Why two publishers?

Now the news is out that I have two sports romcoms coming with Bedford Square Publishers, as well as my travel romances continuing to be published with Boldwood, I thought I’d take a moment to explain what led to this situation. It’s something of a natural experiment, as the two publishers have opposite approaches to the very difficult current book landscape in the UK.

I’ve been very fortunate to start my career with Boldwood and we’ve now sold over 200,000 copies of my books (although the figures vary quite a lot from title to title, interestingly). The opportunity to keep bringing books out has been the single biggest factor in my increasing sales, as I started from literally nothing (no contacts, no network, no social media presence, no agent, small, new publisher, no paperback distribution to get my name out there, no traditional media or trade reviews). I almost always have at least one book priced aggressively at 99p and my books are also in Kindle Unlimited, which keeps my backlist earning (a little) all the time. Nine books in (ten soon!), it’s starting to feel like a real career, which is a privilege for someone whose debut came out with a small (at the time) digital-focused publisher during this time of great upheaval in the industry.

So why did my agent and I look for a second publisher for my sports romances? Our first priority was making sure my relationship with Boldwood didn’t suffer through this process and I was thrilled an agreement could be reached where I can continue to write my two travel romances a year with Boldwood while also working with Bedford Square. I couldn’t risk the good thing I already have by taking a chance on something new. But I did want to take that chance.

The main reason for this is algorithms. It’s a known fact that if your book is broadly similar to another bestseller, it will sell better digitally. Keywords in the title make a book easier to find in the wild west of the ebook market. Following trends is important.

Writing is currently my main job, so I’d really like to sell enough copies to make this viable and denying that ‘writing to market’ is important in the commercial fiction space won’t get me anywhere. There are some aspects of this I don’t mind: I love romance tropes and will include them gleefully; the romance structure is like a treasured old friend who I am happy to spend all my time with. But I want to write something nobody has written before. I want to write books that make people sit up and take notice, not something that sounds exactly like hundreds of other books.

I would argue I’ve been doing this all along with my books with Boldwood, it’s simply the way they’re packaged and marketed that makes them seem like part of the homogeneous ebook landscape (this is probably true for a lot of other books, not just mine). I can’t deny that this packaging and marketing has worked for digital sales (for some books better than others, but overall the trend is good). But here’s the difference.

Bedford Square is also focused on physical sales. This might end up being a disaster, if no one buys my book and the paperbacks sit in a warehouse for years. Boldwood is right to point out that print runs are often a waste of money and paper when print-on-demand (POD) exists. But a print run is the only way to compete with ebooks on price (sort of). POD is expensive. Bedford Square will print (some unknown quantity) of Head Over Wheels and try to get it into shops. Ultimately this means MANY fewer copies sold than my current ebook sales numbers, but this is still important and it’s not just for my vanity (I don’t expect every bookshop to stock it – not by a long shot).

A book on a shelf is allowed to be fresh and new, a little quirky and different and people might still find it (although as I said, I’m very comfortable in the genre romance space, so it’s very much a romance). And if they find it, it will sit on their shelf reminding them I exist and my words are worth buying and savouring – worth waiting for.

For the first time, I have cover art from the digital artist who designed the characters and the background specifically to our brief. The design considered how the book would look as a paperback on the shelf, not only as a thumbnail on Amazon. The inside is the same quality as my other books (whatever readers think of that), but this one is designed to stand out, not blend in – the way I see myself as a writer.

The ebook of Head Over Wheels is priced at more than twice my current Boldwood pre-order, which will seem strange as I’m the same author, but it’s because the two publishers’ sales approaches are opposite: Bedford Square will try to make the paperback more readily available. Keeping the ebook priced high (although £5 is still not much more than a single cup of coffee) will encourage people to buy a discounted paperback. The pricing will definitely mean lower sales but higher value. I kind of hope some readers will understand what a bargain my other books are at £1.99, considering it takes about five hours to read one.

Algorithms are blunt instruments. Humans are much more complex than this in real life and I envision increasing frustration with algorithms in coming years as people with all their moods and foibles attempt to find a book they want to read and are faced only with thousands of titles that look the same as what they’ve already read. I understand why it happens. My books probably wouldn’t be found at all if they were marketed the way I write them (to be utterly unique).

This is why I’ve taken the chance with Bedford Square. In my offer, my editor used the words ‘unique twist’, ‘original’ and ‘fascinating’. Head Over Wheels will be one of a very selective catalogue of titles. That’s what I strive for, something new and unexpected! In fact, all of their titles look fascinating to me, even the non-fiction ones, which I would usually never pick up.

I don’t know if I will have a lucrative career with Bedford Square (as with any traditional publisher – it’s a risk), but they’ve offered to invest in my work and I’m incredibly proud to appear in their small catalogue – just as I’m eternally grateful and proud to be part of the big, successful Boldwood family.