Another one bites the dust

Tags

Daunt Books, Heffers, sale or return, Samuel Plank, self-publishing

In my last post I mentioned that Heffers – my local bookshop, and the first physical one to stock the Sam Plank books – had changed its book ordering system and no longer places orders with small publishers, only through the large distributors.  This is a hassle, but one that I shall navigate in January.  And now I have lost another physical stockist: Daunt Books.  I was never in their flagship Marylebone branch – the one with the amazing oak shelves and gorgeous skylights – but the manager of the Cheapside branch did take a chance on me, reasoning that book-buyers in the City might be more interested in financial crime…  And indeed the books sold slowly but steadily.  I contacted the shop earlier this week, to ask if they need more stock for Christmas, and “my” manager has left and the new fellow wants me to collect the remaining copies he does have.  Ho hum.  So that’s two down.

What I need to do is work out what is going on.  The books did sell in Heffers, but I have now fallen foul of their new ordering system – and so the solution is for me to learn how to fit with the new system.  But if Daunt is returning their copies, I assume the books didn’t sell well enough, or quickly enough, to justify their shelf space (it is quite a small shop).  Again, I will wait until January and perhaps contact the chap to ask his view: is he purging self-published books in general, in readiness for (à la Heffers) ordering only from large distributors, or is it my books specifically that weren’t selling?

I’ll add it to my enormous – but exciting – list of things to do once I am a “proper author”!

Stars and walls

Tags

Amazon, Daunt Books, Faith Hope and Trickery, Martha Plank, research, review

It can be something of an anti-climax, the weeks after publishing a book.  And for the purposes of this blog, there is little that I can report on the progress of the new book – “Plank 6” – as I am immersed in the research phase.  But I have promised to keep you updated on the life of a part-time, self-published author, and this week I have two highlights to share with you.

First, two new reviews of “Faith, Hope and Trickery” have appeared on Amazon.  This takes us to a grand total of six reviews and they are all *pause for preening* five star reviews.  This is an enormous relief as, with “FHT” having taken eighteen months to produce rather than the twelve months for the others, I was even less able to maintain any objectivity at all about whether it was actually any good.  And by the end of it, I was in a lather of uncertainty – particularly as I had rather put Martha through the wringer, which I knew would concern some readers.  But she and I have both survived (I don’t think that counts as a spoiler), and I am beaming as I read the reviews.

And second, I went into Daunt Books in Cheapside yesterday to deliver some books.  As is my wont, I wandered into their fiction basement (it’s not imaginary; it’s where they stock the fiction) to say hello to my books.  And what should greet me but this:

I should explain.  This is a wall display of books right opposite the stairs, so you have to see it.  All books are turned cover out – the best angle, of course.  And there are my books…. at eye-level.  Eye-level!  The tippest, toppest place to be.

The swings and roundabouts of sales

Tags

Daunt Books, Fitzwilliam Museum, Portraits of Pretence, sales, self-publishing

I know that some of you read this blog with a more commercial eye, curious to know whether it’s possible to make a living at self-publishing, and I promised at the outset to tell you the unvarnished truth about all aspects of this writing adventure.  And this week I have mixed fortunes to report.

You may remember that back in October 2016 I scored something of a coup when I convinced the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to stock three copies of “Portraits of Pretence”, as it is about art fraud.  I supplied the copies – as I do for most bookshops – on a sale or return basis, and they very promptly paid my invoice for the three copies supplied.  I sidled into the shop from time to time, feigning interest in other items but really checking out the bookshelves, and the trio of “Portraits” was still there.  This week I decided that it would be impolite, and not in the spirit of our original agreement, to stay silent, and so I contacted the stock manager and asked her if she would like to return the books, and she has – I collected them this morning.  To be fair, the staff tried hard: they put the books on different shelves, spine out, front out – they tried it all – but it seems that their visitors buy non-fiction art tomes rather than novels.

On the other hand, Sam is going great guns at Daunt Books in Cheapside.  I find this particularly pleasing because it is directly over the road from where Edward Freame’s bank is in the series (actually a Café Nespresso in real life).  This week Daunt ordered eight more books and my husband kindly delivered them on his Brompton folding bike and collected cash payment for the eight that had sold – some of which found its way pretty sharpish into the till of the aforementioned café (pedalling/peddling is thirsty work in hot weather).  It’s a busy bookshop, this one (it’s not the famous Marylebone Daunt – it’s the City cousin) and the customers are very much my target audience, with their interest in financial (mis)doings.

In short, it’s eight out and three in, and as long as I’m in credit, I’m happy!

