The league table

Tags

Amazon, e-book, Faith Hope and Trickery, Fatal Forgery, Heir Apparent, Kindle, marketing, Notes of Change, paperback, Portraits of Pretence, sales, Samuel Plank, self-publishing, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

Tomorrow is the big day – the publication of “Notes of Change”! Today, therefore, is a day of preparation and reflection. And I haven’t updated you recently on the sales of the Sam series. So here goes – the number I have sold in paperback (print-on-demand through Amazon, and through physical bookshops to which I supply stock) and in various e-formats (mostly Kindle, but occasional other formats):

	Paperback via Amazon	E-book	Paperback via physical bookshop
Fatal Forgery	290	954	145
The Man in the Canary Waistcoat	90	122	75
Worm in the Blossom	62	78	56
Portraits of Pretence	63	78	43
Faith, Hope and Trickery	49	46	26
Heir Apparent	32	36	27
Totals	586	1314	372

As you can see, it’s almost three-to-one in favour of e-books – which is good in some ways as the royalty for e-books is more generous than that for paperbacks. And “Fatal Forgery” is far and away the most popular title. Yes, it’s been out for longest, but I think what the figures really suggest is that not enough people like “Fatal Forgery” enough to stick with the series. That’s something I need to address – another task for the book marketing to do list (how to make sure that people know there is a whole series of lovely Sam books). To be fair to Amazon, they are very good at highlighting series: when you buy one book in a series, the others appear in a tempting carousel display. Perhaps I need to make the pricing more appealing – or investigate the possibility of a seven-title omnibus edition… (Apparently you can’t call e-books a box set, as that implies a physical box – you can, however, call it an omnibus. Like the number 27 to Clapham.)

Back to basics

Tags

Amazon, Faith Hope and Trickery, London Book Fair, marketing, Plank 6, The Selfies, WH Smith, writing

Ever since I entered “Faith, Hope and Trickery” for the Selfies Awards, I have been obsessed with book marketing.  The awards were to be judged on several criteria including “an effective and creative marketing and publicity strategy”, and this brought marketing to the front of my mind.  Whenever I had an hour to spare, I spent it not on writing but on marketing.  To be honest, it is the easier option: when l was struggling with a knotty plot point or a scene that wouldn’t go right, I would abandon it and do a quick marketing task instead – design a poster for my WHSmith signing event, or work on my monthly Sam update (pure research – my number one favourite displacement activity!).  Here’s the distraction poster in question:

As a result, I have fallen behind on my writing schedule for “Plank 6” – not disastrously and irretrievably behind, but uncomfortably so.  And the irony is that all this marketing seems to make no discernible difference at all to book sales.  None at all.  Some effort is doomed: I spent a few hours answering questions about how my day job has influenced my writing and about financial crime in general for a promotions person ahead of the Selfies, and of course, because I did not win, no journalist was interested in my story.  And some effort is (for me) bad for the state of mind: at the recent London Book Fair I attended a lecture on “creating your author brand”, and the amount of guilt it has engendered is huge.   (No wonder the Sam books aren’t selling – I’m not a brand!  And reading the numberless tweets generated by influencers in the publishing world is exhausting and time-consuming, let alone responding to them in a manner that will intrigue them and “drive them to you” – like Uber?).  Much marketing effort simply goes into the ether and you hope that one day it will transmogrify into a sale.  The only thing I have done recently that has had any impact on “sales” is my five-day giveaway of “Fatal Forgery” on Amazon – and I’m not sure it’s much of a marketing coup to say that hundreds of people rushed for my product when it was free!

As a result, I have been doing some authorly soul-searching.  The key fact is that I work full-time.  I have very limited time for my fiction-writing.  And although I hope one day to be a full-time author, at which point I will immerse myself in the commercial side of it too (recognising completely that successful self-publishing is not an indulgence but rather a business), at the moment I simply cannot do both writing and marketing to an acceptable or effective level.  And as it would be nonsense to concentrate on marketing if there is nothing to sell, the writing wins.  I will continue with the bits I enjoy – this blog, and the monthly Sam updates – but I will be retreating from Twitter and other more ephemeral platforms, as I just can’t keep up.

