My new five-a-day

Just after The Incomers contract was signed I was given the advice that I should try to sell as many books as I could in the first two months after publication.   I abandoned my fiction writing at the beginning of the year, three months before publication, to become my own publicist.  I made phone calls,  my publisher sent out review copies of the book, I wrote articles.  It was almost a full time job.  

I thought after The Incomers was launched it could be left alone for a while to sail in the safe waters of my hard labours from the pre-publication months.  I imagined I could get back to fiction writing, to what I wanted to do.  But after one month on the market I realise I am deluding myself.  

The sales have been good in the first month but I now know that the pressure needs to continue until the bow wave of word of month begins.  I find that I am not satisfied unless I have done something to help nudge the sales along.  I have put too much work into the project to leave sales to the chance that the reviews and articles deliver.

Yet I still want to write fiction.  I have another project I am excited about. I don't want that enthusiasm to die. I am a writer not a publicist.

So in the same way as I sometimes set myself goals for writing I now set myself goals for publicity.  

Every day I must do five things to sell my book.  I could be something as simple as making five phone calls or sending five emails but I must do five somethings every day.  Once they are done I am free to write and research.

Yesterday I made a couple of phone calls, sent an email and made a couple of posts in Linkedin.  The results are that I now have two book signings in the diary, a firm yes for a magazine review and three kindle sales.

I may run out of ideas on the five a day but as long as I keep coming up with new ways to sell the book I will keep to my five a day regime.

And this blog post counts as one of today's 'fives'.

Work Life Balance - Fife

Tayport - The beginning of the Fife Coastal Walk

It seemed like madness to go on holiday a week after my book was launched.  The advice given to all debut novelists is to try to sell as many books as possible in the first two months after publication.  But Easter has always been a holiday for me and I have other things going on in my life.


Wife

Colin has supported me throughout the book launches; taking time off work to ferry me around and spending many hours videoing and editing youtube clips.  He deserved a break.
We booked a small cottage in Kingskettle, a little village in the centre of Fife. The cottage was no more than a converted garage nestled into the banking of the main Edinburgh to Aberdeen railway line. Some would have found the constant buzz of trains annoying but I found it comforting.
We drove there on Thursday night to give us a good start on Friday.


Coastal Walker 

Sea Defenses at Tentsmuir

The Fife Coastal path traces the coast of Fife from the Tay Bridge to the Kincardine Bridge.  We walked the first part from the Tay and around Tentsmuir. The sky was overcast but it was dry when we left the carpark.  Tentsmuir is an amazing forest of pines teetering on the edge of sand dunes. Remnants of sea defenses from WWII reminded me how vulnerable this island was. After about ten miles of walking we caught the bus back to the car and were soon rewarded with a G&T in our cottage outdoor hot tub. A hot tub we were assure by the owner was not visible from the train!  I have my doubts.


Author

Book Signing - Waterstones St Andrews

 Easter Saturday was a work day for me.  St Andrews was jumping with tourists, students and locals and I am pleased to say many visited Waterstones and bought my book.  The store staff were delightful and I was happy to add sixteen more sales to their tally that day.  I clocked off at three and headed for Anstruther for a famous chip tea at the Wee Chippy, one of the best fish and chips shops in the world.


Granny

Help I'm being strangled

Easter Sunday was a family day and Cairnie Fruit Farm, just north of Cupar, is my family's favorite.  The Easter Bunny met us and we spent the day trampolining, Easter egg hunting and much merry making.

Saved by a toddler

Hillwalker

Falkland and Fife fields in the rain

No holiday is complete without a hillwalk. A short, steep pull up East Lomond on the way home worked off the weekend excesses and reminded me that Fife is a fabulous county with much to offer.

It was blustery on the top but I could still make out the Forth to the south and the Tay to the north and the wonderful patchwork of agriculture that makes the view unique.

Job Done

The Incomers First Outing

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of appearing at the Glasgow Aye Write Book Festival.  I previewed my forthcoming novel The Incomers to a welcoming audience of about seventy.  The event was a combination of readings from the novel and a dramatization of 'The Pairty Line'.

The novel tells the story of Ellie, a young Black African who comes to live in a Scottish mining village in 1966. It draws deep parallels between the cultures of West Africa and Scotland. As well as dealing with racial prejudice, the novel also touches on colonial oppression, bigotry, bullying, class and depression.  The Pairty Line is a device I used to give the villagers a voice.