Every bookshop in the land

Tags

Daunt Books, G David, Heffers, Nielsen, royalty, self-publishing, selling, Toppings

I can imagine that you think I am just sitting around, gazing out of the window and eating bonbons.  Far from it.  My latest project – apart from “Plank 5”, of course – is to figure out how to get the Sam Plank books into more bookshops.  My ploy thus far has been to woo individual booksellers with silver-tongued emails and then go in person with a delivery of books.  This is (a) time-consuming, and (b) not practical on a country-wide basis, much as I would love (now here’s a retirement project) to visit every independent bookshop in the UK.  And so I have gone the traditional route.

As I understand it, the majority of booksellers – from the small to the large – buy their stock from book distributors.  King among the UK book distributors is Nielsen.  They get their stock, for selling on to the bookshops, direct from publishers.  And, through a combination of dogged determination, charm, begging and a gradual sea-change in the attitudes to indie publishing, I have managed to persuade Nielsen to recognise me as a publisher.  I have a login and everything.  And associated with me as a publisher are the four Sam Plank novels.

In theory, therefore, a book buyer can go into any bookshop in the land and, when they ask for a Sam Plank novel and find the shelves bare (apart from in Heffers and Davids in Cambridge, Toppings in Ely and Daunts in Cheapside, of course), demand that the bookseller order one for them.  Said bookseller then logs into his Nielsen account, looks up Sam Plank and voilà! there he is.  Order is placed, book arrives and reader is satisfied.

What I am a little hazy on is what precisely happens in between.  I know that when Nielsen receives an order for Sam Plank they will forward it to me – his publisher – for fulfilment.  And I know that I am responsible for pronto delivery to the bookshop that has ordered him.  However, I do not know who has to pay for postage; I am assuming that I do.  And, more critically, I do not know what royalty I get from Nielsen-generated orders.  This is uncharacteristically lax of me, I know, as I am usually pretty hot on royalty levels and all that.  But in all honesty the Nielsen website is so (whisper it) unfriendly that I simply couldn’t find definitive answers to my questions, and so I have decided to wing it: I’ll wait for my first statement from them and work it out from that.

Of course, to get a statement I will need to have an order or two.  And so far: zilch.  I am torn between wanting at least one order so that I can see how the system works, and terror that I might get dozens of orders for multiple copies that I am entirely unequipped to fulfil.  After all, in order to supply copies I need to order them from America (we’ve been through this before), and I keep only limited copies in readiness.  As ever, I’ll keep you posted.

Plank returns to Cheapside

Tags

Daunt Books, map, plotting, Samuel Plank

Occasionally – and usually unexpectedly – you get days when everything seems to go right, and yesterday was one of those.  First I met my “map man”, and things are moving on, albeit in an unhurried fashion.  He has agreed that it would be best to have a small, simplified map for each book, noting the key locations for that story, and then a grand, more detailed London map for all of them, for conversion into a PDF which will be downloadable from this website.  I have left it to him to decide which to tackle first.

Second, I decided to pursue another bookshop that has been on my radar for some time and, to cut a long story short, Daunt Books in Cheapside has agreed to take eight books – two of each title – on a sale-or-return basis.  Long-time blog readers will remember that I did manage to winkle one copy of “Fatal Forgery” into the original Daunts in Marylebone, but nothing came of it.  To be fair, they did warn me that their stock was heavily travel biased.  Their Cheapside outpost, however, has more of a balance between travel and – crucially – fiction, and I have managed to persuade the manager that his City clientele will appreciate the financial crime angle.  (Plus, of course, Sam’s dear friend Edward Freame has his banking house on Cheapside, almost opposite Daunt Books.)  I’m doing my inaugural (I hope) delivery run next week.

And third, I had a belter of an afternoon plotting for “Plank 5”.  I have decided on two deaths already – one natural, one not – and on the main twist of the story.  To tantalise you, I have been reading about Wesleyan missionaries in Jamaica, and the history of Kew Gardens…

A Daunting day

Tags

Daunt Books, Fatal Forgery, Samuel Plank, Sir John Soane's Museum, Wallace Collection

No doubt you’ve been on tenterhooks to know how my Plank day went in London yesterday.  Well, it was terrific – apart from the un-forecast rain, which had me sheltering in doorways and scurrying into shops.

My first Plank port of call was Daunt Books in Marylebone High Street; I think I managed to sound “deeply committed to her subject and the research around it” without straying into “dangerously obsessional and a bit potty”, which is always such a fine line to tread.  The lovely buyer admired the books, and agreed to take one copy of “Fatal Forgery” to see how it goes.  I was thrilled, as she had suggested in emails that they wouldn’t be able to consider taking anything at all until after Christmas, so one Sam is immeasurably better than none.  I have now shamelessly Facebooked all of my London friends, urging them to stampede to Marylebone forthwith and create a storm of demand.

