An update on bookstores

After some detective work, it turns out that the books have indeed not arrived with stores. The distributor lost the order.

I've taken the practical approach. I've spoken to the shops, who were kind enough to resubmit the order. Author copies have been handed out where possible and, now the orders have been resent, with any luck at the distributor's end The Docks will be in bookstores for Christmas. Otherwise you can still order it online or over the counter.

Hopefully at some point in the near future (read: next five minutes), I'll be able to get back to writing.

On a brighter note, I have an interview on J.E.Taylor's blog coming up, so look out for that, and I'll link it here when it's up.

And finally, about another author. Nick Davis, formerly a White Dwarf feature writer and now a novelist has just released a new book. Something of a change in direction, it's definitely a children's Christmas read.

A Teddy Bear Tale (available from Amazon or Smashwords is a charming tale of a teddy bear fighting the monsters under the bed with a touch of dark humour thrown in. Worth a look for anyone with younger children.

A Christmas Problem

I am signing in because it has been a few days since I wrote. I am still here, I am still writing, but right now, I am trying to resolve a fairly major problem. My books were ordered by Waterstones in early November for Christmas. The bookshops haven't received them.

I suspect I am about to miss the entire Christmas market, which is not a good thought. In fact, it could be called a fairly major problem. Once people get back to me, I will give an update here.

Indie Firsts - A new Indie Magazine

With the sudden popularity of ebooks, it can be hard to find one you want to read, given huge variation in quality, subject and e-reader formats.

Indie Firsts is a e-magazine. Downloadable in a range of formats it offers selection of first chapters from small press and self-published books, designed to allow readers to find new authors they want to read. It also has a few opinion pieces or short stories, depending on the magazine's theme.

Indie Firsts was created by Bards and Sages Publishing, under their Positive Publishing Perspectives Imprint. It is planned to be a monthly magazine, with each issue focusing on a different theme, but all offering a wide range of quality fiction.

The first issue is now available from sites including Amazon, Smashwords and Drivethrufiction

Amazon.co.uk

You can also read the magazine online via Smashwords, if you are interested:

• Read Online

You might wonder why I am so enthusiastic. I'll come clean right now, they've featured "The Docks" in it, with a first chapter extract and opinion piece.

I also think its a very good way to promote new authors to readers, so I'll be following it in the future.

Reviews for The Docks

After the book launch on Thursday, reviews have started to come in from several of the advance copies I sent out. In some ways, waiting for readers' opinions is more nerve-wrecking than the launch was.

Doubleshot Reviews have given it a four shot expresso rating, which is their highest.

"The pace is smooth and fast for this novella, which makes you feel as though you have read though a whole book."
Double Shot Reviews

Coffee order: Quad ("5) Quad: You don’t already own and have read this book multiple times? What’s wrong with you?! Put down the coffee and go buy this book!")

I'm flattered.

The Amazon reviews are more mixed with two five stars, two four stars and a three star on Amazon.com. and it is interesting seeing what the different readers take out of the story. There are more reviews to come (I can think of another eight copies I sent out), so I hope people continue to like the book.

After the launch...

An interesting if quiet day at the signing, including a few interesting chats about crime novellas, short stories on Kindle and e-publishing, and small bookshops.


I'd like to thank Annette at Farthing Books (again!) for hosting us, and putting up with me for the day. She got something out of it, since another author asked about doing their book launch there.

I am still very tired so I'll settle for putting some photos up, snapped before it opened. The books were on a table here - it's right by the counter so it was a good location.

What people were really interested in:


While there is a lot of advice leading up to book launchs, most guides tend to miss the work needed afterwards. Helping put the shop back in order was fair, after everything had been moved around to accomodate the launch (and food). Today, the remaining books need to go to Waterstones or be returned to the publisher, any receipts and figures need to be sent in, and I need to recover, update websites and PR and pull down advertising.

I also need to get writing. NaNoWrimMo has five days to go, I have a lot of notes, but nothing typed up, and I need to get 50,000 words done.

50,000 words? 5 Days? Time to get typing.

Thoughts on an Open Letter and its Responses

A few days ago an open letter from a writer to their publisher set Twitter on fire. Author Sebastian Marshall wrote to Carolyn Reidy the CEO of Simon and Schuster, his publisher, about what he thought was wrong with publishing.

