Self-Publishing Once Again

Entertaining the Tourists!

I’ve done it! 

I’ve committed to publishing two more books, neither of which I have finished writing yet!!!

Once again, I researched the costs of publishing and printing, and this time found the most economical option was a two for one offer which, strangely enough, was via my current publisher.

The problem will always be the high price of ‘print on demand’ (the printing of one book at a time when an order is received).  It is obviously more expensive than when books are printed in large quantities, but with that option there is the risk that the books won’t sell.  Currently, no publisher is willing to take that risk with my works of fiction, and I certainly cannot afford it in addition to the cost of publishing.

Despite the fact that printing prices are increasing:

My first novel is available from my publisher at a cost of £7.90 per copy, and is being sold by Amazon for £12.99;

My next novels will be available from my publisher at a cost of  £11.95, and although the Amazon price is not yet known, it will be that much higher;

there is no other option.   In fact, my publisher price is cheaper for ‘print on demand’ than other quotes I have received.

Sadly, it means that the answer lies with electronic versions, which provide a book at a cheaper price for the customer and a higher royalty for the author.  But this will not help local bookshops survive.

Now, I would like to give you a taster for my next murder mystery entitled “A Ticket to Zululand” by providing an insight into the wording I am proposing for the back cover:

“As innocent tourists wind their way across the South African savannah, through bushveld, plantations of forests and luscious crops, a tale of poaching, murder and political intrigue unwinds.  But are they all so innocent?  What is the connection between the rising number of deaths of endangered species in safari parks, foreign businessmen and politics?”

I have now decided that my books are in a genre all of their own: they will all be travelogues spiced up by murder, mystery and intrigue.

Hopefully, my South African novel will be available by the end of October 2012.

I will keep you updated.

My Marketing Experiences (5th instalment)

Marfa Ridge, Malta

My latest marketing experience was the result of an invitation from my local Rotary Club to give a presentation at one of their weekly meetings.  I spoke about my self-publishing experiences, together with another topic that they requested which was of interest to them, on the basis that afterwards signed copies of my book would be available for sale with the profits being split 50/50 between myself and the charity of their choice.

I only sold 3 books, but the comments and suggestions for future marketing have proved to be very useful.  In fact, it was as a result of that presentation that I set up this blogspot, and I am now selling my first book in Kindle format.

Previously, an electronic version was available via lulu.com , but this did not prove to be very successful, probably because very few people know that electronic versions of books are available on Lulu.  Also, payment is via PayPal which can be difficult when you are only making sales rather than sales and purchases, because there is a minimum amount of money that can be withdrawn from your account and a maximum per annum.

I would add that I found setting up electronic versions to be free of charge, and easy to do.  Also, that  the percentage of the sale price that the author receives when selling a book in Kindle, or other electronic formats can exceed the Royalty received when selling hard copy books.  Therefore, it is to be recommended.

Another recommendation from Rotary Club members was to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter.  I am now in the process of setting this up with links to this blogspot.  The problem is that time is precious, and my time should be spent writing books rather than being continually involved in updating communication pages.

In fact, my next book – A Ticket to Zululand – is now nearing completion, and I have to get on with proofreading etc.  Therefore, I have decided that I will only be updating my blogspot once a month in future.

In my next posts, I will be covering other marketing options that I have been offered, but at a high cost.  I have not taken advantage of any of these so far because after evaluation, I did not believe they offered value for money.  All marketing/advertising is a risk, but there are some areas where I felt the outlay involved could not be justified.  I will explain why later.

My Marketing Experiences (4th Instalment)

The Blue Grotto in Malta

Before achieving success, I had a third unfortunate Maltese marketing experience when I asked the local owner of a Post Office & Souvenir Shop on the seafront if she would be kind enough to sell my book.  She agreed and I left five copies with her, again on a sale or return basis.

During the previous summer, this shop had displayed racks of books for sale outside their premises and, in fact, I had even purchased books from them.  However, there had been a drop in the tourist trade in that area due to the closure of a local hotel, and presumably for this reason the Post Office stopped displaying books outside.

I later discovered that my books had been placed on a bottom shelf inside the shop, virtually hidden from view, and when I visited several months later, they were still there covered in dust by this time.  The owner then gave them back to me with the comment that unfortunately they had not sold.

