The adventure of publishing books

[DISRAELI]

A couple of years ago on ATS I started a thread called "The adventure of publishing a book", trying to journalise the different stages of getting my first books from manuscript into print. I've just had another book published (what do you mean, you've never heard of it?), and I'd like to do something similar for the still-new process of trying to get one better known with a bit of publisher support. The first time round, I was giving them regular plugs on my Twitter account with a few campaigns of Promoted Tweets, and I'm sure that was the reason why the titles were getting high placings on Google queries. But the sales figures told me later that Google is not enough.

PPP (as I've been calling it for some time now) came out on the day before Good Friday. In the morning, a big box landed on my doorstep with a couple of dozen copies and some promotional material. Then I was rather alarmed in the afternoon to receive an e-mail from the publishers saying they had prepared a book trailer for me. How many books would this trailer be carrying, when would it arrive at my front door, and where would I store it all? It was something of a relief to click on the link provided and discover they meant the attached video clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEamC638Sqg


That was the digital marketing department. I would quite like to hear soon from non-digital marketing. E.g., I need to know what their plans are about review copies. I can send out a few review copies and gift copies of my own, once I've dealt with "friends and family", but I don't want to overlap. And advertising. All I could afford the first time round was classified ads ("The Christian Century" and "The Spectator"), and it doesn't look as though that got me anywhere. Though I've now signed up to be able to campaign on Reddit, where it should be easier to define the target audience. That's in addition to offering book recommendations when I comment on questions.

And what to do with the promotional material? I'm not sure where to send those bookmarks. There are 100 copies of an order form, with a retail price in pounds and euros. I can't send those to bookshops, because they say nothing about discounts. Theology colleges for their students, rural deans (I'm an Anglican) for their clergy, very large churches for their congregations? Anyway, I'm going to advise the publishers to update those forms. They are still couched in terms of ordering books by post and paying by cheque, at a time when cheques in this country are growing obsolete even faster than cash.

And there are ten posters designed to promote "Meet the author" days. I was rather hoping the publishers themselves would be arranging things like that. Or is my agent supposed to do it? I need a literary agent. Where can I get an agent? I was hoping to make contact with one at the London Book Fair last year, but ran into the Catch-22 situation that I should have set up an appointment first. Got to make contact before you can make contact.

Anyway, I've kept the lanyard. Waste not, want not. It won't be the last time I want to walk around a place identifying myself as an author.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

I'm envisioning you walking around with a T-shirt that says "I'm an author".

[DISRAELI]

I'm envisioning you walking around with a T-shirt that says "I'm an author".

Well, James Boswell wrote a book on Corsica, and used to go to theatres with a piece of paper in his hat labelling him as "Corsica Boswell". I think my proposal to wear a lanyard saved from another occasion is modest in comparision.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I have had short articles and an essay published. Now I have 48 articles, three essays, and a creative writing project involving the subject matter of the previous work that can be classed as commercial fiction. Three chapters into the fiction project and the creative writing method I've been using could be something an AI could do given the parameters I'm using. I find the process to be disturbing at times. It came from the isolation I experienced during the pandemic, but it produced results for me. 

I'd say more, but I don't want to give anything away, except for on my website where I self-publish this material. Been thinking of finding a literary agent, really don't know about anything other than submitting the material where it might get published. That process got me on a local TV program based on that first essay, lately I just haven't had a "case of the sends" as Bruce Haack (Electric Lucifer) used to call it.

[DISRAELI]

I have had short articles and an essay published. Now I have 48 articles, three essays, and a creative writing project involving the subject matter of the previous work that can be classed as commercial fiction. Three chapters into the fiction project and the creative writing method I've been using could be something an AI could do given the parameters I'm using. I find the process to be disturbing at times. It came from the isolation I experienced during the pandemic, but it produced results for me. 

I'd say more, but I don't want to give anything away, except for on my website where I self-publish this material. Been thinking of finding a literary agent, really don't know about anything other than submitting the material where it might get published. That process got me on a local TV program based on that first essay, lately I just haven't had a "case of the sends" as Bruce Haack (Electric Lucifer) used to call it.

