Backhanders

Via a link from www.meandmybigmouth.typepad.com I watched 'Title fight,' on The Money Programme which looked at Bookselling and Publishing in the UK, especially how a title is promoted through the High Stret and the costs therein, which are phenomenal. To get one title promoted as say 'Book of the week' can cast a hundred thousand pounds. Not my figures, those of Mr Finlay, the biggest cheese at Transworld. If your pockets are not big enough forget it. You may have the best damned book in the world but it isn't going to get the best promotional slots because you can't afford it. I'ts the way of the retail world. Annoying, yes, but you just have to try and work round it. Do something different, like kidnap Area Managers and the like. We were lucky, a local Wats manager fell in love with The art of being dead and gave Bluemoose half a window, gratis. And he put it on the Booksellers' Choice promotion. Excellent, but this was only one store but it worked. Given prime spots, the public buy. If this had been rolled out across the country, Stephen Clayton, the author would now be strolling along the streets of Hebden Bridge in a smoking jacket, whirling a silver topped cane and proffering pearls of wisdom, appearing on late night book programmes with the Lit Eds crying out for interviews. Apparently Dawn French got over £2Million for her book, now you have to shift a skip load to even break even on those numbers, and there's the marketing and promotional costs on top. And all that time spent assauging Sleb egos. It would be interesting to see what profit they actually made, if any. Dawn, we need to know. She'll be wearing a red nose tomorrow because she's already laughed her way to the bank, but will her publisher?