The Price is right?

Speaking as an author, who is a member and regular poster on several reading and writing sites, there is one subject that is guaranteed to be a good discussion and that is Katie Price and her books. Love her or loathe her, Katie and her books always spark controversy, with plenty of differing views.

Two articles have been circulating around the national press this week regarding this very same subject, one in the Daily Mail and one on the blog of author and ghost writer Andrew Crofts.

The article in the Daily Mail, which is written by Lionel Shriver, bemoans the fact that Katie's books are selling faster than JK Rowling's, which is no mean feat. Gone are the days when writers were seen as shy retiring sorts, who were slightly eccentric, as they are now ego drive celebrities who are willing to court publicity at any cost. If the best sellers charts are to be believed, then in order to become successful in this game (as a woman anyway), you have to have large breasts (preferably surgically enhanced), be married to or in a relationship with someone famous, or go on some meaningless reality TV show. In Katie's case, she has done all three.

In some ways you have to admire her business sense, and you can hardly blame her for cashing in on others appetite for the gory details of her private life (and some details in her book really are private), but it does not mean that it is right. I am not sure if I would reveal anwhere near what she has for any price, let alone the £17 million, which she is reportedly worth.

The fact that her books are ghost written only adds to the controversy, for how can she really be called an author? It somehow does not seem fair that she earns all this money from books that she has not written, when others who do write struggle on so little, with no recognition at all.

Andrew Croft makes the point that every so often (not that I ever see it) there is a burst of indignation within the media about how little serious authors earn (although he fails to define what a serious author is). Figures are bandied about and comparisons are made, such as the fact that Katie makes more money from the books that she puts her name to than the entire Man Booker shortlist put together. Given her 'celebrity' status, and the mentality of the average 20 something who reads this stuff, this is to be expected. The boss of Waterstones makes more than the people who write the books that they sell, and the Chairman of our company more than the factory workers in Korea, where we obtain our televisions from. The fact that this happens does not though mean that it is morally or ethically right.

Andrew goes on to say that the average earnings of members of the Society of Authors are often brought up to illustrate how poorly writers are rewarded, yet we are able to exercise some form of control by working harder. It is true that if you write just one book a year, then you are not likely to get rich, but you have to have the time to do this in the first place. It is all very well saying that writers should work harder by writing eight hours a day and doing this that and the other, but how are we supposed to pay our bills while we do this? Sitting at home writing all day does not put food on the table and coins in the gas metre.

It is true that the most successful writers are the most versatile, and the most marketable, but we don't all have rich partners or parents to fall back on. We have to work outside the home (and this means outside of writing) in order to support ourselves. It is catch 22; you have to be out there promoting your work and creating the next one, but do not have the financial means to do this.

The best way to be succesful (apart from having a rich someone to support you, or relying on benefits) is to have a varied portfolio of different types of work and a long list of contacts. Both have to be worked at and do not happen overnight. The most successful writers are the ones who are continually promoting themselves and their work (or brand), as indeed does Katie.

It is easy to deride her for marketing so blatantly (and you don't get much more blatant than she did on Spanish TV - giving far too much detail about the reason for her sore throat - so I was told by an expatriate friend), but she would not be where she is had she not done this (marketed that is). Sad as it is, in many ways, her success can be seen as lesson for all of us, in refusing to take no for an answer, and making the most of what we have.

I may not like her or what she has done, but I have to admit that she has had to overcome an awful lot of snobbery to get to where she is today. Five years ago she was a struggling glamour model whose career was in decline, with what Andrew refers to as 'a tabloid reputation'. When she approached publishers with the idea of writing a book about her life, she received a less than enthusiastic welcome. Only John Blake, a man famed for his open mind on different subjects, was willing to give her a chance. He bought her book 'Being Jordan' for about two per cent of the price that Katie and her people had initially asked for. The book turned into a resounding success, and the rest as they say is history.

Those who turned her down must surely be kicking themselves, as those who turned down JK Rowling (and June Austin!) before them. By teaming up with Blake, Katie was able to appeal direct to the general public over the heads of the publishing elite who have traditionally set themselves up as the gatekeepers of what the public should or should not read (a subject I know all about). Having got to know her via exposure on television (I'm A Celebrity and the truly awful Katie and Peter certainly helped), the public responded by buying her books by the cartload. She appealed particularly to young women, through her obvious love and concern for disabled son Harvey, and penchant for wrong men.