My own writing process has been a dozen years of writing thread series on ATS and eventually rearranging them into books.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I did two essays that way, did the research, and shared it on ATS. Both of those projects got some good feedback that helped put them together as essays.

I just reread one of the threads and it reads like a chronological journal. It has a lot more information than the essay which is more like a detailed summary. I even found some information I should include in the essay. However, creating the essay from the journal-like thread forced me to commit to certain things as a thesis statement and conclusion. I also had to consider the reader and reword some things as well as tame my attitude about the subject. It also forced me to be the editor to the degree that it revealed some misinformation that I corrected in the essay. This also brought new information to light that wasn't in the original thread on ATS.

This all brings to mind that you just have to keep going over the material again and again, then do it again under the influence of alcohol and other intoxicants (my personal preference), then let it rest, but go back and read every detail and edit forever if necessary esp. if it's an ongoing and developing story.

[DISRAELI]

I did two essays that way, did the research, and shared it on ATS. Both of those projects got some good feedback that helped put them together as essays.

I just reread one of the threads and it reads like a chronological journal. It has a lot more information than the essay which is more like a detailed summary. I even found some information I should include in the essay. However, creating the essay from the journal-like thread forced me to commit to certain things as a thesis statement and conclusion. I also had to consider the reader and reword some things as well as tame my attitude about the subject. It also forced me to be the editor to the degree that it revealed some misinformation that I corrected in the essay. This also brought new information to light that wasn't in the original thread on ATS.

This all brings to mind that you just have to keep going over the material again and again, then do it again under the influence of alcohol and other intoxicants (my personal preference), then let it rest, but go back and read every detail and edit forever if necessary esp. if it's an ongoing and developing story.

Yes, I had to do a lot of those things (on coffee). Including eliminating repetition, if only because all the indvidual pieces had their own introductions. Not to mention editing out the BB code and re-designing the paragraphs.

[DISRAELI]

Well, this week has been what my mother would have called “fun and games”.

I began with my access to internet locations. Started tweeting again. As usual, this had little effect even when I remembered to use hashtags, but I’ve just thought of a way I can tweak the approach by quoting a different sentence each day. Also set up my first paid campaign on Reddit. Focusing on my target audience wasn’t as easy as I hoped it would be. Reddit doesn’t appear to recognise “religion” as an interest group. As a matter of policy, it won’t allow “Christian” or “Bible” as key words. But they let me use “temple” the first time round, and the second campaign is using “prophet”, “priest” and “king”.

When I wrote about publishing the first books, somebody on ATS advised me to go to “the big religious conventions” to promote them. But of course he was thinking of the American conventions, and I’m on the wrong side of the Atlantic for that. We do have Keswick, and my mind began groping towards a way of doing something at Keswick. Obviously the first priority was booking accommodation at the relevant time. I soon discovered, with a few online checks, that I had left it rather late to be booking a room at Keswick itself in July. No matter. I’ve been to the Lake District before, so I felt comfortable about travelling in from Penrith, and the hotel in Penrith had plenty of space.

Then my bank decided to throw a spanner into the works. I was booking the room over the phone and had got to the point of making an advance payment, when I was informed that payment had been declined because of “suspected fraud”. Fortunately there was enough money in a completely different account to pay a deposit, but there was now an urgent need to sort things out. Fortunately, again, this crisis blew up just in time for me to visit my local bank branch the next day, only a week before it would close down for good.

I was puzzling over the question overnight, helped by the fact that I’ve worked in that industry. Was it just the size of the amount? Banks now are getting very protective about older customers, wanting to make sure they don’t get scammed. Did they think I was engaged in fraud myself? Twenty years ago, the same bank was blocking my account on what was probably suspicion of money-laundering. We had just sold my late father’s house, and I paid in the solicitor’s check for my half of the proceeds, and suddenly I couldn’t use my card any more. Of course there was total silence on the matter, because they are not allowed to tell a suspect that he is under suspicion, but I’d been through the relevant course and soon began to guess. Had to spend my lunch hour in the nearest branch giving my best imitation of rage and complaining that they were obstructing my new house purchase (e.g. I couldn’t get a copy of my surveyor’s report). They succumbed.

