Month: August 2022

Shattered dreams . . .

On receiving the contract, I read it quickly and then read it again more slowly and then one more time, after which I decided that I needed help to make the correct decision.

I bounced the idea off members of Goodreads , which is a book readers web site, and I was very pleasantly surprised to hear from Stephen Leather  one of my favourite authors. He was kind enough to comment on my request for advice. 

                

Just four of the twenty Stephen Leather books that I have collected over the years.

Stephen advised me to retain an agent before signing with a publisher. So, the next thing was to find an agent willing to represent me. Funny how history repeats itself – I was unable to persuade any Australian or British agent to represent me, even though I had a publishing contract and their cut from my commission would be 15%. Many of the agents that I contacted stated that they were ‘full’ – and others failed to reply.

I still wanted the contract read by someone who was aware of the pitfalls in the publishing industry, so I joined the Australian Society of Authors and paid to have the contract checked by their legal department.
I received an eight-page report containing thirty-four suggestions. Some suggestions where easily fixed with the publisher, but for other suggestions the publisher would not budge.
Certain clauses were going to be ‘take it or leave it’ clauses.
If I rejected a certain clause the contract to publish would be withdrawn. In the end I accepted the contract, after all, I’d always wanted to be published by a professional publisher and this company had been in the business for a hundred and fifty years.
A strong consideration for me living in Australia was that a UK publisher would be able to market the book far better than I could in the UK & USA.
I had some of this publisher’s books on my bookshelf at home, which I’d bought some years ago.

At the request of the Company, I sent the publisher’s editor a copy of the manuscript and I am pleased to say she (another female editor) only requested five small changes to the manuscript. One of the changes was based on the perception of how a reader would accept my description of an urchin in 1805, which would be unacceptable today (un-PC). I explained that in 1805 it was acceptable, but in the end, I lost the argument and the word had to be changed. Overall, I was pleased that the editor that I picked to do the original editing was a very good choice.

Once they were happy with the manuscript, they wanted to change the book’s title and the book’s cover. It took me some time to get used to the new cover.
I must admit that it is more dramatic than the original cover. The title in the picture above shows ‘The’ Triangle Trade, but in the final production I managed to get rid of this word on the grounds that it made the title sound like a textbook. It was published as just ‘Triangle Trade’. 

I was then asked for suggestions as to marketing the book.

My suggestion was to produce the book in paperback, and I specifically asked that it not be produced as a hardback.
I wanted it produced as cheaply as possible and suggested that the publisher place copies in airports & railway station book shops marketing it as an impulse buy for travellers. 
I was an unknown author, but with the new cover and at the right price, I thought that it would make an attractive read for a traveller’s journey.

The publisher already had a databank of customers to whom they could do a mail or e-mail shot.

Sales staff around the country where given the new book’s title and told to start marketing.

I was given a small advance on sales and the book was produced – in HARDBACK with a sale price of £15.99! (about$28 AUD) I was sent six free books as the author.
I have five grandchildren so a copy of the book will go to each one on them on their  eighteenth birthday, and I will keep one of course.

I complained that Triangle Trade should have been issued as a paperback and I was told that they had been in the publishing industry for over one hundred and fifty years, and that they knew what they were doing. . . . . .I had my doubts, because I spend a lot of time in second-hand book shops. New paperbacks in Australia are expensive and hardback novels are beyond many people. Hardly anyone would spend £16 (AUD $28) on a novel by an unknown author. 

A year or so later the e-book version was issued at £4.99 (AUD $10.00), which is more expensive than the e-books of Stephen Leather, Lee Child, C. S Forster, Vince Flynn, Michael Connelly, and many others.

Overall the sales have been disappointing. I receive a report of sales every six months, which includes details of my commission. My commission has not yet paid back the small advance!

On a positive side the marketing by the sales person working in and around Merseyside (Liverpool & Birkenhead UK) did a very good job by getting me interviewed by Radio City of Liverpool, the local Merseyside radio station.

Pete Price, one of the radio stations presenters rang me and interviewed me over the phone. The interview went for about twenty minutes, but the highlighted interview link is a shorter version of about thirteen minutes.

