Fiona Stocker's Blog

[image error]Photo by Rumman Amin on Unsplash

It’s hard writing a book and even harder marketing one. If you’ve got paperbacks or hard copies out there in bookshops or online, well done. You’ve probably been on a long slog to get to that point.

It’s hard work selling books as well and you have to feel for bricks and mortar booksellers. They’re beset by the encroachment of the digital age and all their overheads, and thousands of new titles coming onto the market weekly.

From an author’s point of view, there’s still a lot of things we depend on bookstores to do, to sell our books. Can you depend on every book shop to give your book every chance of selling? Well, based on the straw poll survey I’ve done of half a dozen bookshops in Tasmania over the past fortnight, sometimes you can, and sometimes you can’t.

Face Out

If you’ve got a you-beaut cover, ideally you want your book to be face-out into the bookstore, rather than spine-out. That way you’ve got more cover real-estate smacking your customer in the eye. If nobody’s looking, I’m unashamedly in the habit of turning my books face-out. I try not to cover up anybody else’s book in the process. But if I’ve taken the trouble to be in the shop, I’m doing what I can to increase my chances and it’s proven to work. Read to the end to hear how.

[image error]Stealing Michelle’s thunder. Sorry about that.

Category

Ideally your book will be in the right section of the shop, but so often it’s not. My book is a rural memoir. Think River Cottage in book form, told by the wife, with humour, and better hair and glasses. It belongs in the travel and biography sections. But here in Tasmania it gets put in the ‘Tasmania’ section. That’s mostly okay. A lot of people go looking for gift books there. Tasmanians are great buyers of books about their island. There are lots of densely written historical books that would make you slip into a coma too, but horses for courses. It also means I can position it face-out next to Nicholas Shakespeare’s ‘In Tasmania’ if nobody’s looking.

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I visited a bookshop last week that looks like a wealthy man’s retirement project. It’s beautifully laid out in a heritage property. And empty. He was in a very bad mood. He had one copy of my book, in the ‘Agriculture’ section, under ‘Sheep’. A place and a topic that none of my readers go to. I was in a bad mood too by the time I left.

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Eye level

I found my book on the bottom shelf in one Hobart bookstore. Literally an inch off the floor. There was some random piece of spare furniture stuck in front of it. Ain’t nobody buying that baby anytime soon. It’s frustrating because this bookshop sold well for me initially, they went to a second order.

In the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s gift shop, it was another story. They’ve had new shelves built recently, and they’re bright and white and place all the books at easy-to-reach level. The store is laid out and stocked beautifully. I had a lovely chat with the young woman staffing it who told me about their system for re-ordering. It’s an honour to be stocked here. Thank you, TMAG.

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Bookseller’s recommendation

Ideally you’d like the staff in the shops to have read your book so that they can sell it. Occasionally you’ll get a store that writes those little personal notes of recommendation and hangs them off the shelf below your book. Magic.

Reordering

If an order of your book sells out, you’d like the bookshop to reorder. One shop I visited last week no longer had any of my books on the shelves. the manager looked it up and could see they’d had them, but they’d all sold. They won’t be ordering any more now because the owners have put a stop on all purchasing in the current pandemic climate. It’s a beautiful shop with giftware as well as wonderful titles in stock. What a shame for us both.

I couldn’t even find the last shop in Hobart I intended visiting. And after all the above I was feeling a bit disheartened and increasingly committed to focussing all my marketing efforts at online and e-book sales.

But I’ve left the best till last. I heard John Gaunt, founder of Waterstones, talking about how a book can become a bestseller based on the efforts of just one bookshop, if that shop loves a book, advocates for it, sells it actively and word spreads. You have to put the hard yards in personally, but sometimes, with personal contact, a bookseller comes through for you.

I popped into my local independent bookstore in Launceston to buy a book for my son. This shop is family run, has been for decades, and is the city’s last remaining independent. It’s a tough business but they’ve been in pole position for years, and little wonder. They support their authors with signings and launches, and are fantastically well stocked, and have great staff who are great at making personal recommendations.

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On my way in, I checked on Apple Island Wife in the Tasmania section. They had one copy left. I turned it face-out and headed off to teen-fiction. On my way out I decided to photograph it for social media, but that last copy had gone. Looking around, I saw it sitting on the front counter, and some woman about to buy it. I went over and gave her a poke. ‘Are you buying that?’ I asked. She was. It was a gift for friends. She had come into the shop not a minute before, seen it looking out from the shelves, glanced at the blurb and knew instantly that was what she was looking for.

That’s a day when all your ducks lined up. I signed it for her, and it made the day for us both.

I then wandered up the street and saw the owner of the bookstore waiting for a coffee. I told him what had happened and we had a chuckle. He said he’d just reordered Apple Island Wife because it sells consistently, and every time I drop in it reminds him to check how many copies they’ve got left. That man is a saint.

As for the rest of the bookstores I called on, I like to support them, I really do, as a customer. But as an author I’m starting to see why the bestselling rom-com writer I know bypassed both publishers and bookshops, went straight to Kindle Publishing Direct and is really happy there.

Fiona Stocker is the author of rural memoir Apple Island Wife – Slow Living in Tasmania, published by Unbound. It’s the story of what really happens when you leave city life and move to the country, of finding your feet and your identity, as a wife and a rural woman. It is available in all the usual places online, and to order in bookstores in the UK and Australia.

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We’re at home today with one child, two from tomorrow. Obviously English is one subject I feel a bit qualified to help mine with. So here’s the first assignment I’m setting my year eleven daughter. It’s based on the film Love Actually, which we’ve watched a few times recently in an effort to keep cheerful. I might brainstorm these questions with her and then let her write a few lines on each one. And I might even give the same questions to my thirteen year old son tomorrow and work through them with him.. wish me luck there!

Love Actually Essay Questions

What is the central moral (or message) of the film?

HINTS: What is the film about? Don’t tell me what happens in the plot – what is the film’s main theme? And how does it establish that theme, in which scene? What is it saying about this theme as the film goes on?

How does the film tell its story? What techniques does it use?

HINTS: think about how many characters, how the storyline develops.

What are some of the qualities of the film that make it especially British?

HINTS: where is it set? And are there any other things about the characters in it that make it feel very British?

What is especially comical about Jamie and Aurelia’s courtship?

HINTS: no hints here, this should be easy!!

Why does Billy leave the party at Elton John’s and how does this relate to what the film is about?

HINTS: think about what Billy says when he gets to his manager’s flat.

Good memoirs are about more than just the person writing them. They’re a broader account of things that we can all relate to, sometimes unexpectedly.

‘Hearing Maud’ by Jessica White is her account of growing up deaf in outback Australia, after losing her hearing through a bout of meningitis at age four. Jess was sent to school with the rest of her brothers and sisters and encouraged to continue talking. But hearing loss meant she could never keep up, never really integrate, felt left out of conversations and social situations. She retreated into the world of books and reading, and then writing. In adult life she became an academic. But it took a long time to find her feet in the world.

In ‘Hearing Maud’ her own story is interwoven with that of another deaf Australian woman, the daughter of a 19th century novelist. Maud Praed grew up being made to speak despite being profoundly deaf, and was then confined to an institution for the most part of her adult life, until she died, and from the descriptions you’d have to say she went barking mad, the poor woman.

This book looks at how people with hearing loss and deafness have been ‘handled’, for want of a better word, by our cultures. How they’ve been forced to learn to speak, and not taught to sign, because that would set them apart, and not enable them to ‘fit in’. This can mean a lifetime spent on the fringes of hearing society. Whereas signing, the true language of the deaf, enables them to talk at speed and fluently, and join with other people.

My husband is entirely deaf in one ear, the result of a childhood accident on the arm and then a flu shot three years ago (he developed tinnitus and lost the last vestiges of his hearing in that ear two hours after the shot. Try googling ‘tinnitus, flu vaccination’ – it’s an eye-opener.) He backs up Jess’s summation of what social situations and conversations are like when you’re deaf: constantly having to guess parts of what people are saying, feeling stupid if you get it wrong and respond incorrectly, missing things and struggling to keep up. And how exhausting all this is.

But I found much to relate to myself even though I’m not deaf, and that’s the secret of a good memoir. You can imagine how lonely and isolated Jess felt during her teenage years. Well this is a good book for a woman with a teenage daughter to read; it was a reminder to me of the isolation I felt myself at that age, simply because it’s an awkward age when you want to fit in but may not do so, for any old reason.

