It's been a great day and I've learnt so much in Waterstones in Milton Keynes. I was warmly greeted by with Lisa the manager and Annette the floor manager, who came over to the till saying she’d spotted me the cake lady on the CCTV and came straight downstairs to see me. I loved meeting them both. What Annette doesn’t know about recipe books isn’t worth knowing - after 8 years she knows a thing or two, and she was kind enough to chat to me on the Audioboo.
Coming from a Marketing background is a real plus in life. The thing about writing any book is that you have to know who is going to buy it. Target market sweetie. The biggest disasters I’ve made in life are when I’ve rushed into things without checking the market, and doing proper research. Writing a book is no different. As we (the publishers and the book designer and my PR manager) are refining the book cover and the blurb and the final exacting detail that will attract the readers it is essential to get it right. Putting together a public relations campaign to get people interested in the book means everything has to be right. The colour, the tone, the words, the photos and the message has to be sending the same message. What is the message? well for me it has to say .. pick me up! As an unknown Author this book is going to be sitting on the shelves next to the big boys ( and girls ) of the cookery world. The hairy bikers, the Jamie oliver offering, the Delia's latest and of course being a K in the alphabet I may well get to snuggle up to an L on the shelf ... Nigella's an L .. I can think of worse people to be cosy with!So I had to check the detail. The choice of colour (It’s eye catching!) and the words on the bi line. So I spent today speaking to anyone and everyone that stepped foot in the recipe section.
The results .. well I had a few surprises .. and some seriously super findings. I have to collate the information and I’m doing a few more questionnaires to round up the numbers.. but can I tell you now .. we are definitely on the right track.
As soon as the results are collated I’ll be back to the blog to share all !
All these tricks of the trade that you are sharing with us, is extremely valuable information.
ReplyDeleteTo present it in a black and white form, like you do in each of your post is commendable and selfless, all the same.
Thanks a lot! I wish you all the success and luck!! I for one, am definitely going to buy a copy.