With winter fast approaching and the nights getting longer, there
always seems to be more time to read. For me it’s partly because my allotment
no longer needs as much time or care – it goes into hibernation for most of the
winter as my hands would much rather be occupied ploughing though a book than trying
to hammer through freezing cold soil!
Despite my sky-high TBR pile of books, I find it hard to
resist the allure of a bookshop, to browse through recently published books, to
buy the occasional one or two or three. . .
There is no bookshop on my local high street, but living in London there are many amazing
bookshops a tube or bus ride away, including Foyles where I can lose days!
Pickled Pepper Books
There
are a few children’s bookshops too, like Pickled Pepper Books in Crouch End,
Tales on Moon Lane in Herne Hill, Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, The
Alligator’s Mouth in Richmond,
Tales on Moon Lane
Discover Children’s Story Centre in Stratford,
The Owl and the Pussycat in Ealing, The Golden Treasury in Southfields, and Under
the Greenwood Tree in Clapham Common, Bookworm in Temple Fortune.
A few
independent bookshops also run great programmes for kids, like The Big Green
Bookshop in Wood Green and The Owl in Kentish Town. It would be nice to see
more bookshops like these. . .
All the bookshops I go to are shops on a high street, but
people have opened bookshops in many different places, from underground
garages, to apartments to boats.
Word on Water is a
Dutch barge on the canal between Camden and Euston. It hosts book readings,
poetry evenings and a variety of other events too.
The Book Barge was
a bookshop that travelled along the canals in the UK. You had to make an
appointment to collect your books from them, but you could order whatever you
wanted ahead of time. The barge is in France at the moment!
Tell a Story is a
blue van that travels around Lisbon promoting national literature to tourists.
It’s full of the translated works of Portuguese writers.
1200 in Guanzhou
in China is one of the few 24 hour bookshops in the world. It has thousands of
books, chairs, sofas, a coffee shop, and it really is open all hours. It offers
free coffee between 2 am and 6 am, and a 32% discount on books during the
night. Would a 24 hour bookshop catch on here?
And then there is the beautiful La Librería Acqua Alta, which means Book Shop of High Water, in
Venice, and which is liable to flooding. So books are kept in bath tubs and sinks – and even
a gondola! And their fire escape leads directly onto the canal. . .
One of my favourite bookshops remains the Shakespeare and Co bookshop in
Paris. It even has a bed! What more can you ask for?
When my first book came out in the UK in 2010, other than a card
from my publisher Walker Books, I did not do anything to celebrate it,
publicise it or promote it. Only my Mum knew and she was proud. Even though it
was my 14th or 15th book internationally, in the UK it
was my first and it had fizzled out like a firecracker on a wet Diwali night.
While I placed four picture book
titles in India in 2012, life went on in the UK in a pattern of day job and
rejections. The Indian books started coming out in 2014 and it coincided with
my moving from a full-time job to a part-time situation. Now I had time to go
into schools and I had found my sea legs so to speak.
In 2015 – after five years of
waiting, I had a second book accepted with Walker Books and a picture book with
Otter-Barry Books. And to top that, my Indian picture book Farmer Falgu series
too was going to be distributed in the UK by Red Robin Books and suddenly I realised
four books were all going to come out in the last quarter of 2016.
I decided it was unusual and cruel
for a writer to have four books coming out in the same quarter. At the same
time it was opportunity. (The Law of Lemons and Lemonade).
I didn’t want to throw
the opportunity into oblivion as I had done before in 2010. Here is what I did
to maximise the air cover I got while the smell of new books was still
lingering on my doorstep. So I decided to hire a freelance
publicist.
But before I go further, here is the disclaimer - I’m not saying this is for everyone - because it does cost hard-earned money (money I
earned at the day job or the advance I got for these books whichever was on top of the pile at the
ATM). But at that time, I wanted a boost to my brand and I wanted to do justice for these two "diverse" books to be noticed. Would I have done this (or been able to) if I didn’t have a
day job? Perhaps not.
So for those who are curious, here is how I handled hiring a personal publicist even though I was not a celebrity author.
Step 1: Write a publicity plan
I
looked up the guidelines in the SCBWI publicity grant guidelines and I modelled
one on it. I didn’t get the grant. But I had done the research At least I knew
what I wanted to do.
Step 2: Find a Publicist
I looked for freelance publicists
who could be commissioned to work directly with me for my books. I found five
who specialised in children’s books out of which two responded. One said No and
the other agreed. I met with her and we planned a campaign
for the two books that had a definite date and also because it fit within her
budget.
Step 3: Surprise the Publisher
Firstly we informed our publishers
that I was going to take care of my publicity by ploughing back the advance. It
did make them sit back and watch what I was up to. I also wanted to make sure
we were not stepping on toes and both the official publicist and the freelance
publicist knew who was doing what.
Step 4: Send word to the world
Then my freelance publicist sent out
review copies, blog posts requests, bookshop and festival requests. And we had
to wait. Ah the waiting game, I knew how to play it. I’m a writer. I knew how
to chew bed sheets, go on walks, cry into the pillow and press the refresh
button on my inbox a million times a day while I waited.
