by admin | Nov 6, 2015 | cover, Cruel Tide, marketing, selling
I veer between positive and fearful anticipation from hour to hour in this final run-up to the publication of ‘Cruel Tide’. Very occasionally I imagine what it would be like for it to be a runaway success, with sales off the scale and a rushed reprint. But most of the time I know I’m probably not doing enough to overcome the self-published author’s biggest challenge – getting people to read what you’ve written and created when there are so many other books out there competing for attention.
I’m actually going to get a review for this one in Lancashire Life, the offer of which was unexpected, but what if they don’t like it? Perhaps the value of getting any kind of review is greater than the downside of a bad one. I’ve put out so many feelers, and so few of these get any kind of response that it can be very disheartening. I wonder if those who don’t respond understand the impact they have. Maybe they do, and just shrug. I wish I understood that world better and could handle it with more equilibrium.
This general anxiety wasn’t helped this afternoon when I took an advance copy of ‘Cruel Tide’ to show to one of my strongest local supporters in her shop where she’s sold heaps of my books over the past few years. ‘Do you want to see it?’ I asked, preparing to pull my advanced copy of the book out of the envelope for the big reveal. She grimaced. ‘I’ve seen the poster, but I can’t look at it because I can’t bear hands.’ For a moment my heart sank. ‘I’ll sell it,’ she added, ‘and I’m sure the cover won’t bother anyone else, but I won’t be able to have it on the counter.’ What??? That’s a strong reaction: I know the cover image is striking, but it was meant to spark curiosity not revulsion. Surely someone would have advised against using the cover if it was that bad?
Front and back covers, with the offending hand.
Anyway, it’s too late now. The books are printed and the full shipment will arrive on Monday. I’m taking a copy through to Waterstones in Barrow on Tuesday and will see what a professional bookseller thinks. I hope she doesn’t have a hand phobia. There must be a special word for that condition, and I hope that it’s extremely rare.
Beyond that the dates and events for presenting the book multiply, in libraries and bookshops all around the area. I’m grateful for all of them, and will enjoy them all too, but I wish I could break out into the wide sales uplands of Manchester or London. What would that take? Maybe I should just rock up to the huge Waterstones on Manchester’s Deansgate, book in hand, and tell them how lucky they are. That’s what I need – more chutzpah.
by admin | Nov 1, 2015 | Uncategorized
Of all the stages of self-publishing the worst, for me at least, is the one I’m at now – waiting for the books to arrive from the printers. It’s too late to change anything, and I dread the possibility that I’ve got something wrong that will haunt me until the re-print. And I keep wondering, who is going to buy them, or will they languish in the storage locker until the covers curl?
Everything’s down to me, and at this stage that means promotion, promotion, promotion : trying to get information out there so previous readers know that the latest book is ready. Can I persuade new readers to buy a copy and enjoy it so much they read the previous books too? I’ve spent most of the morning designing a flyer, knowing very little about how to do so, and hoping that it’ll serve its purpose. I ordered enough to leave in local venues, and take with me to the talks and meetings lined up for the coming month. On a smaller scale, this is the same calculation that you make about how many books to print – the more the cheaper, but it all costs. When does an enjoyable hobby turns into a financial gamble? ‘You have to speculate to accumulate’…yes I know that, but it still bothers me.
At the back of my mind already are shreds of plot for the next book, and the current one isn’t even on sale yet. A wet walk along the coast from Whitehaven to St Bees yesterday filled my mind with ideas and images. Sometimes I feel I should break away from the local Cumbrian backdrop of my stories, but the sense of place is so strong that it keeps me in thrall. This is where I live and think and do my writing, and I’m not sure I could craft stories with any conviction about anywhere else, not yet at least.
So for the next few days, until the new book arrives, I just worry. Will it sell? Will any reviewers like it? Will the characters be strong enough to sustain another story, or another trilogy? Is the timeframe I’ve set myself too tight? Am I loading too much pressure on myself, when I should be more relaxed and taking the days as they come? For a while, when I’m busy running around promoting the book in person the long term anxieties will move to the back of my mind, but they’ll still be niggling away in the middle of the night.