Her writing career has been nothing less than a phenomena, which no one could have foreseen. It is not confined to her own memoirs, as she also puts her name to children's books about horses and riding, one of which was nominated for a prestigous book prize earlier this year. Her success contains several lessons for would be writers. Firstly, not to be out off by rejections, and secondly to settle for a modest advance in order to get started. Once this had happened, she did not sit around waiting for people to buy her books, but got out there and actively promoted them, bringing herself into the public eye to spark peoples interest.

On occasions I have been accused of jealousy regarding Katie, and I must admit that some of my comments have been less than charitable. I do not like her personality or her approach to fame, and there is no way that I would want that sort of lifestyle (just give me the fortune and forget the fame), but I have to admit that she has made some pretty astute business decisions and worked damned hard to get where she is. Her fame though comes at a price, and for me that price is just a little too high.

Fingers and toes crossed

I have just spoken to Paul, the amateur publicist for works on behalf of Richard's authors, and boy do I wish I had gone to that Winchester Book Festival. It seems that there were representatives there from Amazon, Booksurge and Authorhouse and Paul ruffled the feathers of all three - which is probably not difficult to do! When Amazon admitted that they are planning to implement their controversial Booksurge policy in the UK, Paul's words were "over my dead body", or words to that effect and promised them one hell of a fight (he has a lot of contacts in the media that he would not hesitate to use). He compared the quality of Booksurge books to one of his own, printed by Lightning Source and was able to prove that the LS, which is five years old and has been handled by well over 100 different people, is far better quality, since unlike the Booksurge one, the pages are all intact and not coming away from the spine.

As for Authorhouse, well my opinion of them is well known. It seems that Authors OnLine have a growing reputation within the POD world for turning out good quality books, which is making them a wee bit jealous. Authors OnLine as a company are really going places, with their X-Books website, and many other innovative ideas that are helping to raise their profile. They have had several major successes this year, including I am proud to say, my own work.

Paul's new book has just been published and is making inroads in Waterstones stores. He has 4 book signings already lined up, and is trying to work out a deal with Waterstones to get the book into more of their stores. Peter North, the new independent author advisor at Waterstones Head Office, has looked at Richard's site, and from what Paul says, he is very impressed with the range and quality of titles. He tells me that they are looking at stocking (this will be core stock, buying direct from Richard) several of Richard's titles, including my own, which is of course already stocked and selling well in almost 90 of their stores.

I always knew that it was only a matter of time before this book began to get noticed, and it seems that it may finally be about to happen. Fingers, toes and everything else then crossed to see what transpires.

An insult to our nearest relative

A funny thing has happened these last few weeks, considering all the angst that I have been through this past year - I have found that I am thinking less and less about books and more and more about what non writing friends refer to as 'the real world', so much so, that I hardly think of myself as a writer at all anymore. I am not sure whether this is a good thing or not.

We all need to work to pay the bills, and I am no exception to this. For quite a time I had my head in the clouds, thinking I could make a full time living from what I love, and became very fed up and depressed even, when I found that I could not. I blamed the job for a lot of the problems that I had, which mostly stemmed from my non acceptance of this situation. A symbiotic relationship has developed, where I use my experiences at work to feed what writing I do do, which lately has been confined to this blog. It will not have escaped readers notice that the majority of posts in recent months have been more about my work than what is going on in the book world, and I have to make more of an effort each week to keep up. I am not alone in this struggle, since the majority of writers are in the same boat. There is no easy answer, and all I can do is make the most of what time I do have, and have a sneaky look at publishing websites when the boss's back is turned!

I write then for the second time today, about some recent developments in publishing ...

I wrote on here some time ago that Borders were undertaking a restructuring of their buying team, with buyers being asked to re-apply for their jobs (sounds familiar). Now that this is complete, eight of them are to leave. Four will leave at the end of September. Of the remainder, some are being made redundant, while others are moving elsewhere. I wish them all luck.

The new fiction team will be headed by senior fiction buyer Michael Jones, who has been appointed acting books category manager. He (The Bookseller refers to him as a she I notice!) replaces Caroline Mileham who left Borders last month to join Play.com. Michael will be supported by fiction buyers Ruth Atkins, Radcliffe Harris, John Packard and Sarah Cahill, who has been promoted from assistant airports buyer to real time airports buyer.

The non-fiction team will be led by senior non-fiction buyer Richard Humphreys, who continues in his responsibility for the history section. Guy Raphael will be in charge of lifestyle, biography, travel, film and TV; Rob Hughes will buy current affairs, academic and reference, and popular culture books; and Emma Carter will have responsibility for food, gardening and art and design, as well as managing the bargain books section. I am not sure who will be in charge of my subjects of mind, body and spirit, popular science or religion and philosophy, not that it makes a difference, since hell would have to freeze over (not that I believe in hell anyway, but you know what I mean) before any of them would deign to even look at a POD book, let alone talk to its author. Perhaps one day I will phone up pretending to be from Random House and see what happens - it might be interesting !

