If the central buyers at Waterstone's or WHSmith select our green-covered book, Boris the Boastful Frog, then we'll have made a great start, but then there are all the little independent bookshops up and down the country that we need to reach too. We could do a few mass mail-shots and advertise in The Bookseller - and no doubt we will try this - but what we really need is the personal touch - a reputable sales company that will take on our list.
We've heard good reports from book shop owners about Bounce, which claims to represent '30 of the best children's publishers from the UK and beyond' so I emailed publishing manager Danielle Quinn to see if I could set up a meeting. Bounce may only offer us sales representation on a book-by-book basis, which is not ideal, but if they help us to sell a million then we won't complain.
I also called Roy Johnston at Aurum Publishing Group Children’s Books (APG-Kids), which now owns Frances Lincoln (producer of some beautiful children's books), and which sells on behalf of third-party companies.
Roy was one of the first people we met when we started up in publishing - at the time he worked at Ragged Bears (which went into administration this Feb) and we were thinking about using RB to distribute and sell our books and book rights. Back then, we decided not to go down the sales agent route.
Roy remembered us. He was very friendly and we've set up a meeting in London for May 14.
Talking of the personal touch, I decided to follow up yesterday's email with a visit to Sara at WHSmith in Guildford. (I was meeting two friends for coffee and needed an excuse to go into town). Sara was on the shop floor, carrying out an audit, but didn't seem too fazed by my unscheduled visit. I quickly showed her the book and she seemed to like it. Sara said that she'd give some thought as to how we could promote it - perhaps linking up with a couple of local schools that the branch had ties with.
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| For the last week, we've had the pleasure in hosting a student from a local school (Broadwater in Godalming) - as part of their work placement scheme. He provided excellent help throughout the week and hopefully he gained a good overview of publishing. He gave me these beautiful flowers as a thank you for his time here - but the thanks should really go to him. |
This blog describes the quest of a small independent publisher to sell one million copies of Boris the Boastful Frog to disprove the theory that a book with a green cover won't sell:
- Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)
- Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000
When trying to sell books (especially if we are to sell a million of Boris the Boastful Frog), then we must target the big high street names - Waterstone's and WHSmith.
Both select books for their branches centrally and the buyers will be choosing only a handful from the thousands being submitted each year. Statistically, the chances of being selected are pretty slim. The book buyer (quire rightly) will be looking out for new titles from Walker books, Frances Lincoln and other more established publishers and the worry is that our titles could just disappear amongst a pile of "others I may look at if I have the time". However I'm convinced that Boris the Boastful Frog is a strong story and I believe we're in with a good chance.
I tried a 'scatter gun' approach with WHSmith, emailing AI sheets for all the new titles and a low-res pdf of Boris to four names in the central team. Three bounced back, but the fourth reached the Head of Children's Books, who said she'd pass the info over to the Children's Picture Book Buyer, adding, 'If we think the books would work for our range, we'll be in touch'. Hmm... doesn't sound terribly promising, still fingers crossed that the Buyer likes them.
Waterstone's was a little easier. Once the Waterstone's grid had been updated (a spreadsheet detailing our titles), we posted off our latest four books, including Boris, directly to the relevant new title buyer. We now have only three advance copies of each left to last us until mid May so we'll need to use them wisely.
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| Books parcelled up and ready to go |
Both WHSmith and Waterstone's branches can stock books by local authors/illustrators, which in the case of
Boris meant contacting the shops in Bath (close to where Steve Cox the illustrator lives) and Guildford.
I emailed Sara, children's manager at the Guildford WHSmith, who in the past has been very supportive of us (as a local publisher). My contact at Guildford Waterstone's had moved on so I emailed the manager details of the book. I was assured that all staff read the 'manager@waterstones...' emails so I took the same approach in Bath.
WHSmith in Bath said that all buying decisions were made 'above' so nothing doing there. Instead, whilst I was in the area (metaphorically speaking), I called a couple of independent bookshops Topping Books and Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights. The children's book buyers at both were friendly and Victoria at Topping was keen that the illustrator (Steve Cox) signed a few copies should she like the book (I'm sure she will!)
Sadly, there are no independent bookshops in Guildford, but there is soon to be a Waitrose which may sell a few books. I emailed details of Boris and our other three new titles to the central children's buyer there too.
This blog describes the quest of a small independent publisher to sell one million copies of Boris the Boastful Frog to disprove the theory that a book with a green cover won't sell:
- Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)
- Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000
A good step towards selling a million books (and disproving the theory that a book with a green cover won't sell*) would be to persuade the supermarket chains to take the book as a stock item, so...
- I've emailed ASDA with the details of Boris (as well as our other three new titles). Asda's corporate colour is green so I'm hoping its buyers won't be put off by the cover.
- I've already emailed details of our latest books to Tesco and received a friendly response from Sophie Wood-Goulbourn, but she works with adults books, so I'm waiting to see if her colleague in the children's team will get back to me.
- On the advice of Alan Street at Gardners, I've drafted a letter to Morrisons children's book buyer. Morrisons doesn't give out buyers' email addresses so instead of emailing pdfs we've had to part with one of the only five advance copies of Boris in the country. It will be worth it, though, if the buyer likes the story.
- I've also already emailed Sainsbury's with details of the books and made a follow up phone call. I've been promised feedback, but so far I've heard nothing. I'm guessing that no news is bad news, but if I'm going to sell a million, I'll need to persevere.
- I ran out of steam so will try Waitrose tomorrow.
- Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)
- Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000
When I say 'green' books, I mean books with green-coloured covers, not books about recycling or saving the planet.
However this isn't my view, it's the view of Maverick's Steve Bicknell, who we met up with at the London Book Fair. Amidst our general chat about the plight of the independent book publisher, he came up with this bald statement in relation to one of our upcoming titles -
Boris the Boastful Frog (understandably a green book). His colleague Kimara pointed out that both
The Very Hungry Caterpillar and
The Gruffalo are green and, as we all know, have sold in the millions, but Steve was adamant that this colour was a no no.
Perhaps there's some truth in Steve's book-cover theory, but I like green and I like
Boris (the book not the frog) so it's a theory I'd like to disprove - and the way to disprove it? Sell a million copies of course.
So for the next few months I'll be using this blog to chart the attempts of a relatively unknown and very small children's book publisher to sell a million copies of a green book. If we succeed, we'll sit down with Steve and Kimara over a magnum of Champagne. And if we fail? The next edition of
Boris will feature a pink frog on the cover (and we'll be drinking shandy).
Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000
.png "Boris the Boastful Frog")
Good luck :)