Poison Pen Letters

After I got home from work last night, I found Coran had placed 2 letters of my keyboard which arrived in the post. When I opened them, one was a crossword entry for the village newsletter, and the other a letter which I shall print below (omitting the senders name):

Dear Editor

Before the next edition goes to press, we would like to object to your misuse of the editorial page at the beginning of the December 2007-January 2008 issue. Has it never occurred to you that most people in the village do not really care how dramatically your life has changed or how many copies of your stupid book you have sold?

The editorial column should be about what it says on the cover - village news and not you. Sincerely (she then lists her own name and those of 6 others).

This is the second time this person has written to me, both times I hasten to add, anonymously. The first time she was telling me how awful she thought my book was after she had read the free copy that I can only surmise she won at last summer's village fair! She also criticised the quality of the pictures that are reproduced in the newsletter - as if I have any control over this!

This though really takes the biscuit. I see nothing wrong with what I wrote on the editorial page in question, where I was commenting on the fact that I have lived here for a year now and how much things have changed for both of us during that time. She is wrong when she says that the editorial page is for village news, as most magazines I buy have much more personal comments that this on the editorial page. The editorial page is just that - a space for the editor to make his or her own comments on what has been going on for them since the last issue.

Knowing that the former secretary for the neighbourhood council knows so many people up here, and given the fact that this lady (if that is the right phrase to use) was not courteous enough to provide me with contact details, so that I can discuss this with her in person, I discussed it with her (the former secretary that is), and she didn't have a clue who any of these people are either. However, she does know who might so said that today she would make enquiries. In the meantime, she also suggested that I print the letter in the February edition, to make these people look even more silly than they already are, naming and shaming them as it were. Having talked this over with my predecessor, he agrees.

They will all be in for one hell of a shock then when they get their February edition and see their names in print! If they think I am going to just roll over and take this then they will have to think again. After all, my predecessor was advertising for almost a year for a new editor before I contacted him, and at the time I didn't even live here, so if they think they can do a better job than I am then they should have applied when they had the chance.

The plot though thickens, as having now spoken to the former secretary of the local neighbourhood council, she has checked with the District Counsellor and informs me that none of the names on this letter are registered on the electoral roll - I can only surmise then that they are fictitious. Only a coward and bully behaves like this - as they know that they are in the wrong and if challenged their arguments would not hold sway.

It has though really upset me, since I happen to think that I am going a bloody good job, especially when ones considers that I also work part time (full time for the last month) and run my own business. Like I said, my predecessor was advertising for a replacement for almost a year before a friend got in touch and told me about it. At the time I was not even living here, as we had only just had our offer accepted on the property we are now living in, and since I did take over the editors reins this is the first such letter I have received - most people in fact are full of praise for the changes I have made, and say how much better the magazine now is!

If she doesn't like it then, she should have applied for the job when she had the chance - not that she would be any good at it anyway, since her letter is littered with basic proof reading errors.

Having slept on it though since yesterday and been mulling this over all day, I am still undecided as to what to do for the best and so I asked my pendulum. It confirmed that that I should indeed print the letter, and I should also reply - in the nicest possible way (this will be difficult). As tempting as it is though to let rip and say what I really think, it would not be professional of me to do so. This way though, she will know that her letter has been received and the comments noted. I will also publish any letters of support that I get in response to this in future editions which will wipe the smile right off her stupid cowardly face.

On another professional note though, my boss has agreed to let me work four days a week starting next week. He offered me the chance to work full time, which ordinarily I would have taken, but having come this far with the book he understands that I cannot just throw in the towel, but have to continue working hard at promoting the book as much as I can. It will be difficult being back at work, and I will feel torn in two, but the sad reality is that I can earn more from selling their stuff than I can from selling books.

We have already earned £200 in bonuses this month as the store that had the greatest trading margin in the week preceding Christmas, and the store that sold the most clearance lines last week. This week the bonus is also based on clearance lines, and we are on target to win it for the second week in a row, which will not be bad with a team of three full timers (I count myself in this category unofficially) and two weekend staff. I would have to sell 72 books in order to earn £100 in royalties, which is the equivalent of a whole months work. I wish it were different, but this is the world we are living in, and I have to pay the bills and keep a roof over my head.

