Drive To Nowhere

• Marketing Drive to Nowhere

  2008 Jan 10

  Marketing a book when you have just self-published a novel is hard work.
  
  In the past week, I have:
  
  1. Written a press release which was made available on Google News, Moreover and other outlets to help increase search engine traffic and visibility for key word searches.
  2. Sent out around 25 press packs to UK and Australian magazines, newspapers and booksellers. This included a press release; some included a colour illustration of the main protagonist. I also included a see-through envelope containing a selection of glow-in-the-dark stars. Some lucky (random) people may have also received glow-in-the-dark planets and even an ammonite or piece of obsidian (volcanic glass)!
  3. Done some social networking - created a MySpace page for Eeare and linked to my press release on Facebook. Actually, Eeare's picture has been subconsciously seen by dozens of journalists all around the country in a screen shot of her MySpace page this week and by about 150,000 other magazine readers - let's hope subliminal 'advertising' does work!
  4. Sent my book to the British Library's legal deposit office to make it official.
  5. Sent a few emails to family and friends to encourage them to buy the book.
  6. Donated a copy of the book to my local library. They might want to sell it off, but so long as someone reads it, I'll be happy.
  7. Checked how my Distribution went. Now, my books are available on Amazon, Play.com, Lulu.com, The Book Depository and more, with more to come. Images and meta-info now need updating.
  

• Drive to Nowhere for sale at many online retailers

  2008 Jan 10

  You can now purchase Drive to Nowhere from a range of popular online retailers including Amazon.com and other regional Amazon stores; Play.com (free shipping in the UK and only £8.49!) and many others. Check out Bookbutler to find out where else you can buy it!

  
  Not sure if you want it? Amazon's Search Inside the Book should be available in a matter of weeks as will Google's Book Search; otherwise check out the preview of the first two chapter for FREE on the book's lulu page. Don't forget to check out the official drive to nowhere website, too!
  

• Letting go!

  2007 Dec 04

  Didn't get the technical error sorted in the end, but I decided to order another copy of my book anyway — what will, I expect, amount to the final version (of edition one, at least). I really have to let go, though. I fixed some typos the other day but I'm afraid I may have introduced some typos when getting rid of the other ones. Not very professional. We'll see... what I'm going to do now is re-read the first chapter, and at least have that looking right.
  
  My friend Sean has just published his first novel too — a satire of the music industry called University of Death (that's the name of the band in it). So I combined my order and saved a couple of pounds on postage.
  
  
  University of Death by Sean McManus
  
  From the discussion on the Lulu forums, it seems can take at least a month or maybe even two months before books submitted for Distribution are listed on Amazon. They only update listings every so often, so I may have just missed one of the cutoff points. It doesn't matter though, as I have a lot to to in terms of promoting the book, revamping the Drive To Nowhere homepage, creating Facebook and MySpace pages for the novel, writing a press release, emailing friends and family about it, ordering more copies and printing flyers.
  
  I joined the local library today as I've got some research to do for a supplement I'm writing, but I might ask them whether I can, er, donate my newly published book. After all, it's got an ISBN and stuff on it and looks like a proper book innit?
  
  
  Drive to Nowhere by Kim Gilmour
  

• More delays, mostly due to technical error...

  2007 Nov 30

  So near, and yet so far! I spent the past week re-reading and proofing my book. So it's finally ready for distribution! The colours on the cover aren't as crash hot as I'd like but I don't have much control over that — Lulu uses another printer for distribution copies anyway.
  
  But what happens when I log in to press the Approve button? ... a message saying I need to order a proof book in order to proceed. BUT I DID! AGES AGO!
  
  Went to Lulu Live Chat, and initially they said I placed the proof order before I ordered a distribution package. Which is clearly not true, as I pointed out. They apologised for the confusion and said that Lulu should be able to override the problem.
  
  They'd better, because I am not waiting until the New Year before I get another version of my book! Sigh...
  
  

• Proofing and approving Drive To Nowhere

  2007 Nov 14

  I am still waiting on the proof version of Drive To Nowhere to arrive in the post — I expect it'll take another week. Reading over the manuscript, I have already seen a few minor inconsistencies and a couple of typos (a 'too' instead of a 'to', for example, which wasn't picked up by the last-minute spellcheck I carried out for good measure — shows how important it is for humans to go through it all several times, and with fresh eyes).
  Once I'm happy, though, I'm going to press the Approve button and hopefully it'll be winging its way through the world of Distribution. It's all quite exciting, but I am a little fed up of waiting for it all to end so I can finally say, 'It's over!'
  
