Thursday, August 20, 2015

Questions from a reader

A reader writes:

How should we, your public, purchase The Typewriter Revolution, so as to most-benefit the artist?

I'm not giving Amazon a cut of this!

Does pre-ordering from IndieBound do you the most good?

I don't mind pre-ordering, but you know that we will want to get our books signed by you, eventually.

Will you be on tour, in November? Selling them out of the trunk of your car? And signing them?

The term "flexibound" fills me with dread, but if there is no other option...

I don't Facebook, or anything social, so I don't know what might be going on, there.

Please do *not* answer this e-mail. However, your public has these questions.

Perhaps you could add these to your FAQs, or to your blog, or...

I will look for answers to my questions there, when you have the time.

Apologies, if I have overlooked this information, available elsewhere.

We folk on this side of the Digital Divide don't always get the news.

Please post, whether there will be a book tour  -stuff like that.

Thanks for writing.

I don’t know whether it will make any difference to my royalties where you buy the book, but I definitely favor supporting your local independent bookstore. IndieBound looks like a convenient way to do that.

I’ll be at the Miami Book Fair in late November, I'll do some signings in the Cincinnati area, and I also hope to arrange some signings in the SF Bay Area and LA area in December. Possibly something in DC in January too. And I’m always glad to sign a book by mail!

As such events approach, I'll make sure to announce them here, on typewriterrevolution.com, and on other media.

“Flexibound” is something between a hardback and a paperback (it’s not spiral bound). It’s a flexible cover that is durable. I think it will be nice, although I haven’t received a printed copy. I hope it will make the book feel like a rugged field manual for the insurgency.

Thanks again,
Richard

8 comments:

  1. Flexibinding is actually pretty good. It's also called Dutch Binding, and is a lot more durable than paperback, and can be opened flat. It's actually more like a case-bound (hardcover) book, but doesn't use a hard "inner board" like hardcovers do. Often they use water-resistant materials for the binding too. But yeah, it's not spiral or comb-bound like short-run cookbooks and the like.

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  2. Richard,

    I like the idea of supporting the local bookstore. I can go there, pick up any book and just flip through the pages and then decide whether I want to buy it or not. Unlike Amazon or any other online bookstore, where they decide which pages you can preview, thereby taking control over your decision making process. I did place a pre-order on your book with an online bookstore but now I think I will order my books through the local bookstores and do my bit for supporting local businesses and jobs. Thank you for telling us about indie books, there are a few in my area.

    -R

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  3. I do hope you make it to the D.C. area Richard. That would give me a great reason to take Mrs. M there since she never spent any time there.

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  4. Flexibound sounds great. Can't wait to see the book. Indiebound looks to be purely US-centric, but I guess with the internet it will be easy enough to get hold of even for those of us who are in other places. This issue - distribution etc is definitely for your publishers not you, Richard, but just for the record here's a useful recent piece about online retailers in the UK.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/avoiding-amazon-the-5-best-alternatives-to-the-online-bookseller-giants-10458698.htmlubl

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  5. Will you be doing anything in Seattle?

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    Replies
    1. I hope so. I was recently there for only one day (no time for typewriter activities). I spent some time in Elliott Bay Book Company and was impressed; that might be a good venue. But so far, there are no plans.

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  6. These are my known upcoming events (check typewriterrevolution.com for details as they become available):

    Live video presentation at Burlington (VT) Book Festival, Sept. 27, 2015
    Books by the Banks, Cincinnati, OH, Oct. 17, 2015
    ​Chestnut Ridge Typewriter Museum collectors' meeting (WV), Oct. 24, 2015
    Signing and type-in, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH, Nov. 11, 2015
    Official book release, Nov. 12, 2015
    Miami Book Fair, Nov. 21-22, 2015

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