A week ago or so I was wondering if anyone had actually read The Trouble with Sauce. Obviously someone has as I've just heard from the publishers that they are doing a reprint - already. Officially it was only launched last week, although it was in the shops before that. Kids books do have much smaller print runs that adult books but this is great news and very unexpected. Good grief, this one might actually earn out its advance!
A big thank you to all the Harper Collins reps who clearly did a great job selling it into the book shops!
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Monday, 17 August 2009
In good company
A friend tipped me off that The Trouble with Sauce was featured in a window display in Better Read than Dead, the excellent independent bookshop in Newtown. I trundled down on the weekend and was delighted to see the book was front and centre of a display protesting Parallel Importing, quoting the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd’s ocker line, Fair Shake of the Sauce Bottle asking him to give Australian authors a fair go. For once it seems timing is on my side to release a ‘sauce-themed’ book! It’s relief to see your book on the shelves in a bookshop - it’s a delight to see it in a window - especially when your publisher didn’t pay for it and every other book in the window is certified best-seller. I’ve never been in such great company. So when I said in an early post everyone should run to the shops for the book, I now amend that to run to Better Read than Dead in Newtown!
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
The First Reading
The first time you read a new work out to an audience is always nerve-wracking. Reading work out is nearest a writer gets to immediate feedback. Faces are less able to come up with something polite to express. It's even more of a worry when you are reading to children as there is no artifice and no attempts to spare your feelings - just raw reaction. So it was with some trepidation that I read out the first chapter of The Trouble with Sauce to Years 5 and 6 of St Charles Primary school in Ryde yesterday.
It was a wet day, which, as any teacher will tell you, spells trouble in school. Prior to the reading the kids had been noisy. It wasn't that they were bored, but whenever I asked a question they answered it to each other rather than to me. To make it worse the teacher librarian kept jumping in to take control and make suggestions. I was seized with panic. Lab Rats is much more obvious in its appeal for reading, there's farting and wild adventure. Suddenly Trouble felt like it was a serious work with no fun. What had I done? Where were the laughs? I began to read and they began to listen. Past the first page and they were still listening. There's always a couple of fidgeters but by and large, the library full of about 100 kids were listening. There were titters and then gasps as the teacher walks into the trap in the classroon and ends up covered in food scraps. It worked. By lunchtime after I'd talked to Years 2,3 and 4, word came down to the library that there were 'loads' of students wanting to buy The Trouble with Sauce. Hurrah! Nobody had brought their money in so I am going back with the stock tomorrow for a sales and signing session. The pic is me with Year 2 who were very well behaved.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Run to the shops!
Technically it's not officially launched until mid Aug, but The Trouble with Sauce has hit the shelves. All up it's taken a year from me pitching the idea to ABC to the book actually being on the shelves. Looking back it seems like a long, long journey, but right now it seems like nothing - from conception to being on the shelves in less time than it takes to gestate an elephant.
I haven't actually seen it on a bookshelf yet but Dymocks online already have it on their website as do Readings bookshops in Melbourne. Dymocks is an advance for me as they didn't stock Lab Rats in Space. Not sure about Angus and Robertson, the other major Australian bookseller.
Physically the book looks great. The little egg head character that got axed from one of the versions of the cover made it to the back cover which I'm delighted about. The inside front pages are also lined like a school book and fun.
All up I'm very happy with it indeed.
I have about 8 school visits lined up over the next few weeks so I'll have to see how it goes down reading wise. When I've told schools about 'my next book' and mentioned the principals gives the students pills, the kids have gasped in shock - exactly as I'd want.
I haven't actually seen it on a bookshelf yet but Dymocks online already have it on their website as do Readings bookshops in Melbourne. Dymocks is an advance for me as they didn't stock Lab Rats in Space. Not sure about Angus and Robertson, the other major Australian bookseller.
Physically the book looks great. The little egg head character that got axed from one of the versions of the cover made it to the back cover which I'm delighted about. The inside front pages are also lined like a school book and fun.
