Zoesbooks

Monkey Puzzle, by Zoe Meyer

I started Sage Press Publishing in 1999, a niche company whose purpose was to produce a series of small books on particular trees. I commissioned nearly all the books from specialists and wrote one myself, and in all we published 17 titles. Over the years we sold 20,000 copies but I found that marketing the books took up a great deal of time and effort. Lately, my attentions have been turned elsewhere and the remaining books have, not unattractively, graced the shelves of my spare room.

Enter Michelle, a 24-year-old creative-writing graduate from Gloucester University, newly moved into my neighbourhood. Michelle is energetic, enthusuastic and keen to pursue her passion for writing — and she understands that marketing is about just that, writing. In the past, I have marketed the tree books by writing articles for gardening magazines like Gardening Which. Michelle will be adding Facebook and Twitter to these traditional techniques in order to continue promoting the Sage Press collection.

I believe there is plenty of life in Sage Press. I’ve got ideas for another 8 books, and in particular, I’d like to commission more books on the topiary series which sell very well. In that series, Caring for Box is the only book around on that subject and in the main part of the series, Monkey Puzzle, which I wrote, is also the only book on that topic. The quirky illustrations are by the designer of the book, Chris Monk, who runs Yellow Duck Design.

Michelle is excited to get this opportunity, and I have said that if it works well she may find herself taking over Sage Press eventually.

Recently I was approached by an English lady living in Burgundy. She had put together a most wonderful book about wildflowers in Burgundy, including photographs and trilingual text in English, Latin and French.

Before contacting me she had used free sofware from Blurb.com and spent a huge amount of time designing the layout for her book. It would seem that only once she had finished it did she ask how much the book would cost to produce, and Blurb quoted her over £30 per copy. That may not sound very much for a book if one is buying only one copy, but for an author wanting multiple copies to sell on the internet and at talks, £30 per copy mounts up quickly and creates huge pressure to recoup costs through sales. After all the time and effort she had put into the layout, my contact backed out.

I know from my experience that it’s just not economical to approach a self-publishing project in that way. A normal publisher would plan for a quantity of 100, 200 or, better still, 500 copies because the figures work out better. I subsequently gave my contact a reasonable quote for printing colour copies in runs of 100 or 200 copies. It was still too much for her budget but nevertheless, it is a different way of approaching the project.

People often come to me after trying Authorhouse, Lulu and the other big self-publishing outfits because they are unhappy with the quality, find the prices don’t work or simply don’t understand the process. I am prepared to spend time with them and if they’re not too far away, they can come and see me for a meeting or a working lunch.

My lady from Burgundy is coming to England soon, and we have plans to meet up.

How important is it to discuss a book project face-to-face?  Well, a surprising number of my authors enjoy being able to come and see me down here in Kent, armed with files, books and photos and sometimes even a laptop, with a professional powerpoint presentation accompanied by a huge quantity of excellent photos, as happened last week.

In this case the client wants to tell the story of a community building project, the twists and turns over 7 years, how the community won lottery funding and were even given some land and a generous private donation. It is a marvellous story, a perfect example of the Big Society which David Cameron is so keen on, and will be read by a wide audience: all those involved in the village itself of course, but also the planners, professionals and students of architecture and town planning and very probably those interested in local affairs as it has been so well documented  – my feeling is that it will probably also sell well in the RIBA bookshops dotted around the country. It definitely has a wide niche market.

Because we are talking face-to-face we can already discuss marketing at such an early stage and my client was clearly inspired by my first thoughts and suggestions. I know how much the marketing strategy can even affect how the author approaches the whole project.

However, first of all the book has to be written and I will be helping him to not only plan it and agree a deadline, but also support him throughout the writing process when he needs advice, or simply to discuss progress, most of which can now be done via email or occasionally on the phone.

I think it’s good that these days authors planning to publish their own book have already prepared so much before coming to me for further publishing advice and guidance. Some use Photoshop to work on their images, others bravely tackle clever software to arrange the layout and some even go to the length of comissioning a painting for the front cover, as well as and illustrations or cartoons. It not only gives them great satisfaction to do this, but also saves money.

