His dusty shoes are his Cadillac - or Pounding the Pavement in Search of a Sale

For you young ones, the former part this entry’s title is a quote. Anybody like to have a guess?

People say to me, now that KJ’s book is on the way, I can look forward to becoming a man of leisure. Well, what a fine idea that is; I’d be willing to give it a try but here is where myself and reality collide. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that reality usually wins. Not sure what to do about that.


Getting The Land of Bad Fantasy accepted by a publisher was amazingly easy, compared to the stories I’ve always heard. Tales of years gone by, and growing piles of rejection letters. But for us, the planets lined up, and there it was.

Each year we go away for a camping trip, and KJ wants to read us her story. Yes, okay, we’ll humour her. Read the story if you really want to. Well, what do you know? This one wasn’t half bad. You should try to publish this one, we say.

So we pops a couple of chapters into envelopes, and launch them in the scatter-gun into the mailboxes of 47 different publishers. Let’s see what comes back. Time passes. A few rejection notes, but some positive comments. Sorry, we like the story, but not much use for a maths book. Should have checked what sort of publishers they were first.  And then, tick-tick-tick on the line. And another. And whoa! Another.  That’s three who are keen. Then <a few bits in between> we have a contract with an agent, and then one with Omnibus (Scholastic).

So, when’s he going to explain the title? Okay, now. Getting the book published is just the start. We’ve got to do our best to make it a success. Margins are tight, so there isn’t a huge bucket of money for marketing. We’ve got to shake our booties, wriggle our botties, and get out there and pound the pavement. Schools and bookshops.


Let’s make sure the bookshops have LOBF in stock. No point in printing a fine book, telling the world about, and then finding that nobody can find it.  Now here’s Emma. Emma’s a company man; works for a big chain bookshop company. Are you interested in supporting a local author? NO. Quick as a flash, not a moment’s hesitation, no. Well, Emma, I’d love to see the panicked look on your face as the cranky crowd rushes your door, wanting to know why you don’t have a copy.

A humbling experience, it is, to ‘cold canvas’ in search of a sale. Feeling pretty comfortable about yourself?  Well give this a try.  What, don’t have a book to sell? No worries, we have one right here.