My next attempt was much more successful possibly because (I believe) the books were put on display on the counter where they could be seen by anyone making purchases.  And they are still being sold from there – this is at the newsagents, Graphics in Triq il-Qaliet in Marsascala.  I recommend those wishing to purchase the book in Malta to visit this shop in Marsascala where the shopkeeper is friendly and sells a wide range of items.

I would add that some copies of my book have also been sold at La Spigola Restaurant in Marsascala.

My latest sortie into the realms of marketing has taken place in the UK, and this also proved to be a success.  However, I will provide more information on this experience in my next post.

My Marketing Experiences (3rd Instalment)

Fireworks in Malta

As mentioned previously, two Maltese distributors who I contacted, replied to my email regarding the distribution of my first book entitled ‘A Ticket to Malta’, as I felt it would be of interest not only to those visiting the island, but also to local people. 

Both of the distributors stated that they would require sole distribution rights, and so I had to decide on which one to approach first.  With the airport being a good place to reach tourists, I decided to set up my first interview with the distributor who not only had a large chain of bookshops throughout the island, but in particular, was the only one with stores in the airport.

I had a very friendly meeting with their Distribution Manager who agreed to take 15 books initially on a sale or return basis.  However, he explained that they would be putting a 100% mark-up on the price I sold the books to them for.  I was so delighted to have the opportunity for my book to be sold at Luqa Airport, Malta, that I agreed; realising that obviously there was no alternative.  Nevertheless, it meant that my book would be priced at nearly twice as much as other books of the same type being sold at the airport despite the fact that I personally had only added a few pence per copy to the actual cost price. I was concerned that it would not be purchased because of its high price, but I was proved wrong.

Surprisingly, and to my great joy, copies sold slowly; each time I visited the airport I checked on their availability and noticed that the number on display was gradually reducing.  Apparently, it had also been distributed to other shops in that chain of bookstores, but I never did discover it in either of the two shops in Valletta.

After waiting for some time, I then started to ask about payment against my invoice; after all, it was obvious that at least some books had sold.  Therefore, I enquired how many were still available for sale, and asked if they would like some more.  I was never given an answer to either of these questions, and therefore, I still don’t know if they actually had sold out.

However, eventually after several contacts, I was referred directly to their Accounts Department, and my invoice was paid, but it came in two instalments.  I did not think this would be a problem as the money was being paid in Sterling, from a Sterling Bank Account to another Sterling Bank Account, but despite this my bank decide to load charges on both payments; the reason given was that the funds were coming from abroad.

The bank charges completely wiped out the small profit I was due to make on the sales, and in fact, I made a loss.  I believe that with the sale price of the book being so high, the book distributor was disinclined to take further copies, and I could see no advantage to me personally in them doing so.

But I had received some publicity from the placement of the fifteen books and, therefore, I was grateful for that.  As a result of this experience, I decided I would need to find a cheaper printing process (possibly in Malta) if I wanted to distribute my books via this method in future.

Not daunted though, I still had some other ideas for marketing in Malta, which will be covered in my next post.

My Marketing Experiences (2nd Instalment)



Gorf L-Abjad, Malta



I am now going to report further on my Maltese marketing experiences. 

As my first book was set in Malta, I thought it would appeal to English-speaking tourists visiting the island as well as Maltese citizens, many of whom speak English.  Therefore, I carried out some research into Maltese bookshops and book distributors in Malta.

Considering the tourist angle, I decided that the most popular locations where tourists might purchase books would be Valletta (the capital of Malta) and the airport.  I emailed the main distributors, explaining the purpose of my communication and asking for a meeting to discuss the matter further.  In Valletta, I walked around the main tourist areas such as the city centre and the nearby sites of historical interest until I found a suitably positioned independent bookshop.  Then I made contact with the Manager of that shop via email, again explaining my purpose and arranging a meeting.

The meeting with the bookshop manager went well, and it turned out that she was the daughter-in-law of the owner.  I left a free book with her, which she prominently displayed, and asked her to contact me if it sold and if she would like more copies.  That same afternoon she emailed to say that she had already sold the book and I arranged to take in five more copies on a sale or return basis.

Then, unfortunately, she told me that she was leaving Malta with her husband, and I should deal with her mother-in-law in future.  However, the mother-in-law did not prove easy to contact, nor did she have such a good command of the English language.  In fact, neither did she have such a good understanding of promotional skills, nor with regard to customer care as her daughter-in-law; after all suppliers can also be customers!