CEO Philip Downer said the reorganisation was done in time for the business’ switchover to its new less centralised buying (in theory at least) systems next week. We shall see if it makes a difference (it certainly will for the Cornish economy), but I won't hold my breath ...

In the meantime, I see that another European country, Switzerland has moved one step closer to the reintroduction of fixed book prices, after the economic committee of the Swiss parliament narrowly recommended such a move. Fixed book prices were abolished in Switzerland in May 2007 after the Swiss government supported a court ruling that the Net Book Agreement (NBA) in the German-speaking region of Switzerland was an illegal cartel. They were abolished throughout the country, and not just the German speaking regions.

The vote was as expected very tight, with 13 in favour, 11 against and one abstention. The bill will now go before the Swiss Parliament, where it will no doubt be rigorously debated. It is of course by no means certain as to whether it will be passed, although I am sure that Swiss authors sincerely hope so. Observers, most of whom probably have no insider knowledge of publishing, are widely expecting another cliffhanger after a number of MPs declared their opposition to the bill. The committee concluded that past experience of retail price management for books in both Switzerland and other countries had shown a positive impact on the trade. To readers maybe, but not to writers or retailers, who in common with the electrical market in which I work, find themselves working harder and harder for less and less.

The bill, which was initiated by the late parliamentarian Jean-Philippe Maitre, is expected to go before the parliament in spring 2009. If it succeeds there will still be some room for discounts, since the bill does not completely outlaw them.

Discounting does not appear to as aggressive in Switzerland as in other European countries, most notably the UK, where it has led to a number of disputes. The majority of bookshops stick to publishers' recommended prices or offer restricted discounts on very few titles, but there is stiff competition from the Internet, with online booksellers offering discounts of up to 30 percent. This is probably what lies behind this move; the fear that what is happening here and in the United States, will happen there, and this from where I am sitting, is a fear which is very well founded. If the Swiss want to protect their publishing industry and keep it buoyant then they need to take action before it is too late. It is good then to see them learning from our mistakes. I just hope that we don't leave things too much longer before this is also debated here - in an open and rational manner that benefits not only those who sell the books, but also those who write them. It is after all, our livelihoods that are threatened, and with the rise in e-publishing, the need for debate is more and more acute.

The article that really caught my eye this week, was that regarding the memoirs of Cheeta the Chimp. I reported back in January that Cheeta had been commissioned to write his memoirs for Fourth Estate, and unfortunately this was no monkey business !

The book which is due for release in October, has now been nominated for a book award - The Guardians First Book Award! Readers from six Waterstone's book groups are to help select the final shortlist, following the announcement of the 10-strong longlist today on 29th August. The books selected on the longlist include the autobiography of Cheeta the Chimp.

The panel of judges includes novelist Roddy Doyle; broadcaster and novelist Francine Stock; poet Daljit Nagra (longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2007), historian David Kynatson; novelist, broadcaster and co-founder of the Orange Prize Kate Mosse and Guardian deputy editor, Katharine Viner. Claire Armitstead, literary editor of the Guardian, will chair the panel. Six Waterstone's stores throughout the UK – Bath, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London and Oxford - will ask their reading groups to also vote. Stuart Broom of Waterstone’s will represent their views on the judging panel.

The shortlist of five books, to be agreed by the panel and Waterstone’s readers’ groups, will be announced in early November with the overall winner in December. The winner (which I assume will be the ghost writer and not the chimp!) will receive a prize of £10,000 and a promotional package across The Guardian and The Observer.


It goes without saying that this book must have been ghost written, since a chimp cannot speak, let alone write, English. I would hasten a bet that whoever this writer is, it is not their first book, as publishers usually use experienced people for this kind of work. I fail then to see how it can be nominated for a first book award, and take back what I said about this not being monkey business! Whoever nominated this book must think that we are monkeys if they seriously expect us to believe otherwise.

Comments on the Writers News Talkback forum, where I posted the news, were less than flattering. We are a lively bunch who pull no punches and like to tell it as it is ... One member commented that it was really no different to the so-called works of Jordan or Jade Goody being nominated for a literary prize. However, she went on to say that the chimp book was probably more interesting and better written! She then added that the Guardian is probably run by chimps anyway, but took that back as it was in insult to our nearest relative! Say no more ...

How much more successful could Lorna have been?

