Paul has been busy on my behalf

Have just got off the phone from a long conversation with Paul Ricks (Richard's publicist) who helps to promote AOL's authors. He has not been able to do much lately because he is embroiled in a rather complicated court case, where he is acting as a coordinator to help lots of disgruntled people. The case is nothing to do with AOL I hasten to add, although Richard is one of many who is being sued by this rather strange and very nasty character, a man named Graham Cook, who runs a self publishing company named Writers World. It is a long and convulated story, but basically Cook has been reported to DTI and Office of Fair Trading both here and in the US for s string of offences (well over 100 I believe), copyright infringement, taking people's money and not publishing their books etc, etc, etc. The list is endless. The internet is full of references to him if you tap in his name. A thoroughly unsavoury character by all accounts, who needs to be put a stop to once and for all.

Anyway, other than that, Paul has a friiend of his, whose name I can't now remember, reviewing the book at the moment to go in a small magazine that he publishes in London. He will send me a copy once the review is published. He will also ring Borders Head Office to try and drum up some more publicity for me, and organise talks, get them to order books etc to go into some of their other local stores - Brighton, Croydon and Wimbledon were mentioned. The other thing is that it looks like the Foyles multiple book signing is going ahead sometime in April - in the Charing Cross Road store - one of the biggest in London, and my name is definately on the list ! He will let me know then exactly when it will be, so I can pencil it into my bulging diary.

I have also just tried to ring Cygnus to jolly them up a bit and see if they are any closer to making a decision re my book, but Jackie the lady who deals with it is off until Monday (I forgot she only works part time). I am now about to find out about local newspapers in the Horsham area to see if I can drum up some free publictity for my talk there in less than 2 weeks now.

The house is sold ....

It feels like a quiet week, when not much has happened, yet when I look back on it, a gerat deal has happened.

We have accepted an offer on our house, so it looks like the move will be going ahead. It is a first time buyer with no chain, and she seems as keen to get in as we are to get out. The park home site that we are moving to is the most sought after in the whole country, so we are very lucky that it has fallen into place. The house we are buying has been on the market for nine months, and we sold ours within a week! It was obviously waiting for us ...

The Journey group started back on Friday. I didn't sell any copies, as they all left their money at home - doh! I ordered 20 more this week, which should arrive soon, to replenish stocks, and so that I have some more review copies to send out. I sent two this morning - one to a magazine called Readers Reviews and one to Borders Head Office for their consideraton. Readers Reviews is a magazine published by POD publisher Troubadour, where they review and sell self published books, kind of like a POD book club. It is worth considering I feel. Borders have not replied to any of my answerphone messages, and their website says they need to see a copy for consideration, so I have bitten the bullet and sent it through. I will see what happens. I am still waiting on Watkins and Waterstones in Kingston and will have to chase them up in the week.

I went into Waterstones in Epsom on the way home to see if my books were on the shelf. I couldn't see them, so asked. They have 2 in stock and another one on order. The girl thought that they were probably upstairs waiting to be put out, as they only arrived a week ago, so they should be there next time I go in. Apparently they took a week to arrive, so at least I know the time frame involved if anyone else wants to order one ...

The sales figures for August went live on Richard's site yesterday. I sold 3 UK copies and 2 US. The UK ones are probably the 3 that Waterstones ordered, which means that the Chalice Well have not ordered any more, and also that that shop in Stockport haven't. I wonder why? I have Emailed twice but heard nothing. I chased up Cygnus yesterday, since Richard hadn't heard from them. I spoke to Jackie Hollingsworth who deals with their submissions. She has been on holiday, and only works part time, so has a lot to catch up on. They get 200 submissions a month, and have a circulation of 60,000 people! She hopes to get back to me with an acknowledgement within the next 2 weeks and appreciated my patience and understanding. These Editors have a lot on their plates after all. If she likes it, she will pass it to their Editor who will contact Richard to negoitatate terms. It may be in their catalogue in time for Christmas. Richard being the cynic that he is, asked me which Christmas they meant!

