Moving books around in bookshops

I have finally come to believe that the Dummies book I co-wrote has actually been published. Yes, I have some copies from the publishers and seen it for sale at various online bookstores but yesterday was the first day I saw it in a real bricks and mortar shop – Waterstone’s on London’s Piccadilly.

It’s all very exciting. Naturally, I moved it to a more prominent location but which author could say hand on heart that they wouldn’t in the same situation.

The addiction of news

As well as my ski writing and books, I also do a daily news feed for a business travel website. Doing news is a double-edged sword. The thrill of finding out a big story before any of your rivals is sweet although the annoyance at being scooped by them is equally bitter. There’s also the knowledge that you have to perform every day, come what may.

When you’re writing about a specialist area, finding a couple of good stories a day is a challenge too. It means not relying on press releases and following your own leads and hunches. Something that too few journalists seem to do these days.

Second edition

I received an odd email from Wiley, the publishers of my new Dummies book yesterday. It was entitled The Origins of the Universe For Dummies – corrections and I thought ‘Uh-oh. Someone has noticed a blunder’. In fact, it was a request from the publishers for details of any mistakes I had noticed since the book was published which needed to be corrected for the second edition.

Should I be excited at the thought that there might be a second edition? Perhaps. But maybe all Dummies authors get the same email. Either way, it seems odd to receive it when the book has only been out for a couple of weeks. 

A new definition of ‘free’-lancing

I’ve recently been asked by a well-known editor to get involved in a new project that’s essentially TripAdvisor but with the content written by professional rather than citizen journalists. What that means is that I wouldn’t get paid for writing the travel articles but would share in any commission generated from bookings for the things I am recommending. 

It has really become crunch time for the traditional business model for freelance journalists. In the past, you wrote X thousand words and got paid Y. Consumers of my output now want to view that content free of charge if it’s online. Of course, free of charge means free to the end user. Most often, there is some hidden commercial input, whether that’s context sensitive Google ads or banners, which pays the bills. Naturally, online publishers now want their contributors to work to the same model. Provide the stuff for nothing and you get a share of any cash we make, they say. 

I have often felt aggrieved that my word rates have remained virtually unchanged in years, meaning I have effectively taken a pay cut because of inflation. Now, it seems that they are set to fall further unless I can encourage people to click on the ads or e-commerce links surrounding my words. Some unscrupulous journalists might think that by writing an article with a positive spin, those click-throughs are much more likely thus increasing their revenue. It’s a scary old time for the ‘free’-lance.

Sebastian Faulks

I spoke to the great man yesterday. I speak to important people all the time and have met a fair few famous ones and have rarely felt so nervous.  Someone had given me his phone number and I dialled, expecting to speak to an assistant. When he answered, my mind went blank and I mumbled my way through asking him to do something for The Times.

I think my nervousness was brought on by the knowledge that he has sold 2.5 million copies of Birdsong in the UK alone, let alone his other bestsellers. If my book sells 25 copies I  shall be pleased (although I suspect my publishers won’t).

A bloody book launch

Sadly not my own. I went to the offices of Serpent’s Tail on Wednesday for the launch party of Cham, the latest novel by my chum Jon Trigell. He’s had a busy week. When not writing he’s working in the ski industry and living in Chamonix (hence the title of the new book). So last week, he was busy with the Ski Show in London. He even found time to do a short reading from the book. The audience were surprised to see Jon turn up with two black eyes and a plaster across his nose. Everyone was giving him respect for this serious looking injury, suspecting it must have come from a ski trick that had gone wrong. In fact, it transpires it was a UDI – an unidentified drinking injury.

Anyway, after the Ski Show, Jon was at the Times BFI London Film Festival on Sunday where the film version of his previous book, Boy A, was getting its UK premiere. The film is directed by Paddy Considine and is, by the accounts of those who managed to see it, a corker. I couldn’t make it but awaits its showing on Channel 4 later this month.

So to Wednesday and the new book launch. Jon was there with his proud parents and partner and still sporting the UDI. Sadly, before he could speak, he suffered a gushing nosebleed and disappeared for the rest of the evening, with talk of his needing to go to hospital. Hope it’s not too serious – he is one talented guy.

The book is out

On Wednesday, I got a plain-looking package through the post. Inside was the first copy of the book I have co-written with my chum Stephen Pincock. After a year of researching, writing and editing (especially the latter), it’s incredible to actually hold a copy in my hands. I really do feel like a Dummies author finally. The book was released on an unsuspecting public on Friday. I did have a quick look in Borders in Fulham Broadway on Saturday but I supposed it is too soon to expect these things. Now all I have to do is try and avoid the temptation to keep checking back on Amazon to see what sales rank the book has. OK, I did check – it was 75,008 or something so that means there’s a long way to go.

What ski journalists do in the summer

People always ask me what I do in the summer. I’m the ski correspondent on the Times so it’s a fair question. In fact, more often than not, I’m writing about skiing on some of the hottest days of the year.  Why’s that, you ask? Well, most newspapers and magazines run their ski features between September and early February. September might seem to early to begin and February might seem to early to finish but it’s all to do with when people traditionally book their ski holidays. As soon as there’s a chill in the air and people have had the last of the summer holidays, thoughts often turn to a winter holiday and so this is when ski companies start to bring out their new brochures and advertise in the newspapers and magazines.  Newspapers and magazines naturally follow this commercial flow. So that’s what I do in the summer.

A reader writes

Unlike in the world of blogging, it sometimes takes time before someone sends you a comment about the printed word. Email has made it easier of course and I’m all for interaction with readers.

Today, however, I received an email from Random House, who published my first book Codebreaker. Attached to the email was a scan of a letter they had received from an pensioner in Beverley who has read the book and is working through a series of code challenges at the end of the book. He has worked out the first four but is stumped on five and six. I sweated for ages over those challenges so I’m glad someone is bothering to do them.  He even calls the book “fascinating”.

He doesn’t have a computer but notes that I have a “Web sight” and the letter looks typed. I’m quite excited about sending him a hand-written letter in return.

Humans, I have finished the book

I breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday afternoon when Stephen and I had a marathon two hour Skype session and finished off our edits on the book. Stephen pointed out that in one of the chapters that I wrote, I kept referring to “humans” and “humanity” rather than “we” and “us”. He now thinks I’m an alien.

It was really good to type up the last of the corrections and press the send button. By a bizarre coincidence, I had a phone message that arrived just as I did so talking about another potential book. Someone wants to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair with an idea about forensic science. I’m a big CSI fan so that attracted my attention. It seem the more books you do – I’ve now done three although only one is published so far – the more publishers want you to do. Can’t complain.