Going back to the Lorna Page debacle and the storm that seems to be brewing regarding her novel, A Dangerous Weakness, I am beginning to think more and more than she is a victim of the press. Ordinarily I would try to avoid the use of the V word, but in this case, there isn't really another I can use. Of course the whole affair is also helping to highlight print on demand and the problems that we face. While the rumours persist, it is not however, the kind of publicity that we need. It certainly isn't doing her any favours.

I see from Waterstones website that despite all the publicity, not one single branch has copies in stock, of either the hard or paperback. The paperback has though been slightly reduced, so I guess people must be buying online. Of course the reason it is not in stock is because as a print on demand book, it is non returnable.

Of course it would be a different story had she published with Richard at Authors OnLine Ltd. When Martin Baum, one of his authors (To Be or Not To Be Innit) published his book earlier this year, one of the first things he did was send a copy to Peter North, independent author advisor for Waterstones. They kept in touch, and when the book made the national headlines, following Martin's contact with his local media, and was subsequently featured on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff', Peter emailed him to le him know that he would take the book as core stock. Martin (and Peter) contacted Richard to give him the news.

Richard was straight on the phone to Lightning Source to hammer out a deal, by agreeing with them to make the book returnable (core stock is supplied direct by the printer/publisher, cutting out the wholesalers etc, whom he could otherwise have turned to). For all their muscle and grand postering about how they are the biggest and most succesful POD provider, I cannot see Authorhouse doing this. Thank goodness then I saw through the hype, as had I gone with them, I doubt if my book would got into those stores either. This is then yet another example of an author failing to do their research and blindly going for the same publisher as recommended by a family member/friend.

Mind you, I cannot blame her, and Cate seems to have done an admirable job in her role as publicist. The fact that the press did what they did is (probably) not her fault. At the age of 93 it is still a remarkable achievement. If the book is already this successful though without being returnable, just think how much more successful it could have been if it was.

A Dangerous Weakness - and a lesson for newspapers to check their facts!

An interesting and somewhat misleading story has been circulating around the mainstream press this week, concerning 93 year old first time author, Lorna Page. From what I can tell, it started with The Guardian and rapidly spread to the other newspapers and radio stations.

After writing for most of her life, Ms Page has finally become a published author. This is no doubt a wonderful achievement, and one that she is justifiably proud of. The article went on to state that her book had been so successful and her advance so large, that she had been able to move from a modest one bedroom flat in Surrey, to a large house in Devon, worth over £300,000, taking several friends who had been in care homes, with her.

As Page says "Care homes can be such miserable places. You sit there all day staring out the window with no one to talk to. "I thought it would be lovely to give a home and family life to one or two people who would otherwise be sitting around there. It's nice for me too because at my age it's handy to have someone to live with. Now every book that sells will help towards making a home for someone."

She wrote her book, A Dangerous Weakness, three years ago, but like many authors, put it in a suitcase and made no attempt to find a publisher, until her daughter in law read it and encouraged her efforts.

I applaud her for doing this, and think it is very clever publicity, but there was one small problem. If you read the article carefully, it went on to say that her book was published by Authorhouse. As anyone in publishing will know, Authorhouse are the largest print on demand (self publishing) company both in North America and the UK, authors therefore pay them, not the other way round! There is then no advance. As for royalties, the book was only published a month ago, and because of the length of time it takes the publisher to get paid by the various stores and wholesalers who buy their books, plus of course the ridiculous returns system (not that this applies to most print on demand books), no author can expect to receive royalties until at least 3 months after publication. It goes without saying, that the author gets to keep the profits from any copies that they hand sell, through talks, book fairs etc or to friends.

I am quite understand why Ms Page decided to self publish, as let's face it, what 93 year old has the time to go through the agent/publisher cycle, waiting for up to three years to get published. She might be dead by the time this happens!

When the read the article again though, and look at the facts, something is clearly not right. While I acknowledge that certain sectors of the press do have a tendency to embellish (I have been at the sticky end of this myself), I was very surprised to see a newspaper of the calibre of The Guardian doing this. It is to my mind very sloppy journalism (it would not happen with the newsletter that I edit!), since the facts had clearly not been checked.

Having seen the original press releases, here and here, which make no mention of either a house or an advance, and understanding how the press work, it is easy to see how this could have happened. Newspapers tend to get their information from the various news agencies, whose websites press releases are posted on. Once one picks up the article, the others inevitably follow, until it becomes a game of Chinese whispers.

The article has since been corrected, but the damage has already been done. As The Guardian state: "The following clarification was printed in the Guardian's corrections and clarifications column, Friday August 15 2008 (today). In common with most other papers we reported that 93 year-old Lorna Page, "suddenly prosperous on the advance and sales" of her novel A Dangerous Weakness, had been able to buy a big detached house for herself and three of her friends. Aspiring writers (and house buyers) should note that her publisher, Authorhouse, is a self publishing company whose website states: "For a modest financial investment you can choose what you want for your book."