All up I'm very happy with it indeed.
I have about 8 school visits lined up over the next few weeks so I'll have to see how it goes down reading wise. When I've told schools about 'my next book' and mentioned the principals gives the students pills, the kids have gasped in shock - exactly as I'd want.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Two Cents Worth (Australian, not American...for now)
In the raging debate on parallel imports the arguments have all focused on big selling authors with overseas deals. The letters you read, the comments that are quoted are all from internationally published authors. For the lowly, such as myself with no overseas deals it’s still sad news. It means publishers have even less leeway to take a risk on lesser writers that aren’t guaranteed to hit the best sellers. It’s the writers who are simply relieved to still get published at all that will really lose out. The big names may make less money, but they’ll still be published.
Who will subsidise Australian writers?
It’s about transferring money from publishers and authors to large booksellers. Yes publishers made more money under the scheme but that meant they fostered local writers such as myself without any government subsidy. It was a very efficient way of supporting a local art form at no cost to non-readers. Now that unofficial sponsorship will go to Dymocks and Angus & Robertson instead. Has anyone heard their plans to foster Australian writers during this debate?
Anyone who thinks they are going to pass on all the savings on parallel imports to customers are fooling themselves. All the price comparisons between Dymocks current price and the Amazon price suggest the Amazon price will be available here. It won’t. Book chains are duty bound to charge the most they can. They have to and they will pass as little on to the reader as they can.
Commodity Pricing
If books were cartons of milk all this wouldn’t matter but books are more than semi-skimmed beverages. They’re not just products which readers “deserve” to get as cheaply as possible. My books are my children that I have sweated, cried, cursed, laughed and been filled with pride over. There’s always a point in the publishing process when your child becomes a commodity that must be sold. It’s part of the process you have to accept it.
However, this ruling says I was always fooling myself - Beauty of Truth, French Letters, Lab Rats, The Trouble with Sauce were never my lovely children, they were simply the milk I squirted out to be packaged and stacked on shelves.
Who will subsidise Australian writers?
It’s about transferring money from publishers and authors to large booksellers. Yes publishers made more money under the scheme but that meant they fostered local writers such as myself without any government subsidy. It was a very efficient way of supporting a local art form at no cost to non-readers. Now that unofficial sponsorship will go to Dymocks and Angus & Robertson instead. Has anyone heard their plans to foster Australian writers during this debate?
Anyone who thinks they are going to pass on all the savings on parallel imports to customers are fooling themselves. All the price comparisons between Dymocks current price and the Amazon price suggest the Amazon price will be available here. It won’t. Book chains are duty bound to charge the most they can. They have to and they will pass as little on to the reader as they can.
Commodity Pricing
If books were cartons of milk all this wouldn’t matter but books are more than semi-skimmed beverages. They’re not just products which readers “deserve” to get as cheaply as possible. My books are my children that I have sweated, cried, cursed, laughed and been filled with pride over. There’s always a point in the publishing process when your child becomes a commodity that must be sold. It’s part of the process you have to accept it.
However, this ruling says I was always fooling myself - Beauty of Truth, French Letters, Lab Rats, The Trouble with Sauce were never my lovely children, they were simply the milk I squirted out to be packaged and stacked on shelves.
I'm being studied
Finally, after all these years I’ve been awarded the accolade of being studied in school. In advance of my visit in September, some students at John the Baptist Primary in Bonnyrigg are doing a novel study on Ta-Da! I’m thrilled. I’ve never been studied before. It’s schools schools schools for me over the next two months as Sauce gets released. I had an excellent visit to Cromer Public last week - the kids were great and very enthusiastic. Thanks to everyone there for making me so welcome. Well, almost everyone, the little girl who told me I looked older than on my website doesn’t get any thanks at all.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Schmooze and be schmoozed
It was the blended family’s first test run, would we be the Brady Bunch or guests on Jerry Springer?
