Piles of Plank

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cover, CreateSpace, Fatal Forgery, launch, paperback, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Toppings, Worm in the Blossom

As regular readers of this blog will know, I self-publish my novels through an American firm called CreateSpace.  And when I order copies, they are printed in America (South Carolina, I understand, which conjures up all sorts of images of decorous Southern ladies sipping mint juleps on lace-fenced verandahs – although it’s almost certainly a cavernous factory in the rough part of town) and then shipped to me.  And, with international postage, volume is the key: buy more, and you pay less per copy for shipping.  So I try to save up my orders and do them all at once.  Which means that this happens:

What you are looking at here is the “spare” desk in my office, now groaning under the weight of one hundred copies of “Worm in the Blossom”, thirty of “Fatal Forgery” and thirty of “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”.  Aren’t they lovely?

Deciding how many to order was half-calculation, half-wishful thinking.  I had pre-orders for eighteen “Worms” – fifteen for bookshops and three for friends who don’t like using Amazon and can’t get to my local bookshops.  Then there’s my almost-a-launch-event at Toppings in Ely on 26 October – I don’t know how many they will want, but let’s say at least a dozen.  And I have talks booked at my local library and for the Rotary Club next spring.  And of course the bookshops will want re-stocking (that’s the wishful thinking kicking in, right there).  In the meantime, I’m getting hard stares from my husband who now has no desk space for wrapping parcels, doing crosswords, etc.

Sam beats the deadline

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Kindle, launch, paperback, Samuel Plank, Worm in the Blossom

For nearly a year now, I have been telling people that “Plank 3” – “Worm in the Blossom” – will be published on 16 October.  That’s the date on my countdown clock, on the left.  But now – whisper it – I find myself ahead of the game.  The paperback “Worm” is ready, and today a poor benighted courier delivered a hundred copies to me.  They are, to be frank, something of an obstacle in my very small hallway, but it is exciting to see them in all their ruby-red glory.  And in spare moments I have just about Kindle-ified the text, so with a few more hours’ work that too will be ready to upload.

So do I stick to my promised launch date, or do I just go with it and get the Worms out there?  The organised part of me says that I should stay with the original plan, while the excited author part of me wants to shout, “It’s here!”.  And my husband just wants the blasted things out of the hallway.

(And at the back of my mind is the little concern that if I admit to everyone that “Worm” is completely finished, then there’s no excuse for me not to get cracking with “Plank 4″… – due out in October 2016.)

The final push

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bookshop, Martha Plank, paperback, plotting, Samuel Plank, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, writing

After my day off yesterday I have motored ahead today, and managed 2,451 words.  I ended up writing a scene that I did not expect to write, and I’m not sure that it’s any good, but I needed it there to explain something, and anyway, that’s what editing is for.  So now I find myself facing the writing of my final incident/chapter tomorrow, and then the story’s told.  I’ll then read the whole thing through, looking for massive plot holes and inconsistencies – the smaller, and doubtless more significant, ones, I leave in on purpose (!) for my lovely beta reader Roy to spot!

After that, I’ll turn to my file of “things to put in somewhere”.  These are snippets I have come across while doing research, or thought of in the bath, or heard on the radio, and would quite like to use, but I couldn’t quite see how in the first run-through.  For instance, in “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”, Sam and Martha are on a day out when they walk past the Exeter Change menagerie in the Strand, and Martha says how sorry she feels for the animals.  And in February 1826 (“Plank 3” is set in 1826), the menagerie’s resident elephant Ranee, delirious with the pain of a septic tusk, killed her keeper and was gunned down.  It would have been all over the papers, and Martha would definitely have heard about it – and been upset by it.  So where to work it in?

By the by, I am currently negotiating another physical stockist for the Plank series.  I won’t mention any names, in case I jinx it, but it would be lovely if it happened, and I would very much appreciate any fingers or toes that you can keep crossed on my behalf.

Amazon buyer profiling

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Amazon, Fatal Forgery, Kindle, marketing, paperback, promotion, selling, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat

I do like to keep you up to date with my marketing efforts and frustrations.  One of the brainstorming ideas was to do some research into the profile of the buyers of my novels, in order to learn more about them so that I can target others like them.  Now, most of my books sell as paperbacks or Kindle books through Amazon, so that had to be my starting point.  I Googled myself cross-eyed but could find nothing on how to get a buyer profile from Amazon, so I emailed them.  And here is their reply:

Thank you for contacting us about the query you have had regarding contacting buyers of your books.

I looked into this for you and need to advise that Amazon is unable to provide buyer information to sellers, the reasons for this is due to identity protection of buyers much like we closely guard seller information. You may have noticed that buyer email addresses are always encrypted when submitted via the Seller Central system, this serves for the purpose of protecting buyer information.