And in Jess’s analysis of how deaf people are forced to assimilate and use a dominant culture’s means of communication and expression, and how this parallels Aboriginal experience in colonial culture, I found parallels again with women’s experience in a patriarchal culture. Being a ‘wife’ has become about fitting in, having it all, raising children and having a career, trying to be women and men, often subverting our own desires in service to a family. I write about finding my own identity as a woman, a wife and a writer in my own memoir Apple Island Wife, and I found much to relate to in what Jess was saying.

It’s a very successful mix, this book, of academic research into a historical figure and analysis of her experience and what it can teach us, and a sensory, personal memoir. Jess’s descriptions are often fluid, even poetic, as she evokes life in the bush and later in big cities.

I recommend this book for anyone who loves reading memoir for its capacity to take us into another person’s world, show and tell us things we haven’t expected, bring us small moments of enlightenment, and stay with us. Books that do that are jewels in the canon. This one is a small, heartfelt gem.  

More…

Fiona Stocker is the author of rural memoir Apple Island Wife – Slow Living in Tasmania, published by Unbound. It’s the story of what really happens when you leave city life and move to the country, of finding your feet and your identity, as a wife and a rural woman. It is available in all the usual places online, and to order in bookstores in the UK and Australia.

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I’ve been on Instagram for a couple of years and posted all sorts of stuff: pics from my farm, food I’ve eaten, and ‘Author Shots’ – a series in which I recreate shots of great writers using myself as… err… the model.

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But lately I’ve focused my account more on what I love – books and reading. There’s a whole world of people out there doing the same and talking to each other: bookstagrammers. If you’re an author, you could do well to tap into this community. As ever, the first and biggest tip is to do it authentically, enjoy your time on Instagram, and try not to flog your book overtly at every turn.

I’m not an expert but I love it. Here are a few of the things I’ve picked up. My first tip: it’s not as hard as it might sound! Keep Instagram open on your phone as you read this and try some stuff out!

Your Profile

Try to update it every so often, so it’s a quick, catchy precis of who you are and has a mention of your book(s). Starting each line with an emoji is a thing, and makes it look a bit more interesting. I’m still thinking about location: my book sells well in the UK and I’m Englishwoman living in Australia, so I’ve got both places in my profile.

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Your Link

Instagram allows you one link in your profile. Use a linktree for this. It’s free, and creates a single link which comes up with an index of your content – wherever you want to direct people: your website, your blog, your books on Amazon, your crowdfunding page. Don’t post any links in your Instagram posts. They won’t be live, Insta doesn’t work that way. Even more reason to get a linktree for your profile. Here’s mine. linktr.ee/fionastockerwriter

What sort of pics to post?

If you’re a writer, and you want to join in the #bookstagram fun, it needs to be relevant in some way. There’s a rich community of #bookstagrammers on Instagram – just look up either of those two hashtags. Some are writers, librarians and booksellers, but most are avid, insatiable readers. And as authors, that’s our market, right? And you’re probably a big reader yourself.

Some examples of bookstagram images that people post on Instagram.

Pics of books stacks – your latest library haul, bookshop buys, or your current to-be-read pile.

An image of a book you’ve read and a few thoughts on it. Or review it on your blog, and remind people they can find this through the linktree in your bio! Maybe show your hand holding the book, or a cup of coffee – it’s a thing. And include the name of the author or the book as a hashtag at the bottom. People will look them up, and they may stumble across your post in this way. If you’ve just read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, hashtag it for sure – on trend books will get you noticed.

If you love books, you might be reviewing them already on Goodreads. Compared to Instagram, that’s like shouting into a black hole. Switch to Instagram and people will actually read what you’ve written, and respond!

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Pics of books with a cup of coffee. It’s a thing, a big thing – try looking up #coffeeandbooks. Pics of books with food, that’s a thing too – try #foodandbooks, #readingandeating. It may seem silly, but with every post you hashtag #booksandfood you stand the chance of being seen by someone with similar tastes to you, who might enjoy your posts – and your books.

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Pics of your legs with a book sitting on them. Zoe Lea Writer does this, lots of people do it, featuring their funky socks. It makes for a great eye-catching pic. Pics of your desk. Helen Redfern Writer posts a pic of her desk every time, for an intriguing feed and seventeen thousand followers! Pics of your bedroom with an open book in it – #readinginbed. Pics of your reading room, reading spot, library. Pics of a view on the walk you took earlier, with your hand holding an open book in the foreground – #openbooklandscape.

Dogs and cats are, of course, gold. Got a cat that sits on your knee while you read? Keep your phone handy, Insta fame is yours for the taking.

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What to write?

On Instagram, the text is called your caption. While some are short and snappy, there are people posting long book reviews, and there’s everything in between. People write as the muse takes them, and it’s good to develop your own style. Look up #bookstagram and see what appeals to you. One thing’s for sure, a long screed of text jumbled with hashtags and @ tags is messy and unreadable, and you’re wasting your time. I favour a few paragraphs separated by a full stop on an otherwise empty line to create some white space. Try to keep the writing good, as sometimes this makes an impression.

Hashtags

They’re the key to Instagram. You must use them to be found, and search on them to find other accounts you like. Look at the hashtags other Instagrammers use (try any of the ones I’m mentioning to get you started) and keep a list or two in ‘notes’ on your smartphone. You can then copy and paste them into your Insta posts. Vary them a bit with each post. It’s worth tapping them into Insta individually as the app suggests other similar ones worth exploring.

Post your hashtags well below your caption. Try doing five line spaces with a full stop on each of them, to create space and ‘hide’ the hashtags a little.

Don’t post with more than thirty hashtags, Instagram doesn’t allow it, and will post just the pic and none of your text. Avoid hashtags that are used millions of times, such as #bookstagram, as your post will just get lost. Look for hashtags whose useage is thousands not millions – #bookcrazy, #alwaysreading.

[image error][image error]LEFT: my list of hashtags in Notes. RIGHT: hashtags in a post, at the bottom.



Comment and engage

Comment on other people’s posts – it’s just as important as posting. Search the hashtags you’ve used, visit the other accounts that come up, and comment. Follow people whose accounts you enjoy. Find a few whose posts have fewer comments, and join in.

Post meaningful comments, not just ‘ooh lovely pic’. Post your thoughts about their books. Don’t spend too long agonizing over one person’s feed unless you really love their content.

Avoid older posts as people may have moved on. If you comment on huge bloggers’ posts, you’ll likely just be lost in the noise.

Look for people you’d get along with in real life. I search out people posting about books and authors I like myself (pics of books and bookstacks are great for this). I don’t spend any time at all on twenty-somethings who read about dragons. Those aren’t my kind of book, and they’re not my readers. Somebody posting about Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir or fiction is a different story, as I love her books, and I write memoir myself.

Connect

The BBC Radio 4 program and podcast A Good Read has its own Instagram account and they love you to tag them and comment. @agoodreadbbc.

A great books podcast based in Australia is Diving In at @diving_in_podcast.

Lots of book bloggers are on Instagram. If you have a blog tour organized for you, interact with the ones who review your book. One particular blogger wrote a lovely review of my book and really ‘got’ it. A year later we have a beautiful Instagram friendship which I really enjoy.

How often to post

You’ll see advice saying once or twice daily, but you don’t want to live on Instagram! I follow successful ‘grammers who post just once every few days. This allows time for people to discover your posts. It helps if there is activity on your feed – people liking and commenting, and you replying. If that’s happening, the Instagram algorithm keeps your post current, (I’m guessing here but I think this is how it works) and you don’t really have a reason to post another pic, as this one’s working hard for you.

Repetition

If you’ve got a successful post, I’ve seen advice saying post the same kind of pic again. Zoe Lea Writer does this with her blue sofa. But then it is a very handsome blue sofa.