Maybe the current fraught frame of mind stems from my recent long travels and jet-lag and will wear off. I certainly hope so!
by admin | Oct 24, 2015 | Cruel Tide, self-publishing
At last! I’ve worked out how to add an image to my blog – the front cover of the new book. I think it’s an arresting image, and pertinent too. See what you think.. It’ll be available from around the end of November 2015, from any good bookshop, from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle ebook, or from me direct via ruthsutton.co.uk. If you’re in Cumbria, your local bookshop should have copies. If you’re in Canada, go through Portage and Main Books in Winnipeg. If you’re in New Zealand, order through Unity Books in Wellington.
The ISBN is 978-0-9929314-0-7
by admin | Oct 19, 2015 | Uncategorized
A good friend and colleague of mine died yesterday. She was an inspirational educator and only fifty two. An aggressive cancer killed her, just over a year after the first diagnosis, despite surgery and chemotherapy. I did what I could to help her, but it could never be enough. In the end she slipped away with frightening speed while I was on the other side of the world. There was nothing I could have done, but I wanted at least to be there, and I wasn’t.
And here I am now in New Zealand, on a glorious spring day, trying to distract myself with trivia about the new book, but in the end the only things that really matter are friendship, love and kindness. I’m remembering my friend, and wishing she had lived a little longer to realise some of the plans she had made for a brief spell of happiness.
by admin | Oct 16, 2015 | Pricing
This week I designed a poster to promote the new book ‘Cruel Tide’ in bookshops around Cumbria. I used a template provided by an on-line printing company, which was generic and didn’t prompt you to include a price. I uploaded the cover image and some text and the ISBN number and sent it off for printing without including the price of the book.
In the middle of the night I woke up, realising what I’d done, or not done, and cursing my own carelessness, as I often do. In the more rational light of day I reconsidered, and wondered whether the lack of a price on the poster would seriously affect anyone’s willingness to order it. I’m not sure it would.
For a start, there have been three previous books, all at the same price of £8.99, and a potential buyer might correctly assume that the price will stay the same, which it will. Second, if readers who tell me that are waiting for the new book are really keen to buy it, the price is not as important as the publication date. Some people have been pestering me for the next one since about two weeks after the last one came out. I’m not sure they understand how much work goes into writing and producing a book. Some of my readers may wait to buy it from me direct at one of the many meetings or events I do, and I usually offer a discount for direct sales.
Amazon offer a cheaper price, as usual, but the shortfall is consumed by the cost of postage and packing, so there’s no advantage of cost or even of time, as we fufil our own orders, which normally takes a day or two longer than Amazon’s immediate turn-round. The Kindle version is slightly cheaper than the paperback, but the pleasure of a well-produced book is still a factor for many people.
If you don’t want to pay for a book at all, there’s always the library. If you do want to buy one, it will cost in this case the same as fish and chips for two or four cups of coffee. For the pleasure they can give, I reckon books are still a relatively good deal.
So instead of price being the key factor I have decided to use the cover image as the come-on. After all the agonising I did about this image, I’m really pleased with it now. It’s mysterious, arresting, relevant, and adds in a quite extraordinary way to the pathos of what lies between the covers. By next week the posters will be printed and arriving in the many bookshops served by my distributors, Hills of Workington. And as soon as I get home I’ll be taking them round to outlets where my books have sold before. It’s been nearly 18 months since the last book, and I hope previous readers haven’t forgotten about me. I also hope that I can pull in new readers too. I want this book to be widely read, because it makes a contribution to the current media storm about historical child abuse and is a timely reminder of how things were only a few decades ago.
When I can work out how to include the cover as part of a blog post, I’ll share it, so you can see what you think. Watch this space. Maybe I could offer a deal for the first five pre-orders, or something. I’m new to all these ‘sales techniques’ but I might be able to work out how to manage them, before I get back home from my trip and launch into thinking about the next book. That should keep me busy through the winter months.
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