Or was it just that the software had taken fright on receiving a payment request from a foreign source, i.e. Reddit? It turned out that I was nearly right, but the problem was McAfee. I’m still not sure why. It was only the annual renewal, and I can see no reason why they might have been using an expired card number. Just in case, I tried to update my information with McAfee, and discovered I couldn’t do it without a mobile phone number, which I don’t possess. So I removed that problem by cancelling the subscription altogether, and even that had to be done over the phone for the same reason.

I’m thinking of using the order forms in an old-fashioned mail shot to the clergy. Not the bishops, they’re too busy to take an interest. I’ve been an Anglican long enough to have some knowledge of the structures of the C. of E. I know that the dioceses are divided into deaneries, headed by a rural dean who calls together regular deanery synods of clergy and lay representatives. I needed a list of rural deans (“Please share this with your synod”). Searching around, I remembered the existence of Crockford’s Clerical Directory, and discovered that it can now be found online. I have subscribed. They asked for a delivery address, so I think that may mean that I get a physical copy as well. That would be easier to work with.

I knew about Crockfords from the time when I was working for a one-man Christian publishing company. That’s when I met the genial, clean-shaven post-graduate student Tom Wright, who gave me a lift home from work. On the strength of that, perhaps I’ll send him one of my complimentary copies.

The memory of being a deanery synod representative led me on to the associated memory of being chairman  of Penge Council of Churches (yes, I’ve been an important figure in my time). The national movement has now become “Churches Together”, which is another possible set of contacts. I found a national website, which offers a list of local group websites, which will usually offer me a list of member church websites.

At least I won’t run out of things to do.

[DISRAELI]

Update for the week.
 
Reddit advertising progressing without further hiccups. I’m not sure why, but somehow I manged to link my Reddit account with an e-mail address I don’t normally check, so that’s where they were sending updates about billing, ad approvals, etc. The week’s total seems to be nearly 100,00 impressions, which is probably OK provided they were the right 100,000.
 
Also continuing on Twitter, shamelessly combining this with a re-run of my “Four Horsemen not going away” tweet promoting the Revelation book, with “Israel” as one of the hashtags.
 
A non-digital marketing department of my publishers does exist, because Digital Marketing are passing on my inquiring message. But my experience of digital marketing warns me not to expect too much, despite the original assurance that marketing would be the firm’s responsibility. At least the page assigned to me on their “Authors” pages is a feeble fulfilment of the promise that “you will get your own website”.
 
I patiently tried different contacts in my attempt to find a literary agent. One said “We get our books from this firm”. That firm pointed out that they were retailers, and pointed me towards a publishing firm. The publishing firm said they normally dealt direct with authors, and in any case what my promotion campaign really needed was a PR agent. Their suggested name is running the Christian Resources Exhibition, so he might well be too busy nowadays. I have found another Christian PR firm online and will try that one.
 
Meanwhile I will start sending out review copies etc. as soon as I have gone out and bought a few of the larger size of Jiffy bag (a couple of people are getting more than one book).

[DISRAELI]

Update. A Google search on Christian PR firms offered a number of options. The first non-sponsored entry (on reflection, I've just realised, I ought not to be ignoring the sponsored ones) was in Tennessee, which won't work for me on the other side of the Atlantic. The next had "Faith" in their name, and their site encouraged people to "put your faith in us", but it appears that Google has been wrong-footed and they do not specialise in religious matters. I haven't yet heard from the next one, perhaps because they are religious enough to want to check out my Christian credentials first. They call themselves "Catholic and Christian", in that order, and if they notice that my history of the prophets is written "from a Protestant viewpoint", that could be enough to put them off.

Not wanting to delay initiatives on my own account, my online activity before this one was making enquiries about exhibiting at the Christian Resource Exhibition in October. The rapidly filling plan shows that it would have been a mistake to leave it much longer.

