Last night’s dinner party was relatively uneventful. I only managed to sell one copy and distribute 6 promotional postcards until one friend threatened to pour water over me if I did not stop :>.

Well, fate has it that today I am going to a friend’s 40’s birthday party in a beach club in Hague, Holland. I asked her husband if they would mind me promoting my book at the birthday party and he replied sarcastically “I suggest you put a BOOTH at the entrance to sell your book!”.  I will see what I can do. I think I will carry a stack of promotional postcards with me and another stack of business cards in my pocket. That may do the trick :>

Turning a beach club into a book club?

 

I am invited to a dinner party tonight organized by a group of good friends in London.

And they warned me on the email invitation that rule #1, “please DON’T turn it into a book launch party.”

I replied later and confirmed that “After a few attempts, I failed to persuade Raymond not to make it into his book launch.

However, he will be restrained during the dinner and only try to sell his book to you and leave your parents and relatives alone.”

Will see if this is the end of a beginning or the beginning of an end to my social life!

Yes, the “link” between lulu.com and Amazon was established 2 weeks earlier.
Excellent! My book is now available on Amazon (both paperback and Kindle).

The timing is very good (thank God) – It is very close to my big corporate launch on 8-Oct-14 when I will present my book in front of approximate 50 colleagues at our annual off-site. Hopefully they will be kind enough to pass on the good words to their friends and families. The convenience of being on Amazon will come in handy.

Amazon.co.uk or click a link below to order your copy.

Ebook edition (suitable for Amazon Kindle): £5.05

My protégé for the past 18 months at work had his farewell drink last night. After a few more days in the office, he will be “stretching his wings” elsewhere. I am more proud of him than me (which may be a rare occurrence for some people). He called me Master Yoda. I took it as a compliment for the wisdom and kindness the name represents. As for the attributes of being old, small and speaking with unusual sentence structures, I can hardly relate to. :>

 “Journey, life is. To you, best wishes and great success!” from Master Yoda Raymond to Jedi WP.

I got the message finally when I asked a friend repeatedly for feedback after purchasing my book 1 week ago. He said “Raymond, your book is not a piece of meat. It does not decay and please calm down.”

It is true. People buy books and read them later. A book is not a newspaper that people read it (usually) on the same day. Neither is the book a piece of meat with an expiration date.

Point taken – I will back off and give others more time to read (I can recommend reading over a glass of Champagne to get the best out of it). I agreed that it was a bit too much asking people to purchase the book as well as giving quick feedback. Well, being demanding is never one of my traits :>

After lunch last Friday, I visited a bookstore in North London (Postal code N22). The staff told me that the bookstore is launching a section for self-published books. I thought this was finally “up my alley” until he mentioned that it was for novels only. I glanced over the stack of books that he was arranging around the counter and I saw a cookbook. I then asked him “It looks like you are also selling self-help books for example, I can see cookbooks there!”. Unfortunately, he disagreed that cookbooks belong to the category of self-help. I added, “I can also see travel guides there. They are certainly self-help books without a doubt”.

At this point, I saw the rolling of the eyes. I put on a “professional” face and uttered thank you before leaving the store with an unresolved question that cookbook is a self-help book or not.

After a quick re-composition of myself after the first negative result, I walked to an independent bookstore in the same area on my list. It was supposed to open at 11am, but when I arrived sharply at 11am, the door was not open. I marched up and down the block try to avoid passers-by mistaking me for visiting the licensed sex bookstore next to the independent bookstore (Perhaps they are both independent, but I did not think the sex bookstore would be interested in carrying my book there). A lady finally arrived 7 minutes later on a bicycle and she apologized because she was stuck at the post office. She promptly opened the door of the store and explained to me that I can leave my book for review and pick it up 2 weeks later. I looked around the book shelves and told her that my book is on the topic of adult learning. She replied, “Oh, this is a special bookstore for photography books!” I politely thanked her for thinking that I could pass for a photographer and left holding my head high (not sure why!).

 

Later that day, I went to another bookstore close to King’s Cross. After being directed to the manager’s desk, I did my usual introduction and the manager replied “Your book certainly sounds interesting, but this bookstore is specialized in selling books related to POLITCS.” I stood there undeterred and asked her if she knew of any other “normal” bookstores. After a few minutes of scratching her head, she gave me a pamphlet called “The London Bookshop Map – 107 independent bookshops”.   That very evening, I put that pamphlet on the post to my executive assistant (a good friend) Gary and asked him to compile an ACCURATE list for my next sales trip (and put him on probation!).

 

I took a day off from work yesterday to promote my self-published book. 

The first store was a big bookstore in Piccadilly Circus, a very touristic area in London. After fighting off my habit developed in the last decade shopping in the area (this time I only went into one shop instead of usual 10+, not counting the distraction from window shopping), I stepped foot into the bookstore. It was around 10:15am, perhaps a bit too early for work. The two staff were very much engaged in a conversation of last night TV series EastEnders (a popular British TV soap). After standing in front of them for 5 minutes, they noticed my “invasion”. I “broke the ice” and their EastEnder conversation,  for that matter, by saying “Good morning!”. I introduced myself and asked them if the store would take books directly from authors. They answered negative and explained that they only accept books from major publishers. They wasted no time to return to their discussion on EastEnders and when I left the store, the discussion progressed onto another British TV series Downton Abbey.

What did I do?   I took refuge in retail therapy since I was in such an advantageous area, but I rebounded promptly after reminding myself that the negative response was nothing personal. Marching onto the next bookstore!

Knowing that my sense of direction is close to non-existent, I thought it would be wise to strategically work out the route on the internet to my short-listed independent bookstores before embarking the journey. I decided to focus on Central and North London (around 9 bookstores in total). Guess what I found on the list when I checked the internet?

A luxury watch store specializing on Rolex watches!
I was a bit puzzled why it was on the list “disguised” as an independent bookstore for me to visit. It did not take me long to realize that my Executive assistant Gary wanted to subtly remind me that a Rolex watch would be a good gesture for his help (I did vaguely recall him talking to HIMSELF about it because obviously this sort of comment came from one of my ear to the other!) A careless mistake of Gary – I think not!

Well Gary, as I told you before (I know you are reading it), I can offer a Casio or Timex watch (of my choice) if my first sales target (paid copies) of 1,000 is met in the first 12 months. For a Rolex, the sales figure will have to be in 6 figures. But our dear readers can judge if he even deserves a Casio watch or not after reading the future blogs on my first sales trip!

To all my Jewish friends including Jesus!

 I visited 2 bookstores in North London (N11 – North of Finchley Road) which apparently is a Jewish neighborhood. Both bookstores were closed for Jewish New Year. I can understand. It is time for celebration!

My long walk (25 minutes from the closest underground station) will not be repeated next time because I realized that there is bus from the station which I took on my way back :>

 The rest of my day as a book salesman? Oh, come on, it is the Jewish New Year. I also need to take a break. Will report starting tomorrow. Is it ok?