Insights

If you’ve got an up-to-date phone or tablet, click on the ‘burger’ at top right and it takes you to insights about how your account is working. This is gold. Look out for the days of the week when you get more traction, and consider posting more on those. I sometimes post morning and evening on those days. You can also see the times of day that work for you. I do a lot of calculating what time it is in the UK and Australia, and posting for when everybody’s awake…

Consider using filters

If you really want to improve the look of your feed, filters are the go. You can of course use the Instagram filters (although that makes my graphic designer shiver), but to go one step better, try the VSCO app. Import your pics into it and select from the twelve free filters. Use the same one with each pic and it gives your feed a consistent look. I like C2, which makes the colours pop. A faded vintage look is very current right now – try F2.

Where VSCO really comes into its own is that is has a ‘sharpen’ and ‘clarity’ function as well. You can take a half-baked smart phone shot and make it look like David Bailey took it. This is handy, as you really want your photos to stand out.

[image error][image error]Processed with VSCO with c1 preset



Emojis

Use them! If you’re over forty and went to a grammar school, you’ll find this hard at first. You get over it.

Everything is easier on a recent model smartphone. My iPad is outdated and I can’t ‘heart’ people’s comments. That shit is important. If you ‘like’ somebody’s comment, they get a notification about it. That’s your name appearing in front of them one more little time. Call me cynical, but that’s a touchpoint.

Addiction warning!

Be careful you don’t get addicted. Sometimes I think about Instagram more than my current writing projects. Time to refocus!

Some favourite bookstagrammers

Check out some of my favourite Instagrammers who aren’t too ginormous: @sarahtebb @zoeleawriter @helenredfernwriter @sweptawaybybooks @ab_reads @podsticles @hayaisreading @thebookishglow @virginia_reads

Post to Facebook from Instagram

Connect your account to your Facebook page or profile. Each time you post on Instagram, the same post goes automatically to Facebook. You should, ideally, open up Facebook every so often and reply to comments there. I find Facebook useful for the groups, but am there less and less for anything else. On Instagram it’s much easier for people to find you, and I’m having way more fun there.

Go public

Make sure your account is set to a ‘business’ or public account; otherwise only your mates can see you.

When you’re ready, investigate ‘Stories’ – the next step!!

Does it work?

Does this all convert to book sales? All I can say is that in the two months I’ve focused on posting with more book content, my listings on Amazon are ranking higher, and I’m not doing much else.

Happy posting! If you like what you’ve read here, follow along with me on Instagram – Fiona Stocker Writer. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve read this post, and I’ll follow you back.

If you REALLY like what you’ve read here, try my book! Apple Island Wife: what happens when you move to the country with an alpaca-whispering husband and a feral cockerel for company. It’s a little like River Cottage but with better hair and glasses. Steven Lamb, author and presenter at the Cottage, says it’s ‘heartwarming and hilarious … compulsive reading for anyone who thinks they’re not living the life they should.’ Guaranteed to take your mind off Instagram.

[image error][image error][image error]

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I’ve been on Instagram for a couple of years and posted all sorts of stuff: pics from my farm, food I’ve eaten, and ‘Author Shots’ – a series in which I recreate shots of great writers using myself as… err… the model.

[image error]

But lately I’ve focused my account more on what I love – books and reading. There’s a whole world of people out there doing the same and talking to each other: bookstagrammers. If you’re an author, you could do well to tap into this community. As ever, the first and biggest tip is to do it authentically, enjoy your time on Instagram, and try not to flog your book overtly at every turn.

I’m not an expert but I love it. Here are a few of the things I’ve picked up. My first tip: it’s not as hard as it might sound! Keep Instagram open on your phone as you read this and try some stuff out!

Your Profile

Try to update it every so often, so it’s a quick, catchy precis of who you are and has a mention of your book(s). Starting each line with an emoji is a thing, and makes it look a bit more interesting. I’m still thinking about location: my book sells well in the UK and I’m Englishwoman living in Australia, so I’ve got both places in my profile.

[image error]



Your Link

Instagram allows you one link in your profile. Use a linktree for this. It’s free, and creates a single link which comes up with an index of your content – wherever you want to direct people: your website, your blog, your books on Amazon, your crowdfunding page. Don’t post any links in your Instagram posts. They won’t be live, Insta doesn’t work that way. Even more reason to get a linktree for your profile. Here’s mine. linktr.ee/fionastockerwriter

What sort of pics to post?

If you’re a writer, and you want to join in the #bookstagram fun, it needs to be relevant in some way. There’s a rich community of #bookstagrammers on Instagram – just look up either of those two hashtags. Some are writers, librarians and booksellers, but most are avid, insatiable readers. And as authors, that’s our market, right? And you’re probably a big reader yourself.

Some examples of bookstagram images that people post on Instagram.

Pics of books stacks – your latest library haul, bookshop buys, or your current to-be-read pile.

An image of a book you’ve read and a few thoughts on it. Or review it on your blog, and remind people they can find this through the linktree in your bio! Maybe show your hand holding the book, or a cup of coffee – it’s a thing. And include the name of the author or the book as a hashtag at the bottom. People will look them up, and they may stumble across your post in this way. If you’ve just read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, hashtag it for sure – on trend books will get you noticed.

If you love books, you might be reviewing them already on Goodreads. Compared to Instagram, that’s like shouting into a black hole. Switch to Instagram and people will actually read what you’ve written, and respond!

[image error][image error]

Pics of books with a cup of coffee. It’s a thing, a big thing – try looking up #coffeeandbooks. Pics of books with food, that’s a thing too – try #foodandbooks, #readingandeating. It may seem silly, but with every post you hashtag #booksandfood you stand the chance of being seen by someone with similar tastes to you, who might enjoy your posts – and your books.

[image error][image error]

Pics of your legs with a book sitting on them. Zoe Lea Writer does this, lots of people do it, featuring their funky socks. It makes for a great eye-catching pic. Pics of your desk. Helen Redfern Writer posts a pic of her desk every time, for an intriguing feed and seventeen thousand followers! Pics of your bedroom with an open book in it – #readinginbed. Pics of your reading room, reading spot, library. Pics of a view on the walk you took earlier, with your hand holding an open book in the foreground – #openbooklandscape.

Dogs and cats are, of course, gold. Got a cat that sits on your knee while you read? Keep your phone handy, Insta fame is yours for the taking.

[image error][image error][image error][image error][image error]



What to write?

On Instagram, the text is called your caption. While some are short and snappy, there are people posting long book reviews, and there’s everything in between. People write as the muse takes them, and it’s good to develop your own style. Look up #bookstagram and see what appeals to you. One thing’s for sure, a long screed of text jumbled with hashtags and @ tags is messy and unreadable, and you’re wasting your time. I favour a few paragraphs separated by a full stop on an otherwise empty line to create some white space. Try to keep the writing good, as sometimes this makes an impression.

Hashtags

They’re the key to Instagram. You must use them to be found, and search on them to find other accounts you like. Look at the hashtags other Instagrammers use (try any of the ones I’m mentioning to get you started) and keep a list or two in ‘notes’ on your smartphone. You can then copy and paste them into your Insta posts. Vary them a bit with each post. It’s worth tapping them into Insta individually as the app suggests other similar ones worth exploring.

Post your hashtags well below your caption. Try doing five line spaces with a full stop on each of them, to create space and ‘hide’ the hashtags a little.

Don’t post with more than thirty hashtags, Instagram doesn’t allow it, and will post just the pic and none of your text. Avoid hashtags that are used millions of times, such as #bookstagram, as your post will just get lost. Look for hashtags whose useage is thousands not millions – #bookcrazy, #alwaysreading.

[image error][image error]LEFT: my list of hashtags in Notes. RIGHT: hashtags in a post, at the bottom.



Comment and engage

Comment on other people’s posts – it’s just as important as posting. Search the hashtags you’ve used, visit the other accounts that come up, and comment. Follow people whose accounts you enjoy. Find a few whose posts have fewer comments, and join in.

Post meaningful comments, not just ‘ooh lovely pic’. Post your thoughts about their books. Don’t spend too long agonizing over one person’s feed unless you really love their content.

Avoid older posts as people may have moved on. If you comment on huge bloggers’ posts, you’ll likely just be lost in the noise.

Look for people you’d get along with in real life. I search out people posting about books and authors I like myself (pics of books and bookstacks are great for this). I don’t spend any time at all on twenty-somethings who read about dragons. Those aren’t my kind of book, and they’re not my readers. Somebody posting about Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir or fiction is a different story, as I love her books, and I write memoir myself.

Connect

The BBC Radio 4 program and podcast A Good Read has its own Instagram account and they love you to tag them and comment. @agoodreadbbc.

