The discussion turned to ebooks, a subject that interests many of my clients.  There is a perception these days that marketing boils down to listing your ebook on Amazon.  This is quite wrong.  Amazon does not do any marketing, and self-publishers need to learn some tricks to protect themselves from having their book priced dictated to them.  For instance, by subscribing to a separate section of  Amazon that enables them to appear under their own name alongside their book, they can set the price themselves.

Moreover,  there is confusion over ebook formats which seem to be exclusive to each brand of ebook reader – an ebook designed for the Kindle cannot be read on a Sony or a Kobo.  A printed book, on the other hand, excludes no one.  Best-selling author Joanna Trollope, who is chairing the judging panel for the Orange prize this year and who sells many of her works as ebooks, has complained of the “homogenising” effect of reading all your books on iPads and Kindles: works are not presented on these devices as their author intended them.  In an article in The Daily Telegraph (10^th March) she suggested that publishers respond to the rise of e-books by making printed books feel precious: “Publishers may have to produce fewer books, and more beautiful books,” she said.  This is a challenge to which self-publishers are well placed to rise

For all that, it seems that we are at an interesting juncture with ebooks.  Electronic readers are now seen everywhere on trains, buses and tubes, as are tablets on which newspaper articles can be called up at the touch of a button.  A friend who returned recently from Malta told me how the vast majority of fellow poolside holidaymakers were reading from electronic devices (mostly Kindles) while only one or two held printed books in their hands.  On the other hand, another friend who visited Paris in February saw absolutely no one with electronic readers on the Metro – it seems that ebooks have yet to penetrate the French market.  This could change very quickly, as could the pressure to develop a common platform for all electronic readers.

A new client from Canada recently illustrated for another misconception about Amazon: she had formed the impression that all digital printers feed straight into the company. This is not true. Some printers who specialise in print-on-demand will, as part of their service, sell their publishing client (the author) an ISBN number. That ISBN will have been bought by the printer in the first place so it’s in the printer’s name, therefore all sales go through that printer who takes orders and binds the books as they are requested.  They are indeed linked up with Nielsen who are connected to Amazon.  But this is not true that all printers do this.  I deliberately don’t buy ISBN numbers for my clients because if I did, I would get all their orders.  I show my authors how they can arrange this for themselves.

Through the shifting maze of cutting-edge technologies, new authors definitely need guidance.

I launched the tree series in 1999 under the name Sage Press (see Tree books get a new lease of marketing life) producing delightful pocket books on individual trees and topiary topics. Their clever design brought me an unexpected bonus when friends and colleagues began asking me to help produce and publish their own books, relating to their work or profession, with lots of colour images — Zoesbooks was born.

My talk will be about how I came to write a book myself about the extraordinary monkey puzzle tree in the most adverse of conditions. Surrounded by builders, with storms raging every night and the countryside closed with foot-and-mouth disease, I made my escape into the world of fossil trees. In the process I discovered successful ways of marketing it as well: before going to press I had orders for 1000 copies. It became the best-selling title in the Collectors’ Series of trees.

Come and hear me speak on Thursday, 8th March at 6pm, a the University Centre Folkestone.

All the books are available from the sagepress.co.uk. They are, as Michelle puts it, a quirky series on individual trees including ash, hawthorn and holly as well as the less well-known chequer and mulberry, and the exotic cedar of Lebanon and Monkey Puzzle among others. There are also several books on box and topiary — in short, a treat for the keen gardener and lover of trees.

Come and meet Michelle in person at the Sage Press stand at Tenterden Book Fair on Saturday, 28th or April, at Highbury Hall, Tenterden, Kent.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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!