Author Archives: Jane Cable

The Business of Books

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the-business-of-books-interviewswithjanecableThroughout 2017 I’ll be alternating my own blog posts with interviews with other authors and book business insiders. I have a background in business myself, having trained as a chartered accountant and run my own company for the last sixteen years and when I embarked on my career as an author it was comforting to know how the commercial world works.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt in my business life is never to ask anyone to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself. So in that spirit I’m going to kick off the series by answering the questions I’m going to be asking other authors.

How much of your working life does the business of books take up?

Up until now I’ve planned my working life so that a day a week is devoted to writing and the rest to the accountancy business I run with my husband. In practice I rarely take a whole day off so I’d say the split of my week as a whole is more like 25:75.

In 2017 all that will change as we’re going to move to Cornwall so that I can write more or less full time. Enough of our accountancy business can be done online or in distinct jobs which can completed with visits back to Hampshire when we’ll catch up with friends as well. We felt it was a bit of a risk but we have good relationships with our clients and most have been really supportive.

Now we just have to sell our house!

What’s your business model to earn a living from writing?

Unlike most authors, at the moment my only income stream from writing is book sales.

Being an accountant I set up my writing in a separate limited company from the start. The company owns the copyright to all my work and is owned by our accountancy business because I knew I would make losses initially so it was a more tax efficient structure.

2016 will be the first year the company makes a profit and I’m really proud it’s come so soon. This is purely from sales of The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree – mainly ebooks and mainly from Amazon, although paperback sales from local outlets and events have also played a part.

At the moment I plan to re-invest any profit I make in marketing in the hope that the accountancy business can continue to generate enough money for us both to live off.

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What do you write and what do you consider to be your major successes?

I write romantic novels with a twist of suspense. Undoubtedly the things which have made the most difference to my writing career were winning prizes. Way back in 2011 an early draft of The Cheesemaker’s House was a finalist when the Alan Titchmarsh Show won a competition sponsored by Harper Collins to find a new novelist. It gave me the confidence to press ahead and publish the book independently when I couldn’t find an agent or a publisher for it and it’s still my biggest commercial success, ending 2016 in the top 100 romantic ghost stories in the Kindle UK chart.

But it was the second competition the book actually won – the Words for the Wounded Independent Novel Award in 2015 – which moved my career on a stage when as a direct result I was signed by my agent, Felicity Trew. Within a year I had my first publishing contract with Endeavour Press.

Tell me about your latest project

My Endeavour ebook, Another You, was published just before Christmas. As Frost readers who regularly follow my blogs will know, the timing was something of a surprise and my latest project is getting together some serious marketing.

But the new writing cannot stand still and I am on the verge of completing an initial draft of what I hope will be my next novel, a romantic mystery set under the endless skies of Lincolnshire.

Jane Cable
www.janecable.com
@JaneCable

 

 

Best Endeavours Business Best Practice: Jane Cable On what happens once that publishing deal is in the bag continues

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Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

BUSINESS BEST PRACTICE

So there we have it: from a deal signed in August to the perhaps untimely escape of the book just before Christmas – the first part of Another You’s story is complete. But in many ways the hard graft is just beginning.

Having come through the ranks of savvy indie authors it amazes me when I meet writers with publishing deals who think that marketing isn’t their job. Yes, when you have a deal you aren’t the only one trying to sell as many copies as possible, but I don’t believe you can delegate responsibility. As a writer I have three books to market – as a publisher Endeavour has thousands.

My motivation for writing is to share my stories. Perhaps it’s different for other authors; maybe the craft itself is enough, and finding a publisher is sufficient reward for a job well done. Perhaps for them it is the end of the journey.

How other authors approach the business of writing fascinates me and next year I’ll be using this blog to talk to some of them about how they make a living from their words. This will come as later in 2017 I’ll be making the transition from more-or-less full time accountant to more-or-less full time writer. It’s going to be quite some year.
Jane Cable, publishing, writing

But for now I am back to the anxious business of nursing a new baby through its first fragile steps into the world. I can’t stop myself from checking Amazon rankings daily and I am waiting with equal parts of terror and excitement to read the first review. Quite frankly I need to get a grip because no one is going to get around to reading the book over Christmas.

