Waterstones at Bolton have confirmed dates as November the 13th. Being a little closer to Christmas, they are expecting beusiness to be quite brisk, so this is a good opportunity for me. I think there is another event on at the same time, but that will be, as I understand it, a children's book event.
Being within walking distance of Jenny towers, I'm looking forward to this one. It's running from around 11:00am through until 4:00pm, though as at Darlington I will start early if I get there early, and will keep going until people numbers thin out. I have no idea how many books to expect to shift. Tentatively I'm told the manager has been told to order an extra ten copies. I will, of course, take a box of books with me just in case as I found out at Darlington this can be invaluable when deliveries get delayed.
In other news, google-fu reveals that there appears to be an impact to the PR work. There's a ton of listings giving details about the book and signing events. Hopefully soon to join them are some features being run by a number of local papers. Momentum is building!
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Monday 25 October 2010
Bolton signing
Bolton Waterstones wants to book me for a signing event. Success breeds success? Dates to be confirmed.
Saturday 23 October 2010
After the event.
Today went really well! I think Michael Macintyre (who was doing a signing up the road in Newcastle) might have just beaten me on shifting paper, but I did all right.
One thing is for certain - it's tiring work signing books, smiling and chatting to the public. I think I did all right though :)
One thing is for certain - it's tiring work signing books, smiling and chatting to the public. I think I did all right though :)
Friday 22 October 2010
T-1
I'm in Durham, all ready for the signing at Waterstones in Darlington tomorrow. Today I was interviewed by a newspaper for a feature to be run in a couple of weeks time, and have discussed with Waterstones in Durham for arranging another signing in November.
One small snag is that I received an email today that supply of our books has been held up somewhere. It's a good job I have a case of 44 in the boot of my car! Well, I'm always well prepared.
One small snag is that I received an email today that supply of our books has been held up somewhere. It's a good job I have a case of 44 in the boot of my car! Well, I'm always well prepared.
Monday 18 October 2010
Press release for signing
The word is out there. Articles are starting to turn up advertising the imminant start (?) of the signing tour.
clicky link here
clicky link here
Sunday 17 October 2010
Back in stock for under a fiver.
'Bringing Home the Stars' is back in stock at the Book Depository. They are currently offering it at under a fiver! I can't say cheaper than that.
Signed for you.
'Bringing home the stars' is doing well at the moment. There's a number of signing events confirmed coming up, with the first one in Darlington Waterstones on the 23rd of this month. It would be great to meet some of you, and you can come and meet me, talk to me about the book, shopping, or why belly button fluff is grey no matter what colour clothes you have been wearing. Why is that?
It's also still available through the website for those of you who cannot make it, or prefer to do your shopping online. Remember that you can request a signed copy through this method - just add a request for a signed copy through the appropriate box for sending a message to seller within the Paypal checkout process. If you want a more personalised message, than spell out exactly what you want to appear in the book. It's simple!
I look forward to signing some books, and have my best Parker pen on standby.
It's also still available through the website for those of you who cannot make it, or prefer to do your shopping online. Remember that you can request a signed copy through this method - just add a request for a signed copy through the appropriate box for sending a message to seller within the Paypal checkout process. If you want a more personalised message, than spell out exactly what you want to appear in the book. It's simple!
I look forward to signing some books, and have my best Parker pen on standby.
Tuesday 12 October 2010
On the shelves in Sweetens - buy it now!
It has been a busy day here at Jenny Towers promoting 'Bringing home the stars'. Sales are coming in, but it is always good to have more. So I've been helping to produce copy for proposed features in several local newspapers. At last count there are five that All Mouse Media have approached, and these all centre around the local areas where branches of Waterstones have booked me for in-store author events (to you and me this means signings, so I'm told!).
We've also had a lot of posters printed up by a local printing firm. They look really good and we've already sent out a few to Waterstones branches in preparation for the events. We also dropped off one at the local independent bookshop, Sweetens, who have been very supportive of 'Bringing home the stars'. It was gratifying to see that they already had some of the advance information cards up advertising it as 'in stock now!'.
If anyone is in the Bolton area and is considering buying a copy, can I urge you to head down to Sweetens and get a copy there? They've been a great help to us, and I'd like to be able to return the favour in any way I can.
Remember kids: support your local author, publisher and book retailer by buying a copy in person at Sweetens in Bolton!