En route from Daunt to Oxford Street, to catch a bus to the John Soane’s Museum, I walked past the Wallace Collection, and a flicker of a memory came to me: didn’t they have some lovely French miniatures?  Without giving too much away, for “Plank 4” I am considering the mechanics of art crime – forgery, smuggling, theft, etc. – and miniatures are very tempting because they are, well, miniature.  This makes them easy to transport and hide, and I wanted to take a look at the genuine article.  And the Wallace ones are lovely – “very bling”, as I overheard a teenage visitor comment.

And as for the Sir John Soane’s Museum, let me just say that if you ever get the chance, do go.  The chap was obviously quite an eccentric – even in a grand age of English eccentrics – and his house, preserved as it was when he lived there (apart from the CCTV security system, I assume), is really something.  In the basement is a very creepy “monk’s parlour” where, according to the guide, he went “to be alone with his innermost thoughts and his imaginary friend, Father John”.  Quite.  From a Plankish perspective, it was very useful to see what one of the foremost art collectors of the day was chasing – but you’ll have to wait for “Plank 4” to find out.

A museum of Plankish treasures

Tags

art crime, Daunt Books, Martha Plank, museum, plotting, Samuel Plank, William Wilson

I did warn you that things would be going quiet, didn’t I?  I am still in the “let my mind wander” phase of plotting for “Plank 4”, which is very enjoyable but must end soon.  And to keep me disciplined, I have decided to mark the end of this phase with a Day Out in London next Wednesday.  I do have some work that day – a much-anticipated meeting in New Scotland Yard, to do with money laundering – but once I’ve left the police, the rest of the day is Sam’s.  And here’s what I have planned for him:

• We are calling in to Daunt Books in Marylebone High Street to try to persuade them to make room for Sam, Martha and Wilson on their shelves – I’ll explain that this is home turf for my trio, and see if I can melt their book-buying hearts…
• Martha and I are going to an antique jewellery shop just off Oxford Street to look at an emerald and pearl ring that was created in 1820 – we’re wondering whether some broad hints to Sam might be in order
• We are all going to the Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields for a good rootle around among the architect’s arty treasures – “Plank 4” deals with art crime, so Sam and I need to get a good feel for what the respected collectors of the day were after.

After that, I might go out for a pasta feast at the wonderfully 1950s Spaghetti House in Goodge Street, although I daresay Sam and Martha would prefer a pie shop – spaghetti might be an import too far for them.  So Wednesday next week is when I have to stop daydreaming and start the serious plotting, but a grand day out will make the transition that much more bearable.

Seeking storefronts for Sam

Tags

Daunt Books, G David, Hammicks, Hatchards, Heffers, Samuel Plank, Toppings

As regular readers will know, the Sam Plank books appear in the flesh – well, the paper, ink and glue – in three physical bookshops: Heffers and G David in Cambridge, and Toppings in Ely.  (Who knows whether they will appear in the new Amazon store in Seattle!)  They were also stocked in Hammicks Legal Bookshop in Fleet Street until that closed down a few months ago – the closure was nothing to do with Sam, I am assured.  And astonishing though the reach of Amazon is, there is nothing to compare – for authorly satisfaction and browsing availability – to having physical books on a shelf in a bookshop.

I have not forgotten that some months ago I hinted that I was pursuing a third stockist here in Cambridge – negotiations are still ongoing, as is my fear that naming them might jinx it, but if it happens you will not go untold, I promise you.

And now I am thinking about new representation in London.  The problem is (and not just with London) that the big chains are not interested in self-published authors.  Their concern is two-fold: self-published stuff might be rubbish, and self-published stuff is not supplied via the usual book distribution services.  Both fair points, and too tricky for me to overcome alone, so I don’t worry about the big chains.  But finding places that are not unexpectedly connected with the big chains is tricky – I once approached Hatchards and had a lovely long (and I thought promising) chat with a manager, only to be told at the end that they’re part of Waterstones and do not have much ordering independence.

Several people have suggested Daunt Books, and so this is my latest venture.  I have sent a hello email to their Marylebone shop, with lovely (and I hope tempting) pictures of the book covers, and asking whether I could call in with samples when I am in London the week after next.  If I haven’t heard from them by next week, I’ll try the dreaded telephone call, when you have to fight your way through successive layers of staff to get to the crime buyer, without uttering the call-ending words “my self-published book”…