Meanwhile, I have been sending out free copies of the book (carefully rationed, because I didn't get more than a couple of dozen). Review copies to Evangelical Times, Premier Christianity, Christianity Today, and The Christian Century. Used the supplied postcards as a kind of "compliments slip" (which may have been the intended use anyway). Also free copies, with some of the order forms, to the principals of selected Bible Colleges and Theological colleges, the stand-alone colleges rather than theological departments of universities (who will be more academic in their recommendations), and focusing on the more evangelical ones. This will resume when I've re-stocked on the right sizes of jiffy bags.

[Snarl]

Disraeli, you're doing better in this regard than I could hope to. I 'thought' I had enough material on paper once to get a book published. Couldn't get anyone in the bizness to read it. I quit when they told me it wouldn't even be given shelf space even if it were printed.

Congratulations ... and I mean that whole-heartedly!!

[DISRAELI]

Disraeli, you're doing better in this regard than I could hope to. I 'thought' I had enough material on paper once to get a book published. Couldn't get anyone in the bizness to read it. I quit when they told me it wouldn't even be given shelf space even if it were printed.

Congratulations ... and I mean that whole-heartedly!!

Thank you. But. to be fair, I haven't actually persuaded any publisher to buy this one , either. At the moment, I'm being carried forward by a sense of mission.

[DISRAELI]

The headline news this week is that I have booked myself in as one of the exhibitors at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Milton Keynes in October. I think there's a good prospect that even the event pre-publicity will be worth its weight in gold. Since the "name of company" field was mandatory on the booking form, I am now on their official spreadsheets as "Unorganised Individual", which ought to be a gift to anyone with journalistic instincts. I may be likely to appear at one end of "We have everybody from X to Y" statements.

I've been sending out remaining copies of PPP to various institutions and persons, including my bishop. Leaving one for myself and a spare, so that I don't find myself without a copy of my own book, like poor J.R. Hartley of "Fly-fishing" fame. Older UK television viewers will get this reference. I think that finishes the mail shots for the moment. I had thought of sending out order forms to rural deans, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, then thought college Christian Unions would be a better idea, but now I'm holding them back for the display table at Milton Keynes. The same for the copies of the other two books.

And I'm now starting to build a small following on Twitter, by reviving my old practice of adding a different quote from the book each day, giving curious users a reason to come back and check the latest. At the moment, this is on the level of rising one by one from 40 followers to 50, but it's a start.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

The headline news this week is that I have booked myself in as one of the exhibitors at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Milton Keynes in October. I think there's a good prospect that even the event pre-publicity will be worth its weight in gold. Since the "name of company" field was mandatory on the booking form, I am now on their official spreadsheets as "Unorganised Individual", which ought to be a gift to anyone with journalistic instincts. I may be likely to appear at one end of "We have everybody from X to Y" statements.

I've been sending out remaining copies of PPP to various institutions and persons, including my bishop. Leaving one for myself and a spare, so that I don't find myself without a copy of my own book, like poor J.R. Hartley of "Fly-fishing" fame. Older UK television viewers will get this reference. I think that finishes the mail shots for the moment. I had thought of sending out order forms to rural deans, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, then thought college Christian Unions would be a better idea, but now I'm holding them back for the display table at Milton Keynes. The same for the copies of the other two books.

And I'm now starting to build a small following on Twitter, by reviving my old practice of adding a different quote from the book each day, giving curious users a reason to come back and check the latest. At the moment, this is on the level of rising one by one from 40 followers to 50, but it's a start.

Good luck. You are right. Every journey starts with one step.

[DISRAELI]

And here is the fate I am trying to avoid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh8iXc2d71U

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

And here is the fate I am trying to avoid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh8iXc2d71U

I can understand the possibility, since the Bible may soon reach that level of rarity.

Reading of books, the way that it was done in the past is dying. The youth prefer visual material that is short, and lacking of cumbersome data that slows them down or forces them to think.

Emojis, video shorts, icons, and memes, are the communication tools of the future.

Those that came up with the concept of speed reading back in the day, must have known something that the rest of us didn't.

[BIAD]

And here is the fate I am trying to avoid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh8iXc2d71U

A classic advert from my past too!

