I’m gutted. I started writing a blog on Saturday morning about the X Factor saying that there’d be a few versions on ‘he gave 110%’. I wish I’d finished and posted it now cos I’d have been so smug. Robbie even mentioned 112%. My reason was to link in with manuscript submissions though. There’s generally a link… I’ve edited this a few times between other work and, as I’m out on my travels today, thought I should send it or it’ll be another week.

I had a novel submission earlier this week and was really touched by the enthusiasm of the writer. I’ll not name him, but he said he’d give 110% in promoting his book. I wanted to reply saying it was a pet hate of mine and that it was physically impossible, but it’s Christmas and all that. It was a bit like listening to a closing dialogue from one of Suralan’s Apprenti (that’s a plural, don’t you know)… and I felt an odd mixture of wanting to chuck a ‘how not to approach a publisher’ rant back at him and I also recognised that he was so keen to see his work in print. I’d probably wrote similar stuff to publishers when I wanted to see all my brilliant words in print. And why not… I knew I’d love to sit there at signings, would travel anywhere for an interview and knew I wouldn’t be an ‘arsey author’ (not that I’ve ever worked with any).

If it’s going to happen, it will. Good books generally get published. Even if they sit around for a bit in a big container marked ‘the slush pile’ in green marker pen in the corner of a publisher’s office, they’ll still get read at some point. One thing I don’t like about publishing is sometimes there is a bit of resentment if you reject someone. I rejected a friend’s manuscript recently and we had a coffee together to discuss why it wasn’t the right book for me. He’s a writer and he understands and I wouldn’t always sit down with someone to go into detail. I had to because I didn’t want him thinking I thought his work was rubbish and also because I still wanted him to send manuscripts my way. It just happened that he sent a good submission in a genre I wouldn’t publish.

I generally know within the first page if it will work - regardless of if the writing is good or bad. It might be the idea behind it, in which case the writing can go through development. The manuscripts are usually rejected because it is probably in a genre I’m unfamiliar with, don’t know enough about, don’t read, etc, etc – therefore I don’t really know the audience. Or that I just don’t think there is an audience for it. I’ve also had a few submissions recently that I’m sure have potential… but again, not my area of expertise. I put one writer in touch with my web designer to road test the book content out as a website and see what kind of feedback and readers they could attract before seeing if it was worth launching as a book. Hopefully it will take off and we can discuss taking it to print. Or he’ll head off to HarperCollins. But at least that’ll mean it was a goer.

Another friend pitched an idea a while ago and sent a manuscript in. It’s good, well written, he knows the target audience and I do, but I’m not exactly convinced it will be a ‘seller’. I know he’d easily give 110% in promoting it, but publishing a book is an expensive risk. At the moment I’m 100% impressed with it but 48% convinced it would sell. It has a limited readership really and is specific to an area rather than it having universal appeal. It’s non-fiction, which in many respects is a bit easier to sell.

On average, I get around 30-40 submissions a week now. Not millions, but enough for me not to be able to read them all when working on everything else. If I’m not working I’m sleeping, so submissions have to be read when I get any time off. I’ve promised a few people I’d get back to them ‘by the end of the year’ and now I have a few hundred to get through. D’oh! Even as I was writing this on Saturday another submission came in, right on cue. Looks good as well. And then one last night at around 1am, starting with an opening line of ‘Dear agent’ and I knew that I had to draw a line under reading any further submissions for a bit or risk going insane. Again.

It’s getting harder for new writers all the time. Publishers are cutting back on what they are doing and looking for books they know will sell. It sounds quite obvious, but in these times of economic recession if one title doesn’t do well it can put a publisher out of business. I’ve got next year’s schedule pretty much planned and will have room for one or two that I already considered and will spend more time reading through. Essentially, and as bizarre as it sounds, I’m looking for books for 2011 now. And that’s just a one-man-band outfit. All publishers work like this. And it’s something else writers are up against.

The message here? As ever – don’t give up. A great philosopher called Gary Barlow once said ‘Just have a little patience’ and, as we know, he’s rarely wrong about anything. Now that I’m starting to go through my submissions, I’m seeing more than ever how many writers there are out there with good, publishable manuscripts. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t publish them all. At a guess, there’s close to 400 manuscripts. I read a few pages of some as they came in and know they are very worthy.

