Little Books and Big Ambitions

I recently read an interesting post from Leigh Russell, author of the Geraldine Steel series, in which she reminds readers of the value of having a publisher. Having recently started work on a set of humour ebooks, along the lines of The Little Book of Cynics, I found myself smiling at her post.

She's right, of course, that having a publisher (and an agent, come to that) enables a writer to concentrate on what they do best (and enjoy the most!): writing. I'm an advocate of self-publishing, initially by necessity and now by choice. I submitted my fantasy, Covenant, to more agents and publishers than I could shake a manuscript at. There were one or two nibbles, but in the end none of them came to fruition. 

Books are written to be read, so what's a writer to do? I decided that publishing Covenant myself would provide several benefits:

1. It would give me a final version of the book, after a final, heroic edit. (A lovely idea, but for the 33 typos subsequently discovered and now fixed.)
2. It would put the book out there for public scrutiny, allowing for the prospect of feedback and reader engagement.
3. It would draw a line under the book and enable me, the writer, to breathe out a sigh of satisfaction and then go and start writing something else. (Or, in my case, spend time working on the other three novels.)
4. It would pave the way for book sales and all the good stuff we associate with being a successful writer. To date, I've had a magazine review Covenant and I've made some money.

However, as an indie / self publisher, you not only wear many hats, you're also responsible for not dropping any of them. You get 100% of the choice and 100% of the responsibility for making it all happen.

But we're skirting around one of the issues here; we're avoiding the literary elephant in the room. No, not this one - the other one: literary achievement. The argument runs that becoming a selfie will most likely end in financial disappointment, whereas conventional publishing... Well, that's the thing about publishing - there are no guarantees. Delving into any bargain bucket will show you that.

I think that writers need to have a mature conversation with themselves and with one another. We're not all going to the prom, as I'm fond of saying. In the cold light of day my fantasy, Covenant, will never trouble the bestseller list, regardless of how it's published. That doesn't mean it's without literary merit (however that's defined), or that it won't show a healthy profit over its lifespan. 

Not every book gets on the podium. There are so many factors at work  including context, timing, luck, connections and the actual style of writing. As a writer / author, you can only produce your best work and then put your work out there. (And then promote your book mercilessly!)

I decided to produce four little books because I'd written material that really didn't fit anywhere else. I did approach some humour publishers, but nothing materialised, apart from an honest and interesting conversation about the economics of impulse purchase / gift titles. Mindful of that discussion, I've opted for ebooks. It's an easier, lower cost route to market and, given the proliferation of devices and platforms, coupled with the unit price, it makes more sense.

My forthcoming quartet of ebooks comprises:
Man Up! The wisdom of ignorance. The male mind laid bare.
Wise Up! Modern wisdom for those with a short attention span.
Newsclash. Real news stories + boredom = satire.
The Little Read Book of Project Management. An alternative glossary of terms.

I'll announce the birth of my other little darlings on my personal blog, over at www.alongthewritelines.blogspot.co.uk

Up, up and away!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nah, it's a butterfly.

It wouldn't take a barrage of psychological testing to work out that I draw inspiration from many sources. My muse seems to wear different guises depending upon his or her mood.

Many writers talk about listening for 'the voice' and then following the thread to see where it takes you. I assume that's a pretty good definition of a pantser when it comes to novels.

I don't often write children's fiction because I tend to see it as having an added layer of requirements in terms of understanding your audience, as well as using appropriate language and situations for the age group that you think you're writing for.

And I'm fussy about titles too, since I like the title to be in some way indicative of the flavour of the book. Scars & Stripes, for example, is both comedic and dramatic - a coming-of-age story about an adventure that purports to be one thing and is revealed to be something else. Clever, huh?

However, Superhero Club is something of a departure for me. To start with, the lead character is a girl, she's a pre-teen (I have a feeling I just made that word up), she has a dysfunctional mum, and both she and her mum are obese. But the muse knows best.

School days in literature is such an evocative time, reminding us of the emotionally charged atmosphere of discovery, insecurity and vulnerability. My heroine, Jo - because that's what she is - lives her life on the margins and the book opens with her last one-to-one session with a counsellor.