Their idea of a modest investment is clearly not the same as mine, as they charge almost twice what Richard does when you add it all up!

It is rather embarrassing to say the least, even more so for both Ms Page and Authorhouse. It is a tad misleading to say the least, and I get the feeling that her author advisor and whoever wrote that article will be busy cleaning up the mess (not to mention eating humble pie), for some considerable time.

The plot thickens when you realise that Ms Page's publicist Cate Allen, is none other than the daugher in law who persuaded her to publish in the first place. She is also published by Authorhouse and so recommended them to her mother in law (keep it in the family). Author and publicist have both gone on record stating that they have no idea where the story about the advance and royalties came from and pointing out that some of the newspapers "just made up facts". I can well believe this, but it still does not excuse what happened or why it took so long for the story to be corrected. I also to an extent feel that there is no smoke without fire, and suspect that one of these journalists must have spoken to Cate, as they must have got these ideas from somewhere. The article was too detailed for it to have been completely made up.

The BBC blog site has some interesting comments from listeners (dated August 12th) following an interview with presenter Chris Vallance, as well as author and publicist, indicating that their comments were taken out of context, so why did it take The Guardian another three days to correct the article which is on their website? Cate states that she is now making it clear to journalists what the true situation is, and how it has been misreported and is encouraging her client to do the same. I should think so too!

Getting stocked in book stores - updated edition

Following some comments made on the various writing sites that I post on, and one year on from my book being accepted by Gardners as a stocked title, I have decided to write an updated version of my original two posts from November last year on how to get stocked in book stores, thus bringing things up to date. Here then goes:

While smaller independent book stores may be happy to order direct from the author, increasingly they obtain their stock via wholesalers. In order to get stocked in book stores in the UK, you first then need to have an account with one of the wholesalers or distributors that stores obtain their titles from. It is also preferable that the books are actually stocked by one of these wholesalers, Gardners and Bertrams being the biggest players in the UK.

There are two ways that book stores obtain books from such wholesalers – the first as a special order, where copies are obtained direct from the publisher as and when they are needed. The publisher sends them to the wholesaler, who in turn sends them to the shop concerned. The second way is where the books are stocked by the wholesaler in their own warehouse and they fulfil all the orders direct. Wholesalers are quite choosy as which titles they take on board and expect all titles stocked by them to be available on terms of at least 55 percent discount (15 percent for them, 40 percent for the book stores) sale or return. This may not be a problem for traditionally self published authors, but print on demand titles are rarely available on such terms. Book stores then are often reluctant to stock such titles, unless they are local interest.

The guidelines from Gardner’s website state that Waterstones buy all their stock through them, but this is not entirely true. In order to sell to Waterstones it is necessary to have a trading account. To set this up, contact Independent Author Advisor Peter North by email mailto:peter.north@waterstones.com?subject=Waterstones%20Trading%20Application%20Form%20Request%20via%20www.gardners.com and ask for a Waterstones Trading Application Form.

The print on demand author will not need to fill in these forms, since their provider will have already done this. All you need do is contact Peter, who will verify that your book(s) is/are acceptable, and he will then email you a spreadsheet of contact details for all stores. Then it is up to you to get ringing.

When a book sells through Waterstones, it will come up on a report the following day. It is then the buyer’s decision whether to reorder it. If the book has been on the shelves for less than 3 months, in 90% of cases it will be reordered. If it has been there for between 3 and 6 months, then the buyer will decide whether it is worth ordering more. Generally speaking, a book needs to sell at least 3-4 times a year to remain in stock.

If your book sells in sufficient numbers then it may be taken on as model stock, where it is automatically re-ordered by certain stores. Waterstones also operate a core stock system, with 12 grades ranging from A-M, and 6 grades in Irish and Scottish stores. Books accepted as core stock have to by default be stocked in a certain number of branches; A for example means that all branches must stock your book, B ninety percent and so on. Any book that sells more than around 50 copies for 3 consecutive months is likely to get noticed anyway, but it is always worth persuading a particular branch that your book does well in to champion your work, and recommend it to the core stock team, recommending that it be stocked by more branches.

With Waterstones you contact the stores first and once you have sufficient sales, the book tends to get taken on as core stock, with Borders however it is very much the other way around. Official policy states that authors are free to contact stores direct, but in practise most staff do not seem to realise this, and refer you back to Head Office. It is a catch 22 situation, whereby stores only stock titles supplied via Head Office, yet Head Office only take on titles that have a proven sales history. They rarely if ever take on board print on demand books. While you may be able to persuade your local store to let you do a talk or book signing, you would in my experience be very lucky to get stocked in other branches.

