Writing. Mostly.
Sorry I have not been keeping up to date with the blog, but blogging is not part of my 'thing' yet (I'm old!!), so it just slips.
Anyway, the second book is coming along nicely. More of that soon, including a tantalising glimpse at the fist chapter once we have some kind of publishing schedule sorted. Looks like it will be early next year (well, by 'early' I really mean probably about March). Check back for updates.
And Midwinter itself? Still growing. We have long passed that early stage of knowing where many of the orders come from (friends recommending it etc). Orders are coming in from all over the UK and mainland Europe, despite there being absolutely no marketing effort there. As I mentioned before, word of mouth is a powerful thing! The initial pint run of hardbacks is dwindling fast and with the huge mailshot going out to schools in the first week of October, that should hopefully polish off the paperbacks too. It will be good to do a second edition - despite a lot of proof-reading, there are still a couple of typos in the text that need to be ironed out (nothing major, but it is irritating!)
So, keep checking back. I'll try to write more often, but in the end, which would you prefer... stuff here or a new book? Thought so!
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Contradictions
Consider, if you will, this...
A review (from, as it turned out, someone who really knows his children's books, having spent most of his life as a dealer, publisher and champion of literacy):
"The characters are real, the horror is palpable. Children's literature has found an important new talent.'' (Gosh!!)
Waterstone's stocking decision, which as regular readers will know, we have been waiting for for eight weeks:
"No."
Of course, I was initially disappointed. The publisher had kept Waterstones abreast of developments: reviews, sales figures and so on. I was worried that by not being in the bookshop that effectively has the High Street monopoly, sales would suffer badly. But apparently this is not the case.
One example. A customer in Leicestershire went into his local W branch to buy Midwinter Lucie. He was told it would take two to three weeks to order it in. So he bought it from the publisher's website: immediate despatch and no postage.
He liked it so much, he went back to W's a week later and tried to get another. Same story. He ordered direct again. To date, he has bought twelve copies!
That's twelve copies this customer has bought at the same price he would have paid in the shop, but he got them delivered to his door, in just a few days and paid no postage. The only advantage of a bookshop is if you can get the book you're after there and then. Now, I wouldn't expect any bookshop to stock one copy of every book ever published: that would be silly. But, Waterstones central buyers knew of the case sited above because the publisher told them. They knew they had lost at least twelve sales... in one shop!
Effect? Customer was happy - as were the people he was buying the books for. Publisher was happy because he didn't have to give away nearly 60% discount to the bookshop.
Now, it is possible that not being on the shelf of every branch of this powerful shop is harming sales. We lose out on casual buyers (it is these people who W are doing the biggest disservice to) but as more and more people lose faith in monopolistic retailers, they are becoming more creative in how they source quality goods. It is also doubtless true that Waterstones destroyed our local launch by refusing to stock the book without even seeing it. But, two months into the project, word of mouth is already becoming powerful enough that internet sales are significant. Readers recognise a good thing when they see it, even if 'some people' don't!
So, to other aspiring authors suffering the same problems, what message pertains? Don't fret! The book market is changing, silently, but profoundly. Making sales is never easy, however you do it, but not being stocked in the shops is probably not actually a bad thing. If our once great bookshop chain want to sleep-walk into irrelevance (becoming, as they are, merely supermarkets for the lowest common denominator), that's their decision. You can still be successful by embracing a technology that millions of buyers are already very comfortable using (and you won't end up giving away 60% of the cover price of your book for the dubious privilege of being on the shelf next to the latest piece of fad garbage!).
A review (from, as it turned out, someone who really knows his children's books, having spent most of his life as a dealer, publisher and champion of literacy):
"The characters are real, the horror is palpable. Children's literature has found an important new talent.'' (Gosh!!)
Waterstone's stocking decision, which as regular readers will know, we have been waiting for for eight weeks:
"No."
