Raising the bar (code) for authors

All credit to Deborah Macgillivray for sharing a heads-up with me, which I am now passing on in my own words to my author friends.

Apparently, (and quite rightly in my humble opinion) bookstore buyers would appreciate a bit of fairness and equality when it comes to where authors' "Buy" links.

I used to have "BUY" gateway pages, directing would-be purchasers to bookstores in the USA, in Canada, in the UK, in Europe, in Australia.... everywhere in the world. I had so many links, I was afraid I'd look like a spam site!

So, I rationalized a bit. Rather than choose one online retailer over another, I directed my front page "BUY" links to my publishers' sites. That ought in theory to be fair to all, and put my reader en route to the best possible new book price. I still have links for Tesco and WHSmith and Blackwell and Forbidden Planet in the UK, (it seems that in the UK only Book Express or amazon.uk has Forced Mate, by the way) and to Loot in South Africa, and to Krisostomus in Continental Europe, and to my bookseller friends in Australia and New Zealand.


It looks as though I'm going to have to diversify my links to the USA stores, or in the future, my next release may not be ordered by stores to which I've neglected to link.


The recommended format is

NAMEOFYOUR PUBLISHER.COM


BN.COM


AMAZON.com


booksamillion.com


indiebound.org


borders.com





 
For those who would like handy urls to get started, here are mine

For Knight's Fork

BarnesandNoble.com
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Knight%27s+Fork

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Knights-Fork-Spell-Futuristic-Romance/dp/0505527405/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253970411&sr=1-3

Powells
http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780505527400-0

BOOKSAMILLION
http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780505527400?id=4539716012475

Borders
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0505527405

INDIEBOUND
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780505527400
 
I'm also adding Book Finder for my readers' further convenience
 

BOOKFINDER
http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&qi=wnk84IMOGAokXNgMRXYuV4QtRgo_9805432161_1:130:1435&bq=author%3Drowena%2520cherry%26title%3Dknight%27s%2520fork%2520love%2520spell%2520futuristic%2520romance




As I think it will be helpful to me, I'm assembling the "All My Books" pages at the same time

ALL MY BOOKS ON POWELLS
http://www.powells.com/s?header=Search+Form&kw=Rowena+Cherry


ALL MY BOOKS ON BARNES AND NOBLE
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?ATH=Rowena+Cherry


ALL MY BOOKS ON BOOKSAMILLION
http://www.booksamillion.com/search?id=4539716012475&query=ROWENA+CHERRY&where=Books&search.x=65&search.y=10&search=Search

 
ALL MY BOOKS ON BORDERS
http://www.borders.com/online/store/SearchResults?keyword=Rowena+Cherry&type=1&simple=1


ALL MY BOOKS ON INDIEBOUND
http://www.indiebound.org/hybrid?filter0=ROWENA+CHERRY&x=27&y=8

 
For e-books
 
ALL MY BOOKS ON FICTIONWISE
MATING NET
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b35959/?si=0




 
NEW LINK FOR MATING NET... NOW A KINDLE
http://www.amazon.com/Mating-Net/dp/B002MQYO98/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253970411&sr=1-5
 

ALL MY BOOKS ON JEXBO.COM
E-FORCED MATE
https://www.jexbo.com/items/108 

 
USED BOOK SITES
Abe books
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=ROWENA+CHERRY&sts=t&x=47&y=9
 

BOOKFINDER (a compendium of all US book sites)
http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?author=ROWENA+CHERRY&title=&lang=en&isbn=&submit=Begin+search&new_used=*&destination=us&currency=USD&mode=basic&st=sr&ac=qr



I hope this is helpful, and makes a chore a little easier.



Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

Opinion: the future of chain bookstores

Have you ever seen a problem, and had an idea for a fix, but no one to tell? Moreover, your idea wouldn't fit into any science fiction or fantasy work you have in progress?


Bricks and Mortar Chain Bookstores

I'd like to sort out the bricks and mortar book chain stores, such as Barnes and Noble, Borders Inc. As far as I can tell, they've become glorified warehouses with a few comfy chairs, a coffeeshop, and soft toys and confectionery. While it isn't impossible to find any book that ought to be in stock, many books might as well not be there. They're at ankle level, or you get a crick in your neck looking up; they're spine out and jammed together. If they're autographed, no one can tell.

Honestly, a booklover has to know what he or she wants before he or she goes there, and the chances of being distracted or frustrated and leaving without buying are quite high.

My local library is much more welcoming. At least, I'm allowed to use the computers to help me find what I'm looking for.

Computers!

Barnes and Noble, Chapters.Indigo.ca, Amazon (not that Amazon counts), Borders. Books-A-Million all have websites and online stores. Some offer book clubs. Some offer discussions and forums and book-related social networking. Some are well done, and some are not very easy to navigate.

The only problem with buying a book on the internet is that you have to wait until and while it ships, and you may have to pay postage (and even tax). The advantage of your local chain bookstore is that you don't pay postage, you get your book immediately as long as it is in stock, and you can read as much of it as you wish to make sure you've a good chance of enjoying it.

So here is what I envisage as the future of chain bookstores:

Barnes and Noble (et alia) as a book-related internet cafe! (Warehouse attached).

I foresee lots of chained-down, but free-to-use computers all around the perimeter, and in a central reservation, too. I mean LOTS!

Booklovers would go to a comfy captain's chair, log in with their Barnes and Noble card number (or not), check their own emails (because we all do, don't we?), then migrate to the B&N bookclub and bookstore online...

Or, they'd simply type in the name of their favorite author, or the title of the book they want, and call up covers, back cover blurb, first chapter, last page, author's blog, author's website, author's booklist, book-trailers, reviews... all that useful stuff.

Of course, this could be done from home, too, in the same way that we can buy a flash drive at a compelling price online from Circuit City, then drive fifteen miles to the nearest participating store to pick it up.

Books could be sorted by subgenre. Award-winning, humorous futuristic Romances with plus-size psychic heroines (such as Insufficient Mating Material) could be virtually "shelved" in all six categories.

Book store patrons would choose, click, discover where the book was shelved (or else, they'd order it from the comfort of where they were sitting and a bookseller would fetch it from the stacks and have it waiting at checkout), pay online, then maybe finish their beverage, check their email again; pick up their purchase, and leave.

Local authors might take advantage of the facilities and actually write in the bookstores. (And be available to autograph books on site). Virtual signings could be a snap.

Anyone with a power outage or ISP downtime (or unpaid cable bill) could use the bookstore computers. What a service!

It could take book related social networking to a new level. Hey, the bookstore might replace the bar, though nothing could ever replace Linnea Sinclair's Intergalactic Bar and Grille.


What do you think?
What's your beef? And what's your solution?

Rowena Cherry