[DISRAELI]

Journal update.
Now that I'm an exhibitor. the first thing to do was get my place in the Visitors' Handbook sorted out. We are listed in categories, and I've sent in a very basic entry. I wasn't going to give away my home address or phone number. A couple of years ago I set up a dedicated email address for just such a purpose, and that's what I'm offering, so that my normal friends-and-family-and-business e-mail doesn't get swamped and spammed.

Also it was definitely worth my while to advertise. The smallest space available is half-page, but I suspect this is a compact page. I admitted to the head of sales that I had no skills to offer artwork, so he put me in touch with the Events Director who happens to do this work freelance. Of course I'm seizing on that opportunity. I've put together a compact message with a couple of images, saying the important things without crowding the space, so he should find it easy to arrange it on the page.  What fonts and background colours do I want? I don't know, just something simple.

Thinking ahead. I wasn't expecting to sell any books on the spot, because I'm not set up for it, technically or legally, but Google indicates an established Christian bookshop in the vicinity. Once the handbook is out (to confirm my bona fides) I might contact them to see if it is worth their while to send out a staff member with stock and a card-reader.

Also further down the line I will be expected to fill in a Risk Assessment form for my stand. I have no idea what to write. But if I go for the option of taking out an insurance policy for the event, they will surely do their own assessment and be able to advise me? Anyway, I can't do that until I've sorted out what the extra furnishings will be, so that must be the next task.

[DISRAELI]

Another update.
 
Next week, I’m going to be Stand E19 at the Christian Resources Exhibition in Milton Keynes. These are the preparations I think I needed to make, and I believe they’re complete.
 
The exhibition organiser helped me get the art-work done for the half-page advertisement in the exhibition hand-book.
 
Accommodation for three nights, of course. Reservation number (and hotel address) written down. Rail tickets bought this week. I have downloaded and printed off a copy of my Exhibitor’s badge.
 
It’s only a small space, so it was easy to work out that I didn’t need much furnishing. I’ve booked one set of shelving to go on a side-wall. The exhibition organiser has been urging us not to let our staff sit down looking bored, and recommends “bar-stool” type seating. But the aggressive selling approach won’t work with books or with me, so I’ve hired a table to display books and to sit behind, and two chairs in case somebody wants to sit and chat.
 
Not owning a car, I went out and bought an “exhibition equipment” luggage case that I can take on the railways. Though I would not take it on the Cornishman in August. So “I packed my bag” (the title, just remembered, of a TV panel show from the Sixties), “and in it I put…”
 
Multiple copies of all three of my published books, viz “Prophets, Priests and Politics”, “Silence in Heaven” and “The Unseen Husband”. I’m not going to be set up to sell them on the spot, so my target has to be “brand recognition”, and I may end up giving away complimentary copies. I contacted a Christian bookstore among the exhibitors but haven’t persuaded them to stock the books.
 
The publishers of PPP sent me some posters, and I had posters of the same size printed for the other two, so those can go on the back wall. I need to check on setting-up day what kind of fixing won’t damage the stand wall, but I’m hoping that Blu-tak will do.
 
I am rather proud of the table-cloth I had printed off, displaying all three book-covers, large size, along the top of the table and again on the front overhang, against a white background. I will be displaying all three books on the plastic book-stands I bought online.
 
A number of plastic folders containing material I devised and printed off at home. Four sets of one-page leaflets, one for each book and one giving information about myself and probable future books, especially “Christ died for the Ungodly”. A couple of folders with more details about “Christ died for the Ungodly”, in case a publisher or literary agent turns up and takes an interest. A copy of the manuscript of “Moses for Christians”, which needs re-drafting, to give me a more professional-looking way of occupying my time during the slack periods.
 
The publishers of PPP supplied me with other marketing materials which can fill up the table, bookmarks and order forms and post-cards.
 
I’ve also packed a neat little notebook (with “Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust printed on the cover, part of the stock of stationary inherited from my mother), which can be used to record any contact details I might be given.
 
Plus, of course, extra clothing and toiletries for the hotel stay.
 
If there’s anything I’ve forgotten, then I will know for the next time.

[BIAD]

Good luck, Sir. I hope all turns out well.