PRESS RELEASE: Back2Press Books Launched—New Imprint Seeks Unhappy Authors Whose Books Failed After Selling 100,000+ Copies
Contact: Lynne W. Scanlon
Cell Phone: 917-685-9128
Land Line: 631-907-9001
Email: Publisher@back2press.com
Website: www.back2press.com
BACK2PRESS BOOKS LAUNCHED
FOR
“THE 100,000+ CLUB”
—Authors with Books that Sold 100,000 Copies Can Apply—
—No Bookstore Sales Planned—
Why are authors whose books sold over 100,000 copies often not happy? Because many have asked themselves: “If my book could sell 100,000 copies, why not a million?”
According to Lynne W. Scanlon, founder and publisher of the new imprint, Back2Press Books, the answer is that it could have … and it should have … and it still can.
“The problem is that publishing companies are content, even ecstatic, if a book sells more than 10,000 copies, let alone 100,000. Rarely do they continue to promote a proven bestseller at the expense of the newer books currently in the pipeline. After months or even years of helping to fill the publisher’s coffers, the 100,000+ bestseller eventually dies an unnatural death from negligent homicide,” says Scanlon.
Back2Press Books is inviting authors or their heirs to submit books to be considered for repackaging and republishing. The provisos:
- The book must have sold over 100,000 copies.
- The rights must be held by the author or be able to be reversed.
(Back2Press Books can help secure the reversal of rights, if necessary.)
Back2Press Books was launched in 2007 by the author of Overcoming Jet Lag, a nonfiction book previously published by Berkley Books that sold over 200,000 copies and received thousands of testimonials from international travelers, including executives in The White House.
“I asked Berkley Books for a reversal of rights several years ago in a fit of pique because I simply couldn’t believe that such a famous book containing the legitimate cure for jet lag had been allowed to founder,” said Lynne Scanlon.
Scanlon is the author of three books, including Overcoming Jet Lag, with hundreds of thousands of copies in print; a former group publisher of developmental products at A/S/M Communications (original publishers of AdWeek magazine) and marketing consultant to Barnes & Noble Books (the proprietary publishing arm of Barnes & Noble, Inc.).
Overcoming Jet Lag, now updated and titled The Cure for Jet Lag, is available at a temporary prepublication discount at www.thecureforjetlag.com.
“What does it tell you when a book with a jacket price of $7.00 goes out of print and then begins to sell for five times the jacket price on Amazon Used & New Books?” asked Scanlon.
Scanlon plans to differentiate her imprint from other book repackagers by backing each book with a sustained and highly focused marketing campaign that never quits. Her sales effort will not include independent or big box bookstores like Barnes & Noble, Borders Books or Books-a-Million, but will concentrate instead on Internet sales to individuals and associations via www.back2press.com along with targeted special sales (over 20,000 copies of Overcoming Jet Lag were sold to Continental Airlines as a premium when the book was originally published).
“I’ve had it with archaic methods of book sales, jacket prices that are a joke—and returns that are the ruination of bookstores and publishers,” said Scanlon.
END
Back2Press Books is located at 225 West 25th Street, Suite 4 L, New York, NY 10001. The company’s website address is www.back2press.com.
Subsidiaries include GetPublished at www.thepublishingcontrarian.com/getpublished and the international literary blog The Publishing Contrarian at www.thepublishingcontrarian.com.
If you would like more information about this topic, or would like to schedule an interview with Lynne W. Scanlon, please call 917-685-9128 or email publisher@back2press.com
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Congratulations!
I hope you hit the million
(Are you aware you can still buy used copies on Amazon for $2.75?)
