I was very pleased a couple of days ago to hand over the completed books for Yvonne Crabtree’s For Pete’s Sake. Her story of life with her son who has Downe’s Syndrome makes a fascinating read. All credit to Yvonne who has found time amongst all the other things she does to tell the story of her life with Pete. I can’t help but feel that sometime in the not too distant future, there may be another book. From what Yvonne tells me, shes not short of material. Lets hope she finds time to give us some more insights into her life with Pete.
Archive for October, 2007
For Pete’s Sake
Thursday, October 25th, 2007Publishing News
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Two pieces of news, hot off the press so to speak. Firstly, I’ve just finished the edit of The Crystal Ship and sent it off for proofreading. If everything goes to plan, it should go to the printers by the 25th and be available about three weeks later. It’s been a very difficult format this time, as the main characters from The Glass Dagger have been woven into real historical events, namely the Ridolfi plot. The research has been very detailed, but I’m confident that with any luck, the reader will not be able to see the joins where fact meets fiction. More later.
Secondly. Yvonne Crabtree’s auto-boigraphy of life with her Down’s syndrome son Pete has gone to press. For Pete’s Sake should be available in about three weeks. Why not look out for the press release.
Yvonne and I are hoping to have a joint Book Launch in November and we’ll be announcing details of this as soon as we are sure the books are available. We’ll keep you informed of progress.
How do we let you know about our books?
Sunday, October 7th, 2007I attended the AGM of the Northern Authors group at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds on Saturday. It was great to meet with my fellow writers and discuss matters of mutual interest, like how do we sell our books when we’ve written them. Several authors were saying that although they had been published by mainstream publishers, there was no budget for advertising their books, other than inclusion in house magazines. What this really means is that the major publishers are putting increasingly larger portions of their advertising budgets into high profile celebrity books or high profile authors. The disparity is leaving many authors disgruntled to the point where increasing numbers are going down the self-publishing route and attempting to market the books themselves.
As I have found out, this is no easy option. It’s one thing to write a book, it’s another thing entirely to bring it to the notice of the people who buy books, without spending a lot of money on advertising. The web offers a way to let a lot of people know about the book, but what will attract them to your site?
Some authors are trying to form self-help groups to disseminate best practice. I am grateful to Caro Fraser for passing on the tips from Mary Cavannagher on Marketing your own books. The suggestions are thought provoking and I am already considering a full blown book launch for the second book of the Glassmaker Series, The Crystal Ship. With any luck, this will be at the printers shortly. See post on The Crystal Ship.
I would welcome any suggestions how we can inform people on the web, without adding to the mountains of spam that are already out there.