This week, I chat to Amanda Jones, Gail Aldwin, and, aptly, finish the series by talking with my publisher, Gill James.
Gill, like Richard Hardie, sees the writing life from both sides of the fence as an author and publisher. She is the creative force behind Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, and Chapeltown Books.
First up this week, Amanda Jones.
Amanda Jones
1. What book(s) did you launch in 2020?
I launched my illustrated book Croc-a-beest and enjoyed writing short stories about my late Mum which are being published on CafeLit.
2. How did you do this?
Croc-a-beest was launched online through Facebook with links on my website and YouTube channel.
3. Why did you pick those options?
Lockdown has limited launches and opportunities and restricted my ability to reach readers. Normally I would approach local book shops and run a market stall with my books and arts and crafts to make sales.
4. How do you think these events went?
They were limited due to the reach of such online events. Marketing online involves such a lot of work and you have to keep at it. Unfortunately my disability also limits time and effort but I enjoy my writing and will keep on. I’ve also started recording my poetry on YouTube which is fun.
5. What have you missed most about not being able to hold signings etc in the usual way?
I miss the face-to-face contact and chance to talk to people. Conversation on Zoom is not as fluid and a new etiquette has to be learned.
6. What have you learned from your experiences here?
Online activity and Zoom sessions have made a whole world more accessible to me.
7. Name one top tip based on your experience of your launch(es) in 2020.
Keep marketing, marketing, marketing!
Allison: Excellent advice, pandemic or not!
Author Bio
Amanda has been writing since childhood and along with short stories she writes her Missy Dog charity series, poetry, non-fiction and horror. You can find her here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandababerauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanda_jones_aka_baber_author
Website: http://amandababerauthor.wordpress.com/
Book Link
And now for Gail Aldwin, who launched a children’s picture book in the last few months. I had the privilege of being a beta reader for this. The book is great fun!
Gail Aldwin
1. Which book did you launch in 2020?
Pandemonium is a children’s picture book for youngsters aged 2–7 years and is beautifully illustrated by Fiona Zechmeister. The story is about Peta, who doesn’t look like other pandas in the toy department because of her purple coat. This provides camouflage and enables her to get up to mischief. When an assistant spots Peta this puts an end to her tricks. Peta must learn more about herself … but does this stop Peta’s fun? Of course not!
Pandemonium is absolutely delightful!
Peta the panda is stuffed full of fun and young ones will adore her.
Wendy White, Tir na n-Og Award Winner
The beautiful illustrations are full of movement and excitement,
and the joyous story will appeal to young children and their parents.
Liz Poulain, children’s author and illustrator
2. How did you do this?
The launch for Pandemonium was developed with Katie Gough, the sales and marketing assistant at Victorina Press. It involved three elements: pre-release activities, the launch and post launch follow-up.
Pre-release
• Articles about writing and illustrating a children’s picture book were pitched to a range of online and print journals.
• Bloggers were appointed to join a blog tour.
• Early reviewers were approached.
• Teaser photos of a purple panda up to mischief were posted on social media #PetaGetsCaught.
• Press releases were sent to local media outlets.
Launch
• Blog tour reviews were posted on Amazon during launch day along with feedback from early reviewers.
• A Twitter competition to win a box of House of Dorchester rose and violet creams and a copy of Pandemonium was promoted on Twitter. (The confectionery was chosen to complement Peta’s coat!).
• Photos of Peta were scheduled on Twitter for release throughout launch day with purchase links
• All those who reached out to support the publication of Pandemonium were tagged in Facebook posts and on Twitter.
• A post on my blog, The Writer is a Lonely Hunter, celebrated the launch.
• Articles were published in the following publications during the book launch week Female First, Books by Women, Big Indie Books, Emotionally Healthy Kids.
• A video with children reading and asking questions about Pandemonium was posted on the Victorina Press YouTube channel and on Facebook.
• Interviews with local radio stations were conducted over the telephone.
Post launch follow-up
• Fiona and I participated in a recorded interview with Katie where the highpoints and pitfalls of working in collaboration were discussed. This was published on the Victorina Press YouTube page and on Facebook.