A great books podcast based in Australia is Diving In at @diving_in_podcast.

Lots of book bloggers are on Instagram. If you have a blog tour organized for you, interact with the ones who review your book. One particular blogger wrote a lovely review of my book and really ‘got’ it. A year later we have a beautiful Instagram friendship which I really enjoy.

How often to post

You’ll see advice saying once or twice daily, but you don’t want to live on Instagram! I follow successful ‘grammers who post just once every few days. This allows time for people to discover your posts. It helps if there is activity on your feed – people liking and commenting, and you replying. If that’s happening, the Instagram algorithm keeps your post current, (I’m guessing here but I think this is how it works) and you don’t really have a reason to post another pic, as this one’s working hard for you.

Repetition

If you’ve got a successful post, I’ve seen advice saying post the same kind of pic again. Zoe Lea Writer does this with her blue sofa. But then it is a very handsome blue sofa.

Insights

If you’ve got an up-to-date phone or tablet, click on the ‘burger’ at top right and it takes you to insights about how your account is working. This is gold. Look out for the days of the week when you get more traction, and consider posting more on those. I sometimes post morning and evening on those days. You can also see the times of day that work for you. I do a lot of calculating what time it is in the UK and Australia, and posting for when everybody’s awake…

Consider using filters

If you really want to improve the look of your feed, filters are the go. You can of course use the Instagram filters (although that makes my graphic designer shiver), but to go one step better, try the VSCO app. Import your pics into it and select from the twelve free filters. Use the same one with each pic and it gives your feed a consistent look. I like C2, which makes the colours pop. A faded vintage look is very current right now – try F2.

Where VSCO really comes into its own is that is has a ‘sharpen’ and ‘clarity’ function as well. You can take a half-baked smart phone shot and make it look like David Bailey took it. This is handy, as you really want your photos to stand out.

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Emojis

Use them! If you’re over forty and went to a grammar school, you’ll find this hard at first. You get over it.

Everything is easier on a recent model smartphone. My iPad is outdated and I can’t ‘heart’ people’s comments. That shit is important. If you ‘like’ somebody’s comment, they get a notification about it. That’s your name appearing in front of them one more little time. Call me cynical, but that’s a touchpoint.

Addiction warning!

Be careful you don’t get addicted. Sometimes I think about Instagram more than my current writing projects. Time to refocus!

Some favourite bookstagrammers

Check out some of my favourite Instagrammers who aren’t too ginormous: @sarahtebb @zoeleawriter @helenredfernwriter @sweptawaybybooks @ab_reads @podsticles @hayaisreading @thebookishglow @virginia_reads

Post to Facebook from Instagram

Connect your account to your Facebook page or profile. Each time you post on Instagram, the same post goes automatically to Facebook. You should, ideally, open up Facebook every so often and reply to comments there. I find Facebook useful for the groups, but am there less and less for anything else. On Instagram it’s much easier for people to find you, and I’m having way more fun there.

Go public

Make sure your account is set to a ‘business’ or public account; otherwise only your mates can see you.

When you’re ready, investigate ‘Stories’ – the next step!!

Does it work?

Does this all convert to book sales? All I can say is that in the two months I’ve focused on posting with more book content, my listings on Amazon are ranking higher, and I’m not doing much else.

Happy posting! If you like what you’ve read here, follow along with me on Instagram – Fiona Stocker Writer. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve read this post, and I’ll follow you back.

If you REALLY like what you’ve read here, try my book! Apple Island Wife: what happens when you move to the country with an alpaca-whispering husband and a feral cockerel for company. It’s a little like River Cottage but with better hair and glasses. Steven Lamb, author and presenter at the Cottage, says it’s ‘heartwarming and hilarious … compulsive reading for anyone who thinks they’re not living the life they should.’ Guaranteed to take your mind off Instagram.

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[image error]Alex Atala (centre) visiting Flinders Island in Tasmania – photo by Chris Crerar

The seventh best chef in the world is in need of a smoke. Alex Atala’s restaurant DOM in Sao Paolo has occupied a doughty spot in the World’s Best list for fifteen years. Now he’s come to Tasmania as the last guest in the 2018 Great Chefs Series, which sees international names working with students from TAFE colleges.

I’m meeting him at Josef Chromy Winery, where he will mastermind a seven course dinner for almost two hundred diners, working alongside the students and staff there. I’m at the tail end of his press call, and he’s heading for the patio, rolling his own as he goes. He’s smaller and more wiry than he appears on film, and looks as though he could handle himself in a fight. ‘You like to be outside?’ I gesture obligingly.  He answers with gravelly South American vowels and a maximum wattage smile, fixes me with brown spaniel eyes and a firm handshake, greets me by name. His manner is insanely genial and completely absent of ego. I am immediately smitten.

What does one ask a man who is credited with bringing native Brazilian cuisine on Michelin starred plates and is also, as evidenced by Instagram, a scary ju-jitsu master, in ten minutes? Why do you put a single gold encrusted ant on top of your desserts? And has somebody warned you about Tasmanian jack-jumpers?

We settle onto patio benches and I place my business cards before him. I’m a freelance writer but also a farmer, and I want him to know this. Atala is a respecter of farmers. He sees our logo, a Saddleback pig, and falls into a rhapsody about the Italian Cinta Senese, also rare and black with a white saddle. ‘And they are very famous to do Lardo Colonatta,’ he says, referring to the Tuscan tradition of cured back-fat. My husband makes that and leaves it in jars in my fridge, I tell him, and we chuckle companionably. We have found common ground, over lard. He lights up.

One of his guiding principles, I’ve read, is that mise en place and all ingredients begin on the farm and in nature. So what is in his mise en place today? ‘Everything that I taste and experience here,’ he says. ‘I bring a few ingredients from Brazil of course, but we come with open mind.’

In Brazil, he works with Amazonian tribes, has taken the native ingredient of manioc and the staples which derive from it – stocks, sauces and flour – and plated high art made from them. For the past three days he has been shown the pickings of farms, land and sea in Tasmania and will now show, he explains in his charming and workmanlike English, that ‘even if we was in the opposite parts of the world, a recipe can put the strengths together in harmony.’  His simple aim tonight is to show Australian people ‘the deliciousness of my country, and also the possibilities that you guys have’.

Visiting a venison farm the previous day, he was struck by the deep consideration the farmer showed for his livestock. ‘The way that the man treat the animals, even to the death, to the abattoir, that is someone who really respect the animal.’ This is at the heart of good farming. Every farmer knows it, and Atala knows it too. ‘That really touch me,’ he says, his voice quiet with emotion. Told that everyone wants back-strap because it’s the best cut, he took the back leg instead, had the students remove all the membranes, and will serve venison tartare as an appetiser.

[image error]Farmer Michal Frydrych with chef Alex Atala. Photo by Chris Crerar

Is there a balance between giving people food they will be excited by, and also making them think about its origins, I want to know. It turns out this is why he puts ants on the menu. The indigenous people of the Amazon make a soup from ants. As a city born boy, he found it as confronting as the rest of us when first he tried it. But convinced of the need for us to change the way we feed the world, he is well on board with the idea that insects may figure large in our dietary future. Getting us to think about food origins and futures is his mission in life. ‘This is a commitment that a chef can take nowadays. Because chefs maybe are the strongest voice in the food chain.’

There are pauses as he expounds his theory, his gaze  combing the landscape as he brings his argument together. Whilst he’s on social media, he holds no truck with it, and sees food as the original, powerful connector. Facebook, he says, has a billion and a half users. He leans in. ‘But what connects seven, eight billions on planet earth, is food.’ He sees food as a leveller. ‘I’m not impressed, that many peoples in my country never taste my food, or the ingredients that I use.’ What scares him, he says, and ‘froze his heart’ is that people are so disconnected from food that they may not recognise something so fundamental as an orange tree without its fruit. ‘I’m not talking about something fancy, I’m talking about something which has been introduced in our life since we was a kid,’ he says. People are disconnected from food, he says, and if chefs are the strongest voice, it’s up to them to make the reconnection.