Self-publishing makes you smile – proof!

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agent, awards, cover, Faith Hope and Trickery, IngramSpark, London Book Fair, self-publishing, The Selfies

Apologies for the radio silence: it has been a mad fortnight.  Entirely my own fault, as I work alone and am in charge of my own diary, but everything except the absolute essentials of work and survival shopping/cooking have been on hold – apart, that is, from attendance at the London Book Fair.  For the first time ever.  And as an award shortlistee (is that a word? perhaps nominee is better)!

Of course I had heard of the LBF (as I thought it was trendy to call it, until I heard the old pros talking simply of “London”) but had never really felt entitled to attend before.  And to be honest, much of the show – fascinating though it is to wander around – is intended for publishers and booksellers and agents, looking to schmooze each other and make deals.  If you were an author looking for an agent or a publisher, it would be a handy place to do some research; you can see at a glance which “lists” would welcome your work, and with the lure of a (vastly overpriced, as always at these events) coffee and pastry you might even be able to set up a meeting or two.  I simply enjoyed seeing all the stalls and fantasising about being “author of the day” at an LBF of the future…

But back to the award.  As regular readers will know, I was – amazingly and thrillingly – chosen as one of eight shortlisted entrants for the inaugural Selfies Award, created to recognise writing and publishing professionalism in the self-published world.  I am told that more than fifty entries were received, so getting down to the final eight – and as a part-time author – pleased me enormously.  We were an entirely female shortlist, and it was a delight to meet the other seven authors on the day.  We were all a bit giddy by 4.30pm when we were shepherded onto the low stage of the little theatre set up in the “Writer’s Block” area of the fair, and we each had to announce our name and our book title.  I didn’t win but was consoled by the fact that both the winner (Jane Davis, with her book “Smash all the Windows”) and the runner-up (Jane Steen, with her book “Lady Helena Investigates”) were just the loveliest women.  I entirely forgot to take any photos myself but I hope that the award sponsors IngramSpark (through whom I publish the Sam books) won’t mind me borrowing this one from their Twitter feed:

That’s the overall winner Jane Davis being announced and the runner-up Jane Steen on the right, with the biggest smile in the universe!  (You’ll also spot the purple book cover of “Faith, Hope and Trickery” on the banner behind us – so many people complimented me on that cover.)  Look how happy we all are – that’s self-publishing for you!

Sam’s on the shortlist!

Tags

author, BookBrunch, Faith Hope and Trickery, historical fiction, London Book Fair, Samuel Plank, The Selfies

What a day!  I have received notification that “Faith, Hope and Trickery” has been shortlisted for the inaugural Selfies Award, which I entered back in December.  It’s one of eight books in the running and the winner will be announced at the London Book Fair on 12 March 2019.  I had already booked my ticket for that day, as I’ve never been to the LBF before (I want to walk around with “Author” on my ID badge), and I wanted to support the Selfies even if I was not personally involved.  But now I will be – great excitement!

Today’s press release  from the awards organiser – BookBrunch – is most flattering.  It says that we shortlist nominees were selected from “exceptional works of self-published fiction” and “can confidently stand against the very best fiction being published in the UK today”.

Looking at the shortlist, we’re all women.  Two books are pure crime and two are historical (mine included).  Bizarrely, one is about money laundering and one is about cycling (written by a woman who lives in Cambridge) – and neither of those is mine!  That prize ceremony is going to be an interesting gathering…

Fingers crossed, please

Tags

blurb, BookBrunch, competitions, Faith Hope and Trickery, London Book Fair, Mslexia, sales, synopsis, The Selfies

Nothing daunted by previous failures – Mslexia, I’m looking at you – I have entered another competition.  This one is specifically for self-published books, which is an interesting development as several competitions explicitly exclude self-published works.  This competition is being sponsored by BookBrunch – “the daily online news service for the book industry” – and is called (wait for it) The Selfies.  I was in two minds about applying, as it costs £25 and takes a couple of hours to put together the application, but in the end I reasoned that I certainly wouldn’t be shortlisted if I didn’t enter (unassailable logic) and took the plunge.

