Hints for authors from Waterstones' Martin Latham

by Teri Terry

 

Martin Latham is the longest serving Waterstones Manager, having been appointed by legendary entrepreneur and founder, Tim Waterstone. He has authored 130 entries in the Oxford Guide to English Literature, and regularly features in the Bookseller. If that isn't enough, he somehow found the time to start a highly successful writing group at his Canterbury Branch, and author a few books himself. 

Martin recently came to speak to the Chiltern Writers on getting your book featured in a bookstore and how to promote it. I was there, pen in hand. Slated is out in 44 days, after all...not that I'm counting. So any tricks of the trade I can learn are very welcome! I even broke my usual 'don't sit in the front row' rule in the aid of accurate blogging. More amazingly I not only remembered to take my camera along, I also remembered to use it.


Canterbury Waterstones opened in 1990. Since then employees have included Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell; Hollyoaks script writer and author Matt Evans; James Henry, co-author of scripts for Bob the Builder, Smack the Pony and many others; and an ever growing list of literary notables (more here). 

Neil Gaiman: sigh....

And the building has history: a Roman bathhouse floor and medieval wall in the basement, and what is believed to be the oldest working escalator between London and Paris. Past author events have included Bill Bryson, Nigella Lawson, and Neil Gaiman. I'm sure the authors I picked to name say something about me: more examples are given here and it is quite a list. Children's authors along have been J.K. Rowling (for book 2), Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Louis Sachar and Michael Morpugo. WOW.

Looking at the names might make a new author nervous: can we get our foot in a door like this? Should we even try?

Martin's answer is YES. Local authors are particularly welcome. And this is in part due to this:

The biggest change in the book trade in the 20th Century? Publishers aren't in charge anymore. 

Martin says the balance has changed. In years gone by, publishers would tell them what books they were going to stock and how many of them they were going to get in. Not so anymore. 

Top tips for getting yourself and your book in your local bookstore:

• no stalking allowed: booksellers are stressed and hard-pressed. Email the manager first. Follow it up if you don't hear back, arrange to go in and give them a copy of your book or proof
• NEVER bother them in December. They're busy
• don't be too pushy; always be professional
• manners count: be nice to the staff. Hearing that an author was rude to employees will not make a manager favorably disposed to you or your book
• make fliers on your book to be placed near the till: they'll generally take them!

Top tips on bookstore events:

• signing sessions don't work unless you are famous: you need to stage an event. Give a talk, or hold a launch party. Also note that you may not manage to persuade press to come along, but if you send them a report with photos, they may very well report on the event
• plan at least 2 months in advance: booksellers need that kind of notice
• readings are not always the best idea: unless the author can read with dramatic flair, they may fall flat

I'd love to tell you some of Martin's author anecdotes, but I couldn't possibly. It would be horribly indiscreet. Suffice it to say that not drinking wine before giving an event sounds like a very, very good idea

The Book of Never Letting Go

by Addy Farmer

So here it is. Finished. For some weird reason, I'm almost ashamed to admit that the manuscript for my 12 plus novel has been 9 years in the making and began taking shape soon after my youngest was born. However, before you decide that I must have been carving it out a word at a time, I would point out that, no, I hadn't been working on it the whole time.

I would have exploded after three years give or take.

I did manage to write other stuff and even get stuff published but the kernal of this particular story always stayed with me. So, in the interests of my sanity I thought I'd take you on a condensed journey and maybe follow it as it trundles on its way to publication and massive acclaim or... not.

At the beginning I got a great crit In Public from an editor from Penguin.
  

Who cares! I've learned to enjoy giving and receiving crit!

Then in the middle I had an exciting squeal-worthy thumbs up from Chicken House...

...before it was turned down.

I still hung on in there because I loved it and a little while later I found Cornerstones. I've been working with the wonderful Kathyrn Robinson for about two years now. Again, NOT all the time because she does have other things to do apparently. The ms had been back and forth three times before the time came to send it out for what felt like a final letting go.

Sometimes it's easier to travel in hope than to arrive

 
Tricky.  Doubt crept in accompanied by worry and yet more doubt. It wouldn't be good enough - all my love and all that support and all that work, just wouldn't be enough. I didn't want to let this story go without a struggle. It was easier to keep it and look at it again and again and again because writing, 'The End' felt a bit too final. There was always time for just one last look...