David R Wright writes in the February edition of Writers News that the Society of Authors are currently debating moves towards an minimum hourly rate for non fiction writers who submit articles for publications and also write books. By this he means that the advance of one off fee paid to such writers for publication of their work should be the amount of hours it took to write, edit and research multiplied by the current minimum hourly wage (£5.50 an hour). If I were to be paid this in the form of an advance for my book I would have received an advance of around £8000! Chance would be a fine thing! I can't see this catching on fast, although it would be nice if it did. It would prove very difficult to enforce, since writers would need to meticulously record every minute they spent writing, which most would be loathe to do - we have enough to do keeping the Inland Revenue happy as it is!

Virtual Book Tour coming soon ...

I have been trying to think up new ways of generating publicity these past few days, observing that the main arena through which self published books are sold still seems to be the internet. The reasons for this are chiefly the fact that in the main, book stores are reluctant to stock such titles -especially when they are POD. This is of course due to the high print costs which make it difficult to offer high discounts or returnability. The situation is, from what I understand, far worse in North America that it is here in the UK, where we are somewhat more progressive. The standards of such books though also seem to be a lot higher, and maybe this makes a difference.

I am of course one of the lucky ones who has managed to get round this problem by persuading her editor to ask the wholesaler to take her book on better terms. While it is beginning to pay dividends and the book is now starting to sell, albeit rather slowly, it is not by itself enough, and I need to continually search for new and different ways to market my product.

I have noticed in the past few weeks that an increasing number of self published authors are doing what are referred to as 'virtual book tours', wherby the book is mentioned on a variety of usually blog sites, where the author is typcially asked a list of standard questions, and the author then places links back to these sites from their own. Most of these sites are though in America, and deal exclusively with American books. I have though been mentioned on quite a few other sites now - Wrinkly Writers and Grumpy Old Bookman to name just two, and this compared with the reviews that I have had and my upcoming feature in Writers News means that I have started to put together my own virtual book tour, which will be coming to a website very near you quite soon. Watch this space.

On another more personal note, the price list for Lundy for 2008 arrived this morning, and I am pleased to see that I shall be sailing once again this summer from Bideford. Even better than that is the fact that I shall be returning back to the same port 2 weeks later. This means then that I shall once again be able to stay with my very good friends John and Mary in The Red House, just outside Barnstaple.

Print on Demand - pros and cons

Following some interesting comments made by various members of the Writers News forum I have decided to make a list of pros and cons with regard to POD which will be added to my article Print on Demand - Is Vanity Fair?

Admittedly as a POD author I may be slightly biased in favour of it, but when I look at this list, there are definately more pros than cons. Read it though and judge for yourselves.

Negatives

POD stigma – this applies more to the US though than the UK, where things are rapidly changing.
Author has to cover costs.
Low discounts and lack of sale or return mean that book stores are less likely to stock.
No sales representation – author has to work hard at marketing their own books.
Relatively high print costs giving less scope for negotiation with discounts etc.
Time consuming.
POD cannot accommodate the sending of review copies six months ahead of publication – unless you delay your launch and use initial copies for these purposes.
The POD author cannot get access to their sales data – since they are not the publisher.
Huge learning curve and not for the faint hearted.
No guarantees that the book will sell.

Positives

Excellent way to test the market and prove those agents/publishers wrong who rejected your work.
No agent/publisher in their right mind would reject a successfully self published book - such an author is then able to negotiate better terms.
Minimise the risk by printing copies in short runs or as they are ordered.
Books are never out of print – provided you pay your annual fee.
POD books have a greater window of opportunity in which to be sold – commercially published books have at the most 6 months to a year.
Easy and inexpensive to change cover and/or text.
No books to store. Author does not have to deal with orders/fulfilment themselves since these are filtered through the wholesaler.
Speed of delivery – average commercially published takes 18 months to see print, with POD this is shortened to 3 months.
Higher royalties.
Greater creative control.
Eco friendly.
The author knows that any successes are entirely due tot their own efforts.
Wonderful way to make friends and influence people.
Learn lots of new transferable skills.

Not the Jane Austen Festival

Don't you just hate it when you spend ages writing the perfect article to go on your blog site, and then press the wrong key only to find it disappearing into oblivion? That is exactly what happened when I tried to write on here earlier tonight. This then is my second attempt, and I hope it will be a case of second time lucky.

Picking up then where I left off yesterday, I rang a few more stores both yesterday and today with somewhat minor progress. Monday I have come to the conclusion, is not a good day to be doing this, since most Managers are in meetings with sales reps, staff etc and dealing with paperwork and so on. Tuesday is not a good day either, since it seems to be most of their days off ! Wednesday thankfully is a little better, since I managed to secure at least one order - this time from Oban in Scotland. I spoke to a very helpful lady with a delightful Scottish accent, who informed me that she would be ordering 2 copies.