As well as supplying the book itself – I’ve gone with “Faith, Hope and Trickery” because the competition is for adult fiction published in the last year – I also had to supply a synopsis.  I haven’t written a synopsis since I first hawked “Fatal Forgery” to publishers and agents, as the synopsis is basically a summary of the plot and is used to persuade publishers/agents to take you on.  It’s not the same as a blurb, which goes on the back cover or on sales websites to tempt readers; by contrast, the synopsis gives away the whole plot including the ending.

I also had to provide information about my marketing efforts and plans, and – deep breath – ‘fess up to my sales figures across both editions (paperback and e-book) to evidence (according to the competition website) “an effective and creative marketing and publicity strategy [and] great sales potential”.  We in the self-publishing community had a discussion about the significance of this question: would the judges simply choose the best-selling book?  Would they take into account that a book that had been published eleven months ago would have more sales than one published in November?  Are sales figures any indication of quality anyway?  I thought about fibbing, but in the end told the truth: 86.

At least the waiting period is mercifully short: the competition closes on 21 December 2018, the shortlist will be announced in late February and the winner revealed at the London Book Fair on 12 March 2019.  So as not to tempt fate, I have put a light, squiggly pencil line through the whole of that March week in my diary, with “LBF” written in the most casual way – you’d barely notice that I even care.

Build it and they will come

Tags

Faith Hope and Trickery, marketing, Plank 6, plotting, review, Shots eZine, The Fussy Librarian, Victoria Blake

I know, I know: it was but a few short days ago when I declared that I was – temporarily – abandoning all marketing efforts in order to concentrate on writing.  And to be fair to me (if I can’t be fair to myself, what hope is there?) I have indeed concentrated on the writing – or, more specifically, the plotting – of “Plank 6”.  And I can announce that I have a twisty, turny and frankly rather nasty plot in mind for you – I had no idea that I could be so unpleasant and devious.  But, in the odd manner of things, as soon as I turned my back on publicity it started seeking me out.

In example one, a review that has been pending since May, when “Faith, Hope and Trickery” was published, has just appeared.  It is on the website of Shots Crime & Thriller eZine and has been written by the lovely Pippa Macallister, whom I know from a local crime book group.  You can read it yourself, as I blush rather to repeat it, but let me just say this: “There is a wonderful warmth between [Sam and Wilson] and Sam’s wife Martha, which contrasts with the cold, hard reality of life in the areas where they live and work.”  You will also spot the typo in the title of the review: I am minded to leave this as it is, as I figure that people might notice it and – as the marvellous Oscar Wilde so astutely commented – “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

And in example two, I have been contacted by an e-book marketing company called The Fussy Librarian and asked to take part in their regular author Q&A feature.  I was recommended to them by my fellow – and kind and generous – historical fiction author Victoria Blake (if you haven’t read her novel “The Return of the Courtesan”, a real treat awaits you), and the questions the FL has sent to be answered are really interesting and quirky.  I don’t know when it will appear on the FL’s newswire (I haven’t even sent in my answers yet) but when it does, I’ll let you know.  The FL is based in Iowa in America, so it certainly can’t hurt to introduce Sam to a wider transatlantic audience.

Covered in glory

Tags

cover, Design for Writers, Discovering Diamonds, Faith Hope and Trickery, Samuel Plank

I know I said that I would shut up for a fortnight, but this is just too exciting to wait!  As regular readers will know, the one area in which I splash the cash in self-publishing is my covers.  Well, not mine: the covers of my books.  Although I know you shouldn’t judge a book, etc., I also know that a cover that screams “homemade on my daughter’s drawing program” or “bought cheap because it sort of matches my story” does you no favours at all.  Potential readers need to know that they are in safe and professional hands, and a quality cover image is their first indication of that.  Sadly I am blessed with the artistic capabilities of a cross-eyed walrus – I would no more design or draw my own book cover than I would rewire my own house.