To have your book considered as core stock, send a copy together with the usual information (information sheet, reviews, sales figures if appropriate, press coverage, press releases etc) and a detailed marketing plan - this part is very important as they do not take on titles that are unlikely to sell and it is your job to show them that you are going to work hard at finding and/or creating that market. Send the information to their New Press Department, Stillerman House, 120 Charing Cross Road, London WC2 HOJR. Please note that all business with authors and publishers is conducted by mail, and telephone messages and emails are not responded to. Unlike Waterstones, Borders do not supply you with a list of contact details, so you have to get all the details from their website, a time consuming process. They only have about 80 stores anyway compared to over 300 Waterstones, so this is a doddle in comparison.

The other way to get listed with them is to get booked to do a talk or book signing at one of their stores as I did. Be careful though that they do not list the book as local interest as it is likely to end up on the wrong shelf, and other stores further afield may be reluctant to order because of this.

It is easier than you think then to get accepted by these stores. The really hard work begins after acceptance, as you have to get out there and tell the stores about your book, persuading them to order. Nevertheless, this is something that the serious self published author has to grit their teeth and get on with. The key is to know your market, understand how the supply chain works and be professional and courteous at all times.

No one likes cold calling, but this is something that the serious self published author has to grit their teeth and get on with. The key is to know your market, understand how the supply chain works and be professional and courteous at all times. After my book was accepted by Gardners as a stocked title last August (2007) I rang each Waterstones store in turn. I aimed to ring at least 10 stores a day, and managed to get stocked in almost one third of their stores and many independents.

Despite the rise in the Internet, the fact is that over 90 percent of books are still bought from stores, this is probably then the most important piece of marketing you can do. After all, if each store orders just 2 copies, this adds up to several hundred sales over a couple of months.

How should one approach the book stores when do you get round to ringing them and is it really worth the time and effort that this entails? I mean, no one likes to receive unsolicited sales calls at the best of times, do they? In this situation the calls are not exactly unsolicited, as when one works in or manages a book store, talking to authors who want you to stock their books goes with the territory, that is why Waterstones have people like independent author advisor Peter North in the first place - to help and advise independent and self published authors and put them on the right track.

Actually I have found it to be the most worthwhile piece of marketing I have ever undertaken. It does take a certain amount of courage to do this, and you have to know your market and your product, but you have already done that, right? Or you wouldn't have self published in the first place would you? I sincerely hope you did your research anyway, as if not, I fear you will be in for one hell of a shock.

The way that I did it then was to decide firstly on how many calls to make each day. You don't want to rush this and call everyone at once, as for one thing you rapidly tire of doing this, and for another, if you say it enough times it does start to sound rehearsed. You want your pitch to sound as natural as possible if you are to be in with a chance. I aimed to make between 10 and 12 calls a day and no more than that. You will need of course though some means of recording what has been said and who needs to be called next.

The spreadsheet of Waterstones details that Peter sends you is read only so you will need to copy this into a format that can be edited. I don't have Excel on my machine so I use Works instead, which is a somewhat simpler to use. I added several columns entitled contact name, date and what was said, and then follow up columns with dates as well. Sometimes you may need to contact a store several times before you get a result.

In my case I started with the local stores within say an hour of home, and then started to work down the list country wide from A to Z. I was at a somewhat advantage here, since living where I do on the crossroads to three counties meant that there were/are a relatively high number of stores that could be considered to be local.

The whole process of ringing countrywide took around 4-5 months to complete, and has in all honesty been ongoing, since I continually have to make follow up calls and send emails to build up a relationship with my stockists.

Who you need to speak to will depend on the size of the store you are calling, and unfortunately it is difficult for you to know this until they pick up the phone and tell you! The best approach is simply to explain who are and ask who the right person to speak to is. I said something like this “Good morning/afternoon, my name is June Austin and I am the author of a mind, body and spirit book entitled Genesis of Man, I was wondering who the right person would be to speak to about getting it stocked in your branch.” Note that it is important to use the word branch, as otherwise they will assume you mean the company as a whole and give you a spiel about how you need to go through Head Office first.

The book seller will then do one of several things - put you through to the right person, tell you they are not in or ask you send them some information. Sometimes they will also try and tell you that you have to go through Head Office. If they do this, then politely explain to them that you have already spoken to their independent author advisor (mention the name as well as this always impresses upon them that you know what you doing), who said that you are free to contact any store that you choose direct.