Of course, I was initially disappointed. The publisher had kept Waterstones abreast of developments: reviews, sales figures and so on. I was worried that by not being in the bookshop that effectively has the High Street monopoly, sales would suffer badly. But apparently this is not the case.
One example. A customer in Leicestershire went into his local W branch to buy Midwinter Lucie. He was told it would take two to three weeks to order it in. So he bought it from the publisher's website: immediate despatch and no postage.
He liked it so much, he went back to W's a week later and tried to get another. Same story. He ordered direct again. To date, he has bought twelve copies!
That's twelve copies this customer has bought at the same price he would have paid in the shop, but he got them delivered to his door, in just a few days and paid no postage. The only advantage of a bookshop is if you can get the book you're after there and then. Now, I wouldn't expect any bookshop to stock one copy of every book ever published: that would be silly. But, Waterstones central buyers knew of the case sited above because the publisher told them. They knew they had lost at least twelve sales... in one shop!
Effect? Customer was happy - as were the people he was buying the books for. Publisher was happy because he didn't have to give away nearly 60% discount to the bookshop.
Now, it is possible that not being on the shelf of every branch of this powerful shop is harming sales. We lose out on casual buyers (it is these people who W are doing the biggest disservice to) but as more and more people lose faith in monopolistic retailers, they are becoming more creative in how they source quality goods. It is also doubtless true that Waterstones destroyed our local launch by refusing to stock the book without even seeing it. But, two months into the project, word of mouth is already becoming powerful enough that internet sales are significant. Readers recognise a good thing when they see it, even if 'some people' don't!
So, to other aspiring authors suffering the same problems, what message pertains? Don't fret! The book market is changing, silently, but profoundly. Making sales is never easy, however you do it, but not being stocked in the shops is probably not actually a bad thing. If our once great bookshop chain want to sleep-walk into irrelevance (becoming, as they are, merely supermarkets for the lowest common denominator), that's their decision. You can still be successful by embracing a technology that millions of buyers are already very comfortable using (and you won't end up giving away 60% of the cover price of your book for the dubious privilege of being on the shelf next to the latest piece of fad garbage!).
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
A Little History II
Book collectors are always on the look-out for the next big thing. That obscure, small-press title that might just one day go meteoric and mean true first editions are worth a fortune.
I have no idea whether Midwinter Lucie will do that - no one does. The book market is just not that predictable.
But, for those researching such things and those who have contacted the publisher asking for details, this is a potted history of the editions so far.
In January 2008 Eyelevel Books printed 100 'trial issue' copies in hardback. These had a dummy cover (which still turns up on some websites and is totally different to the final cover) and a LOT of mistakes in the text. It was used to send to reviewers (who still insist on getting books at least three months prior to publication, then don't bother to review them anyway), and for market research.
Three schools were used to trial the book. Librarians, teachers and pupils were given the book and asked to feed back likes and dislikes. Not that this was ever going to be a book written by committee, but it was important to get some idea of whether it was right. We got a lot of positive feedback, and some negative (there was originally a quite strong 'swear-word' in the text which teachers thought inappropriate, so it was cut, and some other minor issues were raised and addressed.)
Around 40 copies of this trial issue are still 'in the wild'. None are signed, and most probably show at least some wear.
The publisher retained around 12 copies on file and the remainder were destroyed.
Of these 12, two are signed without any dedication at present. (One of these was stolen in June). There will, of course never be more than 12 mint-condition signed copies of the trial issue.
In May 2008 a final edition (first edition) was published. This consisted of 2000 paperback and 500 hardbacks. These are identifiable by the words 'first edition' on the title verso page, plus the letters 'k-k'. Less than a dozen of each are signed and there are currently no plans to do 'mass signings' at public events.
Worth getting one as an investment? Who knows. The publisher will be doing a big marketing push into schools and libraries in the next couple of months, so it is likely that a good proportion of those still available will be swallowed up and mangled that way (like the 1st edition Harry Potters). It is highly unlikely that the hardback will ever be reprinted, but a second edition paperback is planned by the end of the year based on current and projected sales.