On Tuesday night I attended the drinks to celebrate the union of Harper Collins and ABC Books. Even the invitation characterised it as a marriage with a male and female hand. The event was in the Quay Grand, overlooking Sydney Harbour - immediately marking it as an important occasion worthy of pre-GFC excess. As an ABC author I was meant to sit on the bride’s side. On arriving I was greeted with an ‘Oh you’re Bruno Bouchet!’ - the publicist did a very convincing job of persuading me she knew who I was which immediately made me feel important.
‘Now who do you know in there?’ With a reflective glass wall between where we stood and the other guests, it was a hard question to answer.
Delivering the parcel
‘Belinda Bolliger!’ she answered for me, remember the ABC children’s publisher. I was handed over to an assistant, ‘Deliver him to Belinda!’
Duly delivered and issued with wine I found myself in an ABC children’s authors enclave. Every time I tried to speak to someone different, fresh deliveries of more ABC authors arrived for Belinda. Eventually I spoke to a non-author, but even she was from the ABC, running the shops. She got embarrassed on learning I was an author as she had no idea who I was. She recovered brilliantly by knowing my books. ‘Isn’t it funny, adult books are usually sold on the author but children’s are sold on the title?’ she said. She was right, even JK Rowling is sold on the title.
Seek out the marketers
I plunged off to find the most important people to impress - the Harper Collins marketing department and found Emmeline, the beautifully named publicist in charge of The Trouble with Sauce, along with her fellow publicists .This was much better - I was surrounded by the groom’s family. We were chatting pleasantly when the doors were closed from the outside. It was time for speeches and clearly no-one was to leave.
The Godfather moment
I wondered for a moment that a helicopter was about to appear outside the window and spray the room with bullets. That didn’t happen, instead the CEO of Harper Collins, Michael Moynahan spoke and did so really well. I was a bit pissed by this stage so I was ready to be seduced, but he was a great speaker that clearly loved publishing. Belinda had prepped me on this by saying ‘He’s wonderful, he actually loves books!’ - a sadly rare quality in a publishing CEO. Michael’s short and effective speech was followed by Mark Scott, Managing Director of ABC Board. Less inspiring, he span the right lines for the occasion but was also quick about it. Strangely the scion of the evil Murdoch empire spoke with greater non-commercial passion than the head of Australia’s most beloved public organisation.
Let the blending begin
After the speeches, the serious mingling started. Speeches are a wheat from the chaff moment at funcitons. People that are only there because they have to be, can leave with impunity. Those that actually want to be there, stay. I stayed, finding people who knew people I knew: sales managers, editors, marketing people. I even spoke to Michael the CEO until Mark Scott dragged him off for a heavy private discussion outside. It was happening, the two parties were talking, getting to know each other and becoming one extended family.
Grab the bag
As the room thinned out I decided it was time to leave, mainly because the goody bags for the authors might run out. I had been briefed by the publicists to secure a Little Ted bag, much better than the Jemima bag. Little Ted came with a Moleskin notebook, the perfect present for an author. However the most impressive thing in the bag was the Welcome to Harper Collins booklet for new authors. Sent to every author the first time they sign with Harper Collins it featured what happens in the whole publishing process: editing conventions; what mark up symbols to use; the design and layout of books. Miracle of miracles it even included a guide to reading royalty statements. Finally I might actually understand a royalty statement!
Two thumbs up
This is the first time I’ve ever received such a publication and it was a delight - a simple easy item that really made you feel welcome. It capped off an evening that could not have been better engineered to have me walking away thinking lovely things about Harper Collins. Of course, I reserve the right to curse, swear and bemoan the shameless treatment of authors further down the track, but so far so excellent. Consider me blended.
On Tuesday night I attended the drinks to celebrate the union of Harper Collins and ABC Books. Even the invitation characterised it as a marriage with a male and female hand. The event was in the Quay Grand, overlooking Sydney Harbour - immediately marking it as an important occasion worthy of pre-GFC excess. As an ABC author I was meant to sit on the bride’s side. On arriving I was greeted with an ‘Oh you’re Bruno Bouchet!’ - the publicist did a very convincing job of persuading me she knew who I was which immediately made me feel important.