Step 5: Start the in-house campaign
While the publicist was focussed on
the outside world, I was focussed on what I could do in the meantime. Here are
some things I did while I waited.
·Spruce up my website – I
reformatted my entire website to look new, fresh and welcoming for all the new
people who might look me up when they receive our publicity requests
·Create posters – this is
where Canva.com came in. I spent an unhealthy number of days on Canva designing
posters to print, blog graphics and post cards and stuff. Canva actually sent me an email saying, “You’re here a lot, do
you want to go pro?”
·Write blog posts for my own
website – I started writing about the books ahead of the launch to create
anticipation.
·Find friends who would host
my blog – in addition to whom the publicist was contacting – I reached out to
friends who were happy to host me on their blogs.
·Create classroom content and
extras for school visits – I have a small site under my banner for kids stuff –
it has puzzles and activities and intro to my illustrators and such. I updated
a lot of this content for the new books.
·Request the illustrator to do
a blog post – Frané Lessac (illustrator of Pattan's Pumpkin) was amazing. She agreed to be interviewed for my site and hosted my content on her blog too.
·Request the illustrator for
resources - Frané Lessac was kind enough to make me colouring sheets and craft
activities etc.
Step 5: Plan the book launch
I did hit a block when I came to
this. My freelance publicist wasn’t going to arrange the launch and I had to
cold-call a number of South London bookshops. Most of them turned me down and a
few looked me up and then turned me down.
I turned to the amazing Nicky Potter
who did publicity for Otter-Barry Books for help and she introduced me to the
North London bookshop Pickled Pepper Books. They are amazing, aren’t they?
Of course I wasted more time on the
Internet planning the launch. I invited everyone I knew, create events in
Facebook and ordered matching cupcakes. A wise author once said, “A launch without cake is no launch at all.”
Step 6: Write insane number of blog posts
The publicist had arranged for me to
blog on different sites. I had to find an angle that was different and unique
to their blog about the same two books. I wrote over 25 blog posts in a matter
of five weeks, not including the ones I had promised friends to write on their
blog too. At one point I was so worried I was going to run out of things to
say. Luckily my early life as a chatterbox came in handy.
Step 7: Make a Trailer
I loved wasting time on the computer
while watching reruns of Big Bang Theory. So I decided to try my hand at making
a trailer. My one day course with SOA on how to make videos using iMovie by
Shoo Rayner, came in handy. Interestingly, I learnt a few things along the way.
·Get permission from everyone
before you release the trailer into the world. Of course my publisher Janetta
Otter-Barry was impressed and so was her team. My illustrator Frane Lessac loved
it and she was happy to consent.
·Use original photos, text and
permitted content. Luckily I had my own photos and where required those in
public domain I could use and attribute.
Step 8: Prepare for diversions
As the first book’s publicity was
proceeding, the freelance publicist had landed a full-time job. Now she was no
longer available to promote my second book. But before I could panic, she
managed to secure the services of another publicist and made sure the work
continued uninterrupted. Things are always fluid and coping with them as they
come was one of the things I do at my day-job and that was useful in dealing
with this.
Step 9: Keep a Calendar
I had so many balls up in the air
that I had to create a calendar of events and blog posts and keep them updated.
By now bookshop visits were coming in and they were spread across a range of
3-4 months. My calendar resembled a jigsaw puzzle in colour. I hoped I could
find the edges if everything fell apart.
Step 10: Be grateful for kindness of friends
Few days before the launch, a school
librarian reached out to me and asked if I could do two libraries and her
school in her borough as a pre-launch promotion. I was so grateful for the support.
Except fate interfered and sent the flu virus to land on me and the day before
the launch I was on the road armed with my books and a stack of tissues.
And so, the freelance publicists who worked on the campaign had
opened many doors I hadn’t been able to approach. I got into some really
wonderful festivals and bookshops, got noticed by some organisations who would
not have heard of me otherwise, got some print reviews in teachers’ magazines
and trade publicity magazines.
It gave me the boost I needed and putting in all the work on my
own, hours in front of a computer not writing, sweating the details of fonts and
images on websites proved very productive.
Whether you are traditionally
published and want a leg up for your new book or you are self-published and
want to build a brand, it might be a worthwhile option to look into. It is hard
work and it involves spending money and I did a lot of DIY work myself – like
posting letters, printing posters, writing blog posts, sprucing my website etc.
But it was a good learning experience and I can build on the contacts I have
now been introduced to.
Word on Water is a
Dutch barge on the canal between Camden and Euston. It hosts book readings,
poetry evenings and a variety of other events too. 
Tell a Story is a
blue van that travels around Lisbon promoting national literature to tourists.
It’s full of the translated works of Portuguese writers.
And then there is the beautiful La Librería Acqua Alta, which means Book Shop of High Water, in
Venice, and which is liable to flooding. So books are kept in bath tubs and sinks – and even
a gondola! And their fire escape leads directly onto the canal. . .
One of my favourite bookshops remains the Shakespeare and Co bookshop in
Paris. It even has a bed! What more can you ask for?
