I Confess

I was going to keep this a secret but I feel the need to offload. I’ve found a very novel (excuse the pun) way of marketing my books. Advertising is all well and good, but how many thousands of adverts are we bombarded with day in day out and 99% of the time we either take no notice, or don’t buy the stuff. What I need to do is target my audience. Book shops are utter C U Next Tuesdays and won’t stock self-published stuff, libraries are equally tight and ridiculously bad at replying to emails even when I’m offering a freebee. So I then thought about doing an abridged version of Summerset or Mad About the Boy, about 100 pages, which would then cost about £3.80 from Lulu. I could spend £50 getting a decent amount printed then distribute them around second hand shops. My reasoning being there have been countless times in my life where I’ve bought a book costing 50p from a second hand shop, thought it was so brilliant I’ve then gone on to buy every book from that author.

But, to be honest, I haven’t the foggiest idea how one goes about creating an abridged version, I’d feel as though I was compromising my novels and I couldn’t face doing it. So, me being me, I thought to myself ‘why don’t you just write a short novella and sell that in second hand shops’. I decided to write a 95-100 page novel with adverts for the other two books at the back, I’m going to print it off and distribute around said second hand shops. Hopefully people will like what they read and come back for more. I can only try. At least if someone picks up the book, reads the synopsis and buys, well they’re already interested in my kind of work. I could spend thousands on advertising and no one would bother even looking any further because it’s not of interest to them.

I also thank the Lord I chose to self-pub rather than falling into the trap of vanity publishing. With all these shenanigans that have been going on with name calling (certain friends will know what I mean) I got into looking at publishers sites and found there are still hundreds of vanity publishers in operation. I worked for one of these when I left university and every day I would leave the office feeling sick to my stomach after they’d fleeced some poor old person out of their life savings with the promise they’d publish their magnum opus and turn it into some sort of best-seller before they died. When in reality they printed a few shoddy copies of the book and just left them to rot. It was horrible. Strangely enough in the publishing world, self-pub books are looked on more favourably than vanity press, which is weird because you may have a book without editing or proof reading.

Still no word from Lorella Belli.

I’m off to see a free screening of a film tonight. Role Models is by the same people who did Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin, and for some reason they’re trying it out before they release it. That makes me feel better because it’s made me realise that no matter how famous or successful you are, you’ve got to give away a few freebies to get your audience. Will let you know what I thought with my next entry.

Ciao for now x

Back to the boring stuff

Called my local Waterstones today and spoke to a nice chap who informed me they couldn't afford to take either of my books because it would be too expensive for them to stock and they wouldn't make any profit. Well thank you.

But I've been doing some thinking of my own and after speaking to another author friend (and lunchtimereader) who has published through a slightly different house and spent over a grand on it, I was thinking that seeing as I've spent practically zero in publishing my books maybe now I need to invest a little cash to start the publicity machine going. So, I have bought five copies of Summerset and I am going to donate them to libraries. Ah! I hear you say, but you won't make any money. No, but it will get people reading my book and I've cleverly targeted libraries all around Sussex as people love to read about their local area (albeit a fictionalised account). So with postage and the like, we're looking at £50 which is still a lot cheaper than a grand. I've already had a yes from Hastings Library and I'm hoping the others will agree too. Then maybe when people read it and like it and ask if I've written any other books, they will order more in. We can only wait and see, but at least one library in the UK is going to have a 'Karen Mason' on their shelves.

Aggghhh

I'm really pissed off. Today started off so well. I was looking on Amazon.com for books on Chris Isaak (I could create a whole new blog on my weird obsession with Chris Isaak but enough of that for now) when I spotted an advert for this thing called Amazon Kindle. Turns out it's an electronic book reading device where self-published authors can upload their work and set a price etc. A bit like Lulu I suppose but more accessible.

I spent the day in a state of high excitement thinking I was going to be able to finally get somewhere, came home, did all the work, uploaded Mad About the Boy, the artwork, set a price, the whole lot. Then discover that you need a US bank account, which means only American authors can upload work to the kindle. Why are us Europeans being left out? I'm so bloody annoyed.

On the positive side, Lunchtime Readers is going really well, we've now got eleven contributors and the work is so diverse that it's great. I seem to be spending more of my time administrating the site than I do writing.

I'm also pissed on with Borders, they reckon they take self-published books. I sent them MATB and they have sent a snotty standard letter back and kept hold of my book (what's the betting it's on Amazon in a few weeks time in the used section) utter gitfaces.

Oooh

Great News. Took ebooks into the Oxfam shop and the chap in there informed me the tatty old copy of Summerset I put in there actually sold. He also says he'll have a look at the ebooks himself. How cool is that.

Is it all worth it?

I'd like to know if these feelings of self-doubt are normal. I'm not sure what else I can do to attract people to my book. I'm sending a copy to Borders because apparently they stock self-published books, but I'm so down I'm convinced they'll take one look and think it's crap. I am also worried because they haven't send my order for Two Become One. Lulu can be a bit rubbish at getting back to you and I'm worried that I've wasted ten quid.

I've done 5 CD Roms for distribution around Oxfam shops, but I'm so cheesed off and down on myself I'm convinced they won't even want my freebies.

Perhaps I should just go back to writing as a hobby.

A Brave New World

In the words of Jeff Wayne, this is indeed a 'Brave New World' (I am a complete War of the Worlds geek). Ever since my friend Alice suggested to me in 1993 that I should consider publishing my work, I have chosen the traditional route of writing, printing, packing in brown envelopes and sending off to publishers and literary agents who won't even read what I've sent. So this year (I think the fact I'm approaching forty is prompting me to get moving) I have decided to take matters into my own hands and have published my own books, Summerset and Mad About the Boy. Summerset was received quite well, but as with most self-published authors it was only bought by friends except for one e-copy that was bought by a nice lady on the internet.

Mad About the Boy is such a rocking book that I have decided to conduct an all out marketing campaign to make sure people are made aware of it and buy it for goodness sakes!!!! Not exactly being rich, I haven't got money to spend on fancy PR campaigns and I'm certainly not prepared to prostitute myself by hawking my work around uninterested radio stations and book shops. No, I am determined to make MATB one of the first books that receive a following purely from the net (except the copies I'm sending out to magazines, but I'm not talking about that).

A whole new world has opened up to me: Ebooks, viral marketing, blogs indeed. I have created a teasing trailer for Mad About the Boy and placed in on You Tube in the hope people will see it and be beside themselves with curiosity as to what it's all about and this will draw them to my site. So far I've had 50 hits and only about 30 of them have been me myself!! I've forwarded it onto all my Facebook friends and they say they'll put it onto people's funwalls, but I'm not holding my breath.

Today I have invested some of the money I've made with MATB on some blank CDs, labels and jewel cases and have decided that I am going to go down the ebook route. Unfortunately I'm not clever enough to sell downloads from my website, so people who want to read it in the US or wherever are going to have to go via lulu.com. But my UK customers can read Summerset on their PDAs wherever they go. I'm going to give away 10 free copies at work and secret another 5 in various second hand shops.

Let's see if it draws me the audience I deserve............