Unsurprisingly, the single thing he wants most to pass on to the students this week is respect for the ingredient, whatever that may be. On Flinders Island a day or two before, he has been spear fishing and caught crays, taking only as many as were needed for those assembled for dinner. Nothing should be valued more than the food that we take from nature. ‘Our culture gives lots of value to money. We have been educated to accumulate goods and money and so many didn’t throw away any single coin. Why we throw away food? Why we disrespect that animal who pass away?’

His conscience and concern extends beyond this fundamental respect for what is provided, to our squandering of the environment. Flinders is ‘the only single place on the planet’ that he has seen completely free of plastic waste, and he is blown away by this. ‘Once you have the opportunity to walk on the shore, or go diving, or go to the bush and hunt, with no plastic, no cans, no garbage, this give you a new point of view of the food that you’re going to put inside of you.’

[image error]Alex Atala visits Flinders Island – photo by Chris Crerar

We’ve already been allowed eleven minutes instead of ten by Christopher McGimpsey, architect of the Great Chefs Series. ‘No no no, ta ta ta!’ Atala interjects, grinning as McGimpsey tries to round things up. ‘We have time!’ As we stroll up the path towards the restaurant, he seems in no hurry and I could easily spend the afternoon shooting the breeze and smoking with this humble, thoughtful man. We take in the slopes of the vineyard together. And then he’s inside, surrounded by the pack, being buttoned into pristine chef’s whites. But as someone ties him into his apron from behind, his brown eyes gaze past us all, still fixed on the landscape.

The next morning he’s at Harvest Launceston farmers’ market. A constellation of managers, minders and food critics drifts past my own farm’s stall with the sun at the centre. We’ve already seen Brearley and Lethlean orbiting, sourdough baguettes tucked nonchalantly under one arm. As Atala is plied with cultured butter and Leatherwood honey, I’m lining up a word with his sous chef through a translator. Then he sees me – reunited! Arms are thrown wide, husky greetings given, my hand kissed solicitously. Then he scampers over to our stall to seduce my husband as well. ‘Ah, the man who make lard!’ There’s a rattle of Portugese as he shows his sous chef the pictures of our Saddlebacks. Then it’s English again as we ask how dinner went, and he tells us about the lamb dish, ‘a kind of puree, with the brain, and we used the saddle, and the kidneys.’ It was, he says ‘very animal’. We have mere moments before he is swept away, because Bruny Island awaits. But like the highest of ambassadors, he carefully shakes both our hands again, gives a Namaste bow to my twelve year old son. I want to come to Brazil and eat at DOM, I tell him. ‘Please, come!’ he commands, grinning. And then, this ambassador for a nation’s cuisine, this protector of our food chain, like a shooting star, he is gone.

******

This piece was commissioned by an Australia publication and remained unused as they are ‘deluged with material’. Such is the way in freelance journalism. Still, my thanks to Christopher McGimpsey, for this glimpse of greatness, it was an unforgettable experience, for us all. 

Just before she appeared in The Times and the Daily Mail, I asked best selling self-published author Nicola May if she’d do a Q&A for my blog – on what makes a best seller – both in the writing and the marketing of a book.

Nicola is a lovely lady who can be found sharing her wisdom regularly with other authors in online forums. She said yes willingly, and followed up with the insights which you can read below.

There’s a full account of her pathway to success in the Daily Mail article, but in brief, Nicola began writing as a side hustle because she loved it, and used her marketing experience to back up her writing and get the books in front of readers. She went through a few adventures with agents and mainstream publishing deals before returning to self-publishing and has thrived. Earlier this year her book The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay reached the number one spot on Kindle Store for over a month.

Nicola lives in Ascot and boy does that lady love hats. My deep thanks to her for sharing her thoughts with us, and let’s not forget Stan the cat and author’s companion, for his services to writing. Here’s Nicola on how she made it all happen.

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Q: First, please tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Nicola May, I write romantic comedy and I live in Ascot. I
first self-published in 2011 and am currently writing my eleventh novel.

My ninth novel, The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay has sold around 170,000 copies, reached #1 on Amazon Kindle and is being translated into Spanish, Estonian, Czech and Italian. The sequel, Meet Me in Cockleberry Bay was released in July and is also being very well received.

QUESTIONS ABOUT WRITING

Q: Are you a strategic writer or a seat-of-the-pants type? Do you map out the plot lines in advance, or know vaguely where you’re going and just write?

I’ve always been a bit of a seat-of-the-pants type writer, but writing a
series was a bit different as I needed to line up plot lines for future books.

Q: What are the features or qualities of your books that make them appealing to readers and make them sell, indeed make them bests sellers?

I think it’s the fact that my heroines are flawed and that with regards to The Cockleberry series I instil a sense of community spirit.

Whatever makes a page turner is what makes a bestseller;
so I guess keeping action, intrigue and many plot lines running without any
lulls is an ingredient.

Q: Do you see yourself as a writer of books for women, and do men read your books too? Who do you have in mind when you’re writing, do you have a typical reader, and is it a man or a woman?

I guess my genre is targeted at women, however I did include a crime element in both of the Cockleberry books and I seem to now be getting reviews from several men, which is great.

Q: What are you like to live with when you’re writing? Are you writing for pleasure, or do you have commercial success in mind, and does this affect how you write?

Luckily, I live with just Stan the Rescue Cat. He usually sleeps at the
bottom of bed, whilst I’m writing – yes I do most of my writing under the
duvet! I write for hours at a time when I get engrossed in a book, but Stan of
course gives me a gently reminder if he’s hungry! I say luckily as I am so
insular when I am mid-flow.

Q: Have your writing habits changed as your writing career has grown?  And do you think your writing or anything else about your books has grown and improved over time?

Of course, like anything I do believe you learn your craft as you go
along. I also have an exceptional editor, in Joan Deitch who has forever taught
me how to improve. For example; shorter sentences and look out for word
repetition.

QUESTIONS ABOUT PUBLISHING

Q: What do you think self-publishing or independent publishers have brought to the world of books? How have they changed things for writers in terms of the possibilities of sales and even a little success?

Speaking as a self-published author, I think if you have some sort of
marketing know-how, it is a no brainer to publish yourself.  The whole process has been made very simple,
especially by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. However, I like the fact that I
now have a publisher for print as they have all the ins required to get into
bookshops etc. I don’t mind not managing that aspect of things. I used to have
piles of books in my house and was constantly shipping here there and
everywhere.

Q: How do you rate the relative chances of success between a self-published or mainstream published author?

That is a very hard question. I have succeeded as a self-published
author by being relentless and as I said before have marketing knowledge.
Obviously mainstream publishers have bigger budgets and are more likely to get
included in magazine reviews etc. The market is changing but I still feel a
snobbery towards self-published authors and especially ebook only authors.

Q: Do you enjoy the editing stage of your books, and why should writers look forward to working with an editor? Is this an important part of the process in making a book the best it can be and can it affect its success?

A good editor is of massive importance to making the best of book. You
have to be ready to face the fact that your beloved masterpiece is going to change,
but you can’t be precious as it is essential to get another professional point
of view on your work. I don’t particularly enjoy the process, to be honest.

Q: How important is jacket design to a book and its success?

Very important, but title is probably of more importance. You don’t get
a second chance to make a first impression. What is more important than either,
is reviews.

ON MARKETING BOOKS

Q: It’s sometimes said that writing the book is the easy part, and marketing it is the real challenge. Is that true and why?

Marketing is a big area to cover but yes, I say writing the book is the
easy part. Getting it out there and finding out what works and doesn’t isn’t
easy. I think it is a challenge as due to the self-publishing revolution, there
are so many books out there now. Plus, social media gives everyone
opportunities to find all the books on the market, so you need to make yours
stand out above the rest.

Q: Without asking you to write a marketing manual, do you have any top tips for other writers who are marketing their book? What’s the mainstay of your approach to marketing, getting your book noticed and reaching readers?

Easy
first steps: 

Set up and be active on a Facebook/Twitter/Instagram account – look what other authors of your genre are saying. Which messages get most likes? Look at Amazon advertising – again you can work to a budget or your choice. I have found more success just using .co.uk not .com.Definitely set up an ‘author page’ on Facebook, that allows you to boost posts for as little a pound a day. This also links to your Instagram account. ALWAYS link to your book page so that you gain sales.Allauthor.com – sign up to these guys. For just $59 a year, they produce great promotional graphics for you weekly! I use them all the time for my social media feeds.BE BOLD – don’t worry about bombarding people with too many posts – if you use the Facebook boost button, you tailor that to a different audience to your general social media anyway. The more somebody sees your book flash up in their timeline, the more likely they are to buy it. Saying that don’t upset ‘the groups’ – I’m always getting banned

Bill Bryson doesn’t need reviews, but I write in the same genre, travel memoir, and sometimes my book has nestled thrillingly alongside his in the online booksellers categories (a very comfortable spot, thank you). Reading him again has been a reinvigorating experience, which I daresay he’d be quietly pleased to know.

