 why would you increase the price to $89? But, then when the price was increased, Amazon discounted it down to around $71. I guess people just can't pass up a sale. Now I notice the price is $93.95 (on both Amazon and the publisher's website), and discounted 5% down to $89.22.

I've contacted my publisher asking about lowering the price, but I've gotten no response.

The worst part is that I can't even afford to buy my own book. Even at my discount I can't afford to buy them and sell them at a reasonable price. Maybe I should read a book about the publishing business and how to price a book... Maybe I can reinvest and buy some copies when I get my next royalty check.

Still, the book is very valuable and worth the investment if it's used as it's intended - to help improve your business and improve profitability. That's especially important in these tough economic times.

I do have a couple of copies left, so if you contact me I might sell you one at a better price.

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!

OK, so the Russians aren't coming (that's the title of a movie from the 1960's), but I'm coming to Russia. Via my book, that is. My book, The Small Manufacturer's Toolkit, has been translated into Russian and is being published by a Russian publisher (Grevstov Publisher). How cool is that?

I received a couple of copies of the Russian edition a couple of days ago. I can't read a word of it, but it looks good. Actually, the quality of the book itself is much higher than the U.S. edition. It's very well done, and I'm impressed. I'm waiting for someone to send me a plane ticket to Moscow for a book signing and seminar tour. Hey, I can dream, can't I? I'd love to go to Russia. I love to travel and visit new places.

So here's a picture of the book. I haven't received a photo quality copy of the cover yet, so I just scanned this in. That's my name in Russian up in the top left corner.

Now if only my publisher would lower the price of the U.S. edition (hint, hint), this valuable tome would get into the hands of the masses.

Oh, and I'll get back into regular posting on this blog. I've been extremely busy lately, so have been lax. As to whether I've actually been accomplishing anything, that's another matter.

On the road

I'm currently in Santa Rosa, California. I came up here to conduct a seminar and give a dinner meeting presentation. The seminar was canceled, but the presentation went well. I gave my Strategic Planning presentation, which seems to be of interest to people. Many organizations perform something they call Strategic Planning, but they're not getting the results they want. My presentation is titled Effective Strategic Planning, where I define Effective as actually achieving the goals and objectives you've set out. Many other organizations do not perform Strategic Planning at all. Some do some sort of annual planning, but that's not really getting them anywhere. A few organizations actually do perform Strategic Planning with a fairly high level of success, so that's always nice to hear. They still might be missing a few pieces that could drive their performance higher, but they serve as a good example showing that it can be done.

From here I'm going over to Sacramento, where I'll give the Strategic Planning presentation again. Then I'm down in Santa Clara/Sunnyvale for a presentation on Lean and Six Sigma: Working Together.

I've been hauling some of my books around with me, to sell. I learned that it's always best to have at least a couple with me anytime I'm giving a presentation, or even going to a meeting. When I give a presentation or conduct a seminar, there is absolutely no sales pitch involved. That's not what the people are there for. But people always ask about my book, so I keep some with me just in case. Of course, after hauling them around with me I forgot to bring them with me to the last presentation. Doh! I really don't want to carry them back home. Besides wanting to sell them, I need to offload some weight from my luggage. For one, I bought a coupld of books at the conference in Orlando. I bought the last two books in Dr. Harrington's 5-book series, The Five Pillars of Excellence. I had the first three, so figured I should get the last two so I have the full set. Yes, I'm a book hoarder. My personal library is quite extensive. Meaning I have no more room for more books and should really try to start purging some, especially the ones that are in boxes in storage.

It's not failure if your learning

I'll write more on this, but I have to share this for now.

During the coaching clinic I attended, I had to keep asking myself if I was in a rugby coaching clinic or a business seminar. The similarities were striking. My book, Business Lessons from the Rugby Field, is practically writing itself. One of the things the instructor said was that you have to let the players fail during practice sometimes. That's how they'll learn. If you only show them the right way, and just drill that into them, they'll never know what to do in a real game situation. If they never fail, they'll never learn what doesn't work. If they don't fail, it means they're not trying new things.

That's the same thing I tell businesses. If your employees aren't allowed to fail, they're not trying new things. If you don't try new things you can't grow. You have to fail so you can succeed. It's not really failure if you're learning something.

Writing

I've been writing lately. My next book is close to completion. Not as close as it should be, but I'm trying to get it finished up as soon as possible. I was doing pretty good with the writing, but then I had a few distractions. I'm getting back at it now, but it can be a struggle at times. The working title is Compete - and Win! Your Guide to Business Operations Excellence. That might change, but I like it. I think it conveys the content pretty well too. Its about how to achieve a level of excellence in the business operations areas of your organization so that you can effectively compete in today's global marketplace.

I also just posted another new article on my website and on EzineArticles.com. If anybody wants to pay me to write articles like this, please let me know, 'cause for now it's just for ego. The current article is titled How To Work With A Consultant. Useful tips for anyone hiring or working with a consultant, in any area of your organization.