Yesterday I also had an Email from West Country Books, a small wholesaler/distributor based in - you guessed it, the West Country. Would I be interested in signing up with them? One of the ladies on my mailing list told them about my book and suggested they get in touch. I already have the two distributors, Bertrams and Gardners, whom Richard has accounts with, but another is always worth looking at, especially since they specialise in Mind, Body and Spirit books and supply a lot of the smaller, New Age type shores. I forwarded their email to Richard so he can get in touch and see what they have to offer, and Emailed them to let them know.

The review which has gone up on the Internet forum I used to moderate has caused a bit of a stir. It was touch and go whether the current mods would allow it, but in the end they did, after the ordering information was removed! It is more a critique than a review, which took me slightly by surprise ... I have had several messages from people in response, so it must be causing some ripples.

Oh well, time for tea ...

Another update

I can't remember all that has happened, or what I have done since Friday, which is why I decided to buy an exercise book (recycled of course) to write it down, as that way I can remind myself of who needs chasing up and when ...

Things will quieten down for a few weeks now our Church is closed for the summer break. Coran and I have been busy yesterday and today helping them clean and redecorate. Coran has also helped with some minor DIY problems - sorting out the speakers for the hi fi system and clearing out the gutters, that sort of thing.

I have only sold one copy this week, and unless some cheques arrive in the post, do not expect to sell any more. That is fine as I can use the time to do other things like ringing round some more groups and book shops. Yesterday was a busy day for me. I rang the Chalice Well to see if the copy I sent them had arrived. The lady I needed to speak to wasn't available, so I emailed instead. It was the same with Watkins, so I emailed them as well, and said, very boldly than I will be in London on Friday (Coran has a hospital apppointment), so will drop into the shop with a copy of the book and some information to try and see the Manager then! I will see if he is available, and if not, I am sure the book will be passed on. It will be worth it for the price of a free copy (£7.17 to me).

I slso phoned Waterstones in Kingston. Buying decisions for Waterstones are made on a local rather than national level, so they asked me to send them a copy. I said I will drop in to see them next time I go town, which will be tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed then. I said I am more than willing to help with publicity by doing a talk, book signing or both, so that should help. I will try and ring Epsom as well this week, and see what they say. I expect they will want another free copy. All these free copies are beginning to add up, but it will be worth it if they decide to go with the book.

I Rang Borders again and left another message on their anwerphone. They have not rung me back, so I will have to take the bull by the horns and send them - you guessed it - another free copy! Phew, I hope this is all worth it.

I was just getting in from shopping when I heard the phone ringing. It was a friend from Church, who bought a copy last week, to tell me that she had shown it to a friend who is doing a course with Diana Summer, who is mentioned in the acknowledgements. She took the book to the latest course meeting, and now they all want one. Several of them said that they would contact me. So far there is nothing, but I can wait. Another lady who bought a copy, has shown it to her friend, who also wants her own one. Another friend from the nearby Kosmon sanctuary made some lovely comments when we went there for healing on Monday - she said that my sense of humour really comes through, and it is like having a proper conversation with me rather than reading a book.

My friend from Church suggested that I try Cygnus book club (she is the third person to have mentioned this now). I did contact them a few months ago, while it was at the proof reading stage, and they said they would need to see an information sheet. I telephoned Richard to run it past him, and he said that some of his authors have had success with book clubs, but that Cygnus would need to negotiate the discount (probably around 65 percent!) with him, so I sent them the information sheet, front and back cover proofs and chapter by chapter outline by email, with a copy to Richard so that he knows what is going on. If they do buy them at 65 percent discount that will leave me with a royalty of only £1.09 a copy, but it will get my name out there, and once the book is on their list, it will stay there, so it will be worth it.

The other thing I have done is contact some of the websites I have already linked to and asked them to link back. Some of these are well known, like the Nibiruan Council, which could drive a lot of traffic to my site, and boost sales no end. Finally, I registered the new site with Yahoo. Other crawlers also use this engine, so I will get listed on Lycos and others.

Tomorrow I shall deliver the copy to Waterstones in Kingston and ring some more groups re giving talks.