We have been conditioned to believe that in sales there is no such thing as a silver bullet. I can tell you that there is. It is called timing — getting in front of the right buyer at EXACTLY the right time. Research shows that you are five times more likely to make a sale when you have the right timing.

As a new author, you will want to consider every available means to market your work, and book-signing engagements at the various bookstore chains, independent stores and libraries can provide important or even crucial contributions to that end. But much of the sales potential of this valuable means of getting your books out there is often lost through a lack of understanding of what it takes to make these sessions work. While there are many who regard book-signing sessions as a great opportunity, there are others who see them as unpleasant but necessary chores. Let’s examine the pros and cons.

I’ve noticed that nothing gets fingers pointing, phones ringing, keyboard clicking, and inboxes flaming faster than errors found after a piece of writing is published. It’s bad enough if it happens on a Web site where it can be quickly fixed, but when it happens in printed material, especially in books, it’s even worse.

There are few things I’ve learned from helping so many authors get agents and I have developed what I like to call the “10 Deadly Sins”. Commit any of these sins in your query letter and you can kiss your shot at getting an agent goodbye.

I am sure you have heard about salespeople earning $200-300k, a million or even more. Do you think this sales person is better than you are? They are not much different from you; they are not geniuses or impeccable experts in their field.

Remember the childhood story of the Emperor who paraded around in his underwear but the royal subjects were too afraid to say anything until one day a small child blurted out “the emperor has no clothes.” Well I am a long way from being a small child but I am going to blurt out for all to hear, “Bookstore distribution is the publishing’s emperor who has no clothes.”

The demise of Biblio Distribution has some lessons for seasoned and rookie authors and publishers alike. That’s why I’ve written the following open letter to the president of Biblio’s parent company, National Book Network (NBN), a company that continues to try to drag down with it some of the small publishers formerly associated with Biblio.