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Best Endeavours Business Best Practice: Jane Cable On what happens once that publishing deal is in the bag continues

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Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

BUSINESS BEST PRACTICE

So there we have it: from a deal signed in August to the perhaps untimely escape of the book just before Christmas – the first part of Another You’s story is complete. But in many ways the hard graft is just beginning.

Having come through the ranks of savvy indie authors it amazes me when I meet writers with publishing deals who think that marketing isn’t their job. Yes, when you have a deal you aren’t the only one trying to sell as many copies as possible, but I don’t believe you can delegate responsibility. As a writer I have three books to market – as a publisher Endeavour has thousands.

My motivation for writing is to share my stories. Perhaps it’s different for other authors; maybe the craft itself is enough, and finding a publisher is sufficient reward for a job well done. Perhaps for them it is the end of the journey.

How other authors approach the business of writing fascinates me and next year I’ll be using this blog to talk to some of them about how they make a living from their words. This will come as later in 2017 I’ll be making the transition from more-or-less full time accountant to more-or-less full time writer. It’s going to be quite some year.
Jane Cable, publishing, writing

But for now I am back to the anxious business of nursing a new baby through its first fragile steps into the world. I can’t stop myself from checking Amazon rankings daily and I am waiting with equal parts of terror and excitement to read the first review. Quite frankly I need to get a grip because no one is going to get around to reading the book over Christmas.

As for me, I’ll keep on gently marketing during the break. I need to approve a press release for issue early in the new year. I need to send seasonal/promotional emails to friends. I need to perfect the art of creating publicity material with Canva (my new favourite website). Perhaps I need a Facebook advert. And I have blog tour material to prepare and at least four guest blogs to write.

Thank goodness my husband has Christmas sorted…

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You tells the tale of how chance meetings on the 60th anniversary of D-Day help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

Best Endeavours Book Blogging Best: Jane Cable on what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

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janecablenewbookwriterBEST ENDEAVOURS

Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

BOOK BLOGGING BEST

It wasn’t how I’d expected to find out that Another You was live on Amazon. It was just a hint, really, in an email from Endeavour. The lovely Dorset author Rosanna Ley had given me a cover quote for the book so I’d passed it on. Only to receive the reply that the Amazon description would be changed but it might take twenty-four hours to update.

I was straight on the internet and searching. Yes – there it was. Pristine, undownloaded, unnoticed. Just how I wanted it to be.

Nevertheless I sprang into action. My Amazon author profile needed updating and the book linked to it. My web designer needed a prod… but only because she’d been moving house and once she realised the urgency she rushed to publish the updates.

I also needed to tell the bloggers signed up for the tour. I’d envisaged tying it in with a January launch but it was becoming clear there was no way I could keep my promotional powder dry for that long. So I consulted and we’ve agreed that it doesn’t matter so very much and we’ll probably go for early February. It’s an enviable line up of premier British book bloggers including Rosie Amber, Liz Loves Books, Linda’s Book Bag, Being Anne and Jaffa Reads Too.

The next question was review copies. With my previous titles I relied heavily on Netgalley – and Netgalley promotions – to reach anyone who may want to review the book. Matador had made them available for four to six weeks but Endeavour’s policy is just seven days – and the clock started ticking on Friday. My next task was to reach every blogger who’d shown an interest in my books in the past; by email, through Twitter – even Goodreads (although Goodreads frown on this sort of behaviour) just to let them know the book was there. Some weren’t interested but overall the response has been really good. And of course I’m tweeting the link to the Netgalley download as often as I dare.

Jane Cable, publishing, writing

Regular readers of Frost will know my connections with Margaret Graham’s charity, Words for the Wounded, and I had always intended to use the book to raise funds and awareness. Not just because I believe in it, but because a major character in Another You is a soldier suffering from the aftereffects of combat. So what I have decided to do is to donate £1 for every review of the book on Amazon in the UK and the US. For more information on the hows and whys, please visit my article on Words for the Wounded’s own blogspot:http://wordsforthewounded.blogspot.co.uk/

In the middle of all this activity, sometime on Sunday evening, the book escaped. It was being downloaded, beginning to achieve an Amazon ranking. So there was no point in keeping quiet about it anymore. Which leaves me with quite a long to do list for this week.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You tells the tale of how chance meetings on the 60th anniversary of D-Day help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.