As for me, I’ll keep on gently marketing during the break. I need to approve a press release for issue early in the new year. I need to send seasonal/promotional emails to friends. I need to perfect the art of creating publicity material with Canva (my new favourite website). Perhaps I need a Facebook advert. And I have blog tour material to prepare and at least four guest blogs to write.

Thank goodness my husband has Christmas sorted…

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You tells the tale of how chance meetings on the 60th anniversary of D-Day help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

Best Endeavours Book Blogging Best: Jane Cable on what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

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Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

BOOK BLOGGING BEST

It wasn’t how I’d expected to find out that Another You was live on Amazon. It was just a hint, really, in an email from Endeavour. The lovely Dorset author Rosanna Ley had given me a cover quote for the book so I’d passed it on. Only to receive the reply that the Amazon description would be changed but it might take twenty-four hours to update.

I was straight on the internet and searching. Yes – there it was. Pristine, undownloaded, unnoticed. Just how I wanted it to be.

Nevertheless I sprang into action. My Amazon author profile needed updating and the book linked to it. My web designer needed a prod… but only because she’d been moving house and once she realised the urgency she rushed to publish the updates.

I also needed to tell the bloggers signed up for the tour. I’d envisaged tying it in with a January launch but it was becoming clear there was no way I could keep my promotional powder dry for that long. So I consulted and we’ve agreed that it doesn’t matter so very much and we’ll probably go for early February. It’s an enviable line up of premier British book bloggers including Rosie Amber, Liz Loves Books, Linda’s Book Bag, Being Anne and Jaffa Reads Too.

The next question was review copies. With my previous titles I relied heavily on Netgalley – and Netgalley promotions – to reach anyone who may want to review the book. Matador had made them available for four to six weeks but Endeavour’s policy is just seven days – and the clock started ticking on Friday. My next task was to reach every blogger who’d shown an interest in my books in the past; by email, through Twitter – even Goodreads (although Goodreads frown on this sort of behaviour) just to let them know the book was there. Some weren’t interested but overall the response has been really good. And of course I’m tweeting the link to the Netgalley download as often as I dare.

Jane Cable, publishing, writing

Regular readers of Frost will know my connections with Margaret Graham’s charity, Words for the Wounded, and I had always intended to use the book to raise funds and awareness. Not just because I believe in it, but because a major character in Another You is a soldier suffering from the aftereffects of combat. So what I have decided to do is to donate £1 for every review of the book on Amazon in the UK and the US. For more information on the hows and whys, please visit my article on Words for the Wounded’s own blogspot:http://wordsforthewounded.blogspot.co.uk/

In the middle of all this activity, sometime on Sunday evening, the book escaped. It was being downloaded, beginning to achieve an Amazon ranking. So there was no point in keeping quiet about it anymore. Which leaves me with quite a long to do list for this week.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You tells the tale of how chance meetings on the 60th anniversary of D-Day help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

Best Endeavours Endeavouring To Surprise: Jane Cable on what happens once that publishing deal is in the bag

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Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

ENDEAVOURING TO SURPRISE

I was just about to sit down to write this – and to tell you all about my marketing plans for the new year – when I was distracted by my inbox. Hard to ignore an email from my publisher Endeavour Press though. Hard, and probably not a wise choice.

This one was short and to the point: ‘Please find attached the cover that we have designed for Another You – I do hope you like it. Many thanks for returning the manuscript as well, all going well we are hoping to publish it at some point this week.’ Argh… and ARGH!

Seeing the cover for the first time was always going to be one of those make or break moments and I fingered the ‘download attachment’ button nervously. But I could see a thin slice of the title in the preview pane and the vibrant red script drew me in.

First impressions? I loved it. And first impressions are the most important on a crowded page of thumbnails on Amazon. ‘Open me! Read me!’ it screamed. “The past is never dead…” it told me – and instantly I wanted to know why. Well, I would have if I didn’t already, but you get my drift.

The cover works on so many levels. The GIs in sepia in the past, the modern woman with a touch of colour in the present. The sea, the colours, linking them both. Boy oh boy, am I one happy writer.

