Borders and Book (Reviewers) etc

I have had the most successful morning for a while, and am feeling full of the joys of autumn. Let's hope that some of that good luck rubs off on me, as I have an interview this afternoon for a part time job. This will be my first interview for a while.

It has got to the point where I have to return to work, since it has become clear that book sales alone will not sustain me! Now the book is on sale or return, it may take even longer than usual for the money to come in - since royalties are always paid somewhat in arrears. Gardners order books from Richard, and they in turn supply to the book stores. Book stores take 3 months to pay Gardners, with the option of sending them back, after 6 months or so if they don't sell ..... So, then you get the other problem - the possibility that I might actually end up owing Richard money and having to pay back the royalties that I do get .... I don't want to start thinking about that though ....

This morning I actually managed to speak to the New Press Department at Borders ! I spoke to very nice lady called Claire, whom I wrote to in September with some press releases and other information on the book. She confirmed that it has all been received, and that yes, my book is on the system as available for their stores to be ordered. Contrary to what I had been told by the stores themselves, only 2 currently have stock - Lakeside and Kingston upon Thames. She did not mention how many copies though have actually been sold.

She did confirm though that authors are in fact free, once their books are accepted, to ring any Borders or Books Etc Stores, in the same way that they can with Waterstones. Books will then have to be ordered through the Buying team at their Head Office. Most of the time they will order from Gardners, at a maximum of 40 percent discount, which is the terms at which my book is supplied. Birmingham then had no right to demand a 60 percent discount when I spoke to them back in August, or whenever it was.

She also though said, and this is the crucial bit, that she will mention the book to the actual Buying team, with a view to them giving it a bit more of a push to get it into some of their stores ! This is superb news. I asked for her email address, realising that it is very difficult to get these people on the phone, given my previous difficulties, and have made a note of it accordingly in my own little pink book ....

I then started to ring a few of the local Borders branches, starting with Brighton. I spoke to their MBS Manager, Rob O'Connor back in August, and he asked me to send him some information. At the time he indicated that he would definitely be interested in stocking some copies, but I never did get back to him to see whether he actually had. Well today he is not in until this afternoon, and I have that interview to go to, so I suspect it will have to wait for another day.

I then though telephoned Croydon, and they agreed to order some copies. Last time I spoke to them I got a very snooty book seller, who didn't have a clue, and told me they did not sell many MBS books or deal with POD authors. I found this strange when I happen to know that Sue Rule, who has written an excellent fantasy novel, published by Authors OnLine Ltd, did very successful book signing there not that long ago. I know Sue well, since she was the one who tried to get the Authors Direct group going. We had to give the idea up in the end, since we all had such different books, and could not arrange times to get together to discuss anything.

I then though spoke to Wimbledon, and they too ordered some copies. After that I spoke to Uxbridge, under the guise of ringing to check how the sales were going (they told back in August that they too would be ordering copies). It seems though that the books did not arrive, and for some reason, the missing order wasn't chased. Good job I rang then, as they have now ordered some more.

Following that a somewhat less helpful phone call to their branch at nearby Gatwick Airport, and then a somewhat more helpful call to Paul.

He had some bad news to pass on in that one of his other writing friends has passed on after a heart valve replacement operation. They think she contracted a strain of MRSA. He is not in a good way himself, so we couldn't talk for too long - he has a bad case of sinusitis and is doped up to the eyeballs on all sorts of drugs - lucky him!

I wanted though to tell him about Borders, and get some of his newspaper contacts. He was very pleased and willingly did all he could to help. I now have then contact details for most of the book reviewers at our National Dailies and some of the Sunday papers as well - The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, The Guardian G2 Magazine, The Guardian/Observer group, The Sunday Times Literary Editor, The Times Book Reviewer, The Telegraph, The Sunday People and last but no means least, The Spectator magazine.

I need to make sure my pitch is perfected though before I start to approach them, so will work on that this afternoon, and hopefully be ready to start writing and talking some more ....

Wayne's girl signs £2 million book deal

I had a quick look at the Writers News forum this morning, as I often do, and noticed among the most recent posts, a story about Coleen McLoughlin signing a £2 million deal with publisher Harper Collins to write 5 novels.

Further investigations led me to the Mail on Sunday website, which features a story about said deal, headlined 'Wayne's girl signs £2 million book deal'. According to the article, the deal is not yet signed or sealed, but Coleen is still in negotiations. The article goes on to state that a source close to the couple (Coleen and fiance Wayne Rooney) stated that "Coleen is really excited about getting down to the work of writing these books for the same publishers that Wayne is working with. It is great because she will be writing books about fashion and celebrity lifestyle. It seems that she has been given a deadline for them first to be ready to be published later this year."

