Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Me and His Big Mouth

Can't wait to see what kind of Google searches will bring people here with that title!

Anyways... (as my husband would say, despite my protests that it's not a word), last night I braved the sauna-like conditions of the Central Line to head to the monthly meeting of the London Writers' Club. I emerged, dewy and glistening (i.e., drenched in sweat), ready to hear Scott Pack hold forth on everything there is to know in the wonderful world of publishing.

Scott runs The Friday Project (a HarperCollins imprint) and also works as Digital Director for HarperCollins. Not only that, he also blogs at Me and My Big Mouth and runs the BookSwap events in Windsor. All that and the man loves cake. How could I resist?

Although I didn't get to know everything there is to know about publishing -- like, how one can bribe Waterstone's without using cash to get books on their discount table -- I did learn a lot.

Here's a few of his points:

  • Twitter does help sell books. Case in point: The Atheists' Guide to Christmas. Almost all of the authors in the anthology were on Twitter. On a designated day about two weeks before the pub date, they all tweeted about the book. It rose from 200,000 to 11 on Amazon!

  • Publishing is a funny thing -- what works in one territory doesn't necessarily work in another. For example: Shit my Dad Says is a massive seller in the States but is only a minor hit here in the UK. There's still a lot of territorial-ism in publishing. Much in publishing is about luck and timing, too.

  • No matter how big something is on the Internet, about 80 to 90 per cent of your target bookbuyers won't have heard of it.

  • Broadsheet reviews don't sell books, because the books reviewed are usually too literary or obscure. It's much better to get news or features in broadsheets than reviews.

  • Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to get momentum -- particularly if the book has a low publicity budget.

  • If you're going to go down the self-publishing road, make sure to invest in a good copy-editor and cover designer.

He said a whole lot more but I tired of scribbling notes and started fixating on the promised cakes...

Many thanks to Scott and the London Writers' Club for another great event!

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47 comments:

  1. Anonymous21 July 2010 at 15:57

    Interesting blog Talli especially what you say about Broadsheet reviews - I've always found them obscure, glad to have my thoughts affirmed! Lisa x

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  2. Jane Lovering21 July 2010 at 16:00

    Sounds fascinating. Glad to know that all my Twittering won't go to waste! And how was the cake?

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  3. Unknown21 July 2010 at 16:09

    I guess I better learn about Twitter and really use mine then!!! Maybe I will when I am ready to start querying, focus my time on marketing.

    Great advice, thanks for giving us a sneak peek! I like knowing what works and what doesn't. I'll keep sharing my book with others!

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  4. Candyland21 July 2010 at 16:16

    Excellent points and I LOVE the title of this post:)

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  5. Alexandra Shostak21 July 2010 at 16:16

    Hm... maybe I should dust off the twitter. But deciding not to use it because it got in the way of writing was such a good choice! I get way more done sans twitter :-P

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  6. Anonymous21 July 2010 at 16:24

    Good post. Still don't think I'd want to go the self-publishing route, though.

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  7. Carol Kilgore21 July 2010 at 16:38

    Quite an informative meeting. Worth glistening for :)

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  8. Mason Canyon21 July 2010 at 16:47

    Interesting information. I'm surprised at the 80 to 90 percent of the target base that won't have heard of the book despite a huge internet presence. I would thought more 60 to 70 the way the internet is going.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  9. Joanne21 July 2010 at 16:47

    Thanks for sharing this, Talli. Interesting about Twitter. Do you know how many authors were involved in the group tweet?

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  10. Ann Best21 July 2010 at 16:49

    Such useful information, as always. And yes, a great post title. I thought mine was good this time, too. A catchy title WILL draw people in.

    Thanks for your comment on my Garbage Can Lid post. And I'm so looking forward to reading The Hating Game...

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  11. Len21 July 2010 at 16:55

    Very interesting, Talli! Thanks so much for sharing this. I'm learning a lot from your posts! :-)

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  12. Deniz Bevan21 July 2010 at 16:57

    Isn't that odd? As a fan of both Sh*t My Dad Says (yay for Montreal authors!) and UK stuff (watched a lot of Red Dwarf for the gazillionth time last night!), I don't see why we can't all just get along :-)

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  13. Deborah Carr (Debs)21 July 2010 at 17:13

    Thanks for braving the heat and telling us all about this interesting talk.

    Hope you enjoyed the cake too.

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  14. Jemi Fraser21 July 2010 at 17:26

    Great tips - thanks so much for sharing! :)

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  15. Karen Jones Gowen21 July 2010 at 17:27

    Thank you for sharing the points. Totally agree on everything! I'm still learning about twitter. I'm using it to make connections with other writers but that's about it. We're ALL trying to sell our books!

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  16. Kathryn Eastman21 July 2010 at 17:34

    Some great advice from Scott - especially as it's easy for me to forget or assume that because I'm online, not everyone else is, or gets so much of their information in the same way I gather mine.

    If he didn't share everything he knows, that means he'll have to do another event in future, so there's always the prospect of more cake. :)

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  17. Rosalind Adam21 July 2010 at 17:38

    Good news about the use of Twitter. I love hearing from people in publishing so thanks for passing his words on to us. Bet you went for the chocolate cake even if you were half melting... or was it the lemon drizzle or maybe you went for the shortcake biscuits with strawberries sliced on top. Which was it?