There is one proviso though, but I am undecided about whether it’s important. Marie would never wear a skirt that short and while she’d love the hat, she probably couldn’t afford it. When she isn’t in her chef’s whites she almost invariably shoves on a pair of jeans – or if she has to dress to impress, a pair of tailored trousers. Now if you’re the sort of reader who likes to imagine their own characters you won’t care a jot, but if you like to refer to the cover to see what they look like then it could be just a little bit irritating… although overall I suspect I am splitting hairs.

More important is the strap line. There were a few different ones flying around. In the original blurb it was ‘What happens when you reach out and touch the past?’ which I replaced with ‘When the present is unbearable, can you be saved by the past?’ (Amazon loves a question). But the line on the cover is snappy and succinct. Job done.

And it’s just as well one job is, because if the book is going to come out this week then I’m way, way behind. My website updates may have gone to the designer, but they’re still in her in tray; my blog tour is only just beginning to come together; Lisa my PR sent me a draft press release a few weeks ago but I haven’t even had time to open it. And this week is pretty well fully booked… even if I believed that just a fraction before Christmas was a good time to promote a summer read.

A new marketing strategy beckons. Sshh – don’t tell anyone it’s out there. Yet.

 

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You tells the tale of how two young American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

 

 

Best Endeavours Critical Endeavours: Jane Cable on what happens once you get that publishing deal continues

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BEST ENDEAVOURS

Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

CRITICAL ENDEAVOUR

A few weeks ago I mentioned I’d visited a book club who’d been reading The Cheesemaker’s House. Now I love being invited to book clubs because they’re a great opportunity to meet readers and talk about books – mine and other people’s – for ten minutes before the wine starts flowing anyway. But this time we talked about books most of the night.

This club was the one my friend Becky belongs to and was held in the familiar surroundings of her kitchen. The amount of food (everybody brought a plate) and the number of women squeezed onto and around her table had to be seen to be believed. By the time the late arrivals fought past the chairs nearest the back door it was difficult to see any part of the floor at all.

The lovely woman sitting next to me told me the club had started in January 2000 when their children were small and she showed me a list of every book they’d read. The fact mine was on the list at all was entirely due to Becky’s enthusiasm and I felt very humble – and suddenly really worried I was going to let her down.

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In fact it was a wonderful discussion. Most people had enjoyed the book but it had clearly been read with a critical eye as well and there were a few points of contention. There is one scene where a rather drunken suitor goes a bit too far with Alice after a party: did it border on sexual assault, or was it just the sort of thing most women have had to contend with at some time or other? Some had noticed there was perhaps an element of possession (in the ghostly sense) involved, so did that make it all right?

Favourite characters is also a great topic for debate and is a question I’m always asked. Because the book is written entirely from Alice’s point of view I obviously became very close to her so it was really interesting for me that Becky wasn’t very keen. What I did love was the way that people related to my secondary characters; Adam, the gay (but in no way camp) best friend and Margaret, the sage but lively elderly neighbour. When I first started writing I was told that my minor characters were like cardboard cut outs so it always pleases me when the care and attention I give to them now shines through.

We also talked long and hard about charmers. The main love interest in the book, Owen, is known as the village charmer (although he denies it) and before the story starts I give the following explanation:

‘Charmers work largely with non-herbal cures for complaints. Secrecy surrounds their work, which must not be done for gain, and while men or women may be charmers, the gift must be passed contra-sexually, man to woman or woman to man; charmers often receive their powers and word charms from old persons anxious to pass their skills to a worthy successor.’

The concept is a fascinating one and we fell to talking about whether such people exist today. My researches seemed to indicate they died out in the West Country in the 1950s but one member of the group knew different: her husband (who is French) had been given a charm by an elderly lady from his home village just before she died. Her story sent shivers down my spine. There’s nothing better than finding an extra kernel of truth in your fiction.

