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Clay Nation News
November 9, 2004
Television
11/14 - Amer. Music Awards
presenting
11/15 - Larry King Live (CNN)
one hour special
11/17 - Today Show (NBC)
book/CD
11/17 - Total Request Live (MTV)
walk-on for book/CD
11/18 - Regis & Kelly (ABC)
interview
12/06 - Tonight Show (NBC)
performance & interview
12/08 - Today Show (NBC)
TV special
12/08 - Christmas Special (NBC)
12/09 - The View (ABC)
12/10 - The Early Show (CBS)
Concerts
(*) denotes unconfirmed
11/21 - Pasadena, CA
11/22 - Phoenix, AZ
11/23 - El Cajon, CA
11/26 - Costa Mesa, CA
11/27 - San Jose, CA
11/29 - Salt Lake City, UT
12/02 - Sewell, NJ
12/03 - Providence, RI
12/04 - Baltimore, MD
12/08 - Lowell, MA
12/09 - New York, NY
12/10 - Wallingford, CT
12/12 - Raleigh, NC
12/15 - Clearwater, FL
12/16 - Melbourne, FL
12/17 - Atlanta, GA
12/18 - Atlanta, GA
12/20 - *Chicago, IL
12/21 - Cleveland, OH
12/22 - Pittsburgh, PA
12/23 - Detroit, MI
Special Events
11/16 - Christmas Album
11/16 - Learning to Sing
11/19 - Voices for Change Benefit
CHRISTMAS ALBUM
Amazon.com
LEARNING TO SING:
Hearing the Music
in Your Life
Amazon.com:
Book CD Cassette
Amazon.ca: Book
Barnes&Noble:
Book CD Cassette
HOLIDAY SPECIAL DVD
Amazon.com
ALADDIN DVD
Amazon
Amazon.ca
Best Buy
2005 Wall Calendar
TOUR MERCHANDISE
Clay Aiken Web Store
STORIES FOR HEROES
Arthur Celebrity Audiobook
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
affiliate fees go to
Stories for Heroes
Measure of a Man
Amazon.com
AMAZON.ca/HMV
Note: Clay Nation News was not published Monday, November 8th.
Airplay Update - Holiday Music
If your local stations are playing holiday music, call in and ask about Clay's new Christmas album! If they don't have songs from "Merry Christmas With Love" then request "Silver Bells" w/Kim Locke, or "The First Noel" from last year.
TV Guide - Book Excerpt
Don't forget to pick up your copy of the new TV Guide with Clay on the cover! The issue covers programming for November 14-20 and includes a condensed excerpt from Clay's upcoming book "Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life." You can read a portion of the featured interview at TVGuide.com.
Book Promotion - Publishing Q & A Part 2
Following up on our September 13 "Q & A with a Publishing Professional," we've checked back with our source again to bring you more recommendations on how best to "buy smart" so that our book purchases will do the most good for Clay in terms of sales, Bestseller lists and industry buzz. To review the original Q & A, please visit our web site at http://claynationnews.com/
As a reminder, our source in the publishing industry is a senior editor with a major publishing house. In our conversation this weekend this person stressed to us that the importance of making the NYT list is immeasurable when it comes to exposure and prestige. We've all walked into bookstores and seen the big row of "New York Times Bestsellers" front and center. Apart from prestige and store placement, many bookstores use the NYT list to decide what to discount, so books that hit the list usually get better, more visible placement in the stores as well as deeper discounts for the consumer.
Those discounts will often lead to even more sales, maybe extending its stay on the list -- as well as help out those in Clay Nation who plan to buy extra books as gifts!
It is very important to understand that early sales (when a retailer makes the book available before the Nov. 16th release date) do not count toward first-weeks sales figures for the NYT bestseller list. Online retailers such as Amazon.com or BN.com who take pre-orders sometimes ship a day or two early but report those books in their first-week sales and therefore are not a part of this problem.
So can a few early sales really make a difference in whether or not a book makes the New York Times list? Consider this week as an example. The difference in a book being #15 (and on the NYT Bestseller List) and #16 was only 240 books.
Some other numbers of note this week. The difference between the #1 and the #2 book on the NYT list was huge. #1 (Jon Stewart's America, still going strong with 6 weeks on the list) sold 70,000 books. #2 sold only 14,000 books. This could bode well for Clay's chances on the list, but Stewart's book sales are showing no sign of slowing, and there is a fair number of expected big sellers from all publishing houses around the time of Clay's release. That's going to make for a very crowded playing field.
Something else to consider: NYT and Bookscan tally their numbers differently. Not all stores that report to Bookscan report to NYT and vice versa. Looking at this week's Bookscan numbers vs. the NYT list shows an interesting development: According to Bookscan, the #11 NYT bestseller sold 3,439 books while the #15 and #16 books sole 4,198 and 3,958 respectively, both higher than the book NYT places at #11. Obviously, it's very important to purchase from stores who report to BOTH Bookscan and NYT.
See our list of booksellers to check which stores in your area report to NYT and Bookscan.
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Please send feedback to cnn@claynationnews.com
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