What to do with old stock? - by Lisa Dempster [25.11.2010]
The Sex Mook was published more than three years ago, in October 2007. It was the first book (ok, mook) I published and I still have a soft spot for it. its editor Julian and I are still very proud of this baby! It looks awesome but most importantly (to me) the content is hot. Sex! Real sex. It’s ace.
The Sex Mook sold really well for an indie title but in that particular way of new indie publishers, my print run was more idealistic than realistic, and I still have quite a few boxes sitting in my back shed. Because the book looks very ziney it doesn’t really have any commercial value and I don’t want to simply chuck them out or put them in the recycling bin. So, what to do with old stock?
Chris Chinchilla at aduki has come up with a good idea for Stick This In Your Memory Hole – offer it for remixing (easy as it is published under CC). Anyone can order their copy for the cost of postage.
In my local Book Grocer I have seen a few indie titles pop up as remainders.
Some lit journal indies (those attached to Universities for example) often give them as free gifts and giveaways (for example, in the Emerging Writers' Festival showbag each year), which is a good way to reach a desired target audience.
One thing I want to set up is an Indie Press Garage Sale, where a bunch of indies get together to sell off their back issues for very cheap, like, all stock under $10 kind of thing. It would be a great chance for indies to offload old stock and a great place for people to grab a bargain – I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels like they should buy more indie titles… Would anyone be interested in being involved in this?
But back to the Sex Mook… I am going to follow aduki’s lead and give it away for free to anyone who wants it, even those who want to sell it themselves. Details here!
Indie publishers, what do you do with your old or unmoving stock?
Lisa Dempster is the publisher at Vignette Press.
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Comments
TimT — 10 December at 02:52PM
All of my zines are at or under $3 anyway so I’d totally take part in that, if you let me!
Though my ongoing zine – Badger’s Dozen – is quarterly, and loosely structured around the seasons, I’m still giving out copies of my first, done for Christmas last year (halfway through this year I printed out more copies to sell at the zine fair). So I think I have two readers in mind for them – the seasonal readers, and the collectors. I wouldn’t be surprised if 10 years down the track I was still selling Christmas 2009 ones.