Category Uncategorized

Local Author Adventures – Part One

January 28, 2011 Uncategorized

I've run a few unexpected events into since I took on the dread label "Local Author" and started promoting my book. The pseudonym preserves a lot of privacy, but even so there have been quite a few surprises. I might write a few more in this series - depending on how much is worthy of blogging. I hadn't actually considered that being a local author means forging a business relationship with stores you've been frequenting for years. Suddenly you are a supplier as well as a customer, but also a customer at the same time, which can lead to some very odd encounters.Walking into your local bookshop as a known author for the first time after they've ordered your book, the staff seem strangely on edge as you walk towards the counter. The thoughts are on their faces: are you going to ask about

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Yougottaread Trailer Contest Open

January 21, 2011 Uncategorized

The Fire Season Trailer was entered in this month's yougottaread contest.Voting is now open to all so, please take a look and vote (and to shamelessly drop a hint you vote in the sidebar and Fire Season is Option 19) .http://yougottareadvideos.blogspot.com

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Books on Shelves

January 15, 2011 Uncategorized

A very short update with some good news: Fire Season will be making an appearance on Waterstones shelves shortly.I did a full post about what it took to get listed on Waterstones system some time ago (see here). While the publisher and distributor are handling the main stock, I screwed up my courage and asked my local. I didn't have high hopes they would take any: Fire Season is a small press book from a new author. However as I found out, if the book is already on their ordering system stores can be very happy to help.So several copies are now making their way to Waterstones. Once they arrive in-store, I may pay a visit with a camera, just to get a shot of them on the shelves and convince myself it's real.

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Using Feedbooks for promotion

January 10, 2011 Uncategorized

Since I put arrival up on Smashwords, several people have suggested I should look at Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com Similar to Smashwords, Feedbooks allows you to post short stories and novels in e-book format for download. However unlike Smashwords, all self-published books on it are free, making it useful for promotion or bonus content but less suitable for commercial use. I decided to put Arrival up, both to test out the system and to reach a wider audience. What follows are just my views.To upload the story, you first set up metadata: name, description of story, and a few more details including choosing your licence. The licence options are interesting - No licence, public domain and a full range of Creative Commons. If you are trying to use Feedbooks for promotion the Creative

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A Christmas round-up

December 24, 2010 Uncategorized

SInce it's Christmas Eve, I thought I'd add a few notes on how the year has gone so far. After all, mince pies and sherry are a great help to reminincing.I started with a manuscript, and ended it with a book. In between, a quick summary of the year shows that things were eventful. The first book deal occurred in April, then the manuscript was released in June. After a few months of negotiation with various publishing houses I went with a small games publisher who released it in December.The main problem with the launch was the snow, which no one could have expected. Sicne the books were stuck in a snow drift, with the publisher, printer and distributor snowed in, they weren't available on shelves. To recover this, I sent out author copies for review in early December but I only had a

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Amazon hijinks & £3 a book?

December 9, 2010 Uncategorized

I was rather surprised this morning to find that a seller, book depository, had started advertising my book at about £3. I contacted my publisher to see if this was a promotion, and found out a few things. There is apparently some hilarity going on at my publishers. Due to the snow, they currently know where every copy of the book is, and have for the last three days. Certain sellers who do not have copies have been advertising it for the last three days. On the other hand, Book Depository's offer is legitimate. More importantly the sale rate to the distributor is fixed, so it doesn't affect my royalty or the publisher's margins. So, for anyone looking for a stocking filling for Christmas, please consider my book. After all, that is £2.97 for something you can guarantee they don't have,

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And they are here!

December 7, 2010 Uncategorized

My books arrived in the post this morning, and were waiting for me when I got back from work. I think the packet survived about 5 minutes from the time I got indoors, that being how long it took me to get the scissors.So, now I am holding my book. The first copies I've actually seen. My impressions? It's bigger than I thought, at 352 pages. The cover is a matt laminate, and the artwork has come out well. Overall it has the slightly old fashioned style I wanted for the book, but will definitely stand out on shelves which is important. The page is nice, and the font, although larger than usual for a mass market paperback, is nicely readable.To celebrate, there is another goodreads giveaway going on - this time for three of my author copies.Goodreads Book GiveawayFire Seasonby V.H.

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A book released – into a snow drift…

December 1, 2010 Uncategorized

My book was officially released today, on the day that snow blanketed parts of the UK. My publisher is currently snowed in, as am I, and my books are not likely to reach the distributor due to snow delays. On the other hand while the book mght not get to stores, not many customers are either.In better news, Fire Season has received another 4 star review on Goodreads, from a reviewer who said it's not her usual choice of book. "...the ending had me, literally, sitting on the edge of my seat!" Ruth, Goodreads (Full review)

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Getting a book into Waterstones

November 25, 2010 Uncategorized

This seems to be the holy grail for UK writers. As a small press author who seems to have managed it in a few stores, speaking to my publisher I found out it isn't as easy as you think.Some articles make it sound like walking into any random store with your book and waving it at the manager stand you in good stead of shelf space. This is misleading. Although Waterstones managers do have some discretion over what goes on the shelves, they do also have a central list that they pick from. The three basic things you need to get into a book store seem to be:1) ISBN: you have to have one.2) (in the UK) be listed on Nielsen3) A recognised distributor who manages sale or return.4) Access to the Waterstones independant books listingThese will let you get listed on the Waterstones computer system,

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A Nano update

November 18, 2010 Uncategorized

At the weekend my final copy of the manuscript went off to the publisher. They let me know it had gone to print earlier this week, so everything is progressing nicely.Now I should be working on selling my book, but it's a little difficult with one remaining ARC and no printed books yet. So, for the next two weeks, my attention will be on something else I have been neglecting: NaNoWriMo.I've got the first few thousand words written up, but not put in yet, and since we are halfway through the month I have some catching up to do!

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