However, beware, there are lots of technical pitfalls — as one of my clients, for whom I have just produced a beautiful children’s book, found out.

The paintings she had commissioned were ravishing and I could see it was going to be a lovely book, but the work would have been easier all round if she had come to me at an earlier stage to discuss the project. As it turned out, no allowance had been made for the usual 3mm trim on the outer edges, which is necessary for grip when binding and trimming the printed sheets. And as she wanted a spiral binding, there should have been an even wider trim of 15mm on the left-hand page edge.

All very technical, but I’m happy to take care of that side of things. In the end, my very patient graphic designer, Laetitia, spent hours ‘stretching’ all the images, re-positioning text and matching the rainbows across the centre ( or ‘gutter’ as it’s known in the trade). This sort of care is normal for us, though. We will do all we can to avoid or overcome technical hitches. Our prime concern is that the client author gets value for money and a really professional-looking book at the end.

The good news is that “The Girl with the Red Shoes” has now gone to press and will be ready for the author/storyteller Alice Temple-Bruce to launch at her village festival in June. Phew!

Catch up with Alice at the Burford Festival, 10-19 June. She will be telling the story to the children at the Mayor’s Tea Party.

Today I am putting together a plan of action for a new client who is preparing a very accessible series of books on aspects of running your own business. In the first instance we will be working on six titles, the first two of which will be published next spring.

There is a lot of interesting research and development for us to do and one of my graphic design team will be involved from the very outset, as the series design will be key to our marketing campaign.

This is a very exciting project and surprisingly dear to my own heart, as I have always felt there is room in the market for such up-to-date books on running a business. Yes, there are many basic guides to business start-up out there, but they tend to chew over the same things and so many “soft” issues have also to be addressed.

Working alone from an office at home for much of the time is very common and no longer the exception as it was, say, 20 years ago, and indeed has many advantages in terms of fitting in with family commitments etc. It becomes ever more productive as well, as internet potential grows. However, for many of us there are tremendous ups and downs and it still takes enormous psychological energy and motivation to keep this up longer-term.

It will be good to discuss what strategies people use in 2011 to run a business successfully.

I can honestly say that some of my best clients are 80 years old and over.

In fact I recently started working with an 89-year-old, full of life and energy and very excited about seeing his memoirs in print. He has chosen such a positive title, “A Good Time to be Born”, and as I edit his work I am enjoying his vivid descriptions and strongly held views about life than, as compared with now. I am looking forward to seeing the photos he has selected to be included in the book.

But I feel 89 is by no means the ceiling, as I am also discussing working with a 92-year-old retired medical consultant and planning how we turn his writings from over the years into a beautifully produced hardback collection.

To cap it all, I have just heard the news of the passing of the last living World War I veteran, Claude Stanley Choules, a British Royal Navy man who had moved to Australia. He published his memoirs two years ago at the ripe old age of 108! He said in a recent interview: “Given the chance to live my life all over again, I wouldn’t change anything.” Surely it was his positive outlook which helped him last so long?

On Monday I bumped into one of my clients, leading mosaic artist Oliver Budd, and his wife Fiona at a local arts event.  It was great to meet up again and hear how things were going.

Last year Oliver attended a major mosaic seminar in Chicago and all the books he shipped over were sold!  He told me what a good marketing tool the book has been for him – like a calling card but so much better.  Whenever he is planning a day workshop in a new school, he first mails them a copy of Budd Mosaics – The Public Art Mosaics of Kenneth and Oliver Budd published by Zoesbooks, and invariably he receives an invitaion.

Budd Mosaics is a wonderfully illustrated book, with unique photographs of the public mosaics undertaken by this father-and-son team throughout the UK and in the Middle East over the past 50 years.  It is a true historical record which was a privilege for me to help Oliver produce and publish.

Now it’s time for the spring mailshot of my Sage Press tree books to independent UK bookshops.  This year I have selected four titles and tied then into neat packages with raffia, to send as a gift which I hope they will not only enjoy reading but also want to share with their customers.  I may get some nice orders by return!