‘Now who do you know in there?’ With a reflective glass wall between where we stood and the other guests, it was a hard question to answer.
Delivering the parcel
‘Belinda Bolliger!’ she answered for me, remember the ABC children’s publisher. I was handed over to an assistant, ‘Deliver him to Belinda!’
Duly delivered and issued with wine I found myself in an ABC children’s authors enclave. Every time I tried to speak to someone different, fresh deliveries of more ABC authors arrived for Belinda. Eventually I spoke to a non-author, but even she was from the ABC, running the shops. She got embarrassed on learning I was an author as she had no idea who I was. She recovered brilliantly by knowing my books. ‘Isn’t it funny, adult books are usually sold on the author but children’s are sold on the title?’ she said. She was right, even JK Rowling is sold on the title.
Seek out the marketers
I plunged off to find the most important people to impress - the Harper Collins marketing department and found Emmeline, the beautifully named publicist in charge of The Trouble with Sauce, along with her fellow publicists .This was much better - I was surrounded by the groom’s family. We were chatting pleasantly when the doors were closed from the outside. It was time for speeches and clearly no-one was to leave.
The Godfather moment
I wondered for a moment that a helicopter was about to appear outside the window and spray the room with bullets. That didn’t happen, instead the CEO of Harper Collins, Michael Moynahan spoke and did so really well. I was a bit pissed by this stage so I was ready to be seduced, but he was a great speaker that clearly loved publishing. Belinda had prepped me on this by saying ‘He’s wonderful, he actually loves books!’ - a sadly rare quality in a publishing CEO. Michael’s short and effective speech was followed by Mark Scott, Managing Director of ABC Board. Less inspiring, he span the right lines for the occasion but was also quick about it. Strangely the scion of the evil Murdoch empire spoke with greater non-commercial passion than the head of Australia’s most beloved public organisation.
Let the blending begin
After the speeches, the serious mingling started. Speeches are a wheat from the chaff moment at funcitons. People that are only there because they have to be, can leave with impunity. Those that actually want to be there, stay. I stayed, finding people who knew people I knew: sales managers, editors, marketing people. I even spoke to Michael the CEO until Mark Scott dragged him off for a heavy private discussion outside. It was happening, the two parties were talking, getting to know each other and becoming one extended family.
Grab the bag
As the room thinned out I decided it was time to leave, mainly because the goody bags for the authors might run out. I had been briefed by the publicists to secure a Little Ted bag, much better than the Jemima bag. Little Ted came with a Moleskin notebook, the perfect present for an author. However the most impressive thing in the bag was the Welcome to Harper Collins booklet for new authors. Sent to every author the first time they sign with Harper Collins it featured what happens in the whole publishing process: editing conventions; what mark up symbols to use; the design and layout of books. Miracle of miracles it even included a guide to reading royalty statements. Finally I might actually understand a royalty statement!
Two thumbs up
This is the first time I’ve ever received such a publication and it was a delight - a simple easy item that really made you feel welcome. It capped off an evening that could not have been better engineered to have me walking away thinking lovely things about Harper Collins. Of course, I reserve the right to curse, swear and bemoan the shameless treatment of authors further down the track, but so far so excellent. Consider me blended.
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Hot Little Hands
Here it is... well almost. This is the uncorrected proof that gets used for promotional purposes. I've had them for my books before but not without a colour cover. They were made for Lab Rats but I don't think the sales reps ever saw them. It's good to see it in it a physical form for the first time. It's now a thing, an object in the real world. However that means it's also an object that has to be sold, assessed, reviewed... discounted.
Right now is the moment of hope. The moment when I foolishly allow myself to think that this might be a success. I always hear something positive about the book at this stage - 'it's had great feedback', 'the sales conference was very excited', 'certain influential booksellers are very keen'. I get a bit carried away and light a candle of flickering hope in the maelstrom that is Australian publishing.
