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As you can all imagine, I am thrilled to bits!
I've told everyone I know, and many have pointed out that I have to 'make use' of this prize in my marketing, and promotion, so I am looking for ideas already!
I have stuck something on the front page of the book's website, that's a start I guess. Someone said I should print out loads of bands of cardboard and wrap them around the books but I am not good with glue etc! Maybe I can get some stickers made. If I do, would it be OK I wonder, to sticker all my other books? Hmmmm....
Helena
You can read excerpts, see the cover and read the reviews of the winning book here:
http://www.railwaywomen.co.uk
If you go for stickers, make sure you get the ones that are easy for purchasers to remove. They don't leave residue.
Today I have been on local radio, on BBC Southern Counties radio and been interviewed by the local paper.
I have had a few library orders, how can I get more?
Marketing/promotion is probably my weakest point, always happy to hear suggestions!
Who makes those nice colour-printed stickers that easily peel off books?
PS For colour printed stickers, try Staples. They have quite cheap stationary and also have business scheme that you might be able to use as a self-publisher.
Anyway, well done! Really glad for you. I love those times of serendipity. You didn't expect anything, either. That's the great thing.
Stationery's another matter. Just call me Tessa Terrifying when it comes to stationery.
Kool Kat says hello to TT's Cat.
So, on to my ideas, some of these you may already have had, but some I hope will be useful to you. Firstly, I think its a brilliant project, a good idea, well researched and presented. By the look of your website, youve already done a lot of hawking the book around various places. I was going to suggest Womens Hour on Radio 4 but then saw youd already done it!
If you havent already done so, prepare a publicity letter to be sent out to various places, can be tailored specifically for different audiences, but should contain: a brief synopsis of the book, why it is necessary (i.e. why it is different from anything else on the market, or its USP which you rightly state on your website [there isnt another book like it] but *why* you think this is so, and *why* your book will fill the gap), your credentials, what youve already done to publicise it. This letter should be short and snappy, single-spaced and one sheet of paper. If you need help with this PM me and I can show you a sample of the sort of thing I mean. This works for novels as well as non-fic.
Your extract & chapters A good idea to put a brief extract on the webpage, gives a flavour of the content to would-be buyers. A brilliant idea to sell the chapters individually as pdfs how did you think of this? Ive often thought with a non-fiction book of this type that it would be good to be able to buy just one or two chapters, when doing very specific research. This is something that you should big up in your publicity letters.
The website is fabulous, lots of depth, lots of connections. If anything you probably have too many photos (you still want them to buy the book!). The story behind your research is fascinating - ASLEF etc. they obviously hadnt seen your material if they dismissed it as not bone fide academic that is typical of a male-dominated workplace, they probably thought as a woman writer you were writing a romance. Grrrr. Anyway, where was I? Website youve got your lists of signings, events etc. which is good as well, but see my suggestion below re blogging.
I have some suggestions re the website. This is my forte, as I am a freelance web designer.
1. Please, please change your links to open in new window so many people dont do this and what happens is that a user clicks, the page opens in your window and they lose your site. If you change to open in new window then your page will still be underneath the new one. Its simple to do go to the source, find the link in the html and type in target=_blank while still in the brackets. E.g. <a href=www.whatever.com target=_blank> This goes for the links you have to your extract (pdf files take ages to load and theyll be reading your homepage while they wait) as well as, and especially, the external links e.g to Hastings Press website.
2. Consider starting a blog. Keep your current website static, and only update it if something major happens. That way you wont be continually updating the site, but can update every so often to give info on events retrospectively. Have a link on the site to your blog try Myspace, thats where I am (www.myspace.com/josie_henley) saying something like For information on all forthcoming events, view my blog. Then when youre on Myspace, or wherever, make sure you connect to people who are into railways, transport, womens history etc. There are millions of people on myspace, and some of them will surely be interested in your book. Many of them will be inspired and enthralled by your story make the most of this! Post a blog entry once per week or so, talking about your publicity events for your book, and generally on life etc. Connect to like-minded people and friends. Have a look at my blog to see the kind of thing I mean.
3. Try to keep to a set colour scheme and font, so that you have a corporate image if you will. Ive browsed your site a bit and found blue, pink and purple backgrounds. Its lovely but it will confuse people. Stick to something simple white writing on a dark background as youve got on the home page is fine. Little dots in the background (are they stars?) like youve got on the page about ASLEF are distracting and make the text a bit difficult to read. (Dont look at my personal homepage! Do what I say, not what I do.) The best example I can give you is a site Ive done quite a bit of work on: www.collectors-supplies.co.uk (Ive already emailed them about your book, they sometimes do stock self-published books as they are a specialist supplier).