But anyway, at just £5.95 for the paperback and £9.95 for the hardback (UK post free of you order direct from the publisher at www.midwinterlucie.co.uk !!), it's worth a punt. If nothing else, you'll get what an increasing number of readers agree is a damn good book!
I have no idea whether Midwinter Lucie will do that - no one does. The book market is just not that predictable.
But, for those researching such things and those who have contacted the publisher asking for details, this is a potted history of the editions so far.
In January 2008 Eyelevel Books printed 100 'trial issue' copies in hardback. These had a dummy cover (which still turns up on some websites and is totally different to the final cover) and a LOT of mistakes in the text. It was used to send to reviewers (who still insist on getting books at least three months prior to publication, then don't bother to review them anyway), and for market research.
Three schools were used to trial the book. Librarians, teachers and pupils were given the book and asked to feed back likes and dislikes. Not that this was ever going to be a book written by committee, but it was important to get some idea of whether it was right. We got a lot of positive feedback, and some negative (there was originally a quite strong 'swear-word' in the text which teachers thought inappropriate, so it was cut, and some other minor issues were raised and addressed.)
Around 40 copies of this trial issue are still 'in the wild'. None are signed, and most probably show at least some wear.
The publisher retained around 12 copies on file and the remainder were destroyed.
Of these 12, two are signed without any dedication at present. (One of these was stolen in June). There will, of course never be more than 12 mint-condition signed copies of the trial issue.
In May 2008 a final edition (first edition) was published. This consisted of 2000 paperback and 500 hardbacks. These are identifiable by the words 'first edition' on the title verso page, plus the letters 'k-k'. Less than a dozen of each are signed and there are currently no plans to do 'mass signings' at public events.
Worth getting one as an investment? Who knows. The publisher will be doing a big marketing push into schools and libraries in the next couple of months, so it is likely that a good proportion of those still available will be swallowed up and mangled that way (like the 1st edition Harry Potters). It is highly unlikely that the hardback will ever be reprinted, but a second edition paperback is planned by the end of the year based on current and projected sales.
But anyway, at just £5.95 for the paperback and £9.95 for the hardback (UK post free of you order direct from the publisher at www.midwinterlucie.co.uk !!), it's worth a punt. If nothing else, you'll get what an increasing number of readers agree is a damn good book!
A Little History
I often get asked by readers about how the book was written, so here's a little history on that front.
I also get asked by book collectors scouring for a bargain about the printing history. I'll do a post about that soon.
So, the book.
I started writing in 1998. Then stopped. And started again in earnest in 2003. I wrote and wrote and wrote, with little intention of ever getting published. That side of it just didn't interest me. I was only concerned with learning the skills at that stage.
Midwinter Lucie was actually the fifth (I think) book I wrote. Originally it was a much longer book. But there are a few things that professional writers (like my mentor who must remain anonymous for now) keep telling us amateurs.
Cut anything irrelevant. If what you are writing does not: advance the plot; deepen character; or add humour, get rid of it. However lovely and artistic that prose is, however attached to it you are, if it doesn't do any of these, cut it.
Also, there's the issue of knowing where to start the plot. I originally gave a lot more background info about the village of Midwinter; the character of the bully Gary Harding was far more developed, and there was more on the back-story of Martin's unhappy family life.
But it all slowed things down.
So I made cuts. Deep cuts.
Steven King (a writer I am not ashamed to say I admire a lot - not everything he wrote, but he has created some of the most suspenseful writing ever) suggests cutting about 10% of the word-count out from the book you think is really truly finally finished in order to get a good publishable draft.
So I did that too. I cut almost all of the adverbs. I shortened sentences. I tightened until some scenes threatened to snap.
And looking at the reviews that are coming in, it worked.
So, unlike so many 'debut novels' that read like rough first drafts, I got to what I genuinely believed was a good book.
That took over two years (though I was working on other stuff at the same time!).
The publishing process took another year or more, but more of that somewhere else in this blog.