In this extract Ellie finds out about the Penny for the Black Baby - a form of charity used in Scottish schools for decades before it was abolished in the late 1960's.

The Incomers from Colin Baird on Vimeo.

Sponsorship for Writers

Why have one book launch when you can have three?

Because I can't stay in one place for long I have friends and family all over Scotland.  When my book is launched at the end of this month I will have my first book launch in Glasgow. The city where I lived and worked for ten years, the city I have made my literary home.

The second will be in Dunfermline. Fife was my home for thirty five years, is the setting for The Incomers and is still home to my family.

The third will be in Stirling.  I now live in Stirlingshire and have many friends, old and new, living there.

Publishers like book launches.  They generate a good crowd and good sales, but three?

Was there a risk of over exposure and who was going to buy all that wine?

I am not too worried about the over exposure, the areas are quite separate, but I wanted an angle for the Dunfermline launch.  I wanted people in Fife to know about the book.  I wanted publicity. I wanted wine at the launch.   So I struck on the idea of sponsorship.

Many years ago I worked for CR Smith Glaziers, a well know Dunfermline employer.  Thomas Crielly, the artist who designed my book cover also worked there.  Two amateur actresses will act out part of the story at the launches and one of the actresses, Kay, worked there too.

Quite a nice connection I thought.  So I wrote to Gerard Eadie, the Chairman of CR Smith, reintroduced myself to him after fifteen years and proposed that he sponsor the event.   I was delighted when he agreed to pay for the drinks reception at the launch.  On the strength of that story I could and did confidently contact the local and regional press and am assured of some publicity.  All I did in return was to display their logo on my invites.  Win/Win.

Unfortunately due to a family commitment Mr Eadie is unable to attend the launch but a few of his management team will come along with many members of staff who knew the launch trio way back then.   

I would urge all writers to try asking for sponsorship.  Businesses normally have some money set aside for sponsorship and if you don't ask you won't get.

Writers who holiday

- never switch off.

I remember in one early creative writing class a full time writer told me he never wrote on holiday - said he needed a break.  I worked in corporate hell at the time and used my holidays to write crafted stories. Now I am a full time writer I look forward to buying a new holiday notebook and filling it with scribbles.

I spent last week on the sunny Island of Madeira. It was planned as a proper unwind from Christmas and a recharge before my book events in March and April.  I have no idea what this year will bring in terms of work and events but I am prepared for a busy time.

Since the beginning of the year I have been finishing edits, contacting book festivals, writing publicity articles as well as all the other administrative tasks that find themselves on my to do list in preparation for my book launch.

I needed that holiday.

Madeira has a reputation as a bit of a Saga type holiday destination. I can't deny the demographics were slanted more towards the grave than the cradle, but it is also a place of great mountains and scenery.

Ponta de São Lourenço

While I was there I walked among spectacular rock formations on the blustery Ponta de São Lourenço, trudged through UNESCO protected laurissilva forest on the Ribeiro Frio/Portella levada. The highlight of the trip was teetering along a man made path chipped out of a mountainside over precarious drops to reach the ice crusted summit of Pico Ruivo (1862 mtrs), the island's highest mountain. I could not fail to be inspired, only an idiot would tag this a busman's holiday and refuse to write.

Pico Ruivo

Santa in the Sun

Haunted House

Each morning I rose, showered and wrote my journal before starting the day. The writing was not the writing I do at home which is filled with worries about family and my book.  These journal pages filled with observations, tastes, sounds, light and wild ideas.

Painted Doors - Funchal

Levada Tunnel, look closely and you might spot a troll!

Even my holiday reading, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, provided inspiration for workshops I now need to prepare.

View from my writing chair

I have returned to my home study with a tan, a few extra pounds on the scales, many long sleeps and a notebook filled with ideas.

Aye Write!

The 2012 Aye Write Book Festival Programme is out today and I am on page 11.   My event will be on Sunday 11th of March 5.30pm - 6.30pm, Mitchell Library, Glasgow.

I will be reading from my new novel The Incomers and introducing a couple of Fifers who will act out part of the story.   It should be fun.

Is Glasgow ready for a Fife invasion?