That is a tall order, since we are already halfway through October, and I don't think that a publisher would or even could work this quickly. It takes three months for even a POD to go through the different stages of cover design, editing and proof reading, checking and making corrections to the proofs, approving final proofs, registering ISBN etc, and most in fact all commercial publishers, like to start sending out advance review copies and hyping a book at least 6 - 9 months before it hits the shops. I think they must mean before the end of next year, 2008 rather than this one.

In any case though, you can bet your bottom dollar (or pound since this is England!) that Coleen herself will not be writing one single word of any of these books. I mean, I know she has a regular column in Closer magazine, which has supposedly resulted in many more sales for said magazine, but if you have a look at this any time (I only look at such things when I am waiting to get my teeth filled in you understand) then it is not exactly what I would call writing ....

It is all so called fashion and lifestyle tips. And this from the so called 'Queen of chav' ....

Well, I suppose it takes all sorts, but seriously what a sad indictment this is of our modern society in that this is what people really want to read, and that a publisher of the calibre of Harper Collins is prepared to chuck this obscene amount of money at such a project.

Of course the critics would say that they are only responding to public demand, since these books do sell in huge amounts of numbers, and certainly this is not the first book she has 'written' since her autobiography has been out there for some time and selling quite nicely thank you. My point is though that this girl, for that is what she is, has no obvious talent, and has done precious little from what I can tell in her own right. She is famous for being the girlfriend of someone else who is famous - and really and truly, what has he done either. My Dad always used to say that he didn't understand what all the fuss was about football, it was only a bunch of men kicking a ball about ....

I have been thinking about this all day long, and maybe I have been looking at it the wrong way. Coleen may not be quite as stupid as we think .... Apparently she left school with 10 GCSE's - including an A star in performing arts. She also does an awful lot of charity work, especially for Retts syndrome, a genetic disorder that her little sister Rosie suffers from. In fact she presented a programme with Trevor McDonald on this very cause just recently.

She has I hear recently been signed by ITV to do a series of other programmes, as they were so impressed by the way that she handled herself. These include a programme where she scours the streets looking for real women who are then given bona fide modelling jobs from which the traditional stick thin size zero models are banned. Given Coleen's high profile in the celebrity mags and gossip columns this is the sort of thing that could just make a very big difference to the lives of a lot of young women, not to mention their families.

There is definitely more to this girl than meets the eye, and I cannot help feel that the public have misjudged her. She was after all a teenager when fiance Wayne Rooney first shot to fame, and so has had to grow up in the public eye, which cannot have been easy for any girl. All teenagers go through that gawky phase where they are finding their style and what works best for them, but Coleen had to do this in public, and was ridiculed until quite recently in fact for pretty much everything that she wore.

The ugly duckling though has turned into a beautiful and self assured swan who does not need to rely on Wayne's money, for she has plenty of her own. Coleen is reported to be worth a cool £6 million thanks to the deal with ITV, her books, the regular column in Closer magazine and a series of advertising deals.

As Layla Smith, Controller of Alternative Series at ITV said: ‘She’s someone who’s found huge recognition and yet remained completely grounded and true to herself'. That is a very rare thing in this celebrity obsessed world that we live in.

It seems to me though on reading up a little about Coleen's life, that this is a bit like a modern day fairy tale, and maybe that is the appeal. Girl grows up in rough area of Liverpool, meets boy from same rough neighbourhood and falls in love. Boy grows up to become talented footballer and earns pots of money. Girl and boy get engaged, buy huge mansion and live happily ever after, except not quite, as like any young couple, Wayne and Coleen have had their share of ups and downs.

This though is part of the appeal, the fact that they have risen above all this and stayed happy and very much together. People these days though, especially young women are looking for an escape from their own humdrum and boring lives and routine, and so grow to idolise girls like Coleen who have managed to escape from all this. It doesn't matter how she managed to do it, only that she has and personally I say good luck to her. It brings hope to these young women that they may too some day meet their footballing prince who will whisk them off to their own mansion in the Cheshire suburbs ....

In the meantime though, I am considering placing an ad in the Times which reads, 'Wanted, one rich footballer to marry aspiring author' .....

Book signing in Staines

I have read in numerous books on writing and self publishing about the infamous highs and lows that all authors have to experience, but I don't think I have ever experienced it to the degree that I did yesterday.