After leaving it for some time, to allow an interval in which the books could be sold, I contacted her in the manner suggested by her daughter-in-law and made an appointment to meet while visiting the shop.  She was not there, but I did notice that there were now only two books left for sale on the shelves.  My second attempt to see her also proved to be a disaster, and therefore, I just turned up unannounced one day.  Luckily, on this occasion, I found her in the shop.  With some difficulty, I explained who I was and that as now there was only one book left on the shelf, my invoice was due for payment.  At first she protested, saying that she did not understand what I was talking about, but after some persistence on my part, she paid the invoice.

However, she did not want to take any further copies of the book on a sale or return basis despite the others having sold well.  Also, I was not confident of dealing with her in future, as it had been so difficult to obtain payment.

In my next post, I will describe my experiences with the two distributors who replied to my email.

My Marketing Experiences



Valletta Waterfront - where the cruise liners dock



My first step was to inform friends, relations and colleagues about the book I had written and where it could be obtained, in the hope that they would either purchase a copy themselves, or pass information on to others that it was available.

As I’ve said before, it can be embarrassing promoting what some would assume to be a commercial enterprise, to friends, relations and colleagues, many of whom would expect you to give them a copy free of charge.

However, after you have spent possibly around a thousand UK pounds on publishing, it could prove difficult for you to also have to cover the cost of printing several copies.  Some people could also be under the impression that publishing costs did include a certain number of copies printed free of charge, but this may not necessarily be the case unless the publisher offers a special deal; in that instance you might be able to obtain approximately 5 free copies which you should use for marketing purposes (see below*).

My second step was to contact the establishments I had mentioned in the book, ie restaurants, hotels, etc.  I made a specific point of arranging to visit them personally, presented them with a free copy* of the book, and in two instances, managed to persuade them to sell copies of the book on a sale or return basis.  In fact, the restaurant from where the view on the front cover of the book was taken, has proved to be my best marketplace with them having sold more copies of the book than anyone else, and one of reviews (Goodreads) materialised from a sale that took place there.  Unfortunately, now that restaurant has closed down due to pressures of the current economic climate, but I will be continually grateful for their support.

My third step was to visit a local bookshop in my hometown and arrange to take part in a morning described as “Local Author Signing” (Caxton Books).

I personally paid for this event to be advertised in a local newsletter that was distributed to 5,000 local households, arranged for free advertising in the local paper, and the bookshop also promoted the event.  Eight people turned up on the day to buy the book, have it signed and chat to the author, and several of those people I already knew.  In total I sold 15 copies of the book because there were some advance orders, and the bookshop kindly allowed for some to remain on their shelves, which were sold subsequently.  However, the profit from sales did not even cover the cost of advertising in the local newsletter.

My fourth step was to carry out some marketing in Malta – the small island where the fictional murder mystery took place. 

This was a further attempt to obtain free publicity which I will explain about in my next posts, together with providing some other ideas on where marketing can be achieved for just a small outlay.

Self-Publishing: Interim Summary (1)

Spring in Malta : A profusion of Wild Flowers

Each post I have issued so far tells the story of my self-publishing experiences in a similar way to individual chapters in a book, and therefore, it would make sense to read them in date order, ie

APRIL 2012

Being a Self-Published Author

- provides background information on the first book I have written and those I intend to write in future.

MAY 2012

Why Self-Publish?

- describes the options available to those who have written, or intend to write, any type of book whether factual, or a work of fiction.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Self-Publishing

- as the title implies gives a balanced view of how the advantages and disadvantages relate within the self-publishing environment.

The Other Disadvantages of Self-Publishing

- the information provided here may not be so obvious as self-publishing organisations will undoubtedly place more emphasis on the advantages of using their services and play down the disadvantages which authors may have to determine for themselves.

Self-Publishing: Lessons Learnt

- during my first self-publishing experience, I feel that I learnt a lot which will be of benefit to me in the future.  If any readers of this blog have some self-publishing experiences that they would like to share, do please contact me.

If you would like to read the posts like chapters in a book, select from the list to the right in the sequence shown above.

JUNE 2012

In my future posts (the first of which will be available next week), I will tell the story of my marketing experiences.