I totally hear you on this. And thanks for new bits of info: I never knew that pre-orders were so darn important.
I have found that some indy bookstores can and will order whatever I want them to, as long as they have the necessary publisher contacts or what-have-you. I ordered Demon's Lexicon this way, by having my local scifi/fantasy indy order it from the publisher, despite their not carrying it cos they don't have a lot of YA. It took about a week, maybe more. It cost me more than it would have on Amazon. Probably no more of the money went to Sarah than if I had bought it on Amazon. But at least some of the money went to Travis and his employees keeping my local genre store alive.
For music, I have a policy that I am OK with pirating from big names that are doing well, but not from smaller and indy bands. A lot of my friends are musicians, and I'm lucky that all their music I can get direct from them, cos none of them have labels or anything. I'm OK with spending $15 on their CDs in person when I would never spend that much on Lady Gaga, or even Adam Lambert.
Recently a band I love, Carbon Leaf, left their label to go self-published again. They believe they'll get more music out there, at a lower cost per song to fans, and with more money actually making it to them. They're going to focus on online distribution. I am really hoping it works. I also think they will always have a solid tour income, especially for a tour that can be self-managed with no label overhead, if the song sales aren't as strong as they hope.
I'm unemployed for a year and broke too; I can't afford to buy their upcoming album right now, and I hate to say it but I may let a friend give me the tracks. I know I will buy it though, when I can, and that I saw them in concert not too long ago. And since they're doing this themselves, they'll still benefit when I buy an album a couple months after it's released. And heck, I'd be just as happy to get the tracks free and paypal them, Radiohead style. Not expecting that to work, really, not soon, but I sort of have hope.
no subject
I have found that some indy bookstores can and will order whatever I want them to, as long as they have the necessary publisher contacts or what-have-you. I ordered Demon's Lexicon this way, by having my local scifi/fantasy indy order it from the publisher, despite their not carrying it cos they don't have a lot of YA. It took about a week, maybe more. It cost me more than it would have on Amazon. Probably no more of the money went to Sarah than if I had bought it on Amazon. But at least some of the money went to Travis and his employees keeping my local genre store alive.
For music, I have a policy that I am OK with pirating from big names that are doing well, but not from smaller and indy bands. A lot of my friends are musicians, and I'm lucky that all their music I can get direct from them, cos none of them have labels or anything. I'm OK with spending $15 on their CDs in person when I would never spend that much on Lady Gaga, or even Adam Lambert.
Recently a band I love, Carbon Leaf, left their label to go self-published again. They believe they'll get more music out there, at a lower cost per song to fans, and with more money actually making it to them. They're going to focus on online distribution. I am really hoping it works. I also think they will always have a solid tour income, especially for a tour that can be self-managed with no label overhead, if the song sales aren't as strong as they hope.
I'm unemployed for a year and broke too; I can't afford to buy their upcoming album right now, and I hate to say it but I may let a friend give me the tracks. I know I will buy it though, when I can, and that I saw them in concert not too long ago. And since they're doing this themselves, they'll still benefit when I buy an album a couple months after it's released. And heck, I'd be just as happy to get the tracks free and paypal them, Radiohead style. Not expecting that to work, really, not soon, but I sort of have hope.