The Post Box Topper Chronicles by Dawn Knox

 

How we came to publish this one

This started life as a CaféLit serial. This joins the three other ‘chronicle’ books by Dawn. The BasilwadeChronicles, The Macaroon Chronicles and The Crispin Chronicles        

The title

Indeed it is a collection of stories about a group of people who knit post box toppers. ‘Chronicle’ in the title ties it to the series.   

Some notes about the process

Texts are given a short copy-edit before they are loaded up to CaféLit. We pulled all of the stories together and the book was then designed. Thereafter come four proof reads:

1.      A technical proof-read of the camera ready text

2.      A proof read by the author

3.      A proof read by one of our editors

4.      A final technical proof read

The cover

Dawn herself commissioned all of the covers for this series. The artist Neill C Woods really understands the texts and captures the essence of them.   

Some notes about style

All of these books are quite quirky. The characters are slightly larger than life yet still rounded and believable.   

Who we think the reader is

These are entertaining to read. You will laugh quite possibly out loud. This is for people who like stories about villages and small towns but who also have a quirky sense of humour.   

What else

Dawn is a prolific writer and has produced much varied work. Do take a look at some of her other books as well. See her author page:

Review copies

It’s always great if you can buy the book and give us a review. Just click on the link to be taken to our bookshop. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free PDF or e-book file.

 

Grab your copy here.        

Is my book available through Gardner’s?

 

Gardner’s is the main wholesaler for the UK and also deals with some other European countries, notably the Republic of Ireland. All main retailers in the UK have a relationship with Gardner’s. Gardner’s can get our titles to retailers in three to five working days so in turn retailers can get books to customers, including libraries, in five to seven working days.

So, yes, our books are available through Gardner’s.

There are a few caveats here however:

Retailers can only get a 10% discount form Gardner’s, so though they will accept orders from a customer they tend not to stock books unless they have a relationship with the author and are arranging an event.

We do not accept returns. ‘Return’ actually means ’destroy’ and we consider that criminal. So, bookshops and Gardner’s themselves may be a little wary about stocking too many books.  We get round this for author events by getting the author to pick up any ‘returns’.

We use print on demand (POD) and proudly so.  More about that in an answer to another FAQ? So, a customer orders a book, the retailer raises the order with Gardner’s, Gardner’s informs our distribute Ingram’s who asks the printer to print it. Yes, this can all be done within three to five working days.  Do not let a retailer tell you any different.  

Our printer does huge print runs every few days for Gardner’s. Sometimes Gardner’s and some retailers – e.g.  Amazon take a punt on our books and keep a few in stock.

And I Said by Linda Morse

 

 

How we came to publish this one

Linda Morse was one of our winning authors in the first Waterloo Festival Writing Competition. As ever, we are often pleased to work with authors we have published in one of our anthologies. And Linda was offering something a little bit different: a collection of monologues.     

The title

Linda came up with the title ‘Just Sayin’ but we realised that Malorie Blackman had used that for her autobiography. There isn’t any copyright on titles but we considered it might have looked as if we were hitching a ride in the marketing process. ‘And I said’ is totally appropriate as the stories are about what Linda or her characters said. .    

Some notes about the process

This went through the normal three stages of editing:

·         A structural edit

·         A line edit

·         A proof read

As well, of course as the normal four proof reads.

The cover

Linda provided the photo for the cover.

Some notes about style

Each monologue is unique and the voice differs throughout.  

Who we think the reader is

These are entertaining to read, just as you might read pieces of flash fiction, though they are a little longer. They are of course also very good read out loud. They may be of interest to drama groups.    

What else

Linda is very happy for you to use her work without asking permission. Do let her know though and if possible she will come and watch. And send photos and news about the event in any case.  

Review copies

It’s always great if you can buy the book and give us a review. Just click on the link to be taken to our bookshop. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free PDF or e-book file.

 

Grab your copy here.        

 

 

Why doesn’t my book generate the same amount of income for every sale?

There are several reasons for this:

1.       Prices go up and we don’t always change the RPP immediately.

2.       Exchange rate varies so although we fix an RRP for each currency the actual amount we get varies according to the exchange rate.

3.       Our printer sometimes reduces prices.

4.       There is a variance in wireless costs when sending e-books.

5.       We have to allow retailer 35% discount and 40% in the US. When we sell directly with a shop we have to pay shipping. When books go through our distributor we don’t.

6.       The biggest profits are made on large orders from authors.

7.       Prices have to be neat – so there isn’t a set percentage profit.

8.       Shipping rates can vary. Sometimes they are reduced if our printer is sending other books to the same outlet.       

Saint Ettie’s Music School

 

 

How we came to publish this one

Martin approached us with this story, It wasn’t yet quite ready for publication so he worked with a couple of our developmental editors before it then went through our normal editorial process.   

The title

Yes, it’s a story about a music school.

Some notes about the process

This went through the normal three stages of editing:

·         A structural edit

·         A line edit

·         A proof read

As well, of course as the normal four proof reads.

The cover

This was a composite picture using copyright-free material including one of Martin’s own photos. The main concept was Martin’s own. Our designer worked with him to get this exactly right.    

Some notes about style

This has an old-fashioned voice which is one of the main features of the text.

Who we think the reader is

Although we’ve published this under our Red Telephone imprint this may well be enjoyed by an adult reader who likes some nostalgia.

What else

The quirky point has to be the talking musical instruments. Curious? Then take a look at the book.   

Review copies

It’s always great if you can buy the book and give us a review. Just click on the link to be taken to our bookshop. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free PDF.

 

Grab your copy here.        

Contract up? Do Not Fret

 

There will be a termination clause in your contract. Most of the times we give the rights back to you after three years from publication date but some contracts vary. However, we’re very reluctant to take books completely out of print unless the author wants it.

When we license your rights, it is for that particular book.  So, if it’s a collection of short stories, and you have one about a banana boat, and suddenly there is a call for stories about banana boats, yes its’s fine to send that story to the call. Chances are anyway you’ll re-edit it  so in fact it’s not the same story anyway. Of course bad practice would be to submit the book that we’d carefully edited and designed to Penguin Random before the termination time. We would me a little miffed.

So, when the three years is up (or whatever time is on the contract), what can we do?

Basically, we’ll keep it in print unless you tell us to take it down.  

You may have moved on so much, as a writer, that you no longer want the book in print. We can then pull it totally. Your choice!

A couple of comments on social media

 

Sadly, I’ve left Twitter.  My account is still there but I’m doing nothing with it. Twitter was always my favourite social media platform. However, I can no longer interact with it because of who owns it and which regime he belongs to. So, I’ve moved over to @gillj.bsky.social. Do come and find me there. I’ve left 4000 followers and I’m slowly building up on this platform – currently I have 241 followers and I’ve posted 197 times. Hopefully it will be different by the time you go and look. In many ways I’m enjoying the slow build up and now that I am older and wiser I’m taking a little more care about who I interact with and how I interact. I’m recognising some old friends and gaining some new ones.  

It isn’t a miracle cure. The same issues are still there that are on all social media platforms. Annoyingly many people‘s profile descriptions are rather vague. But there are a lot of Twitter refugees there and they behave very well on the whole. They are a critical mass.     

I wonder a little whether it will affect how visible all my enterprises are but here’s a thing: CaféLit has had over 129,000 hits in December – and that’s with me no longer linking to stories from the Facebook page.

Having said that, I think I’ve cracked how to make references to the e-zine acceptable. If I’m already on the Facebook page when I link from Blogger, Facebook doesn’t seem to mind so much.

So, we’re visible.