When you do get to speak to someone, make sure first of all that you get their name and their position within the store (manager, book seller whatever). Also make sure that you know exactly what you need to say (have it written down as a rough script if necessary) and that you have the ISBN close at hand, as they are bound to want to know this so that they can look it up.

If you are very lucky and say the right things, then they may agree to order copies then and there, but they are more likely to request further information. Whether you choose to send this by fax, email or letter is up to you, but email is of course by far the quickest and cheapest method. If you do send emails, then make sure they are not overloaded with attachments as they will not get through the system. I sent them a standard email with a copy of my information sheet and a link to the book trade page on my own website which contained(s) reviews, sample chapter etc should they wish for further information.

Make a note of whom you spoke to and sent the information to, and call them in a week’s time to make sure if was received and see what their interest is. I used my Works spreadsheet in conjunction with Works calendar to record this information. It is a useful tool since if it happens for example to be the persons day off when you call, then you simply make a note to call them on the next available day, which you will see when you open the calendar on that day.

One tip I will also pass on is that if you speak to a manager or book seller and they say that they will mention the book to the section manager of your genre (children's or whatever), see if you can get that persons name as well. Then when you call to follow up, do not ask for the store manager but the section manager direct. Store Managers are busy people and nine times out of ten when they tell you they are going to do something they don't, because they forget or get distracted. Talk then to the section manager direct, who makes the final decision to buy and save yourself a lot of time.

When I do get orders I also always send out a confirmation email thanking the store for their custom and providing a link to my website should they wish to use reviews etc for promotional purposes. Like I said earlier, these stores do get busy, and sometimes they may tell you they are going to order copies and then forget, so sending these emails serves to remind them.

It takes time and persistence to do this right, but it is worth the time and effort involved, as the only way to get noticed is to have sales through the tills - sales made direct to the public via your own website, talks, book fairs etc do not count towards your sales records, as despite your best record keeping, according to the industry, these cannot be proved.

Fat cats spray on Borders territory!

Reading The Bookseller online, and the various other bulletins that I receive from around the publishing world, plus of course reading between the lines, Borders Books seem to be experiencing a lot of problems of late.

It started back at the end of June with the closure of their Croydon store. This was rapidly followed by the closure of Lakeside. Since these were both stores which had agreed to stock my book, I would ordinarily have been quite upset, but in both cases, the books have long since been returned. Borders, unlike some of their competitors, seem to return books which have failed to sell after exactly three months, which does not in my opinion, give them a fair chance, but then that is the company all over, and given my experiences, which I have detailed on here on many an occasion, I cannot say that I am altogether surprised at their difficulties.

These closures appear to be the least of their problems, since there are also changes afoot within the Buying Team, in fact the whole way in which they buy their stock is being re-structured. Three positions are being cut within the eight strong Buying Team, with all existing Buyers being asked to re-apply for their jobs. These changes, from what I can tell, have been brought about by the imminent closure of the company's supply base in Truro, and the decision to instead obtain stock direct from wholesalers, thus reducing book miles. At the moment almost all stock is obtained centrally, via Head Office, with the Buyers acting as the gatekeeppers.

On the surface this re-structuring would appear to be good news, since my book is of course stocked by Gardners, and as I discovered when telephoning most of the Borders and Books Etc stores, hell would have to freeze over before the company would ever consider supplying a print on demand book centrally. While Managers do have the ability to buy direct from local authors through wholesalers and the like, their idea of local is not the same as everyone else's, which seems to be living in the same, or the next town to where the store is based. Even though there a number of their stores within a hour or so's drive of where I live, most of them refused to order copies, and I was disappointed to find that those who did agree to, in most cases either failed to do so, or if they did, just put the books on the shelf and promptly sent them back again!

Trying to get through to the Buying Department on the telephone to see exactly what their policies were proved to be a total waste of time, as most of the time all I got was an answerphone that never called you back. When I finally did manage to talk to a human being, I was given information that contradicted what the stores had already told me, making it clear that the left hand did not know what the right was doing, and that those in store were for the most part clueless as to their own company's policies, and had basically lied through their back teeth, telling me what I wanted to hear just to get rid of me. It is safe then to say that my opinion of this company is not very high.

When I posted some watered down comments to this effect on The Bookseller website, some of the Buying Team read them and took offence, saying that I should show more compassion for them at this difficult time, and that calls from authors were really the last thing that they needed.

While I have every sympathy for those who may be about to lose their jobs (how can I not have when I am in the same position myself), I also feel that they are being rather short sighted. I work in retail myself (and let's not forget that book selling is just that - selling), dealing with difficult customers and awkward situations every day, that frankly I could also do without. But the point is, it is only because of these customers and their problems, that I have a job at all, it is why I am there.

