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Can someone please point us in the right direction

Hello, yesterday Hugh My Husband had his first book signing. What a complete wast of our time. I felt like screaming out in the shop . We went self publishing and have lost so much money . I know that we have to try things out but we are learning. The sad thing is that Hugh has got another childrens book in the pipeline, but we cant afford to self publish again.If anyone lives in the uk and has gone self publishing I would like to hear your views on this. This wednesday Hugh will be on southern counties radio at 16.45 pm and they have got a guest speaker, from Random house. so we are keeping things crossed that this will help us even more.Regards AmandaHarrison

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I do not live in the UK but I have a web site with a lot of information about promoting your book (s). There is marketing information/opportunities plus many resources from other sites. I also have a free download of my publishing experience. My current book is published by Infinity Publishing and I have learned much about promoting myself and my writing. I would be glad to help you in anyway I can. You can contact me through this network or my web site. I wish you luck.
Hello Dennis, Thank-you for your email. Yes please can you please give us your links to this. I am really trying to Help my poor Hugh, as he has worked so hard and we feel at a loss . I hope that it will pick up. Regards Amanda Harrison
Amanda,

My web site address is www.myqualitywriting.com On the page there is a link to free downloads. Hope this helps.
I know the feeling. Book signings need to be promoted and you can't rely on the bookstore to the promotion for you. Having a newspaper feature before the book signing can attract more participants.
god bless you,
Ariadne
Hi Ariadne, Thank-you for your reply. I am in the screaming mood today. I could weep for Hugh, We had a book signing and no one turned up despite the fact that I had put leaflets in the papers and sent them to local schools. Here in uk people are very odd indeed. And unless one has an agent they are not helpful at all. But we hope with world book day that might help us a little. regards Amanda Harrison
HI, Amanda. Here's an aggressive marketing tactic for you. It will require a bunch of work on your part, but if you can tap into this source, it could be a big boon to your book.

CBS ran an interesting story on the weekly news magazine CBS Sunday Morning, about how American grey squirrels are overrunning native, British red squirrels. The article discussed the eradication methods going on in Great Britain to resolve the problem.

If you can somehow tie into the organization in Great Britain that is leading the efforts to save the red squirrels, you may be able to offer your book as a promotional item to their cause. They may want to give a copy of your book to every donor who contributes to their cause, for example.

You may also want to check with CBS News in the United States to see if that article they ran yesterday is available on YouTube or some other video source.

Good luck and good selling.
Hi Bill, Thank-you for your email. We have got world book day coming up and all children in schools are given a £1 book token to spend in shops eg bookshops.So we are hoping that our book will be listed with WH Smiths and hope it will pick up. Also Hugh, is doing a live on air radio interview and they have got Random house coming so hope that he will get the help as well.Anyway fingers crossed. But its really annoying as Hugh and I have put a lot of work into this. But then many people are not buying at the moment.Not being able to drive this doesnt help at all. Regards Amanda Harrison
Hi, Amanda. Time for a little "tough love." Hope is not a strategy. Hoping WH Smith will pick up your book won't get it done. What concrete steps are you taking to make sure WH Smith knows of your book and will want to stock it? Furthermore, even if they do stock it, what steps are you taking to make sure the children with the £1 book token will want to buy your book? Fingers crossed is good, but it doesn't insure success.

Focus on things you can do to make your book a success. Look outside the bookstore distribution chain. Consider other distribution channels such as the aforementioned red squirrel preservation society.

Have you, or Hugh, taken the book to grade schools to read to the children? What feedback have children given you on the story? The pictures? Parents and grandparents buy your book, but it's the children who will ask for it so the parents and grandparents buy it.
Hello, Bill, Thank-you for your email. This afternoon, Hugh, is on our local BBC RADIO STATION.aND RANDOM House will be there so Hugh will hopefully get some sound advice.I have sent a copy of Rufus to a local prep school to one of the masters there so hopefully he will read it out to the children and we might generate a few sales. Who knows.Oue local WH Smiths are sending out our leaflets as well to the schools as well. Thank-you for your advice regards Mrs amanda Harrison
HI Amanda ,
I am Padma here . You can contact Indian children publishers
or ask prominent newspaper for reviews. Foreign authors are more
welcome than Indian authors here or you can try self publishing here
so many avenues are there . And we have a lot of friends in this site here
to help and guide
padma
Hi,
I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with your book. First, I'd like to say (if it is any comfort) you are not alone by any means. I'm glad you took the steps to go forward and got it at least this far. You should be proud of that.

As for advice, here are some thoughts:

1. Even if you do get a traditional publisher to pick up the book, you need to be aware that your role in promotion is far from over. Traditional publishers will do some, but the burden is mostly on the author, and they won't give you money to do this. They may provide some materials but that's about it.

Also know that with many trad publishers, you have about 6 months to be successful/sell a good amount of books. They are in business to make money, so they move on to the next book and author relatively quickly. That could be as much or more stressful than doing it on your own. Just wanted you to be aware as it sounds like your thought is that things will be much easier if you go traditional.

2. An good source of marketing ideas of course is John's (the host of this site) 1001 Ways book. In addition, I'd recommend The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn-Howard Johnson. Find out more at howtodoitfrugally.com.
Both of these wonderful people also offer free newsletters so you could subscribe to those as well.

3. I'm not clear whether you truly self-published (formed your own publishing company) or if you are with a subsidy publisher (most of whom say you self-publish through them). Also, is your book available on Amazon? Anyone can set that up.

4. It's almost impossible to market anything now without a website. If you can't set one up, there are no cost ways to do it. Set up a Ning space like this one or you could also start a blog (I like Blogger.com) Once you have a space like this as someone else brought up, you need to talk about a specific topic, maybe squirrels, or if you have a theme/lesson in the book, focus on giving people more information about that.

5. Article marketing and submitting articles as a freelance writer are no cost ideas as well.

I'll also be posting some marketing tips in new my blog and newsletter. Find me at www.publishinganswers.com if you'd like.


I hope this has been some help to you.

God Bless,
Why not start a blog with a link to buy your book? The book cover is very attractive. I hope children will like the story and it will sell like hot cake after sometime.

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