Leading Edge Title
This time round it's the news that The Trouble with Sauce is to be a Leading Edge book. Leading Edge is a buying group of independent book sellers. Each month they select a number of books which are offered at a slight discount and pushed within their stores. It tends to be known best sellers or books which are more suited to the 'independents' than to the big chains. I think I fall in the latter category. It's certainly a plus being on the list and apparently they don't often do ABC Books. This may be part of the new age of Harper Collins.
First rule of being a minor author: be nice to the reps
I found out about Leading Edge from one of the Harper Collins reps. In my relentless pursuit of self-promotion I engineered a lunch with him via one of the Allen and Unwin reps. It was like a informal handover, from the person who used to sell my books in, to the one who was just about to start. In Australia where there are lots of independent book stores and all books aren't sold on group deals, the reps still play an important role. Book stores listen to them so if they say stock Bruno's book, they probably will. Now, at least I know one of the reps selling my books, or more the point, he knows me. The manager of Kinokunyia was also there - again a big plus. He asked if I wanted to come and do a library talk with him in September. I said YES of course.
Second rule: Pity the Publicist
The big mistake Harper Collins have made in giving me a copy of the uncorrected proof is that it lists the contact details for the publicist on the back. Poor Monica - she's about to get flooded with good ideas and fabulous suggestions on a book for which she probably has about 2.5 hours of work allocated.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Love a good typo
This has to be the best typo I've come across in ages and, best of all, it's not one of mine! South Sydney Leagues Club, located in my neighbourhood is under renovation and is hoping to add a supermarket. The development application, submitted to council and available for public view, says the supermarket plans to run a takeaway café with some highly paid staff:
'The café will be run by a barrister employed by the supermarket.'
As one of my neighbours adroitly pointed out - 'I suppose that rules out suing them for serving bad coffee!'
'The café will be run by a barrister employed by the supermarket.'
As one of my neighbours adroitly pointed out - 'I suppose that rules out suing them for serving bad coffee!'
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Moving swiftly on - time for grown ups
It's finally happened - I've started writing the adult novel, the one where I try to be the best writer I can and move beyond being simply entertaining. So far I like my intro page. Going into the story it gets a bit "typical Bouchet" but I can work on that. For the present day parts I'm trying present tense narrative. I always hated that as a reader but for some reason I'm giving it a go here. I want the narrator to be discovering at the same time as the reader.
When we plunge into the past narrative (which is most of the book) I use past tenses. Haven't got to that bit yet.
It's nice to be finally on the way. This one has had more think time and more preparation than anything before. If it were a journey I have packed and repacked my bags, got out the maps, bought additional maps, cross referenced them. I'd have fretted about not knowing the exact route and doubted my orienteering's ability to find the best route.
After a few 4 am panics that I would never set off I had my 'just do it moment' and sauntered out of the door this morning pretending it were just a quick stroll. So far it's all quite fresh and exciting, the countryside is pleasant and I'm settling into my new hiking boots. I don't have any Kendal Mint Cake in my knapsack in case I do get lost. Perhaps this is a mistake, it's going to be a long trek across difficult country.
When we plunge into the past narrative (which is most of the book) I use past tenses. Haven't got to that bit yet.
It's nice to be finally on the way. This one has had more think time and more preparation than anything before. If it were a journey I have packed and repacked my bags, got out the maps, bought additional maps, cross referenced them. I'd have fretted about not knowing the exact route and doubted my orienteering's ability to find the best route.
After a few 4 am panics that I would never set off I had my 'just do it moment' and sauntered out of the door this morning pretending it were just a quick stroll. So far it's all quite fresh and exciting, the countryside is pleasant and I'm settling into my new hiking boots. I don't have any Kendal Mint Cake in my knapsack in case I do get lost. Perhaps this is a mistake, it's going to be a long trek across difficult country.
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