With the impending release of my novel, The Edge of Nowhere, I’ve been flooded with questions related to its release, book signings and paperbacks. I thought I’d compile the most popular questions and answer them here.
1. I’ve looked at all of the major online booksellers, and the only format available for preorder is e-book. Will it be available in paperback?
Yes. The Edge of Nowhere will be available in paperback. The process for formatting and approving the paperbacks has just taken a little longer than it did for the e-book option, but the publisher will have the links up soon.
2. When can I preorder a copy in paperback?
The best answer I have for that is “soon.” I know the publisher will receive final proof copies of the paperbacks this week. After that, I think it’s just a matter of having someone sign off on them that they’re ready to go, and then they can upload the links to the purchase sites.
3. How much will the paperback be?
I’m not 100% sure, and the publisher is the one who sets the price for every book. With that said, titles with similar page counts from my publisher are running around the $14.99 price point, so I would expect that this one should be somewhere in that same ballpark.
4. Where can I get a signed copy?
At this time, I don’t have copies available through my website, and I’m not sure when (or if) I will. I’ve had enough people ask for signed copies that it would probably be worthwhile to consider adding that feature, but it’s a lot of work that I’m not sure I’m ready to handle just yet — not to mention that I’m a little worried about mailing from my home address and the privacy issue that raises. If we know each other, e-mail me and I’ll see if we can work something out. Otherwise, I have several book signings set up and am in the process of setting up more. I’d like to add more signings in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Florida and Wisconsin (for starters) and may even try to add some signings in Kansas and Texas (ahem – if I had some dear friends who wanted to invite me out that way! Haha). Traveling at this point is entirely at my own expense. Unlike big names like James Patterson and Janet Evanovich, I can’t really command an appearance fee so I’m trying to hit those place where I have a need to visit, or where I have friends that love me so much that they’d love me to stay overnight. 🙂
For a list of my currently scheduled book signings, follow THIS LINK.
5. The e-book is priced at $2.99. I’m surprised to see it priced so cheaply. Why is that?
Again, the price point is set by the publisher. Let’s be honest: I’m a new author and nobody in the reading world knows me. Those who read e-books (myself included) are reluctant to spend very much on an e-copy of a book by an untried author. For myself, I’ll admit that I will seldom pay more than $2.99 or $3.99 for a book by an author I’ve never heard of or whose work I’ve never read. On the other hand, I’ll sometimes pay as much as $7.99 for a favorite author. E-books in general are less expensive, still.
6. Will it available be in large print?
I don’t know, as I’ve not heard anything from the publisher on this one, so my guess is “no,” but I will double-check.
7. Will it be available in audiobook format?
Yes, but not immediately. I know the publisher is interviewing reading actors for this, but I haven’t received a status update. It could be 6-12 months after the book’s release before this process is complete.
8. How can I get you to come to my Library?
There are a couple of ways we can make this happen. First, would be to talk to the person at your library who schedules events and let them know you have an interest. Tell them about my book, give them my website address, etc.
Another way is to let me know you have an interest, and I can make the contact. It would be very helpful if you knew who the contact person was for author events but, if you don’t, I can figure it out.
If you have questions, send me an e-mail and we can talk about the possibilities.
9. My bookclub has already selected to read The Edge of Nowhere. Do you attend book clubs?
I’d love to attend your book club! In fact, I already have several dates on my calendar for exactly that! If you live in or near Rochester, MN, let me know when it is and I’d love to try to be there. Otherwise, my own bookclub has done Skype and FaceTime interviews with authors and they’ve been tons of fun. So shoot me your date and location, and we’ll try to work something out.
10. I went to my local Barnes & Noble store to pre-order a paperback, and they can’t do it. Why not?
They can’t pre-order yet because the book hasn’t been uploaded to their internal (or external, for that matter, website). Never fear — it’s coming soon!
11. I went to my local Barnes & Noble store and asked about your book, but they couldn’t promise me that they’d actually have copies on store shelves.
Sadly, this is true, and here’s why: Many publishers (especially the smaller publishers) have turned to what’s known as Print on Demand (POD). In a POD situation, frequently the publisher doesn’t print in house and instead uses a 3rd party printing company to make their copies. Obviously this makes it more expensive than doing it in-house, so they have to pay printer for both the time and the product itself. With a new, untried author (like myself), it’s a gamble for the publisher to have x-number of copies run because what happens if the book flops? The publisher is out not only the money for everything that led up to the publishing (advances, cover art, editors, marketing, etc), but now they’ve got a bunch of books on their hands that they can’t sell. So, in order for stores like Barnes & Noble (in particular) to stock the books on their shelves, the publishing house needs to work with a distributor who will accept returns. Like the publisher, stores like B&N don’t want to stock thousands of books on their shelves nationwide by an untried author unless those books can be returned. If they can’t be returned to the distributor, then the books end up costing them money…and they’re the business to SELL books, not collect them.
In terms of whether they’ll have it in the store and on shelves depends upon who the publisher ended up using for the distributor (and I don’t know who that is).
Whether B&N will stock them in the store (physically on shelves) depends on whether the book distributor used is one that will accept them as returns from the store if they don’t sell. Like so many publishers these days, B&N doesn’t want to take the gamble of having a thousand books on the shelves around the country that they can’t return if they don’t sell.
I see why they do it, but it’s really frustrating. Much of it is a reaction,I think, to the popularity of e-books. So many people (myself included) have turned to downloadable books, making the print books in far less demand.
Do you have more questions? Leave me a comment below and I’ll try to answer. In the meantime, pre-orders are now open for e-books! Yay! I’ll update the links below as necessary when paperback preorders come in.
C.H. Armstrong Books 
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