It may seem strange to some that I am chasing all these stores, most of whom are ordering just one or two copies, but then again, with the amount that have ordered, it does add up to some considerable amount. It is of course chicken feed compared to the traditionally published (although even this is no guarantee of shelf space), but excellent for a POD book like mine. Of course I am not naive enough to say that I am doing better than most, but then again, I suppose it is all relative anyway, as it depends on one's personal goals and aspirations. A year ago, or even six months ago, I would not have had the resources or the stamina to do even half the things I am doing now, but then again, perhaps it was not the right time. Everything seems to have changed since we moved, and both Coran and I have found a new inner strength and confidence which I do not think would have been possible in our old home, because we had outgrown the energies of that place. This is definitely where we need to be, and I intend to stay put for some considerable time.

I started a part time evening course in journalism tonight at via Birkbeck in London, and sponsored by Surrey Hills Onward Learning. We need 13 people to make it viable, and there are only 5, possibly 6, so it uncertain as to whether it will continue. It will be a great shame if it has to fold, since the course covers every aspect of journalism from interview techniques to libel and copyright as well as writing press releases and news articles and features. It will then be very good and excellent experience not just for my own writing career, but also for the the newsletter I edit. It is rather costly at over £200, but the commitee have agreed to pay half the fee. Of course, we will get this back should the course be cancelled.

Listening to the news last night though, they happened to mention that the city of Bath is this week celebrating the Jane Austen festival. With a name like mine, I am often the butt of jokes regarding my more famous namesake, so I had the idea to write a spoof press release entitled Not the Jane Austen Festival and post it on a few of those free PR websites, and also send it off to some newspapers and magazines - namely Publishing News, Writers News and Writers Forum. If nothing else I thought it would make them all laugh. While I was at is, I also sent a copy to Waterstones in Bath.

You can then imagine my surprise when I got home from shopping in Redhill to find a message on the answerphone from one of the reporters from Writers News asking to interview me. Well, I rang him back and answered all his questions (he had taken the time first to look at my own website, which is always good), and he tells me that it will be in either the November or December issue. Paul had been saying for a while that they would be featuring the book, so I guess that spoof thing that I sent them might have jogged them into action.

Still holding my breath ...

Coran and I had a lovely day today at Stonehenge and a well deserved rest. It was really nice to just sit around the stones lolling about in the sun with a good book, and have a leisurely drive back, watching everybody else overtake.

I have just rung Paul to get the lowdown on what is happening. He has spoken to Borders today and they have requested further information, which Paul's contact will pass on to the Buyer who is in charge of my genre. He remains confident that they will bite. He will try Waterstones on Monday, whom I expect will say the same thing. Writers News in the meantime remains a cert, as does the feature in Self Publishing, which I organised myself some time ago. The Times is also a possibility. Paul informs me that Richard will be putting out a press release some time next week, which will go on his own website, and will be circulated to other "interested parties". If he needs me to post it on a few of the free press release websites I can certainly do that as well. I will speak to Paul on Monday and see what the plans are.

I realise that neither Paul or Richard can promise results, but we are going to give this our best shot, and I feel confident that at least one of these contacts will bite. For my part I have some radio contacts of my own from the newsletter that I edit, and can also contact some of the local papers. One of Coran's clients has some useful media contacts so I might contact her and see if she can help.

Still holding my breath and keeping those fingers (and everything else) crossed!

The times they are a changin'

It has been another eventful day. I am still floating with the events of the last few days, and can't quite believe it has happened. I spoke to Paul yesterday, who does public relations on behalf of some of Richard's authors, and gave him the good news. I mentioned the Borders problem to him, and how their Head Office have not returned my calls, knowing that he has contacts there. I also remembered that he has contacts at Waterstones and wondered, now the book is breaking the POD mould as it were in being available for the same terms as all those other best sellers, if they may be prepared to take it on board as a stocked title and send some out to all of their stores. It would save me the bother of phoning them all up - although I will do that if I have to! Paul said he would ring me back around 7pm tonight.

I did not wait for his call and decided to ring him, as Coran and I wanted to go to church for some healing. He has not managed to talk to either as yet, but will definately do so tomorrow. The good news is that he has spoken to Writers News magazine, and they will be running a feature, probably in the September edition. He has also spoken to The Times with a view to them doing a review! He cannot of course promise anything, but they have asked him to send a copy, and that is a start. You know what they say, that one good review in the right place can make a writers entire career.