Yesterday was of course my long awaited book signing at Waterstones in Staines. Coran and I went to the shop a few days in advance to make sure we knew where it was, and see if there was anything that we would need to bring with us, and found that it would be a good idea to print some colour flyers, since the store only has a black and white printer (other authors take note) and nothing had been put in the window - just flyers at the tills.

I am not quite sure though what happened, but the crowd that I had been promised did not materialise. A friend of mine teaches meditation in the town, and also runs a dancing school. She could not attend herself, since she has dance classes on Saturdays, but told a lot of her students who all said they could not wait to get a copy - one in fact didn't want to wait and ordered one from the store a couple of weeks ago. You can imagine my disappointment then when not one of them turned up. I don't know what the problem was, whether it was a mix up over dates or times maybe, but have emailed her to find out and see if she can shed any light on what may have happened. So far I have not heard back and I don't expect to until Wednesday when she has her next group (assuming they meet during half term week).

I was hoping that as the day grew nearer, they would put at least something in the window, but when Coran and I got to the store around 10.25am there was still nothing. I though had printed some myself using one of those £10 DTP things that you can get from Staples, and as it happens they looked very good and eye catching. These were duly posted then in the window and at various places around the store (including one which was bluetacked to the front of my table!).

I found that they had given me a small round table right by the store entrance, underneath a lovely wall heater. They had arranged the books neatly on top, and so I covered the table with my Egyptian white and gold scarf and rearranged the books on top with postcards, business cards and pens. I also brought some cards with me from the recent MBS weekend of quotes from the book, as I thought that that might add a little something.

Although Rebecca had organised the event, a lady called Fran was in charge of the two of us, and made us both a lovely cup of tea while we set up, which was most welcome!

The books themlesves only arrived on Thursday, so there had not been time for much of a display in the days and weeks leading up the event which was also rather disappointing. They only ordered them in fact 2 1/12 weeks before and it was touch and go as to whether they would even arrive at all, since I had had a really good week and Gardners sold out of stock. Normally this would have been good, but with a book signing coming up, in this instance it wasn't....

I though had also brough a large batch of postcards with me, which I get printed free of charge from VistaPrint, and so once I had finished my tea, I left Coran sitting at the table keeping an eye on things while I walked round the store and acosted people ! Some came over to look, remarked that it looked interesting and then promptly walked off again - I am getting used to people that do that. Some who were browsing the MBS section took postcards and thanked me and then didn't come and say hello either.... One very nice couple though bought a copy for their son who has recently graduated from university with a philosophy degree. This is just the sort of person I am trying to reach.

I was in there then for a total of around an hour and a half and in that time, despite my best efforts sold just the one book - very disappointing indeed. The photographer from the local paper though, the Staines edition of the Surrey Herald turned up though and took some photographs, which brought some more very strange 'looks interesting but not enough to buy' types over to the table to look. The picture will be in next weeks edition and he gave me the number to ring for them to send me a free copy, so it can be added to my portfolio.

Before I left the store asked me to sign all the remaining copies, which hopefully now means that they can't be sent back .... They shall then remain in stock until sold. Quite a lot of people did take postcards, so you never know, plus those girls who didn't show can still this way get their signed copies without my having to come back again (it is a 56 mile round trip). The local paper coverage will hopefully generate further interest as well.

Afterwards Coran and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch, and talked a little bit about what had happened and the importance of approaching these things without expectations. How though are you supposed to do that when you have been assured that people will be there? I compared it to one of Coran's clients telling him that they would call at a certain time and then not doing so, or even the experience of waiting in for a parcel. When someone tells you to expect something, you do wonder why when they don't follow through on that, and personally (I know this is probably my ego talking) I think I deserve an explantion. I am tired of being let down by people. I don't behave this way and so don't expect others to, maybe though I have higher standards than other people, I think sometimes I must do.

After we had finished lunch, Coran wanted to go and have a look round the shops, but I just wanted to get home. I went back to the car then and waited for him there, and it was just about all I could do not to burst into tears. I do find it very hard though to do this and let go, especially in a busy car park with kids bouncing around in the car next to you (the dad had actually left them unattended in the drivers seat can you believe).

I have learnt several things though from the day - firsrly that you can't rely on people you don't actually know to turn up, secondly that you can't assume either that the store will pull out all the stops to help you, and contacting the local newspaper is not sufficient publicity. Next time I will contact more local media (in particular radio) at least one month to six weeks in advance and send the store publicity materials for their displays (and ring to make sure they are received and being used). It is though all a learning experience, and one more hurdle that I have overcome. Now I have done a book signing I will be better prepared for the next one and know what to expect.