Here's the blurb, which is in American English as the ebook is coming out through US-based Musa Publishing.  

Twelve year-old Jo has never fit in at school, what with being overweight and over-sensitive. Since Dad moved out, Mom forgets who's who in the whole mother-daughter relationship. Jo has one ambition in life: to be normal. Not gifted, or gorgeous, or even particularly popular. Just normal. 

When Jo's counselor offers her a lifeline, there's a bunch of other misfits sharing the rope. Group sessions could help them to help each other, but Chris doesn't like speaking and Alistair's a self-confessed geek. Like Stevie, the joker, says, “Oh yeah, right bunch of bloody superheroes we are!”

Sometimes the most heroic thing is to trust a group of strangers, who also have a lot at stake. Jo may find the unlikeliest of friends, and a way to transform her life from the inside. The Superhero Club could give her all that in the blink of an eye. Well, maybe a double-blink!

Tagline: You only find out you're a butterfly if you spread your wings.

Obviously, I'd love the book to do well. What writer wouldn't wish that for her or his work? But, more importantly than that, my goal is for the book to reach an audience where it can perhaps make a bit of a difference. If you know of any review sites or approaches for an ebook of this kind, please leave me a comment.

Superhero Club is out on the 9th of November:

http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=439

Which books about childhood really chimed with you?

Gotta Wear Shades

Last week I received my royalty statements for the period January to June 2011.

Yeah, I know it's November, but you remember the publishing industry works on glacial time right?

Anyway, late or not, the statements brought a smile to my face.

Not immediately, you understand. For anyone who has never seen a royalty statement they are possibly the most complicated documents known to man. And I say that as a lawyer in my previous life. So obviously it took me half an hour of knitted eyebrow gymnastics to work out even the basics of what is going on with my books, before the smile broke out.

And no, before Mr Black starts packing for Rio, it wasn't because I'd just sold my millionth copy.

The reason was that for the first time my ebook sales outweighed my paperback sales.

For some time now we've all been told that the digital revolution was on its way. That the ebook reader was about to take its place alongside the ipod. And like many a writer I've been somewhat sceptical. Would the general public really want to read novels from a screen?

The answer seems to be a decided yes...which in turn has made me consider a number of other convictions I've held.

I've always said, and there's no point denying it, that distribution was the key to selling books in any numbers. I've ranted here for example, about authors who have been dropped by their publishers for poor sales when their books never made it into the shops.

My view has always been that the main way to sell books is to have them out there. That the public need to see them. Sure, the punters will go to Amazon et al for a bargain, but what they are buying online are the books that are visible in the shops.

Well hang on a moment. My royalty statement tells me that my very first book, Damaged Goods, has been flying off the eshelves. This, a novel, that was published five years ago and, as far as I can tell, isn't in any shops at the moment.

So what is it that is making people buy them? I'd like to say I'm a household name, but I'm not that delusional. So what is making people who have probably never heard of me buy my oldest book?

The answer seems to be a clever viral campaign by my publishers, very low pricing (readers will take a chance on things they haven't shelled out too much for) and high ranking on Amazon. The latter of course is a self fullfilling prophesy; the more you sell the higher you rank, the higher you rank, the more you sell.

When readers have emailed saying they liked DG, I've asked them how they came to buy it and quite a number have confirmed that they saw it in the top ten female detective list on Amazon and given it was selling for a couple of quid, they thought what the hell.

Now sales at low prices aint ever going to make me rich, I'll grant you. A percentage of fuck all is...well you get the picture. But if a section of this new audience likes what I do and goes on to buy my other stuff, then it's absolutely worth it to me.

All this has also made me reconsider whether self published authors can make a success of it. In the past, I'd have said no. That without the sales and marketing team of a publishing house behind them, an author can't get the necessary distribution. But does that still hold true? If a self published author produced an ebook, marketed it aggressively online and sold it for a song could they sell in numbers? Thre answer in truth is I don't know.

The times they are a-changing. And I think I like it.