Thankfully, back in the mists of time when I was working on what would become my very first self-published book, I was pointed in the direction of an outfit called Design for Writers.  Now that’s a name I can understand – they sound like experts to me.  That first book was nothing to do with Sam – it’s a non-fiction book about the prevention of money laundering, which is my day job – but Andrew at DfW immediately knew what I was on about and produced the first of many “piggy” covers.  (Here’s one of them.)  And when it came to my first foray into fiction with “Fatal Forgery” (try saying that in a hurry!) there was only one place to go.

Since then, Andrew and his wife Rebecca have been wonderful.  Each time a new Plank comes out, they take my rambling description (“well, it’s a bit darker than the last one, with a preacher, but not a Wesleyan preacher, and I need a sermon in the background – one from London if you can – and someone said that purple might look good, and no, I don’t have a title yet, until the vote closes next month”) and create a marvel from it.  And so this is really their success rather than mine, but the fantastic purple cover of “Faith, Hope and Trickery”, with the overwrought yet devilishly dishy young man emoting like billy-o, has been given an Honourable Mention rosette in the May 2018 “Cover of the Month” awards on the Discovering Diamonds book review blog.  And now I really will be quiet.  But only for a fortnight.

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.

Taking Sam to Hart’s

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bookshop, Faith Hope and Trickery, G David, Hart's Books, Portraits of Pretence, WH Smith

For some time now, I have been hoping to get Sam and Martha into a fifth – a fifth! – bookshop.  I know from hard, perhaps even bitter, experience that the big chains are a no-go for self-published, unknown authors.  I have spent a great deal of energy on trying to convince my local branches of both Waterstones and WH Smith to feature my books on their “local interest” shelves, but it seems that even these are furnished by head office stock control elves, so I have given up on that for now.  But one independent bookshop in my local area has been on my radar for some time: Hart’s Books in Saffron Walden.

Saffy – as I am afraid we call it in our house – is a delightful small town about eighteen miles from where I live.  In the summer I go there most Sundays as the stoker (back half – the one who does all the hard work) on our tandem, as it is a lovely cycle ride.  Over the years I have seen Hart’s (founded in 1836) falter, fail, close – and then reopen with great success in 2016.  On the publication of “Portraits of Pretence” and then “Faith, Hope and Trickery”, I emailed the bookshop to ask to be considered, and heard nothing.  I resolved to go in in person, to plead my case and hand over a book.  But every time I was in the town, I was sweating – sorry, glowing – profusely from my cycling exertions and far from the image of a trustworthy author of respected historical crime fiction.  And then yesterday (I know, not a Sunday, but the weather was so good that we did it anyway) we cycled into Saffy and I decided to take a chance, sweaty and un-booked though I was.

And reader, the shop’s manager could not have been nicer.  He listened to my tale as I glowed gently by the front desk, and immediately agreed to take five books – a copy of each – into stock.  A customer was waiting to pay and said that the series sounded perfect for him and that he would “haunt Hart’s” until they arrived and then buy one immediately.  Given my recent experience in David’s in Cambridge, I am beginning to see that standing by the till and catching people with their money in their hand is the way to sell books.  The upshot is that, from tomorrow (after our usual tandem ride, with the addition of a pannier containing five books and a handful of bookmarks), Sam will be stocked in his fifth bookshop and third county (Essex).

The fastest sale in the west

Tags

bookshop, Faith Hope and Trickery, Fatal Forgery, G David, pricing, sales

Last week I told you about the fabulous window display in David’s bookshop in Cambridge.  But if you peer closely, you will see that something is missing: the first book of the series, “Fatal Forgery”.  Of this particular blue volume, the shop was – shock! horror! – out of stock.  So I emailed them to point out this dire state of affairs and they asked me to drop off two more copies.

When I was next in town, I did just that.  The nice chap with whom I deal – a motorcycle enthusiast called Brian – was in the antiquarian department of his shop chatting to two American ladies.  He broke off his conversation to say hello and I handed over the two books.  “What’s that?” asked one of the ladies, holding out her hand.  “Historical fiction?  London?  Regency?”  She read the first page.  “I’ll have it!”

In short, I watched a bookseller make a 100% profit on my book before my very eyes, and was delighted to do so.  If I could immediately sell half of the books I deliver, I’d be laughing all the way to the bank.