Book Publishers: Don't Belittle Your Book Authors' Ideas

Guest post by Don Hendon

On May 5, 2010, I wrote to Milburn Calhoun, and suggested repositioning 365 Powerful Ways to Influence. I did this based on the advice of Mack Hanan, the well-known marketing consultant who wrote an excellent testimonial for my book.

Hanan thought my book should be retitled and sold as a reference book for salespeople and sales managers, using direct marketing and social marketing methods. It would not be sold through stores because big-box chains were reluctant to buy Pelican books based on their discount policy. The repositioned book would be similar to Physicians Desk Reference. The new title would be Salesman’s Desk Reference Book.

I did a market analysis, using the 2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, and sent it to Calhoun.

My analysis showed there is a market of 11.5 million people in the U.S., including 2,816,100 sales managers, marketing managers, advertising and promotion managers, public relations managers, and supervisors of retail sales workers as well as 8,633,300 sales reps, including:

Sales reps working for manufacturers and wholesalers

Sales engineers

Insurance agents

Advertising agents

Real estate brokers

Securities, commodities, and financial services agents

Travel agents

Retail sales reps

Counter and retail clerks

Demonstrators and product promoters

Milburn Calhoun’s 14-word response, sent the same day: You failed to count 2,000,000 desk clerks, 50,000 personal trainers, and 200,000 pool attendants.

I thought it was rude and sarcastic. What do you think? I welcome your comments. Please contact me at donald_hendon@hotmail.com.

John's response: No book publisher should slam one of their book authors in this way. It's okay to disagree. It's okay to amend. It's okay to explain how their analysis is superficial or insufficient (if that is what you think). But it is not okay to treat their suggestions lightly.

Book authors are your lifeblood. Treat them well and they will help you sell more books.

Book Authors: Hold on to Your Rights

Guest post by Don Hendon

Pelican, a publisher based in Gretna, Louisiana, is a family-owned business. The head is a retired medical doctor, Milburn Calhoun, in his middle 80s. Pelican specializes in regional books (Louisiana and the south) and cookbooks. Occasionally, they publish a mass-market book.

In early 2010, Pelican refused to give an extra 5% discount to big-box chains such as Wal-Mart, Costco, and Sam’s Club. As a result, those chains don’t carry Pelican’s books—with a few exceptions. In February 2010, Pelican released my book, 365 Powerful Ways to Influence. Sales were very low because buyers at the big box chains refused to handle it.

In late 2011, I found a notation on my royalty check indicating Pelican had sold the rights to my book to a publisher in India. I asked Pelican to tell me the name of the publisher, as specified in our contract. I told them I was going to India in late 2011 to give seminars and would like to work with the local publisher. (Note: I have given several thousand seminars in 36 nations on 6 continents.)

Pelican refused to give me this information, and they refused to give me copies of this book. Both actions were violations of our contract. I eventually found the name of the Indian publisher through an Internet search. I had to buy copies of the Indian edition of my book from online bookstores in India. In the meantime, I search the Internet to see if my 365 Powerful Ways book has been published in other nations.

Two of my other books have been published in several nations, and my original publishers have given me complete information, royalties, and copies of translated books. These books are:

Classic Failures in Product Marketing (Quorum, 1989). 5 foreign versions: Singapore (Toppan, 1990), Japan (Dobunken Shuppan, 1993), Malaysia (Hardknocks Factory, 2001), Thailand (A. R. Business Press), and Indonesia (Elex Media Komputindo, 2003). Plus a paperback version in the US (NTC Business Books, 1992)

How to Negotiate Worldwide (Gower, a UK company, 1989). 7 foreign versions: United States (Wiley, 1990), Norway (Dagens Naeringsliv Forlag, 1990), Italy (Franco Angeli, 1991), Taiwan (Commonwealth Publishing, 1992), Indonesia (Binarupa Aksara, 1993), Sweden (Richters Forlag AB, 1996), and Mexico (Editorial Lumusa / Grupo Noriega Editores, 2006)

I learned my lesson. I have retained the foreign rights to my latest book, Guerrilla Deal-Making, co-authored by Jay Conrad Levinson, the famous guerrilla marketing guru. It will be in bookstores in the late fall of 2012. It won’t be published by Pelican.

Please contact me if you have any comments. I’m at donald_hendon@hotmail.com. Web: http://www.donaldhendon.com.