Plan it of the Chimps

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Berners Street, Fatal Forgery, MailChimp, marketing, Samuel Plank, update

A new era of updates has started today, in my latest marketing initiative for the Sam Plank novels.  A while ago I explained that I was focusing on assembling an opt-in MailChimp mailing list of people who were actively interested in hearing more about Sam, and the books, and the history behind the books.  It’s been a fairly slow start, but then I think that’s the nature of the beast: word of mouth (or rather, word of inbox) takes time to spread.

In my mind the theme of these regular updates (they will be coming out monthly) is now clear: they will deal with extra detail pertaining to the novels themselves.  (As opposed to these blog posts, which talk about writing and plotting and self-publishing and book design and marketing and anything else that is preoccupying me as an author.)  And the first one, which I sent out this very morning, looks at the history of the Berners Street Hotel, which took over the buildings where Henry Fauntleroy – the banker in “Fatal Forgery” – both worked (number 6 Berners Street) and lived (number 7 Berners Street).  If you’re now thinking, darn, I wish I knew more about that, well, why not head over to my subscriber page and sign up so that you don’t miss any more monthly gems.

As anyone who knows me will testify, I am a fantastically organised person.  There are few things I love more than a plan, except maybe a timetable.  And I have indulged myself by creating a mash-up of the two with regard to these updates: I have spent the past hour putting together an outline of the updates that I plan to issue – and the giveaways that I plan to feature – from now until the end of 2019.  It’s the level of organisation of which Sam’s Quaker banker friend Mr Freame would have wholeheartedly approved.

Hip hip hotel

Tags

banker, Berners Street, Fatal Forgery, financial crime, fraud, marketing, Samuel Plank

This afternoon I spent an hour in this hippest of ultra-hip hotels, the London EDITION.  No, I have not won the pools, but I have been racking my brains to think of innovative marketing ideas for my books, and the address of the bank at the centre of the plot of “Fatal Forgery” was 6 Berners Street, and the banker himself lived next door at 7 Berners Street, and this hotel is now on the same site…  So you follow my thinking: would the hotel manager be interested in the book?

Well, I can’t say yes or no yet, but he agreed to meet me this afternoon and seemed intrigued by the idea.  I told him all about Sam and about magistrates’ constables and about what his part of town looked like in 1824 (for a while, his hotel’s block was the very edge of town – beyond it was countryside) and about Henry Fauntleroy.  I probably talked the poor man’s ear off, to be honest.  And then I suggested that he might like to have “Fatal Forgery” in his hotel’s library or gentlemen’s bar or snug, or perhaps in some of the swankier suites.  And he said that it might be a nice gift for regular guests.  And his secretary said that they sometimes hold after-dinner talks on topics relevant to the hotel.  And I said that many of London’s visitors come to the city precisely because of its historical richness, and might like to know about a real crime that took place on the very site of their hotel.  I then gave him a copy of the book, and he promised to read it.  It was all very thrilling to talk about Sam and his adventures, and I’ll let you know if anything comes of it.

(And just to balance the books, if you will, I also contacted the hotel that now inhabits the building that was Great Marlborough Street magistrates’ court – Sam’s office.  And despite three emails and one voicemail, the manager there was obviously not interested at all.  But you have to try everything, as you never know which approaches will work and which will not.  At least that’s how I got my husband.  Only kidding.)