I am sorry that I was not able to come back to you with some better news, however I do not truthfully advise on Amazon policy.

Sadly, I think this last sentence contains a typo, and the writer does in fact truthfully advise on Amazon policy, which means that I can whistle for any buyer profiling.  I am certain that Amazon has this information – not least, they use it to generate their “Others who bought this, also bought…” recommendations – but they’re not sharing it.  Back to the drawing board (or, in my case, the bathmat and the drawing pins).

The gift of Sam

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Fatal Forgery, paperback, plotting, Samuel Plank, self-publishing, Susan Grossey, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat

Now that most of my nephews and nieces (known jointly as “the niblings”) are adult, I don’t have as many Christmas presents to provide as in previous years.  But there are some mainstays, and as I was working my way through the list – planning ahead in November, as some parcels go overseas – I did consider giving people copies of “Fatal Forgery” and/or “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”.  But I backed off, through fear of appearing both conceited and penny-pinching: would people open a package containing one of my books and think, “That Sue – she’s so cheap that she just gives me one of her own books, and what makes her think it’s any good anyway?  Now I’ll have to pretend to read the blasted thing and say how much I enjoyed it.  I’ll just skim the last two pages so that I can answer any questions.”

So in the end no-one got the gift of Sam.  But then an odd thing happened.  Three gift recipients contacted me on Boxing Day to say how much they had liked my presents, but how surprised they were not to receive one of my books.  “I was sure you’d send one, so I didn’t buy my own – but now I will,” was the general response.  Thrilled though I am to get more sales, it did make me ponder.  Do people like receiving books from their authors, or does it just pile on the pressure to (a) read them, and then (b) enjoy/pretend to enjoy them?  Or perhaps a middle way is best – that of sending books to people you think would enjoy them anyway, even without the personal connection/obligation.  I’ll have to decide for this time next year, as I start serious plotting for “Plank 3” – that’s for this afternoon.

All I want for Christmas is a magistrate’s constable

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bookshop, financial crime, Hammicks, paperback, promotion, publicity, Samuel Plank, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat

I had some very exciting news this week: Hammicks legal bookshop (on the corner of Fleet Street and Chancery Lane in London – top legal hang-out) has decided to include “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat” in its Christmas promotion!  This entitles the book to a prime position on a table in the middle of the main floor of the shop (surrounded by rubber ducks on the legal theme – Sherlock Duck, etc.) and (wait for it…) in the window!

There it is, top right in all its golden glory, alongside the autobiography of the man who founded law firm DLA Piper, an exposé of how big corporations get away with crime, and a book about Magna Carta (lovely woman – beautiful skin).  So here’s hoping that London’s lawyers, filled with the festive spirit and looking for that perfect gift, will stumble upon Sam.

The Big Week is here!

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Amazon, bookshop, financial crime, G David, Hammicks, Heffers, Kindle, marketing, paperback, print-on-demand, publication date, publicity, Samuel Plank, self-publishing, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat

Apologies for my silence – I was away on holiday in Crete for a week, girding my loins for the Big Week of Publication.  My husband – slow reader and therefore typo-spotter extraordinaire – was also reading my proof copy of “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”, and yesterday I made my final, final corrections (thankfully only a handful of very small ones needed).  (A bit nerve-racking, his reading of the book, as it was the first time he had read it – he prefers not to read works-in-progress.  So I spent three days hovering over him whenever he was reading, asking, “Where are you up to now?”.  Poor man.  At the end, I asked him which bit he liked best, and it wasn’t what I would have guessed at all, so that’s interesting.)

When we arrived home, two massive boxes of copies of “Canary” were waiting with a neighbour, so three review copies have been sent out, as well as “thanks” copies to my beta-reader, and to the lady who gave us permission to use a document from her late husband’s collection as part of our cover design, and to two relatives who are not Amazon-y.

So what does this week hold?  The paperback and Kindle files have been uploaded to Amazon, as it is something of a dark art to calculate when they might appear, so I thought sooner rather than later might be sensible.  Hopefully they will be in situ, resplendent in their golden covers and ready to go on Friday.  I am tripping over stacks of copies of “Canary”, so they need to be distributed: six copies are going to Hammicks in London today, care of husband and a Boris bike.  Heffers have ordered twelve and David’s ten, so I’ll deliver them tomorrow myself – both are local to me here in Cambridge.  Then I’ll be turning to my “people to tell” list, and working my way through that on Friday – it’s journalists who have kindly written about me before, my own websites, the Society of Authors, and then odd little extras like a poster for my local Department of Criminology.  I tell you, being self-published is not for the faint of heart or weak of cycling leg!