I also get asked by book collectors scouring for a bargain about the printing history. I'll do a post about that soon.
So, the book.
I started writing in 1998. Then stopped. And started again in earnest in 2003. I wrote and wrote and wrote, with little intention of ever getting published. That side of it just didn't interest me. I was only concerned with learning the skills at that stage.
Midwinter Lucie was actually the fifth (I think) book I wrote. Originally it was a much longer book. But there are a few things that professional writers (like my mentor who must remain anonymous for now) keep telling us amateurs.
Cut anything irrelevant. If what you are writing does not: advance the plot; deepen character; or add humour, get rid of it. However lovely and artistic that prose is, however attached to it you are, if it doesn't do any of these, cut it.
Also, there's the issue of knowing where to start the plot. I originally gave a lot more background info about the village of Midwinter; the character of the bully Gary Harding was far more developed, and there was more on the back-story of Martin's unhappy family life.
But it all slowed things down.
So I made cuts. Deep cuts.
Steven King (a writer I am not ashamed to say I admire a lot - not everything he wrote, but he has created some of the most suspenseful writing ever) suggests cutting about 10% of the word-count out from the book you think is really truly finally finished in order to get a good publishable draft.
So I did that too. I cut almost all of the adverbs. I shortened sentences. I tightened until some scenes threatened to snap.
And looking at the reviews that are coming in, it worked.
So, unlike so many 'debut novels' that read like rough first drafts, I got to what I genuinely believed was a good book.
That took over two years (though I was working on other stuff at the same time!).
The publishing process took another year or more, but more of that somewhere else in this blog.
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
The Story so Far
So, the book came out on June 1st (well, actually the trial issue came out in January 2008 and was used for market research in schools and libraries, but the 'real' book came out last month). It's now the dying days of July.
Where are we?
Well, readers seem to love it...
(Writeaway website)
All over, a very good suspenseful story that doesn't contain too much horror that will scare smaller children and once again proves that you don't need mindless violence and blood and gore to make a good horror story.
...a very good read. It's not too long and written in a way that will not make children lose interest.
A children's, or rather teenagers' book, that will enthral and excite adults.
Beautifully paced, cracking characterisation, and twists and turns to keep you pushing on to the next page before turning the lights out.
Would I recommend it? Oh yes!
I found the book really enjoyable, the plot really got to me... amazing!
(Josh, aged 11. We can't quote any more as it give far too much of the plot away, but let's say, he loved it!)
So, at least it seems to be a good book. So difficult to tell when it's being written. But readers love it, and that's what counts.
And sales?
Well, we had to abandon the Big Local Launch, planned for the first week of June. I (and the publisher was in agreement) wanted to get this book out in my home county first, as it was the place that inspired it. Local author, local publisher.
Local press? Nah. Couldn't be bothered. Only one paper in the whole county ran anything about the book. Another set up a very time-consuming location photo-shoot... then didn't run the piece.
Local bookshops? Independents were great (special mention to Beacon Books in Malvern and Maxine's in Pershore), but without press coverage, we were all whisting into the wind. Waterstones in Worcester (ie, the only bookshop in the city) refused to take it without even seeing it. Apparently they can't deal with local publishers (strange as it was the 'local buyer' who told me this - makes you wonder just what her job entails really).
So, that was the end of the local launch.
National stuff takes longer. There are big reviews pending, but still no decision from Waterstones central buyers or Borders. These things take time. Which actually is fine. The publisher has to offer a minimum of 60% discount to get in the big shops. With internet sales, however, they don't.
So, we moved onto the net. And managed to hit just enough of a nerve that sales began in earnest. A few the first week; a few more the second. Then quite a lot more, with great feedback and 'I want a couple for friends/family/people who can actually read rather than fawn over pop-tart tripe'.