The basics - is that story arc working? The End. Well, I like the way it starts, nice and punchy with that big 'T'. It's firm, it's manly and it stomps into the beginning. The 'h', I'm not so sure about. It's wibbles about after that strong beginning and then there's the disaster of the repititious 'e'. Then it ginds to a massive halt until... oh my Lord where did that capital 'E' come from? E! All my rising tension gone! Then jumping down to that teeny rubbish, 'n' that's meant to herald the climax which it doesn't by the way. Then the 'd' which I like.

So perhaps something like this...

Tenehd


Okay, maybe one more teensy look. Yep, thought so, it's too boring now, it's predictable. That ending, there's no real twist. If I just do this...

Tenedh

Is that beginning right for the end now? There's no reflection of my unpredictable ending now in the beginning. So maybe if I just do this...

tenedh

Oh but now it's all the same! I've flattened everything. I'll just...

tenedh

It's too long...

ten

too short...

tenedhnedet

too boring...

tenedhnedet

Waaaa. Calm down.
Do I love this story? Do I love my characters? Is it the best I can possibly make it? Yes. It's in the hands of someone I trust and now I will wait (and do other stuff).  

The End.

Scattered authors on a murder weekend - but what about the ticking tomato?

By Tim Collins
Guest Blogger

Orton Hall was the scene of the Scattered Authors Society's 25 to 26 Feb conference 

As we approached Orton Hall near Peterborough for the Scattered Authors Society conference, Jacob Sager Weinstein pointed out that the venue looked like the setting for a murder weekend. Fortunately, he meant ‘murder weekend’ in the sense of Agatha Christie rather than Saw or Hostel.

In fact, it soon turned out that a murder had been committed. But who was responsible?

Lee Weatherly

Was it Lee Weatherly? No, though her presentation on editing did provide some gripping revelations. One thing I notice whenever editing is discussed is how many writers say they agree to all their editor’s changes and believe they’re unusual for doing so.

Perhaps we’re all so desperate to avoid the ‘difficult author’ tag we overcompensate. And yet whenever editors are polled, they consistently say they don’t want us to change everything. They might not wish we called them at midnight to talk about semi-colons more often, but neither do they want us to blindly take on their suggestions if they’re going to harm the book. If we unquestioningly alter everything, we could give the impression that we don’t care enough about the finished work.

Interesting stuff. But it got us no closer to finding out the perpetrator of the heinous crime. Could it have been Anne Rooney, Sue Mongredien, Penny Dolan or Karen Ball?

No, they were too busy enlightening us on the various ways children’s authors can earn a living from their craft. As everyone you’ve ever met at a dinner party knows, writing for kids is highly lucrative, so you might not think there was much need for this.

But for those few unfortunate souls who don’t get regular six figure advances, this panel revealed useful information on ghostwriting, book packaging and school visits. These income streams are getting harder to come by, but they can still be a vital part of writing full time.

Neither was the murder committed by anyone on the brilliant panel ‘The Ups and Downs of a Writer’s Life’. These accounts of professional triumphs and drawbacks have become something of a tradition at SAS events, and they’re always hugely popular. The only thing harder than getting published is staying published, and finding out how others have coped with the inevitable challenges is invaluable. From the heartache of getting your beloved series dropped to the sophomore blues, there are writers who’ve been through it before you.

Joy Court

Back to the suspect list. Was it librarian Joy Court, who gave her impassioned take on children’s books and children’s book prizes? Was it elite tweeter Nicola Morgan, who showed us how to build an online platform?

No, the full details of the murder only emerged in Jacob Sager Weinstein’s talk on Sunday morning.

Jacob Sager Weinstein

It turned out that the victim was our productivity and the guilty parties were Twitter, Facebook and blogs like this. That’s right, readers! The killer has been right in front of you all along!

Sager Weinstein’s session started as an entertaining look at ways to beat procrastination and ended as an encounter group on web addiction. I was amazed at how many authors have taken to disabling their wi-fi connection or using a net-blocking app like Freedom or Anti-Social.

Some have even dabbled in the Pomodoro Technique, a severe time management method involving a ticking tomato.




Not to be confused with the Ludovico Technique, a much gentler form of therapy involving a clockwork orange.

Ludovico Technique

But someone must be getting something done, because the publications table was buckling under the weight of all the picture books, series fiction, middle grade, teen and YA that SAS members have produced in the past year.

The table will no doubt strain once more when the SAS return to Peterborough next year. For now, our thanks go out to Linda Chapman and Julie Sykes for organising an enjoyably packed conference.

Tim Collins

Tim Collins won the 2011 Manchester City Fiction Award for his book Diary of a Wimpy Vampire: The Undead Have Feelings Too. His latest book is Adventures of a Wimpy Werewolf: Hairy But Not Scary