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  18. Glynis Peters 21 July 2010 at 17:43

    *smiles at the tube train image* worn the same sweaty Tshirt. LOL

    Interesting post, thanks for sharing.

    I read about an author who was published because of Twitter. She and an agent became Twitter pals, the agent checked her out and bingo, a contract.

    It proves it pays to be a Twitterer, or is that Tweeterer...or as we Brits say, a Twit(fool/idiot). ;0

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  19. Sarah Ahiers21 July 2010 at 18:13

    oooh those were all good points.
    i still refuse to join twitter. we'll see how things change once i have representation

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  20. Sangu Mandanna21 July 2010 at 18:15

    Excellent, excellent post. As someone who longs to go to conferences and events like these (but never seems able to), this was so much fun to read and all your points are so useful to know! Thanks for this.

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  21. Jennifer Shirk21 July 2010 at 18:26

    Very interesting stats! Will have to check out that blog too. :)

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  22. Saumya21 July 2010 at 19:33

    So helpful!! I guess you can never underestimate the power of Twitter. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  23. Jaydee Morgan21 July 2010 at 19:35

    Very interesting - and good to know. I'll have to jump back on Twitter again...see what I'm missing.

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  24. Old Kitty21 July 2010 at 20:04

    Awww Talli Roland!! The things you suffer and endure to get the inside scoop on publishing and all things writer-ly!! Thank you so much for sharing them here - it's a fascinating read!

    It kind of proves how volatile and unpredictable the publishing market is - but also how exciting!!!

    Anyways - LOL!! I hope you had your cake and ate them too!! You deserve a whole bakery!!

    Take care
    x

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  25. RosieC21 July 2010 at 20:16

    All good points. Thanks for sharing.

    Oh, and by the way, HA! *Looooove* the title :)

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  26. Talli Roland21 July 2010 at 20:22

    Thanks for the comments, everyone!

    I can't tell you how much Twitter has helped me with promotion and networking! Really - I'd encourage anyone to give it a go!

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  27. Neurotic Workaholic21 July 2010 at 20:34

    Thanks for the tips! I've thought about using Twitter, but I'm still not entirely clear on how it works. Plus I don't think my Tweets would be that interesting. Maybe if my life was more like that of a Bond girl I'd have a Twitter page.

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  28. Lindsay21 July 2010 at 20:55

    Ooh, interesting.

    I'm curious too who click here because of the title :)

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  29. Unknown21 July 2010 at 21:05

    What great tips! Thanks for sharing. And, I guess I can't resist Twitter forever, can I? LOL

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  30. Sarah Callejo21 July 2010 at 21:30

    If I ever publish a book and have a book launch, I will have to take a cake to lure you there.
    Thanks for all that info, it's very interesting.

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  31. Ann21 July 2010 at 21:54

    Better get a handle on this twittering thing then! How was the cake?

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  32. Jhon Baker21 July 2010 at 22:09

    thank you for being a fountain of publishing and blog information!

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  33. Pat Tillett21 July 2010 at 22:49

    Very interesting Talli. Thanks!

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  34. Karen Critchley22 July 2010 at 00:11

    Thought provoking and informative post, Talli, many thamks for sharing that. Karen x

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  35. Karen Critchley22 July 2010 at 00:11

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  36. Mary@GigglesandGuns22 July 2010 at 00:16

    Gee Talli, you did really well for someone who was concentrating on cake. :D
    No kidding. These are great tips.

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  37. Alex J. Cavanaugh22 July 2010 at 00:37

    Thanks for passing those along, Talli!
    And 'anyways' drives me nuts, too.

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  38. Vicki Rocho22 July 2010 at 02:24

    Thanks for sharing! There's nothing more powerful than word of mouth.

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  39. Bossy Betty22 July 2010 at 03:08

    Thanks for this info! Interesting!!

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  40. Susan Fields22 July 2010 at 03:30

    I knew it! I'm going to have to bite the bullet and try to figure Twitter out. Thanks for the great tips, Talli!

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  41. notesfromnadir22 July 2010 at 03:47

    What kind of cakes were available?

    That's a great example of how effective Twitter can be.

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  42. Gay Guy22 July 2010 at 04:45

    I am lame about Twittering. Need to read up on what makes a good tweet. My tweets are too often about the weather (like a phone conversation with my dad) and hot guys (NOT like a phone conversation with my dad).

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  43. Hilary Melton-Butcher22 July 2010 at 07:51

    Hi Talli .. I bet it was sweltering on the Central Line.

    But your thoughts coming out of the workshop are interesting .. thanks for jotting them down for us ..

    Have a cooler rest of the week?! .. Hilary

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  44. Anonymous22 July 2010 at 08:43

    Some interesting facts. Thanks for sharing these with us.

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  45. Ellie Garratt22 July 2010 at 08:59

    Reading your comments about Twitter (and yesterday about Google reader) have made me realise how much I still don't know about the internet and self-promotion. I've just got to grips with blogging, but have no idea about Twitter!

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  46. Wild Rose22 July 2010 at 11:36

    You know something Talli, you're one of the most helpful people i have ever met especially when it comes to advice on writing, blogging, getting published and of course drinking wine and coffee things i love a lot. Great tips and good you had fun, interesting blog at "Me and His big Mouth"

    Wild Rose (@LarvK)~

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  47. life in a pink fibro25 July 2010 at 13:00

    Really interesting points Talli. Thanks for sharing - always hard to concentrate when there's a cake in the offing.

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Coffee and wine for all!

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