Read Frost’s review of The Cheesemaker’s House here: https://www.frostmagazine.com/2013/12/the-cheesemakers-house-book-review/

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You tells the tale of how two young American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com

Best Endeavours, Painstaking Endeavours: Jane Cable on what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues

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Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

PAINSTAKING ENDEAVOURS

This week has been proof week. Proofs, edit notes, and blurb. But mainly proofs – and more proofing, until my eyes were out on stalks. Luckily I was able to escape to Cornwall where the phone doesn’t ring and normal domestic distractions don’t seem to apply. Plus it was raining.

I dealt with the edit notes first. As I said before, they were nothing major but required me to clarify a family tree a little, consider whether a character over-reacted to a certain situation, and make slightly better sense of some of the supernatural elements. The third one took the most time because I had to track through the manuscript until I found just the right place for an enhanced reveal.

The proofing took most of my time. Endeavour provided me with two pages of notes of the changes they’d made or wording they were unsure about and going through these was fairly straight forward. But I believe the responsibility for a perfect manuscript can’t be delegated and so I decided to do my own proof read as well. It’s a painstaking process of considering every sentence in and out of context – and even at this stage I discovered some missing words. It’s incredible what the brain will fill all on its own – but that’s my brain, and it knows this story inside out. For a reader even the smallest of errors is hugely off-putting.

Jane Cable, publishing, writing

Then there’s consistency: punctuation, capitalisation, presentation of texts and quotes. Holding these things in your head is like juggling – copious notes are needed and I found it’s so much better to do the proofing over a short period so that you can actually remember what’s gone before. My mind was fair boggling by the time I’d finished and stocks of paracetamol were running low.

On the third afternoon I’d finished and miraculously there was a let up in the storms. Pulling on our wellies we climbed up to the cliff path, the stiff breeze blowing away any remaining cobwebs. Our part of Cornwall is mining country (think Poldark!) and the ruined stacks split the landscape against a backdrop of scudding clouds and dark turquoise sea. Just the headspace I needed.

But the break didn’t last long… then it was back to deal with the blurb for Amazon. But to do so I felt I needed to know if I had a title yet. Had Amy (the publishing director) had time to consider my proposal? Should I give her a little nudge? Well, she could only say no, so I sent off the email. And she came back almost immediately: yes, they’re happy with (small but important drum roll) Another You.

Great news, so I turned back to the blurb – only to realise that I didn’t know the Amazon categories and keywords Endeavour are proposing. And I still don’t. The ever-patient Amy told me not to worry, they’ll add the metadata separately. This, I think, is what I am going to find most difficult; as an indie author I was in complete control of the marketing of my books (although I was helped immensely by the ebook team at Matador). Now, although I know I’ll need to get stuck in and market my socks off when the time comes, it isn’t me who’s making the decisions. Something of a steep learning curve ahead I think.

 

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You (formerly known as The Seahorse Summer) tells the tale of how two American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

 

 

Best Endeavours Best Bib & Tucker: Jane Cable On What Happens When You Get That Publishing Deal