It's early days, but what is obvious is that word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing method of all. And the most rewarding. I set out to write books that people enjoy reading. Not to make money, and certainly not to get famous (note there's no pics of 'the author' anywhere!). We are rapidly working through the first edition print run (I'm not allowed to tell you how many that is - confidential business info or something, but let's just say it was not a print-on-demand job!)
So, if you're a self-publishing author, or one working with a small press, take heart. It's tough to get noticed, but be patient. It can happen.
More soon!
And sales?
Well, we had to abandon the Big Local Launch, planned for the first week of June. I (and the publisher was in agreement) wanted to get this book out in my home county first, as it was the place that inspired it. Local author, local publisher.
Local press? Nah. Couldn't be bothered. Only one paper in the whole county ran anything about the book. Another set up a very time-consuming location photo-shoot... then didn't run the piece.
Local bookshops? Independents were great (special mention to Beacon Books in Malvern and Maxine's in Pershore), but without press coverage, we were all whisting into the wind. Waterstones in Worcester (ie, the only bookshop in the city) refused to take it without even seeing it. Apparently they can't deal with local publishers (strange as it was the 'local buyer' who told me this - makes you wonder just what her job entails really).
So, that was the end of the local launch.
National stuff takes longer. There are big reviews pending, but still no decision from Waterstones central buyers or Borders. These things take time. Which actually is fine. The publisher has to offer a minimum of 60% discount to get in the big shops. With internet sales, however, they don't.
So, we moved onto the net. And managed to hit just enough of a nerve that sales began in earnest. A few the first week; a few more the second. Then quite a lot more, with great feedback and 'I want a couple for friends/family/people who can actually read rather than fawn over pop-tart tripe'.
It's early days, but what is obvious is that word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing method of all. And the most rewarding. I set out to write books that people enjoy reading. Not to make money, and certainly not to get famous (note there's no pics of 'the author' anywhere!). We are rapidly working through the first edition print run (I'm not allowed to tell you how many that is - confidential business info or something, but let's just say it was not a print-on-demand job!)
So, if you're a self-publishing author, or one working with a small press, take heart. It's tough to get noticed, but be patient. It can happen.
More soon!
In the Beginning
When Martin Lewis stumbles on a grave with his name on it, at first he thinks it's just a weird coincidence. But later, guided by the sinister Archibald Snode, he discovers there have been other Martin Lewises, all of whom died on their thirteenth birthday, all exactly one hundred years apart.
And Martin turns thirteen on Friday.
With time running out, Martin must crack the riddle of Midwinter Lucie and prepare the ultimate defence against the murderous Chadian Knights before they can fulfil their six hundred year old prophesy.
So that's the blurb.
Midwinter Lucie is a children's book, originally written for 11-plus readers. I say 'originally' because in fact I'm getting far more good feedback from adults than children. One reviewer described the book as 'Stephen King' for younger readers. As it turns out, even once the gratuitous violence and other 'adult' themes are removed, the remaining creepy, spine-tingling horror - mostly implied rather than explicit - still thrills the grown-ups!
Click on the book cover to the right to get more information about the book. This blog will be an occasional diary of how marketing works out, how sales progress, and maybe a few diversions into the writing process of both this book and the other four I am contracted for with the publisher, Eyelevel Books.
And Martin turns thirteen on Friday.
With time running out, Martin must crack the riddle of Midwinter Lucie and prepare the ultimate defence against the murderous Chadian Knights before they can fulfil their six hundred year old prophesy.
So that's the blurb.
Midwinter Lucie is a children's book, originally written for 11-plus readers. I say 'originally' because in fact I'm getting far more good feedback from adults than children. One reviewer described the book as 'Stephen King' for younger readers. As it turns out, even once the gratuitous violence and other 'adult' themes are removed, the remaining creepy, spine-tingling horror - mostly implied rather than explicit - still thrills the grown-ups!
Click on the book cover to the right to get more information about the book. This blog will be an occasional diary of how marketing works out, how sales progress, and maybe a few diversions into the writing process of both this book and the other four I am contracted for with the publisher, Eyelevel Books.
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