• Reviews and interviews continue to be published on blogs and websites.
• Pandemonium has been entered for several competitions including The English Association Book Awards and Little Rebels.
3. Why did you pick those options?
Without the possibility of face-to-face contact, I turned to online links to launch Pandemonium. Building on previous promotion and marketing opportunities established at the launch of my debut novel, The String Games, I secured articles in online publications.
It seemed sensible to consolidate and build upon these links. I also approached new book bloggers who focus on children’s books and pitched article ideas to mummy bloggers.
I’ve noticed other authors have celebrated the release of their latest publication through online launches on social media. While I’ve enjoyed attending such events, I didn’t think this was the right approach for a children’s picture book. For one thing, I would need to have children in the audience and reaching out to youngsters is problematic.
4. How do you think these events went?
I was pleased with the success rate in pitching articles to online journals and blogs. It’s always great to see my writing presented amongst authors I admire. Some publications also go to great lengths to present articles beautifully and I particularly appreciate the work of Big Indie Press.
5. What have you missed most about not being able to hold signings etc in the usual way?
The book launches I’ve held for my previous publications have provided the opportunity for a party. I love inviting friends and family as well as fellow writers and readers, to say thank you for their support. Organising the canapés and drinks is also fun! Books signings, where you can speak directly with readers are rewarding. I’ve missed these face-to-face encounters.
6. What have you learned from your experiences here?
It’s important to approach online journals and book bloggers early as some are booked six months in advance. I’m also getting better at thinking of pitches to interest a range of publications. After the book is launched, I need to continue promoting and marketing Pandemonium to ensure it attracts new readers.
7. Name one top tip based on your experience of your launch in 2020
Be prepared for things to go wrong! One of the bloggers on my tour dropped out at short notice because of Covid caring responsibilities. An article wasn’t published on the agreed day due to an email going missing. I’ve learnt not to fret and instead focus on enjoying the experience.
Author Bio
Gail Aldwin is a novelist, poet and scriptwriter. Her debut novel, The String Games, was a finalist in The People’s Book Prize and the DLF Writing Prize 2020. Her first children’s picture book, Pandemonium, was published in 2020.
Gail regularly appears at literary and fringe festivals. Prior to Covid-19, Gail volunteered at Bidibidi in Uganda, the second largest refugee settlement in the world. Her home overlooks water meadows in Dorset where she works on her second novel for adults, This Much Huxley Knows. Using a seven-year-old boy to narrate, the novel explores friendship and community tensions during the Brexit referendum.
Purchase link: – Pandemonium
Now to wrap up the series by chatting to Gill James.
Gill James
1. What book(s) did you launch in 2020?
I haven’t launched any of my own books this year though I did have two stories in one of the anthologies we launched. I have one or two things out with publishers and some are queuing to perhaps be launched by the imprints I manage.
But Bridge House, Chapeltown and CafeLit have published between them seventeen books this year, with two more out before the end of the year, and another two planned for January 2021. Even if we hadn’t had Covid-19 we would have pushed to attend that many launches. Normally we would have had a physical celebration event in London on 5 December.
2. How did you do this?
This year we did the celebration event on Zoom.
3. Why did you pick those options?
My U3A group and my NWR are using Zoom quite a bit. My choir meets three times a week on Zoom. I still do a little for the University of Salford where I used to work. They use something very similar to Zoom.
I began to realise you replicate a lot of what you do in a face-to-face event. There are a few things you can’t do. But this is balanced out by there being some extra things that are possible on Zoom – such as screen-sharing, using the white board, having the chat running parallel with the session, and recording the session.
I upgraded to a professional account when I did some work for Bury Art Museum. Now, I’ve attended book launches in Florida and been to events run by NWR, the Society of Authors and NAWE I wouldn’t normally have been able to attend. And it was great having overseas attendees and people from remoter parts of the UK at our recent event.
4. How do you think these events went?
I was very pleased with them. I held two other events for writers in the year. One was for short story writers and one was for people who write in about the 1940s. I also held a marketing event and a meeting for our editors. Of course, the technology sometimes lets people down and I even had a strange moment in our recent event. But on the whole I’ve been pleased. I have more planned for 2021.