As an author who wishes to have her book stocked in their stores, I am also a customer, and the reason that they are there. Their jobs only exist because of people like me who write books. They should therefore make the time to talk to people like me, and take a leaf from Waterstones book (no pun), who in total contrast, are always willing to talk, if not by phone, then by email, and whose buying policies are easy to understand, and more to the point, easy to obtain. If Borders clearly laid out on their website what their policies and submission procedures were then they would not have to deal with endless calls from the likes of me in the first place!

From what I can tell, a lot of their problems stem from the fact that the majority of their stores are on these out of town sites. People do not go to these sites to buy books, but to get the larger items such as electrical equipment, DIY and furniture. You have to make a special trip to get there and know what you want. Book selling though is about browsing and does not work in the same way. Because they are away from the High Street, they do not attract the passing trade and the lunch time shoppers, who like to browse, since the only people who work on these large sites are themselves shop workers, many of whom are on minimum wage, and simply cannot afford to buy books. Many of them are also part time, and do not get breaks in which to browse in the first place.

All the warning signs appear to be there, and given its problems and the curent economic climate, I would not be a bit surprised to hear of further closures over the next few years, and the eventual demise of this chain, within the UK at least anyway. I hope for the staff's sake that I am wrong. If I am right, as Graeme Neil predicted back in March, Borders loss will be Waterstones gain. Pity then they turned down my own application to work for them. Their loss in turn though will be someone else's gain.

In the meantime, Borders UK CEO Philip Downer has stated in a lettter to The Bookseller, that it is very much business as usual, and that despite the current economic climate and the company's re-structuring, sales remain healthy and strong. The number of events has increased and Borders have achieved their “best ever score on customer service quality”. “Our market share is robust and our ability to drive share of high-profile promoted titles, series and themes continues to be strong,” he said. In other words, they continue to demand high discounts from publishers, refusing to sell anything that does not earn for them at least twice what the author and publisher earn when put together. This may sound cynical, but I have been around this industry long enough to see through the hype and understand the language used. I also know that when you stick your head in the sand, all you see is an arse!

As one publisher commented, the letter did nothing to reassure with regard to the company's future, leaving them with no idea as to what is going on. I suspect if my own company are anything to go by, that the staff at Borders know even less. One publisher commented that “Nobody will be able to finalise Christmas or get next year underway until this is resolved.” This underlies the point that in today's climate no one can think that far ahead, as we do not know from one week to the next where we will be. This is the beauty of print on demand, that it allows you to respond so much quicker; the average commercially published book takes a year or more to go through the different production phases, but a POD book can be out in less than two months. I feel that the industry will have to start responding an awful lot quicker in response to this change, and that in time, print on demand will become the norm. That will certainly change the dyanamics between author, publisher and supplier.

In the meantime, I was astonished to read the other day exactly what Waterstones MD Gerry Johnson earns. It is a lot more than I get, that's for sure! It is nice to know then where the profit from my book sales is going - talk about fat cats!

According to The Bookseller, which seems to be my main source of information of late, Gerry was the third highest paid Director at parent HMV Group last year. Following his promotion to the main board, he earned a basic salary of £234,000, with an annual bonus of £360,000, taking his combined earnings to £595,000 in the year ended 26th April.

HMV Group Chief Executive Simon Fox, received £992,000 in the same year, inclduing a bonus of £498,000; and group Finance Director Neil Bright, earned £717,000, including a £360,000 annual bonus.

Johnsons salary although large by anyone's standards, dwarfs that of some within publishing, no doubt to the irk of book selllers anad authors combined. Reed Elsevier Chief Executive Crispin Davis was paid more than £2 million in 2007; Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino, took home a total of £2.3 million; John Makinson, head of Penguin, received £1.4 million; as did Kate Swann, head of WH Smith, and Bloomsbury Chief Executive Nigel Newton earned a total of £740,000.

The HMV accounts reveal that Waterstone's sold 75 million books in the year ending 26th April, with books accounting for 29 percent of HMV's total group sales, about £450 million. Over the period Waterstone's improved its sales by 5 percent to £564 million, with profit flat after incurring £1.2 million of start-up costs of the book hub distribution centre.

HMV reported that part of Johnson's bonus, £99,375, related to the integration of the Ottakar's business, of which a payment of £33,125 has been deferred for 12 months. It added that one-third of the directors' annual bonuses earned in the year was deferred for three years and would be payable in shares. Good job he doesn't work for Borders then, as in years to come they wouldn't be worth much!