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Yes, I just saw that there are seven old, very out-of-date editions that can be bought on the cheap. Then the price jumps from $32.65 to $47.92. Eager beavers can get my extensively redesigned and updated version over at http://www.thecureforjetlag.com for $18.50. The book is at the designer’s studio right now and should be available shortly. As soon as it is officially published, the price will go up to $22.95. The prepublication lower price is an approach that was suggested by another very successful publisher who spoke at the Tim O’Reilly Tools of Change (TOC) Publishing Conference a few months ago.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Press Release is starting to get picked up around the Internet:
Brandywine Books
The Librarian’s Newswire
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Litopia Writers Colony
East Hampton Arts & Culture Council
The Literary Saloon at the Complete Review
More to come as I’m doing an e-mail blast to business, feature, and literary editors at major newspapers through Cision (formerly Bacon’s) early next week.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Lift-off!
I believe you’ve got a winner here.
I’m chilling the champagne.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Check out Dave’s new web mag, 3rdActs.com. The target audience is age 50+. Smart people are contributing. Make sure you scroll down to the YouTube video of actor Peter Finch going berserk in the 1976 satirical film, Network. What he has to say during his rant is amazingly accurate, even today.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
The Cure for Jet Lag … is the most brilliant niche publishing concept/product I’ve ever seen.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Visitors are coming in from the US, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, France, Spain, Croatia, Russia, Australia, Malaysia, India, Iran, South Africa, Poland, Germany and the UK.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Fabulous! I pray you succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Woman power!
April 25th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Always interesting to see what is happening in the “Wunnerful World of Publishing” ! *smiling*
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Kat is a writer and freelance editor, and senior editor/senior newsletter editor at Rose & Thorn Literary Ezine.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:37 am
$22.95. Is that for a softcover? If so, I think I’ll sleep on it:)
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Hi, Peter. Welcome back. Don’t be such a cheapskate! Did you notice the softcover published by Berkley Books oh-so-many-years-ago is selling for twice that much on Amazon after the cheap versions run out? And the old versions are completely outdated unless, of course, you are still flying around the world in your personal Concorde! [Peter lives in California.]
April 27th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Brilliant!
There are plenty of books that fall into this category, and not just recent ones.
Do you intend to look up authors whose works seem to fit, or take suggestions?
Staghounds
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Thanks, Staghounds, for the viral marketing push. And, sure, if you’ve got some suggestions, absolutely let me know. I’d appreciate it! An awful lot of publishers are republishing old books, but these books are destined to just sit there, gathering dust, waiting to be stumbled upon. No marketing effort, no sales.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:49 am
P. S. , For what it’s worth I’ve blogged it and sent it round. So both my readers know about it!
April 27th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I am thrilled you are doing this, Lynne. I am sick of reading stupid novels. I have found a really good book is such a rare thing these days.
There are so many books being published every year that I cannot possibly scratch the surface of reading them all and I have been hunting in vain for the next Jane Austin or Alexander Dumas. And I’ve given up on finding anyone like P.G. Wodehouse.
When you find them… please let me know!
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): You can read an excerpt from Gina’s book, Running from Shadows at this link. She writes a weekly column for Blogger News Network, opinion pieces on news for Studylight, and book reviews at Upon Reflection.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Lynne,
I love the chutzpah, daring-do, just plain COMMON GOOD SENSE.
Onward and upward!
Russell
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Russell is a Brooklyn, New York based, much-published poet. He completed his first novel, Trompe-l’ oeil, in 2004.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Great. Back2Press is likely to receive an overwhelming and enthusiastic response. It would be a great boon to literary heirs who inherit titles that have gone op since the first or second printings so many years ago. Many literary gems that were classics and are now forgotten can be resurrected. It would be interesting to see the first clutch of titles. The promotion and marketing efforts being suggested are a great shot-in-the arm for indies, for it does away with the biggies who have such a stranglehold on distribution and can ‘precisely’ determine the successs or failure of a book.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Sridhar Balan is a senior consultant with book publisher Ratna Sagar Private Ltd. He had previously been a director with Oxford University Press, India. He is involved in professional training in publishing and also writes a column on publishing in leading newspapers.