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Everyone in publishing in Australia knows how hard it is to garner any sort of review or publicity for children's fiction - especially if doesn't involve wizards or emo vampires. So you can only imagine how surprised and thrilled I was to get a phone call on Saturday morning to say there was a great review in the Daily Telegraph. It made my weekend.
When the call came on Sunday from another friend I simply thought that they too had seen the Saturday Telegraph, but no - there was another review in the Sun Herald. You could not ask for a better Sydney spread than to be in these two papers over one week.
A huge thank you must go to Emmeline, the publicist at Harper Collins who has somehow pulled off this impressive coup.
All I need now is to be banned from a primary school library and I'm set!
After the great news that The Trouble with Sauce was having a full reprint, I got another email on Monday saying Lab Rats in Space is getting a digital reprint. Another of the benefits of being part of the Harper Collins stable is that they are set up for digital reprints. They're only doing 300 copies, but that's the beauty of digital, they don't need to commit to a big print run and it means as long as people order my books they will be available. Apparently the colours on the cover can sometimes appear a bit different but apart from that it's indistinguishable from the regular print run.
It's great news that they've sold all the original print run in two years. For a children's book aimed at 8-12 year old boys that's not bad. I'm hoping this means they will let me revisit the second book in the series. I know the editor who read the first draft didn't like it it, but I suspect space comedies really aren't his thing anyway. There is lots to improve in the text and a few big things to change, but that's all part of the excitement for me as a writer and I would LOVE to see the full series of 3 Lab Rats books that I planned out there.
It would also mean I could have give a definite answer to all the readers who keep asking me for the second one. Belinda, the publisher said we should wait until there are some more sales figures for my first ABC/Harper Collins book before putting it forward, which makes sense. Still the word REPRINT can only help make the case. I suspect the downside to being part of the Harper Collins stable (and to be honest this will be the first one I've come across) will be they'll want to sure of higher sales before they put something out there.
The merry-go-round comes round again
And so with Trouble with Sauce out in stores, the merry-go-round comes round again and I'm back wondering how to best to make the case for my next book. Hopefully I won't get thrown off the HC merry-go-round which I suspect spins faster than the ABC. Reprint, reprint, reprint, Bruno, just keep at the mantra.
I was at a book launch last night (the first in long long time). It was for Don't Picture Me Naked by Michelle Bowden. Michelle is an expert in and course facilitator on public speaking and presenting and her book is great manual on those topics. The friend I was meeting there was running late to I was left to work the room on my own. It turned out that the room worked me instead. Full of Michelle's colleagues and friends I don't think I've ever been in such a dynamic crowd of people making excellent introductions and strong first impressions. Men boomed "Hi" in confident voices with warm smiles. Women listening intently with head bent to the side and wondered who else in the room I'd find 'useful'.
Despite years of stand up comedy, MCing vast crowds, presenting work to clients, talking to school children and generally loving public speaking I suddenly felt ill-prepared and sheepish on my opening spiel. What should be my 'impact line'? Should I talk about my fiction writing or my commercial work first? Talking about non revenue generating activities was not an option - although in hindsight if I had mentioned I'd noticed the shop on the street below was a wool shop and that I used to knit, perhaps that would have made a more lasting first impression.
My name tag simply had my name on it. Everyone else had a motion-orientated, active verb, leadership-suggesting business under their name. At the very least I should have had, as a few others did, Bruno Bouchet, Bruno Bouchet Consulting. Still my name tag was pre-printed and spelled correctly which is usually my minimum standard for comfort. I think it was everyone else that was thrown by the lack of organisation name. I was introduced to one person who immediately asked the introducer, 'Are you not going to context him?' My introducer announced that I was very capable of "contexting" myself. I panicked wondering what that might mean and then just said who I was and what I did. It must have worked, as a business card was asked for and offered. Success! I think.
The MC for the event was a man named Rowdy - although perhaps he should have been 'Rowdiest' because the only adjectives he ever used were superlatives - I wondered whether he'd set himself a personal parlour game, get through an entire speech without a comparative or simple adjective. Having said that he did the best possible job in revving the crowd for the author, who proved she could practice what she preached and gave a warm, personal, friendly and funny speech.
It was not your typical book launch doling out warm wine at the back of a bookshop. The people might have been highly energised, but the wine, supplied by Michelle's family's winery in Mudgee, was perfectly chilled and excellent.