While I am not touching the actual argument between the author and their publisher, some of it highlights legitimate issues about the whole traditional publishing industry, or at least the mainstream big-business part of it.

Liar old and new covers:

Cover art? It is very rare for an author to get a say in their cover art. This is why we get issues of white-washing, like the furor over Liar or Magic Under Glass, both of whose authors were overriden until reader backlash caused a change of cover. In the Liar example, Justine Larbalestier, who is an established author, chronicles exactly how much say an author has, and it isn't much. There are several examples of her prefered covers being dropped because "they wouldn't sell".

Another problem the letter mentions is "under-equipped" editors, but the truth may be closer to "extremely overworked". I know several editors who have been laid off, and those who remain are simply expected to pick up the extra work so the release schedule doesn't slip. Asking four or five people to do the work of eight to twelve will always result in a quality slip.

However, judging by a couple of ebooks recently released (e.g. the ebook version of Snuff), there is a sad lack of proof readers and copy checkers. Even in print books from large houses, I can now expect to find typos where a few years ago I would not. In my collection of vintage pulps and sci-fi, produced quickly and cheaply in the forties and fifties for a bulk market, such mistakes are very rare. Something has changed somewhere in the production process, and not for the better.

Conservative? Having seen the ebook contracts for some of my fellow writers and the way large publishing houses are handling them, I'd probably have to agree. There is a distinct view that it is about the book, sometimes for a very narrow definition of book, instead of the product. In the twentieth-first century the product is no longer one paperback book, it's that one piece of writing, whether supplied in print, Kindle, Nook, webpage, video app, podcast etc. Focusing on one platform doesn't work anymore, it is all about putting the content in front of the user and getting paid for providing it.

No good collaboration between departments? I'm not sure that's a specific publishing problem or more of a big company problem. Once corporations get to a certain size, it is very easy to become insular as teams form their own sub cultures inside the organisation. A classic example from another industry and my own experience was having a celebration after an achievement. I took my team (including designers, testers, editors) to lunch after a few weeks of very hard work where we all pitched in, but I was told off by the department head afterwards. "I thought you'd take the other managers," he said. "Your peers."

For real irony, the reason I'd got the project in and the other managers hadn't? Because I was prepared to walk up two floors and talk to the team working on it. This sort of divided "us and them" thinking can damage any company because the focus is placed on outdoing the internal competition, instead of the external one. In the worst cases it can lead to one team sabotaging another's projects to the detriment of the company as a whole.

So what can publishers do about it? Understand that just like any business, they exist in a changing world and follow the same basic rules: Adapt or die (Ivey Business Journal).

Some days have passed since the publication of the letter, so you may wonder why I am writing about it now. With time for it to spread, the reaction from publishers has been predictable, but so has that from many authors. A sentiment I keep seeing is:

"Pay me £65K and I'll do whatever they want!"

No. I can't stress this enough. Absolutely not. No matter how much the amount is or how tempted you are, you read the contract, you get an agent and/or attorney and you review the terms. That 65K could cost you 15% for the lifetimes of your grandchildren, or ban you from writing anything else until the book series is complete.

Publishing is no different to any other business and, no matter how friendly or reputable the company, they will always be looking out for themselves first. Always read the fine print.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes about dealbreakers and the publishing industry here, in two posts that I believe should be required reading for any author starting out: Part 1 and Part 2.

Everything Arranged

Two days before and the books for the book launch are now at the shop. That's the last part of this sorted, so now it's down to waiting.

The checklist was impressive and after the launch I'll put it up on here wit a list of what worked and what didn't. I've got some of the posters and bits I saved from the Fire Season launch at Salute, and copies of that book will also be available which should bulk the display stand out slightly. So far the snow has not materialised so several of the maybes should quickly become yes'es.

Everything is working out. The only thing is the small issue of photos and a speech at the start.

The gist as always is "Thanks for coming, books here, buffet there, thanks again", but I would prefer something a little more interesting.

I'll blog again after the book launch with shop photos, details, and more. At least when it is over, no matter how well or poorly it goes, I can get back to writing. I have three unfinished manuscripts to get to work on.