The numbers are in and they're looking great!

Looking at Partnership Publishing. Part Two.

I am married to an accountant and for good reason, (apart from the fact I love him), like Jack Spratt who could eat no fat, and his wife who could eat no lean, he does numbers and I do words. Numbers make my head spin. Postcards to his family will often sit in the dash of the car and only get written, in haste, on our return, each one taking him an age to write a couple of lines. I on the other hand write them as soon as bought, preferably on the table of a cafe in the sun, with minuscule writing that creeps up the side and around the address and stamp. But numbers and spreadsheets are his domain! However, the numbers are in, and I want to share them with you. They are looking great! The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn has sold a staggering 1,500 paperback copies in eight months and 79 e-books. Even that was a struggle to type in numbers and not words!

Would you mind if I repeated that? My debut novel, The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn has sold 1,500 paperbacks and 79 e-books in just eight months. I find this amazing and I would like to thank all of you who have bought a copy, left a review and spread the word.

Just under 900 of these sales have been sold directly from my website or at events I’ve attended in person, selling signed author copies I have bought from the publisher.

Did I do the right thing? Is it wise to sell your own books or should that be left to booksellers? I was partnership published which means I shelled out a couple of grand (had to put that in words it’s too ouchy for numbers) to get my book published by The Book Guild. I needed to recoup my costs, BUT this means, as my bookseller daughter explained, I would not be seen on the bestseller lists.

I’ll explain… If my book sells on Amazon, I get £1.41 a copy by the time Amazon takes its 60% and my publisher 60% of what’s left! It is a little more from bookshops who generally get 45% discount, and the publisher 60% of what’s left, but around 55% of the cover price if I sell directly from my website. I hope you’re not feeling dizzy with numbers! So it’s a toss-up between wanting to be on the bestseller lists and all sales going through Neilsens (who store book data) and where potential new agents and publishers will look, and selling via my website where I will take half the cover price as profit.

Readers, even with these sales figures I have still not recouped my costs, so before you think I might be heading off for a luxury spa break after all my hard work, think again.

There are so many extras to add on top such as marketing materials, and the cost of setting up a website and running an online store on that to consider. I have the wonderful Terry from TWDA to thank for mine, and then there is all the wrapping and handling of distribution from the dining room table! I’ll just give Royal Mail and the Click and Collect service and our wonderful two posties a shoutout here as they have collected hundreds of books for me, and of course to my husband who wrapped all the pre-orders that came flooding in and forced a second print run before publication date. As you can see, we were fuelled by cake!

Getting hundreds of orders for signed copies via my website was wonderful but nothing can take away the thrill of seeing your book on the shelf or in the window of your local book shop and I have the team at Cogito Books in Hexham to thank for putting my book in their window, and whilst not the most flattering of photos, I think my face says it all!

Then there is the thrill of hearing the news that your local Waterstones is having to order yet another batch of books, could you please pop in to sign them as they have sold almost 100 copies in eight months?

Happy Days!

And then there is marketing! Any author will tell you, whether traditionally published, partnership or self-published, that you have to market your book, and that starts way before the publication date. I work incredibly hard on my marketing, much of this starting way before I even considered publishing a novel. It is SO important to build your following and create a brand about who you are and what you write about. I could write a whole new Substack series on marketing your book and using social media as a tool to do that, and maybe I will one day, but for now, I need to focus on writing book two AND looking to what is in store for the future of The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn.

In book two, which has a working title of Molly McFlynn and the Presence of Absence, the tragic felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap is interwoven with Molly’s experiences of grief, eco-consciousness and Northern identity.

' There were two trees in my life: one which I could no longer bear to be around and another to which I was fleeing on the AD122 out of town. I had to go. I had to feel its strength against my back and hold me in a time and place when he was still here.’

Photo by Andrew Masters on Unsplash

Buoyed up on the success of this first novel, and with the second underway, I’m approaching agents again, as I’d like to be traditionally published and have an agent behind me. Whilst Molly has flown here in the northeast and is stocked in some bookshops down South, she’s got so much more ground to cover nationally. Whilst my books can indeed be bought internationally online I would love for my books to be translated and sold in other languages, and I would love to have an Audiobook version out there, but paid for by a publisher, not me.

So, if you are a literary agent who is looking for a sassy eco-feminist, Molly and I are waiting!

When Lou Hamilton interviewed me for the Brave New Girl podcast, she thought The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn would make great telly and I agree. I would love to see it as a kids’ series of films. (Just putting that out there in case any producers are reading) and I feel I’m far more likely to achieve this goal with a good literary agency behind me.

I love doing podcasts and recently guested on Jen Bowden’s podcast, Northern Voices. Jen, through her mentoring services, has helped me to sharpen my query letter and synopsis, giving me the incentive and confidence I needed to re-enter the querying trenches again. Jen is a champion of Northern authors and has recently secured herself two agents to work with her on her Northern trilogy. So much of publishing is London-centric although great strides are being made in the North and the future is looking more rosy for diverse regional voices, there is still much work to be done.

You can listen to my episode of Northern Voices here.

I’ve just had a conversation with author Nick McLoughlin whose book, Slings and Arrows is also published by The Books Guild, about doing events and the art of selling (another Substack perhaps?) and putting on your author event.

I’ve got a few events lined up that I’d love to share with you, and if you’re in the area I’d love you to come!

Next Wednesday, 21 August, is the anniversary of the Newcastle Witch Trials which I write about in The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn, I write about Ann Watson, one of the women hanged on accusations of witchcraft in 1650 on the Town Moor in Newcastle. We are gathering at The Garden Coffee House in Hexham to remember Ann and the other women executed, but also to talk about my book and my writing!

Tickets for this can be got through Eventbrite here

Then I have two events coming up in Weardale. It will be such a joy to return to the Dale after 21 years away.

I’ll be in the craft tent at Weardale Agricultural Show aka Chapel Show, at St John’s Chapel on 31 August, signing copies and meeting readers.

On October 26th I’ll be at Weardale Wordfest as a guest speaker.

The future is looking very exciting, but there may be a time when Molly is delisted in order for a new publisher to work on the second edition with me and re-release it, and if that is the case, so be it! However, I’ll keep you posted if that is looking likely but for now, booksellers can continue to order from Gardners and everyone else, wherever you get your books! Or order a signed copy from me at www.suereedwrites.co.uk.

I’d love to meet you if you’re in the area, but if not, do connect here, or in other places on social media @suereedwrites.

Thanks for reading!

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