The debate re POD rights

Yesterday it was such a strange day and I was feeling so out of sorts that I felt compelled to visit the Landmark Trust website to check availability for my favourite island - Lundy. There are a few weeks still left in December, but I didn't fancy going at that time of year with the long nights as it would mean I would have to be making my way back from the North End by 3.30pm. I noticed however that my favourite cottage - The Old Light Cottage was available from 8th February right through to 7th March. It isn't anymore, as I have booked to go for a week starting 8th February!

This is a wonderful time to go, despite the cold, as you get the wonderful crisp, clear late winter days, and the young animals (goats and soays) are starting to be born. The helicopter season does not end until the middle of March, so with a bit of luck I will get a birds eye view of the island as well from the front seat next to the pilot. I can hardly wait!

Reading the Bookseller website yesterday though, I noticed yet another article about the debate re digital rights - or to be more precise, POD rights. The industry is trying to decide, with the advent of POD technology exactly when a book is out of print, and when, if at all, rights should revert back to the author. Traditionally it has been when the book sales fall below a certain number - usually around 100 depending on the publisher, and genre. Should this though continue, or should it be when the income from book sales falls below a certain level instead?

Is a book deemed to be out of print when it exists as only a virtual file as happens with POD? These are all questions that need to be addressed, as the publishing world begins to embrace this technology.

I was warned when I went down the POD route that a lot of larger publishing houses, agents and even newspapers and magazines, still regarded self published (especially POD) books as vanity press, and they did not count as a writing credit on ones CV. Even worse, some magazines and newspapers refused to review them at all, since without the endorsement of a major (or even minor) publishing house, they could not be certain of the quality, and reviewing them might tarnish their own reputation ! Yes, you did read that right (the words shepherd and sheep once again spring to mind). I have found though that when ringing book shops and the media in general that these attitudes are changing, and people are no longer afraid, but are beginning to recognise the potential that POD has.

POD authors and providers have played a huge role in this, working tirelessly to increase standards, producing well written and produced books that are credit to them and their publishers. My experiences at the Authors OnLine 10th anniversary last weekend only served to confirm this. Like it or not, print on demand is here to stay, and is changing the industry in many important ways, The industry is finally beginning to realise that if they want to survive, then they have to embrace this and not fight against it.

My books are back in stock - phew !

I breathed a big sigh of relief this morning when I went to Gardners website, typed in my ISBN and found that they have 36 copies of my book back in stock. They have been out of stock for almost 2 weeks now, and with the book signing at Waterstones in Staines approaching this weekend, I was having nightmares about turning up there and finding no books for me to sign!

Yesterday Coran and I drove out to Staines to make sure we know where the shop is, and find out about car parks, places to eat afterwards etc. He told me that I should drive while he read the map, as if I map read we would end up getting lost. What happened - you guessed it, we took a wrong turn and ended up halfway to Heathrow airport! Half an hour later we found ourselves in Staines, walked to the book shop and then spent another half an hour walking round looking for somewhere to eat ...

Both Coran and I are vegetarian and also wheat free, which can cause problems with eating out. We usually then go to Pizza Hut as they have a lovely eat as much as you like salad bar at lunchtimes, or failing that, go and get a jacket potato. We asked one of the security guards outside the shopping centre then where we could find a Pizza Hut, and he pointed us in the right direction. We couldn't see it anywhere though, and so ended up back in British Home Stores having small and somewhat hard baked potatoes with what they described as salad - this was a handful of wilted lettuce leaves with two slices of tomato. Then as we were driving home, what did we see but a big sign saying Pizza Hut in the local retail park - we had walked in the right direction alright, but not far enough! At least we know where it is though for Saturday, and more to the point, we can park for free outside, rather than paying £1 an hour for the multi storey up the road .... After all, it is only a five minute walk from Waterstones ....

After we got home I found the post waiting for me. There was a note from a friend who runs a spiritual magazine which has recently reviewed my book. She had very kindly sent me a list of all her stockists, knowing that the majority are small shops that also sell books. I rang then to thank her and then telephoned one of the shops on the list - Mysteries in London. This is one of the biggest independent new age book retailers in London.

I spoke to their Buyer who was very helpful, and said that she likes to try and help self published authors as much as she can. However with Christmas coming, they are very tight for space, and so she asked me to call back in the New Year, which I certainly will do.

