Danuta Kean on which of the 135,000 new bookshop-suitable titles published each year will appear in bookshops, and why...

http://www.danutakean.com/blog/?p=245#more-245

Emma

Yes, it's stuff some of us have heard before - but which is def worth saying again. Forewarned is forearmed in the world of publishing.

I also found Terence Blacker's features in The Author (a friend of mine was published way before me, so I got to read her copies) full of useful insights into the dynamics of our fickle industry!

I think it's easier with non-fiction in a way... even if you don't get a big push from your publisher you can plough away behind the scenes with publicity focused on your particular area (ie, build yourself up as a rent-a-quote on dog training, french polishing, english courtesans, learning to drive or whatever). Fiction..(particularly more literary fiction without any Big Harrowing Themes) can be tougher to push yourself. Still, word-of-mouth does work well too.... Captain Corelli being an example, I think.

all best

Maria
www.mariamccarthy.co.uk

Yes, Terence Blacker's always good. I saw this piece in this quarter's The Author, in fact, and as she usually puts her pieces on her blog, went and looked, and there it was, for general consumption. As you say, nothing we didn't know in a way, but she's such a good explainer, and fair too, I think.

Yes, I agree it's much easier with non-fiction in some (lots of?) ways. It's soooo much easier to convey why someone might want a non-fiction book, and find places which will be interested in you talking about it. After all, what is interesting about your novel that isn't true about half-a-dozen others published that month? No wonder the publicists have to rely on interesting things about the novelist, and pray for a prize or a R&J listing, to get it to stick out from the herd.

Emma

I'm glad (though not entirely believing) about the statement that bookshops don't reject books just because of their covers....

Rosy

It seems to rest on how you define 'reject', doesn't it: is 'if you change the cover we'll order 10,000, if not we won't,' a rejection, or not?

Emma

They will also look to see rising stars on Amazon, in case there is a potential bestseller they have overlooked.

There was an article (in the Times Books section last Christmas, I think), which reported authors skewing their sales figures on Amazon by getting friends to place orders for their book over a small time frame, like a Sat. afternoon. Spending a few hundred or a couple of thousand pounds to get their book into the Amazon top 10, or top 100 can work wonders in the Christmas market.


- NaomiM