Bryson’s
cleverness lies in his ability to tell a story in which the joke is at his own
expense and in which he might have a bitch about some gripe common to us all.
It makes him human and keeps him at our level as a narrator, someone we can
relate to. This he interweaves with journalistic ability to posit theories and
back them up with research and his own crystalline summing up. He’s particularly
good at this on aspects of cultural or political life, such as Britain’s green
belts, why they matter, and the lunacy of wanting to build on them.

In Little
Dribbling he’s very good at portraying the Britain of a bygone age and harking
back to it in a way that seems only too reasonable. When the staff of the
Holloway psychiatric institution played cricket on the lawns outside at the end
of a June day, when life wasn’t driven by beauraucracy or economic growth, but
was kinder and gentler and things like community life were highly valued and
still organically present.

One of the
sorrows he expresses frequently in this book is the demise of the small town
centre, of high streets with all the things people need to live and comingle
well, like libraries, butchers, post offices, museums, fishmongers, small hardware
shops, now often replaced by empty premises or a succession of coffee shops and
shops selling pieces of timber with inspirational sayings painted on them.

This made
me reflect on how lucky we are in Tasmania, because we still have townships
with those things in them. In my local town hub of Exeter, we have two small
supermarkets, a long standing bakery, a petrol station, post office, chemist,
two hairdressers, a doctors’ surgery, a takeaway, a small barber’s which nobody
has ever seen open, a pub with a Thai takeaway out back, a new café that
everybody’s very excited about, a hardware shop that has the best community
notice board, a gift shop, a vet, a clothes shop and a wine bar, a honey shop
stocking everything to do with Tasmania’s premium honey, a farm and feed barn,
an information centre, and a local library which is the size of a dog kennel
but cosy, friendly, run by the same two women who worked in it when I arrived
thirteen years ago, and serves as a waiting room for one or two children when
they get off the bus in the afternoon. How lucky we are.

There’s
always a coffee-spitting moment in a Bryson book and in this one it’s the
gentleman standing behind him and three members of his family including two
young boys at a football game, who has an issue with eighteen century German
metaphysics, and keeps repeating ‘fucking Kant’ throughout the match.

The book is almost worth reading for Bryson’s encounters with British railway officials alone. But as if just for me, he goes to Lytham St Annes, where I grew up, finds it delightful, and goes for a pint at the end of the day at the Ship & Royal, the pub I worked in during my student days. How I wish I’d still been behind the bar – it would have been a handle glass for Mr Bryson for sure!

Some of the descriptions of the Yorkshire Dales and Durham saw me reaching for the iPad and tapping away at Google images, and longing to move back there. His ability to pay tribute to the combination of bucolic countryside and engineering achievements like the Dent Head Viaduct is profound and moving.

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Pleasingly,
he visits Lytham St Annes, where I grew up, and finds it delightful, calling in
for a last pint of the day at the Ship & Royal. How I wish I’d still been behind
the bar there – it’d be a handle glass for sure.

He’s the
best sort of political in this as his other books: not drilling down into the
tedious nitty gritty, but just putting a selective and well-argued point of
view which is far too sensible to argue with. On the subject of immigration
control, he lists a number of incredibly accomplished friends – a paediatric
oncologist among them – who are also from the United States like him, so
immigrants. The British government would count it as a net gain if they left. ‘If
you think the only people you should have in your country are the people you produced
yourselves, you’re an idiot,’ he says.

 The world would be a better place if Bill
Bryson’s common sense and world view prevailed.

Books are the best gift. Always welcome, often surprising, long-lasting and enriching. I love to give books as gifts, so I’ve gone through my book shelves and chosen a few that would make great gifts for Father’s Day. There’s something for everyone here – whether the man you’re giving to is into health, travel, business, sleuthing, poetry, is literary minded or a foodie, into motorbikes a bit of a twitcher or just curious about life.

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The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson

Bryson speaks directly to every man’s inner self, channelling all aspects of manhood from being a husband to getting older to feeling slightly grumpy about a Marks & Spencer food-hall not being exactly where he supposed it to be. This is a delightful, purposeful ramble through the UK’s landscapes, with reflective moments on the state of the town centres of Britain, Bryson’s signature summing up of politics and what’s wrong with politicians, lots of wry chuckling, and the occasional genuine laugh-out-loud moments. For me it was the chap in the stands behind him at a football match having issues with 18th century German metaphysics – ‘fucking Kant’. I woke my husband up snorting at that, so I owe him a good read.

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Gut, by Giulia Enders

Not a hint, but one of the most notable recent books about the life inside us, our gut flora, those cheerful little microbial suckers that keep us healthy and now it’s believed have a hot line to our brains. If your man is keen on what he eats and how it makes him what he is, this is the book. Enders sets out to ‘free toilet talk from its taboo’ and does so much more in this book, in surprisingly readable style. Besides being a medical professional, she’s also human, and thinks the world of medical academia should share its research findings earlier and more readily. Cute little scribbly cartoon illustrations are by her sister. And everyone needs a copy of the Bristol Stool Chart.

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Rework, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Bite-sized rethinking of the world of work. If your man is inclined to think business plans are the kiss of death and mission statements are for wankers, he’ll love this. It might not change his life, but it permits him to think differently and will make him feel good about it. I’m still dipping into this, but have seen enough to think there’s stuff in it you might adopt – a few kernels of different wisdom. New York Times best seller so it must be good.

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Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

Does your man love a good sleuthing mystery? Well Kate Atkinson is one of the best. This very accomplished English writer has a huge following. I love her for many reasons, one being that she’s a female writer with a strong male narrator. And it’s Jackson Brodie, somewhat jaded but still rugged, charismatic and very human – as evidenced by his petty viciousness about the dastardly David Lastingham, who’s now married to his ex-wife. The plot lines are brilliant and this is high-end mystery writing, with cultural references to make your man feel just a little bit smart and connected. This is the first of the Jackson Brodie mysteries, so plenty more to enjoy.

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Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

The master at work. If you have a man with a literary mindset, and he doesn’t have a full set of McEwans, this is the book to impress with. Possibly the most rip-roaring good story of all his books, it’s a fantastic, imaginative read, with just enough cold war ennui for a sense of threat, and enough of a recent setting, in the early seventies, to make it feel contemporary. The twist at the end is mind-bogglingly clever in the way that only McEwan can do. This book compliments your man and makes you look good for giving it. It’s your go-to.

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Writing at the Kitchen Table – Elizabeth David, the Authorized Biography, by Artemis Cooper

Got a man who likes to get in the kitchen? This is the biography of British cook Elizabeth David, the woman credited with introducing olive oil into the UK after the second world war and getting friends around her kitchen table for impromptu roast chicken feasts in the time of rationing. She’s opinionated, wilful and charismatic and just a little bit tragic as well, and it all makes for great reading. Plus there’s photos in the middle and she looks great in her pencil skirts and crisp white shirts poised in her wonderfully cluttered kitchen in London. When she died they auctioned the contents of her kitchen at Sotheby’s and people bid hundreds of pounds for jugs of wooden spoons. A lady who mattered to people and is still a seminal figure.

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Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter, by Antonia Fraser

These were the first words Pinter said to Antonia Fraser when they met at a party and she ducked over to him to say goodbye, not having managed to catch him earlier. If your gift recipient is a bit of a poet and a romantic to boot, there’s no better choice than this. Fraser and Pinter are the two great literary figures of the 20th century in Britain, and their love affair came out of nowhere – both were married to others at the time – and became the stuff of legend. Worth it for some of the poems he writes for her alone – but there’s so much more, mainly the inside scoop on how extraordinary lives are lived.