I then set to work ringing a few more Waterstones - without much luck. I have almost got to the end of the list now - and so will have to start back at the beginning chasing the ones I have not managed to get hold of. This is never ending, and if I thought contacting over 300 Waterstones was bad enough, there are 3500 independents to contend with as well. Thankfully at least half of them probably don't stock books like mine ....

I then had an email from my friend Miller Caldwell, who I met over the weekend at the Authors OnLine 10th anniversary. He has published 5 books with Richard now, and he very kindly offered a free copy of his latest one, 7 point 7, to each of the authors that were there last weekend. It seemed only right and fair then to offer him one of mine in exchange.

Well, he loved my book and made some lovely comments, so I asked him if he would consider reviewing it for me - I will do the same for him of course in return. I also asked him if he would like to be featured in Conversations with POD - which he readily agreed to. So, I uploaded his answers this morning. He has written about his first book - Operation Oboe, and a very interesting book it sounds too.

Today not much has happened - a trip to Tescos to fill up the fridge and take back the application form for a Christmas job, followed by a few more book stores (still no luck) and then a visit to our friend Helen, for afternoon tea.

National Trust again tomorrow -and then I shall have to start preparing for the book signing this weekend. I wonder if the Staines and Ashford Herald will have a photographer free - I hope so, but Coran and the shop will take some photos if not.

Back to business

After the weekend, today was a relatively quiet day. It started off reasonably well with my trawling through the notes I made from Paul's little black book and seeing which people I could ring. I decided to start with Methvens, who as it turns out, are now Same Day Books. I have a vague recollection of reading about them on The Bookseller recently and how some of their branches have closed.

Most of their business these days seems to be be conducted online, so I checked first to see if my book was on their website. It was but with the original cover, so I emailed them to let them know that it needs to be changed, and then set about ringing their stores. Their website lists five stores throughout the south east, including one in nearby Chertsey, so I started with that one, thinking that as a local author, it would be the best place to start.

The Manager turned out to a very helpful man, sympathetic to the needs of self published authors, and not adverse to dealing with them direct. It is of course though easier for everyone to deal with wholesalers and distributors rather than the authors supplying direct, so he was delighted to know that my book is one of the few POD books stocked by Gardners, and suitably impressed. He explained though that was about to go on holiday (lucky him) for a couple of weeks, and would not be back until mid November. He then asked me to call into the shop on his return with a copy of the book and other publicity materials. This then, when it happens will be my very first official face to face sales call.

I then rang their other two stores - Worthing and Gosport. Worthing were willing to talk, and asked me to send them information in post, but Gosport were not so helpful. The Manager explained that there is currently an embargo from their Head Office on ordering new titles, and I need to call back after Christmas. This seemed strange given the helpfulness of their other two branches, but I thanked her for her honesty and said that I would make a note to call in the New Year. It gives me time to hopefully get some decent sales in the Chertsey branch at least I suppose, which might persuade her to change her mind!

Following that I made some calls to Waterstones branches that I have posted stuff to in the last few weeks - Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth and Southend. Three of them said they not received it which is perhaps not surprising when you consider the recent Post Office strikes. They asked me then to email instead - the words bang and head once again sprang to mind ! Nottingham though were very helpful indeed; the Manager even promised to call me should he decide to order come copies - and he certainly seemed interested from our conversation. It is then once again a matter of wait and see.

After that it was time for lunch. I then decided to have a crack at Foyles, where I successfully obtained the email and direct telephone number for the Principal Buyer. An email then was fired off accordingly with the obligatory information sheet.

I then went round to the Post Office with the letter for Same Day Books in Worthing, and a review copy for Glastonbury Radio. Five minutes later Coran arrived home and we drove up to the view point for a well deserved cup of tea.

In between all this activity I have been posting on some writers sites to try and get some people interested in the new blog site - Conversations with POD. Tomorrow I will contact some of the writing magazines and maybe local paper, and get them to give it a mention, as that is one sure fire way to get people posting. The possibility of appearing in the new book may entice them even more. I may contact Grumpy Old Bookman again as well, and Jerry Simmons at the Nothing Binding project and get them both to mention it. I will be very surprised if Jerry's site doesn't produce some results.