5. What have you missed most about not being able to hold signings etc in the usual way?
Networking and just chatting is harder. I substituted this with having people create giveaways and digital business cards. I’m looking at the break-out rooms option and even putting a mini-conference together online.
6. What have you learned from your experiences here?
That much is possible online and now we intend to offer on release of books a Zoom launch that we’ll host. Even when things are back to normal I’ll carry on using this for some events, running them alongside physical ones. They will be slightly different in nature.
7. Name one top tip based on your experience of your launch(es) in 2020.
Use something like Eventbrite – and I recommend Eventbrite, even if your event is free – to control your bookings. Don’t paste your Zoom or other link out publically. You may get trolls. Put the link in the response to your Eventbrite invite. This is easy to do. Eventbrite sends out automatic reminders. You can also email your attendees easily, even after the event.
This was our programme for our celebration event:
2.00 – opening – chat and welcome – then mute mics
2.05 Each writer was asked to bring along an object that represented one of their stories. Five were invited to present them (These were the first five on my screen) The rest put a note in the Chat.
2.25 News – this was done as Power Point. We talked about what our new submissions manager, the books we’d published, what we’re doing about awards, how we are marketing CafeLit, good reviews
2.40 quiz – abut the books we’ve launched this year.
3.10 Readings by some of our published authors. This wasn’t limited to what we’ve published or what had been published this year. The audience commented in the chat.
3.40 and finally came the announcement of what next years’ anthology will be.
Allison: I was at the celebration event. It was great fun. I gave a reading and there was a great turn out for the event. With my ACW hat on briefly, our Zoom events have attracted people who could not get to our usual live events so there is much to be said for online work.
Conclusion
A huge thank you to all of my marvellous guests over the last few weeks. From Authors Reach, the Association of Christian Writers, the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and Bridge House Publishing/CafeLit/Chapeltown Books, the wealth of experiences shared here has been amazing.
It is interesting to see the frustrations of lockdown are the same. We are all missing the interaction you have with readers at live events. We can all also see the advantages of Zoom. We want to end up with having the best of both worlds and hopefully in time we can.
After all when I was beginning to get this series together, the first vaccine had just been announced. As this last section is published in early February, there are or will be three different vaccines and many of the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable and others such as key workers in the NHS have either been vaccinated or are close to being so. This is encouraging. Time moves on. Developments to combat disease also move on. That in turn helps us all.
It is also our best hope of resuming any normal life, including writing events. A lot of cross-fertilization of ideas occurs in writing. For one thing, we are all inspired by authors whose works we love. But it can also help with marketing.
Writers pick up ideas from each other all the time and ultimately the winner here is the reader. Why? Because we’re finding different ways of getting good books out to you lovely people. Even Covid is not going to stop that altogether.
It is a case now of hanging on in there. Good luck, everyone, for the rest of 2021 and beyond. I hope the writers taking part will be encouraged in knowing we’re all in the same boat but have also found ways of still getting our words out there in challenging circumstances. That is something, I think, we can all rightly be proud about.
Books have proved to be a lifeline for so many during such a difficult year and I know all of the writers taking part in this series will be pleased about that. When you physically cannot go anywhere, you can still escape cares for a while through the pages of a book.
And yes we will carry on writing, publishing, and promoting them, regardless of Covid. And that is how it should be.
Now we just want to see the back of Covid and say hello to our readers in person again soon.
Related Posts:-
Travelling by Bus around the World and Inspirational Flash Fiction – Introducing Gail Aldwin
Writing Tips and Character Creation: Interview with Gail Aldwin Part 2
Life as a Small Publisher: Allison Symes Talks to Gill James
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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Jim Bates says
Hi Allison! This was a wonderfully informative series. Thank you so much for putting it together. I’ve got all the episodes saved in a folder on my laptop for future reference.
Thanks again and here’s wishing you good health and much happiness the rest of 2021!
Allison Symes says
Many thanks, Jim, and good luck with your future launches.