It’s been two weeks since the release of the book. Here’s the latest.
The Good.
Starting today, my book is available at the delightful local bookstore, Burrowing Owl Books. It’s also available at Second Read Books in Decatur, AL. So, that’s fun. Be sure to stop by Burrowing Owl Books in Amarillo or Canyon or Second Read Books in Decatur, AL, buy a ton of books of various kinds, and give an employee a hug for me. On second thought, perhaps it’s best to avoid awkward hugs. Just tell them, “thank you.”
Though I still have no idea how many books have sold online, it seems to be doing well. It keeps going out of stock of Amazon. I mean, I suppose Amazon could be stocking 3 at a time, but who knows? Fortunately, the availability of the book is spreading to other retailers.
As of Saturday, it is available on Walmart’s website: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Struggle-Bus-The-Van-The-Myth-The-Legend-Paperback/388752669. It’s brand new, so the image isn’t yet updated, but you can order. In fact, please do. Walmart offers free 2-day shipping and free ship to store for in-store pickup. So, that’s fantastic.
Additionally, Struggle Bus remains in stock on Barnes & Noble’s site here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/struggle-bus-josh-wood/1135682064 as well as these other fine retailers:
Books-A-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Struggle-Bus/Josh-Wood/9781632963925?id=7808397387756
INDIE Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781632963925
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/struggle-bus/josh-wood//9781632963925
BetterWorld Books: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/search/results?q=1632963922
Abe Books: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=1632963922
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Struggle-Bus-Josh-Wood/9781632963925
Bokus: https://www.bokus.com/bok/9781632963925/struggle-bus/
The Bad.
- The Kindle version should have been available by now, but Amazon’s process is taking longer than expected. Hopefully, the Kindle version will be available very soon.
- As for the audiobook…I still have grand plans to record the audiobook in my own voice. Unfortunately, time is not a luxury I’ve had. Our priority remains taking care of our son (latest update here: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaiahwood/journal/view/id/5e4f4b1cc34e7be7458b47bb). Lord willing, I’ll make some progress on this soon. I do have the introduction recorded; but that’s all.
- The out of stock issue at Amazon is super annoying, but it’s hard for me to blame them. If I were the stocking manager over at Amazon, I’d probably be like, “Hmmm…Bob Goff Love Does. Order 20,000 more! Where the Crawdads Sing…hmmm…let’s order 20,000 of those, too. Well…what do we have here? Struggle Bus: The Van. The Myth. The Legend. It’s a book based on a Craigslist classified ad? Surely we’ll only need 3 more copies. Why on earth do people keep buying this thing?”
The Marketing.
Again, time is not a luxury I’ve had. So, I’m just starting to ramp things up. In addition to what the publisher is doing, I’ve started some targeted Facebook advertising and will be shooting some stuff out to a few homeschool communities soon. Also, I’m working to land my books in a few more brick and mortar stores. Oh, and I have some marketing plans in the works for the Kindle and audiobook versions when those go live. We’ll see how all of this goes.
Marketing Plan A
Of course, Marketing Plan A is for everyone who reads my book to love it so much that they buy dozens of copies, tell all of their friends and family, promote it on social media, talk loudly about its greatness at Starbucks, set up little pop-up shop booths to sell it in Walmart parking lots, and give it 5 star reviews on Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, etc. Something tells me Marketing Plan A might be unrealistic. And, by “something”, I mean common sense and pretty much everything I’ve read regarding successful products of any kind. Well, except for Girl Scout Cookies. If any of you people know how I can get my books into the hands of the Girls Scouts of America sales machine, let me know. Also, I’m yet again running low on Caramel deLites.
So, that’s where we’re at. Overall, I’m beyond thrilled. I remember hearing somewhere that 80% of books published sell less than 100 copies. I feel confident I’ll break that…primarily thanks to my mom, but still.
To all of you who took the plunge and ordered my book: thank you for supporting my family. To those of you who haven’t purchased my book yet, would you consider getting on board with Marketing Plan A that I mentioned above? That would be super helpful. Please and thank you.
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