Authors OnLine 10th Anniversary Celebration

Coran and I got back from out trip to Buckden near St Neots about an hour ago. It was an interesting and eventful weekend and great to meet Richard and the crew - his wife Marjorie who deals with all the administration, including author royalties, Gaynor who deals with book orders, and Paul who of course deals with publicity. None of them looked like what I expected, even though I have seen pictures of Richard, Marjorie and Gaynor on the Authors OnLine website! Richard is much taller than I expected, while Gaynor was a lot younger looking (she will be delighted no doubt if and when she reads this). Marjorie's hair looked a different colour, and Paul, well, what can I say about Paul .... he is certainly a character that's for sure.

His wife Babs had told me that he had very long hair and would be wearing a black Authors OnLine bodywarmer with gold lettering. Well the body warmer was there, but Babs had given him a haircut. He is a lot skinner also than I expected (sorry Paul) and smarter as well, since I had the image of long lank and greasy locks! He was dressed in a black shirt with white tie, with glasses and collar length grey hair with the broad Norfolk accent that made both Coran and I sound terribly posh!

He is though every bit as nice and friendly in real life as he is on the phone, and even allowed me to look through his little black book. That book is legendary among Authors Online authors. It is a tatty old thing, with a black cover and literally loads of contact details from Lands End to John O'Groats scribbled inside. Apparently this was only volume one as well, as volume two had been left at home. I can't wait to see that!

No one else can make head nor tail of this book, but somehow Paul manages to find things! I managed to find quite a few numbers in there myself, including the much sought after direct line to Borders Buying Team - bravo! Also Methwens, WH Smith and various national newspapers and magazines, not to mention Cactus TV who do the Richard and Judy show (getting on there is to Brits what Oprah is to Americans, with featured authors practically guaranteed sales of at least 50,000 copies). Actually I happen to know that the lady responsible for deciding which books are to be featured is doing a talk at the Guildford Book Festival in a couple of weeks time. I shall have to get some tickets then and book a front row seat. My book has already been submitted, but talking to her in person wouldn't be a bad thing ....

Around 40 people then were there in total; mostly other authors, but also some proof readers, cover designers and illustrators. There was supposed to be rep from Lightning Source there as well, but I am not sure what happened to him. I suspect I was so busy talking to everyone else that I missed him. Still, I am sure they would talk to me and answer questions direct if I needed them to, and I may well do soon, since I have decided it is high time I started work on my next book - Conversations with POD.

There do not seem to be that many books around on the subject of POD and how it works and what authors can expect. Those I have seen seem to be predominantly for the US market and I certainly haven't seen any in the shops. There are plenty of books out there on how to self publish, but they concentrate mainly on short print run with only a few pages on POD, and most of the information in them is somewhat misleading and out of date. I thought then why don't I write a book detailing my own experiences and explaining how it works, with a series of interviews with POD authors - hence the title, Conversations with POD.

I mentioned it to Richard briefly but had a more in depth discussion with Marjorie as Coran and I were leaving - both seemed to like the idea very much indeed. I would have a ready made market for sure, as thousands of people embrace the POD route each year with providers springing up all over the place. The potential then for sales with a book like this is huge.

I have set up a blog site to get the ball rolling and posted on a few forums inviting POD authors to submit. I will email Richard tomorrow I expect and have a more in depth chat and ask him to post it on the authors area asking people to submit, and then I will start to write the rest.

Talking to the other authors then has re-fired my determination to really crack on with both books and get the publicity machine firing on all four cylinders. I was struck by the sheer amount of talent that was there in that one small room yesterday - authors of all different genres, from all different walks of life, all with their own experiences to share. There was a display of every single POD book that Richard has ever published - including the very first one (he was the first POD provider in the UK - the original and still the best) covered in plastic in order to preserve it. Richard jokingly said that book is his grandchildrens inheritance, but actually I don't doubt that he is right, as in years to come it will become a museum piece. He knows and I know that POD is the future of publishing, but the rest of the world is yet to catch up ....

The company has also some ambitious plans for the future, which were mentioned in speech by Richard and Derek, one of the company founders who went away for a while but has now come back into the fold. They have plans for a kind of POD book club where people will pay an annual or monthly subscription and buy Richards books at discount, giving feedback on the quality and price, and whether or not they are worth that price. These reviews and comments can then be used to publicise the books, and also ultimately to change opnions from inside the industry, challenging the vanity press perception of bady written and over priced books.

They also have plans to have stands in independent book stores supplying the books on sale or return and even getting poeple to sponsor the cost of publishing certain new titles. Interesting times then ahead.

It was then an interesting weekend of networking and exchanging ideas and information that left me in no doubt (not that I had any to begin with) that I have chosen the right company to publish with.