Window-shopping

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bookshop, Fatal Forgery, Heffers, marketing, paperback, publicity, Samuel Plank, Susan Grossey

There’s not much to tell you about the progress towards publication of “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”, as I am waiting for my big box of books to arrive from America so that I can distribute them to shops and reviewers by 31 October – the Big Day.  But I forgot to tell you about something else terrifically exciting!

A couple of weekends ago it was Alumni Weekend here in Cambridge – an annual event when ex-students come back to the city for lectures, tours, events and reunions.  It’s quite a shindig.  And local shops try to mark the occasion in order to draw in the crowds.  A friend came to stay with me, so that we could go to an event at our old college, and as we were taking a nostalgic walk around town we passed Heffers, the university bookshop.  “Oh look,” said my friend casually, “Isn’t that your book in the window?”  And it was!

 

Well, you can imagine the squeals of delight!  Apparently the display was of books by alumni, and there I was, cosying up to Sophie Hannah (below) and Kate Atkinson (above).  A passing group of Japanese tourists asked what all the excitement was and, when I explained, insisted on taking photos of “famous Cambridge writer” – hope they’re not too disappointed when they get home…

Planning for publication

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bookshop, G David, Hammicks, Heffers, marketing, paperback, print-on-demand, publication date, publicity, Samuel Plank, Susan Grossey, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat

I am aware that when I started this blog, my intention was not to waffle about what it means to me to be a writer (in short, I earn some money by putting words onto paper/screen) but rather to explain to others who are considering becoming self-published authors what the process is like.  So for today’s update….

As explained in my last post, I ordered – and have now taken delivery of – my proof paper copy of “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”.  It looks lovely, and so I have ordered my bulk purchase of 75 copies.  It sounds a lot, I know, but I have worked it out quite carefully (and, when ordering from CreateSpace, it is advantageous price-wise per copy to order more rather than fewer).  To begin with, I contacted the three bookshops who are very kindly already stocking “Fatal Forgery”.  I showed them the cover and back cover blurb for “Canary”, gave them the publication date (still aiming for 31 October) and then asked if they wanted a few copies – and they all said yes (twelve, ten and six copies respectively).  I then contacted the lovely people who reviewed “Fatal Forgery” and asked if they would be interested in reviewing “Canary”, and so far two of them have said yes.  Then there are gift copies for some family members, for the man who kindly beta-read both “Fatal Forgery” and “Canary”, for the woman who allowed me to use a family document on the cover of “Canary”, and for my two local libraries.  And then – here’s the optimism kicking in – I’ll need a few on hand to re-stock those bookshops!

The interesting thing about self-publishing is that, in order to be able to buy these copies, I have to actually publish the book – but I don’t want to publish it properly (i.e. list it on Amazon) just yet.  So I have “stealth-published” it, so that it is listed only on the CreateSpace website, which hardly anyone visits as a bookshop – and at the end of the month, once I have distributed all the copies as listed above, and lined up my other promotional activities, I will publish it fully, with all guns blazing.

Incidentally, quite by coincidence, I was invited back onto our local radio station this week.  I wrote about this last time I went – and that was an invitation I sought because I was trying to promote “Fatal Forgery”.  This time they invited me, and I went along without really thinking about the timing, and on reflection I think it was an error.  The presenter very kindly mentioned my name and that of my book almost constantly – but kept having to point out that “Canary” is not yet available.  It would have been better to be able to say go and buy it now!  So, as with most things, it really is all about the timing.

Fluffing the canary’s wings

Tags

editing, formatting, paperback, Samuel Plank, Susan Grossey, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, writing

I have just spent the day formatting “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat” – which consisted of taking the final formatted version of “Fatal Forgery” and then cutting and pasting “Canary” into it.  I want the books to look similar, not least because several readers commented last time that they thought that the font and layout of “FF” were both elegant and easy to read.  So I have gone back to the lovely American website that sells templates for books (Book Design Templates) and paid my extra fee to use the same template again.  (Yes, I could have done it without them knowing, but (a) that’s illegal, and (b) I’d be angry if someone just copied my book without paying for it, so they deserve a fair payment for their hard work in creating such useful and beautiful templates.)

So now it is all printed out and ready for another proofreading.  This time round I discovered a marvellous setting on the print dialog which basically stretches the page to fit an A4 sheet – obviously a book page is much smaller than A4 – so I can do my close proofreading without my eyes getting too tired.  I will try to get that done this week.

But my major task now is writing the back cover blurb for “Canary”…  This is such an important task, and I’m going to ask for your help, so I will finish this post now and start a second one devoted to The Blurb.