We've also had a lot of posters printed up by a local printing firm. They look really good and we've already sent out a few to Waterstones branches in preparation for the events. We also dropped off one at the local independent bookshop, Sweetens, who have been very supportive of 'Bringing home the stars'. It was gratifying to see that they already had some of the advance information cards up advertising it as 'in stock now!'.
If anyone is in the Bolton area and is considering buying a copy, can I urge you to head down to Sweetens and get a copy there? They've been a great help to us, and I'd like to be able to return the favour in any way I can.
Remember kids: support your local author, publisher and book retailer by buying a copy in person at Sweetens in Bolton!
Monday 11 October 2010
Stalked by stockings and debt busters
I'm being stalked on the internet by adverts for various items of lingerie and hosiery. Help! I only looked at the basques at John Lewis' once! I've tried clearing my internet browser's cache to no avail. As for the debt buster ads, I have no idea - those really are a complete mystery. Maybe the internet thinks that I bankrupted myself by buying too many pairs of 10 denier ladder-resist stockings?
On the plus side, I suppose there could be worse adverts to be stalked by on the internet. Just be glad that I don't have the internet browsing habits of a 16 year old boy...
On the plus side, I suppose there could be worse adverts to be stalked by on the internet. Just be glad that I don't have the internet browsing habits of a 16 year old boy...
Can it really sell 1,000 copies just like that?
Last week was the best week so far for sales. A well-established author with a big publisher would certainly scoff at the figures, but they were good enough for me, reaching double figures off one order alone. If that happens every week, then it can't all be bad. Book orders come from Nielson Book Data once a week. They lump them all together and send them out reaching the publisher (all going well if there is no postal delay) around Thursday/Friday each week. Hopefully these are then filled and despatched by the weekend. It does all feel fast and famine though after the weekend, with nothing but the thankless task of promotion until the next eagerly awaited orders when either a celebratory drink or a session of drowning sorrows (only one bottle of Scotch required for either) can take place.
These days any book can appear (and will do) in every retailer's searchable catalogue listing. An ISBN assures this. Some people may marvel at the idea that this is all it takes to nominally appear in Amazon's, WH Smith's or Waterstones' catalogues. But that's where the fun stops. Being in a catalogue doesn't equate to being on the shelves ready to buy. How many books have you ordered that weren't immediately available? I have only a few and I'm guessing most other people are the same or even less so.
So how did 'Bringing home the stars' end up on retailers' shelves? A lot of hard work behind the scenes sending out review copies, arranging interviews, signings and readings and - probably the most important - sending out literally hundreds of book advance information sheets. Having a product isn't good enough if people don't know that it exists. I reckon from a hundred mail outs and quite a few follow-ups it maybe enthuses maybe half a dozen stores to actually stock copies. That's quite depressing. Remember too that even being on a shelf doesn't yet mean a sale because of that ol' chestnut of sale-or-return. SoR means that the publisher is lending a copy or copies to a store until such time as it is sold. Who is to say that all those ordered copies aren't going to filter back like a bad penny boomeranging their unwelcome return in six months time? We like to think that that won't happen though, and in most cases it won't because shops don't order hundreds of copies to litter their shelves and stock rooms if they don't think it will sell.
I've seen people ask about the problems of small presses. All Mouse Media certainly is a small press - let's have no illusions. That means that when a review copy plants its way down onto a reviewer's desk, it doesn't have the clout of a big-name tome from HarperCollins or Gollancz. Instead, it shuffles to the back of the queue as reviewers prioritise their time, and decide what books may or may not interest their audience anyway. Small presses lose out here, as they haven’t yet got that clout. That’s where being a trailblazer can be really hard work because you have to make that name the hard way. A big publisher established that credibility a long time ago, so don’t need to.
Book readings and signings help a lot. I’ve been booked for some branches of Waterstones as well as an indie shop or two. I’m still dreading the first of these – will I be sat there like a billy-no-mates as people pass on by deciding against having a copy of my book with the author’s squiggle in the front. Hey, if they want an unadulterated copy I’m fine with that.
Sales come from the places you don’t anticipate. I have to admit that I thought as a first timer with a small press that most of the sales would come from dedicated people wanting to check out a bit of indie sci-fi and ordering it through All Mouse Media’s website. Not so. Ironically, it seems that Waterstones is the biggest market. Whether that will continue to be the biggest market, only time will tell.