The ‘Dear agent’ writer - I replied and told him Tonto isn’t a literary agency in case he’s done similar with his contact research and is sending ‘Dear publisher’ letters out to the wrong people. I said I wouldn’t be interested in reading his manuscript, wished him luck, and then back to work this morning I saw a reply with:

 ’If I can’t get someone who is selling my exact genre to even read a chapter, then maybe I should just hang my hat up and throw in the towel. I will rethink what I am doing here. Thanks for opening my eyes.’

I’d hate the responsibility of saying I’m not interested in reading someone’s work to have put an end to a writing career that hasn’t started. In an email conversation to Caroline Smailes recently I described myself as ‘Simon Cowell’. Maybe I could be the Simon Cowell of publishing rather than the John Blake. It’ll need more thought. Still doable, like. I hope he wasn’t serious about giving up just because of my reply. It’s a cliche but if you can’t handle rejection, you’re in the wrong business. Or another take – if you can’t handle being kicked in the teeth and underpaid, then don’t be a writer.

Think of your submissions as job interviews / job applications. I did. I used to do temp office work to support myself through writing projects and a lot of the time I was knocked back from very basic office work (and other jobs that wouldn’t have crept into my writing time) that I could do standing on my head. Not that I can stand on my head, but you know what I mean. The point here is that I wasn’t the right person for the job, was probably going for the wrong job, wouldn’t have fitted in… there’s so many reasons why they never happened – but none of the reasons were because I wasn’t qualified or couldn’t do it. I didn’t say, ‘Right you temp agency bastards. I’m going to stop temping because of you. Curse you allllllll!’

Publishing deals are like that in a way. Not the right manuscript, not the right time, taking on people with more experience, too many submissions and can’t commit, schedule already planned for the next two years so not recruiting right now… all you need to do in that case is try somewhere else and keep trying until you find the right ‘job vacancy’.

It’s a mad industry to be in. If any publisher knocks you back, take it on the chin and move on. Take the idea or the manuscript somewhere else if you believe in it. If you get to the point where it feels like a dead horse – stop flogging it. Successful writers will also tell you about their bottom drawer with a few manuscripts that they were unable to get placed. It happens – it’s career / writer development. It isn’t failure.

And now I’m off to do a bit of reading…

Just a quick one for now…

Check out the Christmas Sale on www.tontobooks.co.uk- all ‘in stock’ books on spesh for a few days, ending on Saturday (so I’ve got time to send them out for Christmas). Current titles all down to £4.99 including p&p and Sheila Quigley’s novel down to a tenner – signed editions while stocks last.

Please feel free to pass it on – and thanks for anyone who does. Gawd bless ya.

Almost.

Ermmm… Mistletoe and wine.

Been a while since the last blog. Quite a few happenings have been… well, happening.

Update: Even More Tonto Short Stories

It’s a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that it is all going ahead and I’m now having it pitched and presented to bookstore buyers rather than it being released with a ‘whimper’ / selling on the website only. Of course, as you’ve probably sussed already, it won’t have an official release until much further into the future because of that. Before reaching for your mouse and clicking to post disgruntled comments, please hear me out. Feedback on the collection is very good. And, not to dismiss previous Tonto anthologies, this one stands a really good chance of selling into stores. It looks and feels the part and has the content to back it up. I work with an utterly splendid sales company who will be presenting it to bookstores.

At the moment, Tonto is on a roll. November was the company’s best month ever and December looks even better. Other than sales taking off, there’s loads of publicity and ‘nice words’ being said. That means the book can be published, promoted and launched on a bigger and better reputation now. It contains some brilliant stories by up ‘n’ coming writers, established writers and soon-to-be-huge writers. It is too good an opportunity to miss out on. I’ve always believed in supporting writers through collections and this time round everything is in place to do it properly – which has always been the aim. So, sit back and have faith in Uncle Stu.

I know there’s nothing worse than being kept waiting for a publication date. I’ve had it happen to me, but as a publisher, I also understand why. So… to keep up goodwill, I’ll be sending the book out as an ebook to everyone who entered the competition (dare I say it?) in time for Christmas. The physical book will be officially released on 6 May 2010. However, it will be printed long before that – early in the New Year, and all those will be sent out to everyone as soon as I receive them. I’ll be publicising the book in advance of the release and, depending on which bookstores are actually still open in May, we’ll be launching it and promoting as far and wide as humanly possible.

As Leo Sayer once said: ‘Well, I’m a one man band / Nobody knows nor understands.’

It’s a bit like that for me here in Chateau Tonto, only I’m a bit taller with better hair.

