I see that the battle for who is going to get Tony Blair's memoirs has been won by Random House for an undisclosed sum, but is estimated to be in the region of £5 to £6 million, considerably less than the £8 million hoped for. This means I guess that at least 2 million of the British population have the good sense not to consider this book worthwhile reading. Suffice to say that I am one of them ... The deal which is believed to rank second only to the $10 million paid to Bill Clinton for his memoirs (now that would be a book worth reading), includes pre and post publication serial rights, English language and translation rights, as well as audio and electronic rights.
As Peter Cox commented on the relevant news page on the Bookseller website, "As the selfless, ethically-motivated politician that we know him to be, I’m sure he’ll do the right thing and donate his advance & any royalty(?) to care for all the widows and orphans he’s created both in Britain and Iraq." As a non subscriber, I do not have permission to post comments of my own, but I think Peter sums it up nicely and there is really not much more that I can add.
What though have I been up to this morning, apart from reading the news? It has been a busy morning actually. I have rung three national daily newspapers re book reviews - The Independent, The Guardian and the Telegraph. I have been pleasantly surprised in that all three do, and indeed have reviewed print on demand books. Things are indeed changing then. I have all the relevant details anyway, and so will post the books out this afternoon and get the ball rolling - I will then keep everything crossed for as long as it takes - which might make it a bit difficult to type !
I have also though made a dozen or so phone calls to yet more Waterstones stores, as there are quite a few that I have been unable to get through to the first time around. It transpires that I have been emailing the wrong person at Aberdeen Union Bridge, and so will fire off an email to the correct person in a minute, once I have finished on here. Same thing with Bishops Stortford.
Ballymena in Northern Ireland and Bath have both confirmed orders, and Amersham and Birmingham New Street have requested further information. Birmingham is likely to be a goer, since I happen to know that Pat, the MBS Manager has hosted events before for Authors OnLine, which went very well, so she knows that these books are not vanity press.
The lady at Bath was very helpful, since she told me that Waterstones have sold at least one book for every day last week, which is certainly encouraging. I told Richard they would sell! This knowledge may help to give those more reluctant stores a bit of a nudge ...
Oh well, back to the email then.
As Peter Cox commented on the relevant news page on the Bookseller website, "As the selfless, ethically-motivated politician that we know him to be, I’m sure he’ll do the right thing and donate his advance & any royalty(?) to care for all the widows and orphans he’s created both in Britain and Iraq." As a non subscriber, I do not have permission to post comments of my own, but I think Peter sums it up nicely and there is really not much more that I can add.
What though have I been up to this morning, apart from reading the news? It has been a busy morning actually. I have rung three national daily newspapers re book reviews - The Independent, The Guardian and the Telegraph. I have been pleasantly surprised in that all three do, and indeed have reviewed print on demand books. Things are indeed changing then. I have all the relevant details anyway, and so will post the books out this afternoon and get the ball rolling - I will then keep everything crossed for as long as it takes - which might make it a bit difficult to type !
I have also though made a dozen or so phone calls to yet more Waterstones stores, as there are quite a few that I have been unable to get through to the first time around. It transpires that I have been emailing the wrong person at Aberdeen Union Bridge, and so will fire off an email to the correct person in a minute, once I have finished on here. Same thing with Bishops Stortford.
Ballymena in Northern Ireland and Bath have both confirmed orders, and Amersham and Birmingham New Street have requested further information. Birmingham is likely to be a goer, since I happen to know that Pat, the MBS Manager has hosted events before for Authors OnLine, which went very well, so she knows that these books are not vanity press.
The lady at Bath was very helpful, since she told me that Waterstones have sold at least one book for every day last week, which is certainly encouraging. I told Richard they would sell! This knowledge may help to give those more reluctant stores a bit of a nudge ...
Oh well, back to the email then.
1 comment:
On the strength of those royalties then TB should just about be able to pay off the various mortgages on the property portfolio he was busy putting together while he was sending young soldiers to Iraq.
You have a very interesting blog June. Think I'll link to it. Best of luck with marketing your book. 'The answer to life, the universe and everything in between...?' Its no good. I'm going to have to order a copy.
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