I tried self-publishing (NOT, I may point out, vanity press) before. It’s a thankless avenue dogged with prejudice as people assume that your book wasn’t good enough for mainstream publishing. There are quite a few books that started out this way, then got picked up by the mainstream later on. I wish I was one of them, but I wasn’t. It’s a competitive market battling against stigma, and for the most part losing. That’s why I was glad that All Mouse Media took me on, even if it does feel only a small mini stepette up from self-publishing. No matter how successful this book is, it still feels like cheating at school sports day. I guess I’ll never evade that feeling, no matter how hard I work at it.
The plan always was to prove the market for ’Bringing home the stars’ then see if a larger publisher would pick it up for the next edition. I’ve been told that this can happen, but it all hinges on a load of ‘if’s ‘but’s and ‘maybe’s. Some first-time novelists with major publishers actually can get only 400 sales off a first hardback. Some score as low as 200 copies. I haven’t seen any figures for paperbacks, but I’m guessing that 1,000 might be a usual figure to aim for. That’s a big target to hit, and I’m not sure how good a shot I am. Time will tell, but it is bloody stressful, I’ll tell you!
These days any book can appear (and will do) in every retailer's searchable catalogue listing. An ISBN assures this. Some people may marvel at the idea that this is all it takes to nominally appear in Amazon's, WH Smith's or Waterstones' catalogues. But that's where the fun stops. Being in a catalogue doesn't equate to being on the shelves ready to buy. How many books have you ordered that weren't immediately available? I have only a few and I'm guessing most other people are the same or even less so.
So how did 'Bringing home the stars' end up on retailers' shelves? A lot of hard work behind the scenes sending out review copies, arranging interviews, signings and readings and - probably the most important - sending out literally hundreds of book advance information sheets. Having a product isn't good enough if people don't know that it exists. I reckon from a hundred mail outs and quite a few follow-ups it maybe enthuses maybe half a dozen stores to actually stock copies. That's quite depressing. Remember too that even being on a shelf doesn't yet mean a sale because of that ol' chestnut of sale-or-return. SoR means that the publisher is lending a copy or copies to a store until such time as it is sold. Who is to say that all those ordered copies aren't going to filter back like a bad penny boomeranging their unwelcome return in six months time? We like to think that that won't happen though, and in most cases it won't because shops don't order hundreds of copies to litter their shelves and stock rooms if they don't think it will sell.
I've seen people ask about the problems of small presses. All Mouse Media certainly is a small press - let's have no illusions. That means that when a review copy plants its way down onto a reviewer's desk, it doesn't have the clout of a big-name tome from HarperCollins or Gollancz. Instead, it shuffles to the back of the queue as reviewers prioritise their time, and decide what books may or may not interest their audience anyway. Small presses lose out here, as they haven’t yet got that clout. That’s where being a trailblazer can be really hard work because you have to make that name the hard way. A big publisher established that credibility a long time ago, so don’t need to.
Book readings and signings help a lot. I’ve been booked for some branches of Waterstones as well as an indie shop or two. I’m still dreading the first of these – will I be sat there like a billy-no-mates as people pass on by deciding against having a copy of my book with the author’s squiggle in the front. Hey, if they want an unadulterated copy I’m fine with that.
Sales come from the places you don’t anticipate. I have to admit that I thought as a first timer with a small press that most of the sales would come from dedicated people wanting to check out a bit of indie sci-fi and ordering it through All Mouse Media’s website. Not so. Ironically, it seems that Waterstones is the biggest market. Whether that will continue to be the biggest market, only time will tell.
I tried self-publishing (NOT, I may point out, vanity press) before. It’s a thankless avenue dogged with prejudice as people assume that your book wasn’t good enough for mainstream publishing. There are quite a few books that started out this way, then got picked up by the mainstream later on. I wish I was one of them, but I wasn’t. It’s a competitive market battling against stigma, and for the most part losing. That’s why I was glad that All Mouse Media took me on, even if it does feel only a small mini stepette up from self-publishing. No matter how successful this book is, it still feels like cheating at school sports day. I guess I’ll never evade that feeling, no matter how hard I work at it.