The same salesperson also managed a full page spread in the Liverpool Echo on the ‘Book’ page, written by Laura Davis, the Executive Editor of ‘What’s On’, in the widest read newspaper on Merseyside.
As you know Triangle Trade (Ice King) is centred around Liverpool in 1804 to 1807 so the radio and newspaper link generated a lot of interest, but few overall sales, which I put down to price again.

If a reader of this blog is considering self-publishing and they are fortunate enough to be picked up by a regular publisher, be careful as to what you sign.
I signed away my own work (Ice King) for ten years in a cloud of euphoria, plus I have to offer any further books to the same publisher.

I sold a number of paperback editions of Ice King, (which I had printed in Sydney) and a lot more as an e-book via Smashwords  as Ice King for $1.50 USD.
I found Smashwords easier to deal with than Amazon (US), and Smashwords pay quicker, and I am still waiting for Amazon to pay. 

                           

I have a writer friend in the USA who started her first book Far Away Home around the same time that I started Ice King.
She planned to write a sequel, but only if she sold 50,000 copies of Far Away Home. 
Susan attended a seminar and was told that self-publishing authors can be more successful than traditional published authors, and the secret is to treat self-publishing as a business.
Over the years Susan has sold 202,000 e-books via Amazon and other outlets with an average price of US$0.99 and she also joined a system of being paid by the page – the reader only pays for the pages that they read.
To date Susan has ‘sold’ 20,817,564 pages and her books average 237 pages which equates to a further 84,388 books by this method.
It has not been easy for Susan because she has given away hundreds of copies to make sure that her books are ‘noticed’. Amazon Free Month and other such promotions to encourage ‘word of mouth’ advertising. 
Her rating on Amazon are 4 stars out of 5 for Far Away Home and 4.5 stars out of 5 for Embrace the Wind.
Her books are also available in Australia & the UK for AUD $1.29 or £0.83

I should have followed Susan’s example!

If any reader of this blog is keen to write and actually finishes writing their book overcome your wish to be published in the traditional way, maintain control and do it yourself. Only reconsider this approach if you have an agent.

Stephen Leather being a prolific writer, has managed to do both, much of his work is published by a traditional publisher, and he has produced additional e-books, which he self publishes. Check Mr Leather’s link for a great deal of information on self publishing.

A few years ago I started a new novel, which is again set in Merseyside, with the main character living in Birkenhead in 1839 and I have managed to write about 35,000 words before I started blogging.
I found blogging easier than novel writing and just as enjoyable having produced about four hundred blogs, but I intend to finish the new novel which requires a lot more research.     

Is there a book inside all of us?

Many of us have a book inside that we would like to write if we just knew how – I am not talking about putting pen to paper, but to construct a story that others would wish to read. For years I wanted to write and would throw away my attempts, because I was not sure if my efforts were good enough to be read by others.

I attended a writer’s class, which was organised by my local council, and Nick Bleszynski the Scottish author of Shoot Straight, You Bastards! took the classes.
The classes consisted of a mix of people from teenagers to let’s just say retired hopefuls. Nick was kind but firm in his judgment.  

Over the following years years I had finally completed a story that I thought might just be of interest to a reader, but how to find an unbiased reader – after all my family and my friends would not like to be too critical and any enthusiastic response would be very nice, but not particularly helpful.

I needed an unbiased person who would read and comment honestly, however hurtful. I researched and researched and realised I need an ‘assessor’ to advise me and to be honest about my ability to write a good story, after all writing is a branch of the entertainment industry and fiction has to be entertaining if you wish to keep the reader’s attention so that he or she will keep turning the pages.

Thanks to the internet I was able to research a number of assessors before deciding on Tom Flood of  Flood Manuscripts.

In 1990 Mr Flood’s novel Oceana Fine won the  Miles Franklin Award , which is Australia’s most prestigious literature prize. The prize is awarded each year for a novel of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in many of its phases.
I checked the list of authors who have also won this award – very impressive.

I never did meet Mr Flood during all the time we corresponded via e-mails. His business address was a three-hour train ride from my home so I stuck to e-mailing.

My original manuscript was over 160,000 words and with Tom’s guidance I managed to reduce it to around 120,000 words, which was still high for an unknown author.

Once I’d received the report from Flood Manuscript that in their opinion I could write, I started searching for an editor, and I wanted a female editor so to have input about the story from the opposite sex.