Ok, now onto other ideas. Have you tried contacting universities that offer courses on Womens Studies, Womens History, Sociology etc.? It may not be a serious academic book (*spit*) but there will be some who are interested in the wealth of material youve gathered. Plus those idiots probably wouldnt think of Womens Studies as a serious academic subject anyway. Find the name of the module leader for particular courses and send them your publicity letter as mentioned above, ask if theyd be interested in either requesting it to be stocked in the uni library, or purchasing themselves with a view to recommending to students. I began an MA in Womens Studies some time ago (before I decided I already studied women enough haha - and switched to Creative Writing) and I remember that there were modules on women in the workplace, womens socio-economic status etc. This goes for your other books as well on Sussex Women and Hastings Women, all of them are equally valid books to be stocked by a University library in a uni that offers Womens Studies.
Lesbian History is now a subject for academic study and research. You havent mentioned lesbians in your book (or I havent seen any mention in what Ive read), but there will be people who are interested in this book from a lesbian perspective even if it doesnt mention them. Logical deduction would suggest that a greater percentage of women working the railways and other male-dominated professions would be lesbian compared to the percentage in the general female population. Putting aside the aesthetically pleasing images of authentic women-in-uniform(!), there will be lesbians seriously interested in reading the material. So much of our history is hidden and suppressed, as Im sure youll agree about women in general but lesbians in particular, that we have to reclaim our history wherever we can find it.
My magazine runs a regular feature on lesbians in history, and we might be interested in reviewing your book (www.velvet-mag.co.uk Velvet Magazine - Lesbian Intelligence) PM me if you have any review copies in print or pdf version available and I can put you in touch with the reviewer, or review it myself. This is an important project and needs to reach the people who need to see it.
Well, thats all for now! Phew. If I have any other ideas Ill continue to post them. But for now Ill leave you to ruminate on what Ive said.
Josie
That's really all, folks.
Anyway, a thousand million thanks to Josie. I have already done about 90% of the things you suggest.
Over a year ago I spent a week contacting every single women's studies, labour studies and transport studies lecturer and sent them all details of the book. I sent about 500 emails and got two replies and no book orders, though of course they could have bought from bookshops etc. I have sold about 1,500 copies and most I have no idea where most went as 80% sold via bookshops and wholesalers not my website.
I am going to copy and paste your messages into a Word doc. I totally agree about the website new windows but had no idea how to do it. I can do an extended "find and replace" once I have worked out exactly what you mean with the coding. I also agree about the background but am far too busy to take on the huge job of changing all those pages. Whenever I update a page I will remove the annoying backgrounds.
The only thing I cannot possibly do is keep a blog. My life at the moment consists of researching the lives of 350 eminent women plus running the Hastings Press and I am already putting in a 12 to 14 hour day. I'm trying to cut back my hours not increase them, so would not start something that is just going to be a burden and chore. The website gets few hits in any case, plus I really don't have anything to say. I've moved on from railways and onto Sussex women - see http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/sussexwomen.html if you haven't already seen it!
I can ALWAYS offer the book on CDROM in PDF to anyone who will write a review. I am a little bit stingy with hard copies (a) because the book retails for £30 and (b) it costs me £5 to post one!
Thanks for all your supportive and kind compliments. The chapter downloads took me a whole 12 hour day to sort out and code the webpage for and in 18 months I have sold ONE chapter for £2, so not a commercial success by any means!
I am trying to think of specific ways that I can use the fact of winning a DSJT prize to my commercial advantage.
I have already emailed a press release to many publications .... got on radio etc... what next?
Many thanks again Josie, do email me if you like, though as you say your comments are better made public so others can benefit from them.
Oh one last comment, I worked with women on the ry for 21 years and in all that time I met only one lesbian; but yes, you are right there is a lesbian 'market' out there who might be interested in the book.
Helena
[email protected]
Am trying to think of ways to drive more traffic to the site. I get about 5 hits a day on average - pathetic!
The book is definitely of more interest to railway history buffs than women's history buffs. There is HUGE interest in railways and this is the readership I really need to tap into.
I definitely need to attract more people to my website, but I honestly don't believe that they will come to read my inane ramblings in a blog that would have nowt to do with railways because I don't keep up with railway news, don't work there any more etc.
My current work is my new book, nothing to do with railways.
I joined dozens of railway webrings and dutifully entered the codes they gave me onto my site, but the logos never displayed properly and the whole thing never worked properly, no doubt because of my ignorance. I emailed about ten Ringmasters begging for help with this but not one ever replied to me, so in the end I removed the code. If someone could handle this webring business for me, that would be great.
Helena