The plan always was to prove the market for ’Bringing home the stars’ then see if a larger publisher would pick it up for the next edition. I’ve been told that this can happen, but it all hinges on a load of ‘if’s ‘but’s and ‘maybe’s. Some first-time novelists with major publishers actually can get only 400 sales off a first hardback. Some score as low as 200 copies. I haven’t seen any figures for paperbacks, but I’m guessing that 1,000 might be a usual figure to aim for. That’s a big target to hit, and I’m not sure how good a shot I am. Time will tell, but it is bloody stressful, I’ll tell you!
Monday 4 October 2010
Progress?
Sales are coming in through All Mouse Media's website, but painfully slowly. It is slightly annoying that it seems so many of the people who were so supportive when its publication was announced and promised they would support it, quietly decided not to.
We're also beset by the plague of people who promise to get back to you, then don't. Retailers, newspapers, co-ordinatoers, advertisers, banks, you name it they all do it. It isn't that I'm just the unpopular kid that smells and no-one likes (though sometimes I feel like it) because so many people I know say much the same. If some-one says "I'll call you back" it is, nine times out of ten, not true because they never do.
We knew from the outset that just having the greatest sci-fi/horror book wasn't enough. No-one will buy your product, no matter how great, if they don't know it exists. So AMM put a lot of money into printing up and sending out advance information sheets. So far to over 100 retailers or branches of chains. How many people responded? Three. I wouldn't mind so much, but we learnt today in one shop that the manager had not seen either this information, or the follow up left in person. It would seem that their staff are just binning advance information. How frustrating is that?
There's advertising too. Another chunk went live today, to add to a swathe of advertising that started a couple of weeks before the launch. It's an expensive business, and in truth I have a fear that so much advertising is wasted. Smooth-talking ad reps will feed the BS about how great their outlet is. But if it doesn't generate sales, then they were just taking the money and running.
We're also beset by the plague of people who promise to get back to you, then don't. Retailers, newspapers, co-ordinatoers, advertisers, banks, you name it they all do it. It isn't that I'm just the unpopular kid that smells and no-one likes (though sometimes I feel like it) because so many people I know say much the same. If some-one says "I'll call you back" it is, nine times out of ten, not true because they never do.
We knew from the outset that just having the greatest sci-fi/horror book wasn't enough. No-one will buy your product, no matter how great, if they don't know it exists. So AMM put a lot of money into printing up and sending out advance information sheets. So far to over 100 retailers or branches of chains. How many people responded? Three. I wouldn't mind so much, but we learnt today in one shop that the manager had not seen either this information, or the follow up left in person. It would seem that their staff are just binning advance information. How frustrating is that?
There's advertising too. Another chunk went live today, to add to a swathe of advertising that started a couple of weeks before the launch. It's an expensive business, and in truth I have a fear that so much advertising is wasted. Smooth-talking ad reps will feed the BS about how great their outlet is. But if it doesn't generate sales, then they were just taking the money and running.
Sunday 3 October 2010
Saturday 2 October 2010
Book launch day!
Today has finally come, in the form of the official release date of 'Bringing home the stars'. We've been shipping preorders for about three weeks, and there was no hard and fast rule about retailers holding them back until today (why should we?) so some people will have already got a copy and read it.
So from today it is a good opportunity to get buying. It is available from all the usual retailers, a lot of indie bookstores and branches of Waterstones. Currently I've been recomending the book depository though (hopefully a sign of demand) they're currently out of stock.
So a big thank you to all those who have purchased a copy so far as you're helping a wonderful indie author (me) and an indie publisher (All Mouse Media) to make headroads into a publishing world otherwise dominated by a small minority. If you haven't bought a copy yet, then why not? It's the best fiction book that has been released certainly today and maybe all year* and you will not regret getting a copy to read and enjoy.
BUY! BUY! BUY!
*contents may be an exageration
So from today it is a good opportunity to get buying. It is available from all the usual retailers, a lot of indie bookstores and branches of Waterstones. Currently I've been recomending the book depository though (hopefully a sign of demand) they're currently out of stock.
So a big thank you to all those who have purchased a copy so far as you're helping a wonderful indie author (me) and an indie publisher (All Mouse Media) to make headroads into a publishing world otherwise dominated by a small minority. If you haven't bought a copy yet, then why not? It's the best fiction book that has been released certainly today and maybe all year* and you will not regret getting a copy to read and enjoy.
BUY! BUY! BUY!
*contents may be an exageration
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