In today’s ‘enlightened age’ I suppose I was being politically incorrect by choosing an editor by their sex, rather than by their qualifications, but I was sure that I could find the right editor who just happened to have both qualifications. The other small detail was that I was paying!

It took me some time to find the ‘right’ person, because I’d never spoken to or had any dealings with an editor of either sex.

Eventually I found Louise Wareham Leonard, a writer who was born in New Zealand, moved to New York with her parents at the age of twelve, attended the United Nations International School and then Colombia. She has BA in Comparative Literature and Society.


Her first book Since you asked won the James Jones Literary Award.

Once again all correspondence was via e-mail because ‘my’ editor lived in Western Australia and I live in NSW. The tyranny of distance was not a problem and we soon built a rapport and the manuscript was pulled apart, tweaked and rebuilt. Of course all this takes time.

I like facts and figures so I collated some facts and figures about trying to get a book published.

After months of research and many more months of writing I had completed my historical novel, called Ice King , all I required now was a publisher or agent who might be interested in my work.

Ice King is a trans- Atlantic centred story set between 1804 to 1807. The story takes place mainly between Liverpool in England, and Boston in the US, so I had my doubts of any interest in this type of story from an Australian publisher or agent, I was correct – unfortunately.

I sent out thirty five proposals, which generated a 45.7% response – all negative, I am sorry to say.

UK – twenty two companies approached – nine answered – all nine sent personal e-mails – which were polite, but they were all rejections.
Of the thirteen that failed to reply, three sent auto replies that they had received the submission. The other ten failed to reply to the initial approach.

I was heartened by the fact that Richard Adams was rejected twenty six time by British publishers for

USA – Ten companies approached – six answered – all six sent personal e-mails – polite, but they were rejections.
Of the four that failed to reply, one sent an auto reply, one asked for additional sample chapter & didn’t communicate further, the others didn’t acknowledge the initial submission.

Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ was rejected thirty times by American publishers.

I only approached agents and publishers who were interested in new authors or  specialised in historical fiction. I didn’t wish to waste the time of a publishers or agent who focused on westerns, crime, horror, or fantasy books etc.

I was in good company  Margaret Mitchell was rejected thirty eight times – I don’t consider myself to be as good as this author, but her number of rejections gave me hope.

Australia – three companies approached – one answered – my work was rejected.
Of the other two, one asked for a synopsis & two chapters, which were sent. The agent didn’t communicate further. The other failed to reply to the initial approach.

Mathew Reilly was turned down by every publishing house in Australia before self publishing. 
His book was picked up, after he self published, by an Australian publisher and republished under the publishing house imprint. He is now in great demand with twenty three books and numerous short stories to his name.

I decided to self-publish. I hired an American company (thanks to the internet again) to format the manuscript so that I would be able to give a computer file to any book printer, and they would be able to produce a paperback edition of the book.

At the same time, I had a web site created, Geoff Woodland, which included the front cover in an effort to market the book. My problem was that the sales of the book were of more interest to British and American readers than Australian readers. The postage charges from Australia killed the European and American sales, so I opened an account with Lightning Source of the US & UK for print on demand, and this worked reasonably well, but I was not selling as many copies as I’d hoped, which I put it down to price, because I had to include local US or UK postage.
Lightning Source issued a monthly catalogue of all their available books to booksellers. To be included in the catalogue there was a cost to the author, but competition between hundreds of authors for recognition swamped many small book sellers, and large booksellers only stocked popular selling books of well-known authors. An author not living in the UK or US was at a definite disadvantage.

I looked around for an outlet that would allow me to sell Ice King at a cost that was not too expensive. I found e-books! Amazon & Smashwords would be my salvation. I had the Ice King Word file created in to a mobi file to upload to Amazon. I also uploaded to Smashwords, which was easier, because Smashwords had a program to auto convert Word to their own system.

Ice King became an e-book and sales picked up. Flattering reviews started to appear and I had a feeling that it had all be worthwhile – or had it?

A few months after the release of the e-book version it was picked up by a UK publisher, and they wanted to republish under their own imprint.

I was over the moon! A real publisher, who had been in business for over one hundred and fifty years, wanted to publish Ice King.

I was offered a contract, and with this under my belt I felt sure I would be able to secure an agent.  . . . . . .