Some other stuff: Tonto mentioned in the Bookseller Rights Guide this week.

Showbiz news: Met up with David Peace of ‘The Damned United’ fame last week when he and Robert ‘Dirty Leeds’ Endeacott held a reading in Wakefield. He’s done loads of other books, but everyone always says he wrote TDU. We had a great night… the readings were spot on, even though one of Robert’s new eyes nearly fell out after a few sentences – and I didn’t even walk out when there was ‘all that poetry stuff’ being read out. I’m getting old – must be mellowing out.

And on Monday, I met Keith Allen. Shirley I must be on the spotted page of Heat before the end of the year.

If you happen to be in Leeds tomorrow, Robert will be signing copies of Dirty Leeds, or DL as I sometimes call it, at Waterstone’s, Albion Street. The perfect Christmas present, eh?

We’re in Wakefield tomorrow with Robert Endeacott and David Peace for an author event at the Red Shed in Wakefield! There’s even going to be poetry on, so no doubt I’ll take up smoking and will be outside while that bit is no. No offence, like. And as it’s a CAMRA place, it’ll be full of people who look just like Martin Ellis of Zymurgy Publishing. God, that’s all we need, eh? But I’m still looking forward to it.

David gave Dirty Leeds a plug in The Guardian on Saturday, giving it a heads up as a Christmas recommendation. Nice one, David! Doesn’t get much better dan dat.

And speaking of mentions … Sheila Quigley is AUTHOR OF THE MONTH on crimesquad.com. How cool is that? Eh? How cool, man? Martin Edwards also gives Sheila a good mention here on his blog.

I’ll probably be recovering from my hangover on Friday after Thursday night at the Red Shed, so please watch The One Show on BBC1 at 7pm on Friday, if you can … Charlie Walduck will be on there plugging Slimmer Charlie.

I’ll also be at Waterstone’s in Sunderland on Friday with Sheila from 1pm, if I’m in a fit state to drive.

It’s always great to see the Tyne Bridge as your train brings you back to civilisation in Newcastle… back to normal, wearing a flat cap and working in a coal mine again while drinking Brown Ale.

London was brill. I met with some great people and made some really useful contacts for the future. I’m now in the process of signing up with an international rights agent, met with some brilliant writers as well as two new signings, Simon Donald and Ronnie Le Drew. Both are now in full swing writing their respective autobiographies for publication next year and it was great to catch up with them. Also met with Andrew Crofts, renowned ghost writer, to discuss a few possible projects. Didn’t have time to meet the Queen though.

I met up with my distributor who gave me an update – November has been the best month in Tonto’s short history and it is all down to splendid team work. Obviously it helps to have published some decent books, but it’s all down to the commitment and dedication of the authors and their willingness to do (almost) anything in the name of promotion. Also in these last few months, it’s been the best time for publicity in Tonto’s history: Charlie Walduck has been on TV twice to promote Slimmer Charlie and will be on the One Show this coming Friday too. A Tonto record for the most TV coverage for a book!

Robert Endeacott has done loads of radio, has had excellent press reviews and interviews and is doing an event with David Peace this Thursday in Wakefield. His first print run sold out in two days – another Tonto record.

Sheila Quigley has been doing loads of book signings, had some great magazine coverage and reviews and will be back at Waterstone’s in Sunderland this Friday. And a Tonto record for quickest-selling… 22 books in the first 22 minutes at the first TRTH signing and then selling out at Waterstone’s the same day.

A big thing in the news last week and this week, as briefly mentioned in my last post, is that Borders have gone into administration. It’s sickening. Borders Team Valley were the first store to buy from Tonto – invoice number TON001, and in cruel ironic fashion, my last three invoices to them totalling £1000 will probably never get paid. Grrrrrrrrr. A Tonto record for the most money lost in unpaid invoices by one store!

It isn’t a good time for publishers. I’m sure there’s loads like me who supply direct who are owed a lot more than I am – there’ll be casualties. This is massive  for the industry. Jobs are already going at their head office, they’ll be going at stores, publishers are owed tens of millions… it all causes a ripple and we’re yet to see the full result. It affects a LOT of people and businesses. We can always live in hope and that’s what we’re doing.

Wish I got that Kung Fu Panda thing when I had the chance.

End on a positive: I’m putting stuff together for that writing / publishing weekend seminar in the next few days and will post up on here and the website. Grateful if any bloggers out there fancy posting it up when it happens.