Published!
And the reviews are coming in
Me standing with, ‘The Poster,’ at the Thurlestone Hotel (mentioned in the novel).
The second proof arrived and I was much happier with how it looked. I made some minor changes, uploaded my reformatted manuscript, and pressed ‘Publish.’
The Poster was available to buy from Sunday 19th February.
“Filled with colourful descriptions that paint a bleak picture of war. A great depiction of a world no one wants.”
I have experienced the usual highs and lows of a newly published author: they may be commonplace, but they are a new experience for me.
The Good News
Thank you to my friends who have bought copies so far.
I say friends because only people I know have bought the book. No family members have bought it (most don’t read novels). I am neither famous nor have a back catalogue, so I am reliant on friends to buy and spread the word.
Two of my writing tutors, who have had several novels published, featured ‘The Poster’ on their blogs last week. They gave me time, space, and a shop window to publicise my novel.
Thank you Ian Ayris and Jenny Kane (click the links to read their blogs).
Pen to Print agreed to pay for 50 author copies for me to sell directly to customers. They also ordered another 20 copies for them to display/ lend in the Barking and Dagenham Libraries.
There are no royalties from ‘author copies’ but I will get a few pennies every time a book is borrowed. Getting ‘The Poster’ read is the most important thing at this stage of my writing journey.
“As the story races to a heart-stopping conclusion, it poses ever-uncomfortable questions around human nature - truth, trust, survival, integrity, selfishness, and love. A fantastic read and, scarily, not too difficult to imagine.”
Stefan Parker
The Numbers
My book has made all the publishing splash of a delicate flower.
The Poster has two excellent reviews on GoodReads. It needs more for the ripples to spread so people who don’t know me invest their money and time in the book. If it gets chosen to be read by a book club, that will also help.
Leaving reviews is helpful and supportive (thank you).
Without a publicity department (or budget), sales of the book are reliant on me promoting it and the graciousness of friends buying it.
(‘You should get your book on Oprah,’ was one of several unhelpful comments I received from mansplainers with no publishing or writing experience).
“Selling more than 20 books isn't a given. It takes an ongoing effort and a certain level of consistent sales/marketing. This can be really tough for authors who struggle with self-promotion.”
Chris O’ Brien. Longoverduebooks,
I’ve sold 15 copies online, plus 8 pre-orders for ‘hard’ copies to local people.
I also receive royalties from the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) library. Unfortunately, a few people have skimmed the first few pages but not read on. This graph shows that no one has read the book on Kindle since the 19th of February (when the paperback was published).
The KDP bookshelf reports are a massive distraction from getting any work done (clicking on it 4-5 times a day instead of doing some proper work is my new hobby). Every independently published author says the same thing when they first publish!
“The quality of writing in The Poster is excellent. The Alek chapters are stunning. The battlefield scenes are up there with some of the best I’ve read. The thumping pace, the terseness of the prose, the brutality and the bleakness all contribute to a truly visceral read.”
Ian Ayris.
I hope the people who have bought, ‘The Poster’, enjoy reading it. I am going to remind them to leave a review in two weeks. I’m taking some hard copies down to our village community centre next week: there are some keen readers there.
This has all slowed down my writing productivity: my fifth draft of, ‘Stone and Water,’ is nearly finished but I’m about four days behind schedule. I’ve changed the POV of the main character from first to third person. I thought I could do a structural edit at the same time, but that was too ambitious.
I’ll share some of that process, plus an excerpt, in the next post.
I got a rejection email from a writing mentorship programme this morning. If I’ve learnt one thing during this process, it’s: ‘If you can’t handle rejection, don’t become a writer.’
Bonnie Garmus had her first novel rejected by 98 agents! Her second novel (Lessons in Chemistry) has sold 6 million copies.
Thanks for reading.
Congratulations James! Keep plugging it and the hard work will pay off in the end.
Congratulations, James!!! This is such great news. Publishing is such a hard journey but you got your book out there. That itself is awesome. Also such great reviews from Ian Ayris, CandleLit Magazine and everyone. Kudos on the sales! That itself is a great start. Enjoy the publication, James!!