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Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.
BEST BIB & TUCKER
Parties, it seems, are like buses; writers’ parties even more so, with two in one week and a book club sandwiched between them. A book club which was incredibly interesting, but will need to be deferred to another blog to do it justice. 
Regular readers will know that I belong to two writers’ organisations (well, three including the Society of Authors) and both held events last week. Wednesday was fun and networking with the Romantic Novelists’ Association and Friday was the serious business of raising money for Dyslexia Action with Chindi Authors.
I had discovered three important things in advance of the RNA Winter Party; that drink would be taken (beforehand and during), that it would be incredibly noisy, and incredibly hot. On no level did it disappoint, although the fact that a rather nice New Zealand sauvignon blanc was only £10 a bottle in the restaurant beforehand meant I spent the whole party sipping a single increasingly warm glass of fizz, thankful that over the years of drinking I have learnt when to stop.
The wall of sound was unbelievable; a high ceilinged room filled to the brim with almost exclusively female voices meant it was practically impossible to hold a conversation with softly spoken fellow Endeavour author, Maggie Greenwood. I soon discovered that the best way of catching people’s names and making the link permanent was to find them on Twitter on my phone. It felt terribly modern after years of swapping (and losing) business cards. I was only sorry I didn’t meet more authors because in true RNA style the whole evening was incredibly friendly and sociable.
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 Back on home turf on Friday was Chindi Authors’ #LovetoRead party. To be fair, before the doors opened not everything went smoothly. Husband lost count of the number of times he moved tables from one end of the hall to the other and re-arranged chairs. The phrase ‘how many writers does it take to set up a room’ came frequently to mind, despite organiser Helen Christmas’ best attempts to impose order. It must have felt like herding cats. And that was before one author turned up so late that three others had split his table space between them. 
As usual I buddied up with my close friend and children’s author Christopher Joyce. It makes sense when you’re sharing a table; Chris has five Creatures of Chichester books, including ‘The One About the Edible Aliens’, which he was launching. I have only two, so I can squeeze into a corner. We’ve become good at selling each other’s books over the years – and our other halfs well used to enjoying a pint together.
But this time I was one of three authors lucky enough to be reading (Chris having been a perfect gentleman and given up his slot to a dyslexia specialist). I chose the first chapter of The Faerie Tree – the book starts just before Christmas so it felt right. Luckily four of my closest friends sat in the front row so I could pretend I was just reading to them and it must have worked; it’s an amazing feeling to hear people in an audience gasp when you reach a certain point. That, and the fact we raised over £700 for Dyslexia Action, made my night.
Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. If you’d like to read the first chapter of The Faerie Tree you can find it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faerie-Tree-Jane-Cable-ebook/dp/B00UTI27AY/.
The Seahorse Summer (or whatever it ends up being called) tells the tale of how two American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

BEST ENDEAVOURS BEST IDEAS: Jane Cable on what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag

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rembranbrancesundayIsn’t it funny how the most important emails just seem to slide into your inbox at the most inopportune times? Late on Monday afternoon my edit notes and first proof came back from Endeavour – just as I was wolfing down an early supper ready to go to Chindi Authors’ monthly meeting. I scanned the email – heart in mouth – only to find myself reeling from the last sentence.
But I had no time to consider the contents – the Chindi meeting was an important one, mainly devoted to planning the final details of our #LovetoRead fundraising evening for Dyslexia Action on Friday. Raffle prizes to co-ordinate, running order to finalise, budget for canapés to be agreed… All whirling around my head in an unusually disorganized fashion while I tried to digest the email bombshell.
To be honest, now I’m used to the idea, it doesn’t seem so bad. Endeavour want me to change the title of the book, that’s all. And to put things in context, the edit notes extended to only three points, the last one prefaced with the phrase ‘this probably isn’t important’. They’re useful and fair and acting on them will certainly improve the book.

Jane Cable, publishing, writing
The problem with changing the title was that I didn’t have a clue where to begin. You become wedded to the name of your book over the years of development and when agent Felicity loved it too I felt sure I’d be able to keep it. Changing my mindset is something akin to turning an oil tanker but I’m determined to do it and come up with something better.
First some guidance was required from Amy, Endeavour’s publishing director and her answer came back clear and strong: look in the Kindle charts for books of a similar genre – and a tip that short phrases from films or songs often do well. Now my knowledge of films is limited to say the least (having not been to the cinema since the third… or maybe fourth… Harry Potter movie came out) but at least I have a neighbour with a first class degree in the subject so his enormous brain was brought to bear on the challenge.
I quickly realised it’s impossible to instil all the nuances of a book into just a few words and that made me try to set out what it’s really about. It isn’t about seahorses (although they feature fairly strongly) and it isn’t about summer (although the action all takes place between April and August). It’s about being damaged, and healing, and moving on with your life. Or not – as the case may be. It looks back at the past – D-Day specifically – or perhaps the past looks forwards at us. No one title is ever going to cover it all.
So now there is a page in my notebook with an increasing number of titles on it. The most obvious ones have inevitably been taken but I have a few which might just do the trick. And I’m still canvassing opinion, so if you have any bright ideas then please, please let me know.

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Jane will be reading from The Faerie Tree at Chindi Author’s #LovetoRead party in Chichester on 18th November. More details here: http://www.chindi-authors.co.uk/news/
The Seahorse Summer (or whatever it ends up being called) tells the tale of how two American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.