  

• Approving my book

  2007 Nov 06

  Yesterday I emailed UK Published by You and told Lulu that I'd placed the barcode on the cover and included the ISBN on the page after the title page.
  
  A day later I was informed that my ISBN had been 'locked in'. By clicking on my project I can set a price for my book, and now an approve/deny button appears which allows me to say that yes, my book is ready to be unleashed to the masses!
  
  Before that, though, I've got to order a proof copy (and as I mentioned this can take a while) and re-read it. Once I'm happy, I can approve the book and then I can start marketing it properly...
  
  
  
  

• My ISBN has arrived!!

  2007 Nov 05

  I emailed Lulu support after a week had passed without hearing anything about my ISBN. Apparently my email didn't appear in the queue of Published By Yous to be processed.
  
  All is forgiven, as they rectified it right away. I now have an official publisher prefix of 978-0-9556787 and the first ISBN from my block of ten has been allocated!
  
  Spent much of the evening:
  - Changing some inconsistencies in my book that were bugging me
  - Generating the barcode and trying to figure out how to put it on the back cover
  - Tweaking the cover design significantly (thanks to Rob's expertise)
  - Revising the project
  
  
  In other news, I deleted my Bebo page as I decided it wasn't worth my time or effort!
  

• General awareness/marketing ideas

  2007 Oct 30

  I'm not exactly sure how long it will take Lulu to print Drive To Nowhere but I understand that it can take 1 to 2 weeks. This really is a long wait, when typically you could go to a bookshop and buy the book straight off the shelf. But when you're self-publishing that's what goes with the territory. Maybe once the book goes into distribution, it will take less time?
  
  So, I await my second printed draft with interest (my first printed draft, a test run, was sent to a few people and I've made some revisions such as small typos, plot inconsistencies and so on). In the meantime, I've submitted my UK Published by You form (I had to remind Lulu four working days after purchasing the package that they hadn't sent me the application form). This was a simple form detailing name/publisher name if applicable/address/content ID of first publication you want to assign an ISBN to. You need to sign and scan/email or fax the form back.
  
  I should hear back from Lulu in the next couple of days with information about my ISBN, but if I don't, I'll have to give them another nudge.
  
  Once the book's sorted, then there's the dreaded marketing of the product to contend with. I'd started up a Bebo page featuring chapters from my book, but in a rude move by them they took my site offline after only five people had visited for somehow contravening their terms of use. What, because I said it was available on Lulu? I still have no idea what I did wrong, and I await the outcome with interest. In the meantime, I realise I can live without them. Having investigated Bebo in the past for articles I have published, I know there's a whole lot worse to be found on there than content that provides a measly link to one's Lulu page.
  
  You've got to spend money to make money, so I'm going to have to order a few dozen copies of my book. I could either sell these direct to people for a couple of pounds profit, or go to a few independent bookstores or send them a copy and convince them to stock it.
  
  I understand that libraries are an interesting way to get your book distributed, so I'm going to look into that. As my book is set in Australia, I'm going to try and send copies to family and friends who might be able to put the book into their libraries — we'll see. I'll dig up some contacts somehow!
  
  

• Drive to Nowhere is finally 'published'

  2007 Oct 22

  My first complete novel for teenagers, Drive To Nowhere, is available for purchase. What a good feeling it is, to be able to say I've written a proper book!
  
  It's been a long 'drive' and I'm glad it's finally ended up 'somewhere'. I first thought of the idea, including the main character's name, the book title and general plot, back in 1991 when I was 14.
  
  My main character, Eeare (pronounced 'ear') has been given quite an odd name by her rock star dad, but it's a fitting one, as she has multiple ear piercings too.
  
  When her geology class go on a four day excursion to the Warrumbungle National Park in rural Australia, they're completely unprepared for the chaos and mystery to follow. Their teachers have a secret plan: they want to take over the world.
  
  My book is a mystery/action/adventure story for teenagers and adults. It explores themes like the media and how certain events are shaped and presented to us in different way, how reliant we are on technology, and much more.