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The Furthest Points – Motorcycle Travels through Spain and Portugal, by Andy Hewitt

Perfect for motorcycling men who’ve already done the rounds of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman’s adventures. Andy Hewitt may not be a household name but he’s no less the true motorbiking enthusiast and his adventures deliver more than anticipated. Written by a friend and fellow indie author, and humorous with deep insights into the care needed for a Harley Davidson during a long ride, and the amazing sense of freedom invoked by the riding experience. Put the wind back in your man’s hair and keep him mild at heart.

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Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear, by Lev Parikian

The story of Lev’s quest to see two hundred species of British bird in one year, to make up for the fraudulent bird spotting records he kept at the age of twelve. It’s funny, touching and instantly relatable-to by any man of a certain age who’s thinking about his life to date and wondering whether anything he’s left undone could be responsible for that slight sense of ennui. Unusual, original and a keeper.

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Letters of Note, by Shaun Usher

A collection of ‘correspondence deserving of a wider audience’, letters by all sorts of people, famous and less well-known but still remarkable , compiled by Shaun Usher, who posted them on a website for years before making them into a book. All are accompanied by images, of the writers, or of the original letter. There are letters from slaves, from the doctor who cared for ‘elephant man’ John Merrick, a letter from a space exploration scientist to a nun who asked how he could justify the expense of space travel when so many were starving, Virginia Woolf’s heartbreaking suicide note to husband Leonard. A wonderful book to own and to give.

And lastly, a book for the giver

If you love giving books as gifts, you probably love them yourself. And if you’re anything like me, the minute you start looking at books with other people in mind, you find a tome or two for yourself. Don’t forget to indulge there too.

Fiona Stocker is the author of travel book Apple Island Wife – Slow Living in Tasmania, charting one family’s experiences of moving to rural Australia on a hunch.

“Fiona Stocker is funny, really funny. She is also a beautiful writer with an eye for the telling little details. I just loved this book.” 
​Pip Courtney, presenter ABC Landline ​

I really enjoy memoirs of this sort. This is a particularly fine one.
The Average Reader, Amazon UK 

Available at bookstores in Australia and the UK, and at Amazon Australia, Amazon UK, Amazon USA and Book Depository with free international postage.

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Main image at top by Lundh Literature courtesy of Instagram.

This post is mostly for authors – a look at that great and ongoing mystery, how the bloody hell you market a book.

You’ve written it, you’ve had it published, held it in your hands and it’s real. Congratulations! But that was the easy bit. Now comes the real challenge – getting the bloody thing out there.

If you self-published or went with an independent, you’re going to be putting in the hard yards yourself. If you went with a mainstream publisher, you’re probably still going to be putting in the hard yards, unless you’re Kate Atkinson or Marian Keyes.

I wrote a travel book. For months I believed it would be easier to market than a piece of fiction. Less competition. More of a mark to be made in your geographical market. Maybe even some support from the place it’s set.

Hah! Boy, am I ever hoisted on my own petard. This shit is just as hard as marketing YA or vampire romance or any other crowded genre.

Writing was a walk in the park compared to the hustling I’ve been doing since publication. Books don’t just sell themselves, you’ve got to put them in front of people. They say buyers need to see something up to seven times before the experience that ‘Gruen moment’ and decide to buy. That’s a lot of touchpoints.

Here’s how I’ve been trying to create them. It’s by no means a comprehensive list, just a retelling of blood, sweat and tears and a search for the right channels. I’m making this stuff up as I go along. If you’ve got more to add, I’d love you to leave a comment and I’ll keep developing this piece so it’s a better, fuller, longer guide.

Because it’s not like any of us have got other shit to do (like writing a sequel).

Some of these points work better for a travel book, and some might work for all books. See how you go.

Getting Reviews 



Media in the place you come from

I’m from Lancashire. And the ‘Lancashire lass finds herself a long way from home and writes a book about it’ angle has worked well. I’ve had an article in Lancashire Life magazine which I wrote myself, and in the Lancashire Evenings Post newspaper.

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If you’re not used to pitching freelance articles, here’s how it can be done. I emailed the Post, pitching the idea. (You keep pitches brief and very much to the point. Google how to pitch for more tips – mainly get your hook up there front and central.) A reporter emailed back with some questions, I answered them, she produced a lovely piece. Massive resulting spike in sales? Well no, this is a local newspaper, but it probably got a bit of attention and I had something nice to post on my Facebook page.

I probably should have followed up with some Facebook advertising to target readers in Lancashire right after the article appeared – that second touchpoint. But I’m too mean to spend any of my substantial (not) royalties on advertising.

 Magazines about rural life

I’ve written about moving to the country, so I’ve emailed magazines featuring rural Australia, and the editor of Australian Country emailed back and asked for a review copy. I need a few more to do the same – but I haven’t worked up a comprehensive list yet, so more work to do.

Country Style would be the top pick of this category. The Books Editor Annabel Lawson is pretty elusive in terms of contact details, and she only covers four books per issue. It’s going to be a tall order getting picked for those. However, worth a try. So I emailed the editor Victoria Carey, who emailed back the same day and asked for a paperback review copy, which I put in the post with a lovely, humble letter. Fingers crossed.

How do you find editors’ email addresses? Lots of googling and canny figuring out, and you really can’t depend on your email getting to them unless you have their direct address. Here’s a great article by freelance journalist Lindy Alexander with loads of tips on how to reach editors, how to find their details, and how to approach them.

 Travel magazines

Tasmania, which is where my book is set, is a hot travel destination. The population is 800 thousand, and yearly the island is visited by another 1.3million. It’s the reason I called my book Apple Island Wife – Slow Living in Tasmania. Keywords. I wanted anybody travelling to Tasmania and searching for books about it to see mine in the search results. Is it working? No idea. But the book is sitting in the right categories, and maybe that’s more important.

Given Tasmania’s reputation, you’d have thought travel magazines were keen to review books about it, especially entertaining, feel-good, lighthearted, laugh-out-loud books. So I emailed Australian Traveller, Delicious, Luxury Travel Magazine, Destinations, Holidays for Couples, and Vacations and Travel magazine with the offer of a review copy. Only the editor of Delicious has gotten back to me, with good luck wishes and to let me know she only really reviews cook books with a strong destination connection. I might need to try harder here, follow up very succinctly, or try different mags with a different angle.

Women’s magazines

I’m a lady and I do ladies’ things. It seems sensible to try and get the book reviewed as a great lady’s read. Especially as some ladies’ mags have mind bloggling circulation. Looking at my Excel holdover tool, where I keep my marketing strategy, I see that I haven’t made nearly enough effort in this area and need to get onto it. What have I been doing? Oh yes, writing content for clients in order to try and earn an actual living. And doing ladies’ things.

[image error]Some ladies who read ladies’ magazines



Bloggers and influencers 



Blog tours

Are book bloggers just reading each other’s blogs or are readers reading them as well? Well I think it’s a little of both. Whatever the case, it’s a world full of dedicated book-lovers who are a delight to engage with.

I had a blog tour organised by Anne Cater of Random Books Through My Letterbox, a service for authors. Fourteen book bloggers read my book, posted their reviews on their own blogs, then tweeted about it. I spent a lot of time on Twitter that fortnight.

This creates a lot of excitement about your book and gives it visibility. A lot of the bloggers posted their reviews of my book on Amazon as well as their blogs, which kick started my reviews and made the book look healthy online. It was inexpensive, a huge morale boost, gave me the sense that people were enjoying the book and it was worth keeping going. Resulted in sales? Gotta hope so.

Natalie Fergie, whose novel The Sewing Machine has gone gangbusters, organised her own blog tour. So there’s probably something in it. I don’t know. Should I be continuing to retweet their reviews now, weeks after the events? Dunno! Probably! (An answer to this question would be appreciated by anyone in the know!)

[image error]The blog tour poster for Apple Island Wife 



Travel bloggers

I suspect this might be a rich vein for people writing travel books, or any book strongly set in a destination, but I haven’t tapped into it properly yet. I’ve had one travel blogger review my book. She writes an international travel blog – Mapping Megan – but happens to live here in Tasmania. We met at a tourism do, and perhaps that personal encounter helped when I approached her. She read my book in e-book format so it cost me nothing to send it to her, wrote a smashing review, posted it and tweeted about it, in a round-up of ‘kick-ass women writers’.

