Friday, October 05, 2007

More books are on their way



With my book signing at Waterstones in Staines fast approaching, in 2 weeks time, I have had this awful feeling for a while now that something would go dreadfully wrong and the books would not arrive in time. When I spoke to Rebecca, who is organising the event on Wednesday, she assured me that everything was fine, that the flyers had been printed, the local papers contacted (she even gave me the reporters name) and she would be ordering the books today.

I logged on to Gardners website though yesterday though to find zero copies in stock. Normally I would be rejoicing at this, since it means that I have sold lots of copies and all those stores who told me they would order have done so ! This time though I got an awful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and the mind went into overdrive with all sorts of scenarios ...

What if the books do not arrive in time and I turn up to find there aren't any ....
Should I bring some with me as fall back and if so, how many. If I do that it means I have to keep them in reserve and will not be able to send out any review copies for two weeks ... What percentage discount should I offer them ... Will they be able to buy direct from me .... Will I have to wait ages to get paid ....

Should I carry on ringing other book stores, as there may not be enough books to cover the ones that they want and Staines as well ....

Sometimes I just wish that my mind would shut up and keep quiet !

I rang Gaynor this morning though, who deals with book orders for Authors OnLine and knows what orders have been received and what haven't. She hadn't seen an order at all from Gardners for 2 weeks. 'Give me 5 minutes though' she said 'and I will ring Richard and see what he knows'.

Five minutes later the phone rang. 'You must have been psychic' she said 'I have just had an order come in for another 50 copies. It's a good job you rang when you did, or I may not have seen it until 4 o'clock and it wouldn't have got actioned until after the weekend'.

Phew - thank goodness for that !

1 comment:

Tracy Saunders. said...

Hang in June! The Universe is unfolding as it should.
I finished Genesis of Man this afternoon and wanted to go back to the beginning and read it all over again there is so much to take in.
This is a book not to be "read", but consumed (I rationed it out - too rich otherwise like chocolate truffles!), digested, and assimilated into the soul's bloodstream. Absolutely fascinating. I checked on the Ireneus quote (Note 28, page 298) and found you were absolutely right! Ireneus of all people! (Though it is not entirely clear that he doesn't mean John only in India.) Your description of being possessed by inspiration made me laugh and laugh: I could have written the very same. Maybe Priscillian was channelled after all. (*I still maintain that it is Priscillian who is buried in Compostela, but then I would, wouldn't I?) I'll e-mail you soon and let you know my thoughts.
Very best for the upcoming weeks - don't fight the seeming blockages, let them resolve themselves.
Best,
Tracy Saunders, who is "still standing..."