It’s been stocktaking time over here at Fort St Uma. Having had a rush on over 50 copies of UMA & IMP on World Book Day (major woohoo), my stash is running low. With nothing big in the calendar until June there’s no real urgency but nevertheless the prospect of a second print-run brings up lots of questions like, should I …
– use a different paper? Something more creamy and bulky?
– add a tag line to the cover?
– add some reviews, either to the cover or inside? Except I don’t have any “big name” ones and maybe you have to be David Walliams to get away with listing reviews from kids … Thoughts/advice anyone?
– and finally, the critical question: how many copies should I get … ???
The first three questions can be struck off with a – no need to make a change just yet, best wait until Book 2 is ready for print because at that time I may need to make big cover changes and can also review the paper question. You know, don’t fix if it ain’t broke.
The ‘how many’ question is trickier because it’s about confidence … In the almost five months since launch I’ve sold close to 300 books and though this feels like a huge achievement, in the scheme of things, it’s a drip in the ocean. More to the point, my best bet on sales so far has been getting in front of kids either through visits or sales. But with only one event in the offing, plus looming summer break, the question becomes: can I sell another 300 books before Book 2 is ready (some time early 2016, maybe)? See what I mean? Not exactly oozing confidence here!
Of course, seen differently, if I weren’t such a fusspot, there’s actually no need to offset print at all – I could just get all my books through Print On Demand …
So … do I somehow get a confidence turbo-boost or … stop being a fusspot … ?
On balance, the sensible thing is to hold off making a decision until I’ve had another go-round of looking at what sales possibilities I can come up with over the next few months. Truth is, I’ve been totally preoccupied with preparing for World Book Day and Skype visits so have lost sight of other strategies … Guess it’s time to take stock of what to do next.
Next time posting I have another interview! This time with the awesome Benjamin Scott, former long-running SCBWI-BI ARA and co-author of adventure series Star Fighters, who is currently in the process of getting his YA novel The Song of Freiya out to publishers. I’m very much looking forward to hearing and learning from Ben’s experiences.
PS: I will never stop being a fusspot.
Thanks for reading!
Larisa
Hand me a Mirror! 
You’ve got the time, so yes, sit back and have a think. Or don’t think about it for a while. that usually works too.
Exactly! Let’s see how it goes. Especially as I’m well into writing now, which also requires time and brain power!
My thoughts: a tagline would be good. Reviews, from either adults or kids, would be cool, and I don’t think they have to be anything ‘big name’ as long as they’re genuine reviews, which they obviously would be. I don’t imagine the paper is terribly important as long as there’s nothing wrong with the paper you’ve currently got. Them’s my thoughts! You’ve done amazingly well! Keep going!