Did it result in sales? I think it might have. Plus I’m now a kick-ass author. I still see that tweet circulating occasionally, weeks later. And she’s just sent me a direct message via Instagram with a pic she took of my book after finding it in a shop I didn’t know was stocking it. That lady’s in my inner sanctum for sure.

Are there bloggers in your genre? Hunt those people down! And note to self – get onto this!

Travel markets 

They say if you’re running any sort of tourism operation you need to market to your visitors ‘in market, not in destination’. In other words, you need to track them down where they live – Sydney, Melbourne, Montreal, London. They’re sitting right there with a cuppa browsing the internet and looking for that travel book which will give them a peek into that foreign part of the world they’ve got an itch to visit or learn more about.

I’ve been reckoning on finding these via Facebook advertising. I’ve done a little and think I had a small sales spike. What I don’t know is whether the income from sales was worth what I paid Facebook. No idea how to go there.

In the case of a travel book or memoir, visitors ‘in destination’ are a rich market as well. They’re already here in the place you’re writing about, and are now looking for souvenirs. Books are the perfect ‘suitcase souvenir’ – they’re light, appealing, they’re of the place, they should have a beautiful front cover that says ‘buy me I’m lovely’ and they’re eminently pack-able.

If you’ve written a historical memoir, maybe it’s a case of searching out discussion forums online and joining them? You’re up against the problem of rules about self-promotion, but if you enjoy your genre you probably don’t mind joining in general chat about it. To be honest, I’m finding this a very long-winded means of marketing but I’m trudging onward.

Social media 



 Facebook Groups

I’m still figuring this out, so comment if you know more. There appear to be multiple groups inviting indie and self-published authors to blast their feed with multiple posts promoting our books. And I see authors who use these repeatedly. I wonder whether it works?

To my mind perhaps more usefully, there’s would seem to be Facebook groups to suit readers of every persuasion. For me the most relevant is a very active and authentic group called We Love Memoirs. Rich ground to plunder, you might think. Wrong. There’s strictly no self-promotion. No posting links to your page, blog, book sales pages, and no mentioning your book. Unless somebody else mentions it, in which case you should post blushy emojis and self-effacing thank you comments.

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Every so often they have promotional parties, and different rules apply. There’s one comign up and I’ll be offering a freebie e-book to anybody who can answer a question I’ll set, the answer found in the ‘look inside’ section on Amazon. Here’s my question:

‘On arrival in the great land of adventure, we planned on living a boho life filled with surfing, ponchos and vegetarian food – in which alternative lifestyle mecca on the east coast?’

My cunning hope is that the question will entice people to read the ‘Look inside’ bit to find the answer, and what they read there will entice them to buy the book.

Whatever genre you’ve written, I figure if you join a group of other people who genuinely love that genre, you might come across other people who love it too, and enjoy chatting. There are great book recommendations to be had in the We Love Memoirs group, and heaps of fun if you generate a post that gets lots of discussion. You never know, you might pick up a few readers along the way. If not, it’s been a pleasant sojourn.

Your own blog

If you’ve got a blog, you can have a sidebar on it with some discreet advertising for your book. And if you’ve got all that set up, you should be posting regularly (don’t worry, I’m not either). Then you should be getting on Twitter and tweeting like crazy using keywords, hashtags and posting links to that post. That draws people to your blog to read it, where they catch a glimpse of your book again.

If you’ve got helpful ‘How to’ posts, like this one is attempting to be, or discussion posts about something topical, like this one on whether Colm Toibin is any better than Marian Keyes, or this one about whether men and women choose books differently, then you’ve got links you can tweet repeatedly without any shame – they’re good, rich content, not spam, and they should do that job of drawing people to your blog, and discreetly advertising your book time and again.

Does posting links to your blog result in sales? Definite yes for me at least once; I posted a link to this article on literary fiction versus commercial fiction in a Facebook forum, and somebody posted a comment saying they’d read the post and liked my writing style so much they had immediately bought my book. Dream result! What’s more they’re a blogger and have promised to post a review once they’re done. Now they just have to like it…

On the other hand, that’s a shitload of a lot of work for one sale.

Don’t forget about tools like Buffer which allow you to schedule a whole heap of tweets. Set your schedule to post daily at the same time, or every couple of days, and then try to tweet other stuff in between so your twitter feed doesn’t start looking all spammy. You can also buffer Instagram posts, and you can do that using Buffer on your PC, so you don’t have to do lots of writing on your phone using one finger.

Guest posts

This is where you are a guest on somebody’s blog, or they’re a guest on yours. The author answers questions about themselves and their book(s), or maybe they write a post which is published on someone else’s blog.

Sometimes bloggers are looking for authors to write about and they offer up this opportunity, you’ll see it happening on Facebook forums like Book Connectors. Check out whether they’ve got a good following. But keep in mind that whatever their following is, it’s still a chance to mutually support each other. You both benefit and will probably both do some promoting and linking back to the post, so you’re both in the spotlight. So if you have the time, why not go for it. This is a quick and easy way to generate rich, original content that a lot of readers will enjoy.

I’m exploring this right now. I’ve chosen a couple of authors, Nicola May who is a self-published best seller, and Natalie Fergie who is published by Unbound like me and whose book The Sewing Machine we have all watched go gangbusters. I’d like to know what their secret is, and you probably would too, right? So I’ve pitched to both of them that I’ll post a piece along the lines of ‘What makes a best seller sell?’ featuring each of them. We’ll keep it quick and easy in Q&A format.

They’ve said yes, because it’s a post featuring them and that’s potentially good marketing. I write profiles about people in my freelance journalism and am confident I can write good questions which generate an interesting piece, and make great reading for both those authors’ fans. It’s a win for us both, because I’ve got something interesting to post on my blog, the authors will be posting links for their readers as well – and all those people visit my blog and see that discreet advertising for my book.

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Bricks n Mortar stockists 



Bookshops and other outlets 

Tasmanian books are well supported in Tasmania and the local bookshops have been amazingly supportive. It’s a much harder fight in the UK. I know many authors who have been brushed off by their local bookshops, and I suspect that if you’re writing fiction it doesn’t matter where you’re from, the competition is tough, and there’s heaps of it.

Tasmanian bookshops are stocking mine because it’s a Tasmanian book. And hopefully because it’s funny, witty, and a frank insight into rural living that gets great reviews.  I don’t care what the reason is, as long as it’s on their shelves.

If your book is a travel book or in any way about the place you live, your neighbourhood, your city, your island, your Italian feifdom, bookshops in that area should be a strong outlet for you. Keep trying.

With visitor centres, you have to try even harder. The people who run these are quite possibly not interested in books. They’re just doing a job. In the case of Tasmania, some of them are passionate about the place, and some not so much.

Newsagencies

These guys stock books and gifts and I’ve found they’re often as keen as bookshops to support local authors. The trouble is getting in touch with them. In my neck of the woods they rely on the distributor Black Gum for their ideas and stock. I’m not with Black Gum. That means I have to make an individual approach. And newsagencies, by and large, don’t have websites and contact pages. Sometimes they have Facebook pages, and sometimes they just have listings online in those services that nobody uses. I’ve sent messages to a few who had contacted details, and I’ve messaged others on Facebook.

May as well shout into my toilet bowl.

Then again, one of my local newsagencies contacted me through Messenger after seeing Apple Island Wife on the tourism Facebook group I help run for the Greater Tamar Valley Region, and ordered twelve. Let’s hear it for regional businesses supporting one another.

Last word 

Whatever your genre, you do need to keep the faith. If you’ve had your book published by an indie publisher, if you’ve had it professionally edited, and the cover professionally designed, you’ve got a sales-worthy product. I know some self-published authors who take the trouble to get these professional services for their writing, and they’ve got sales-worthy products too. (Listen to me with my big opinions, you might say  – but I back myself as a reader, and there is a lot of tosh out there. That’s partly what makes this so difficult).

There is a shitload to do in marketing a book. It’s tricky prioritising. You’ve just got to keep at it. Nuff said. 

Fiona Stocker is the author of Apple Island Wife, a travel book about moving to five acres, on a hunch, set in Tasmania. Published by the UK based independent publisher Unbound, it is now widely available in paperback and e-book. You can find it nestling comfortably alongside Bill Bryson on Amazon UK, Australia and USA, and everywhere else you buy your books. 

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Image at top by Element5 Digital from Pexels