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Authors keeping it local at Foyles Birmingham Grand Central

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months you’ll know that Birmingham has undergone huge redevelopment around New Street station, and in September there opened a brand spanking new retail centre known as Grand Central. Brummie bibliophiles jumped for joy at the news we were going to have our very own Foyles store. Yes, in Birmingham!

Foyles Grand Central

Foyles Grand Central

It was therefore exciting, only a few months later, to be asked to take part in the first of a new Local Authors Reception along with three other Birmingham authors, Mike Scully (who I know through Tindal Street Fiction Group), Catherine O’Flynn and Luke Kennard (both of whom I knew by reputation but had not yet had the pleasure of meeting).

Here’s a bit about each of them from Foyles’ publicity:

Mick Scully lives and works in Birmingham, and the city’s underworld inspires his fiction. He is best known for short story collection Little Moscow but he also broke into fiction with his début novel, The Norway Room.

Catherine O’Flynn’s debut novel, What Was Lost, won the Costa First Novel Award and was longlisted for the Man Booker and Orange prizes. She published The News Where You Are in 2010, and Mr Lynch’s Holiday in 2013, both to great acclaim. She is a Birmingham local and writes regularly in newspapers and for BBC Radio.

Luke Kennard is a poet and critic and teaches creative writing at the University of Birmingham. His second collection, The Harbour Beyond the Movie, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize. In 2014 he was named as one of the Poetry Book Society’s Next Generation Poets and impressively, he has just been appointed Canal Laureate.

All our books for sale!

All our books for sale!


The event was organised jointly between Foyles and Writing West Midlands. We each had 10 to 15 minutes to introduce ourselves and then read from one of titles. I spoke about how the industrial heritage of Birmingham inspires my biographical and fictional work, and then read an extract from Chapter 8 of ‘Comforts For The Troops‘ – the scene where Mary meets the ambulance train at Snow Hill station.

The atmosphere was incredibly convivial, helped no doubt by plenty of wine and nibbles. It turned out I knew many people in the audience, including lovely people from Tindal Street Fiction Group and New Street Authors. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the other authors reading and having a laugh with them beforehand.

Here are some souvenir photos below (with thanks to Susan Stokes-Chapman @sscwrites for tweeting).

All in all, it was a very enjoyable night reading and signing books. I’m delighted to announce that Foyles Birmingham Grand Central is now stocking both Beatrice and Comforts For The Troops, so if you’d like a copy then you know where to go.

BEATRICE is ALLi’s Book of the Month for August

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A week ago I had an email from Orna Ross, founder and director of The Alliance of Independent Authors, a relatively new organisation set up to promote the interests of self-publishing authors. “Congratulations!” she wrote. “BEATRICE has been chosen as our August Book of The Month. I loved it and so did our anonymous readers – a great achievement!” Now this would be a thrill coming from any organisation but I’m doubly proud my book’s been picked by ALLi because it’s a seriously professional group I’m glad to be a member of.

How did I come to join ALLi? Having successfully published BEATRICE in print and eBook format (Kindle and now Kobo) I was ready to move on to the next set of challenges, namely: how to sell subsidiary rights (translation, audio and large print, film and TV) and how to find literary prizes and awards that recognised self-publishing authors even existed. Reading through ALLi’s blog posts I quickly realised there were authors just like me grappling with exactly the same issues! As soon as I read the mission statement it was a no-brainer.

As well as encouraging ethics and excellence in writing, printing, publication and promotion, our aim is to promote, support, advocate for and advance the interests of independent, self-publishing authors.

They had me at ‘ethics’ and ‘excellence’.

So, ALLi, thank you very much for the lovely accolade. I look forward to giving something back.

Why you shouldn’t worry if networking makes you timid

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Oh no, not the N-word…

See, it's easy!

Do I have to join in?

Book launches, industry events, writers’ conferences and festivals. There are all sorts of opportunities for the emerging writer to engage in that most dreaded of marketing activities. Yes, networking. In an ideal world all writers would be allowed to stay on the sidelines, doing that writerly thing of observing, analysing, noting down all the fascinating quirks of people behaviour. OMG, she’s stuffing the prawn vol au vents into her handbag! If only.

Can’t I just stay home instead?

wildgarden

Plant a little seed...

No, and I’ll tell you why. You know those packets of mixed seeds you can buy for cultivating a wild flower patch? The idea is you sprinkle them on the soil and in a few months you have a riot of beautiful varieties of poppies, marigolds, love-in-a-mist. Networking is like chucking a handful of seeds into the earth. You never quite know what seeds are going to make it, or when, but you can bet if you’ve sown enough seeds then some amazing opportunities will spring up, almost magically.

If like me you’re an introvert by nature – as many writers are – then don’t let those feelings of terror and timidness put you off networking events. Believe me, shyness is fine. In fact shyness seems endearingly sweet and quite cute compared to some of the behaviour I’ve encountered at networking occasions over the years.

My top 4 networking turn-offs

#1 Rudeness By this I mean those people who always look slightly past the side of your head when they’re talking to you, as though there might be someone of far greater interest/importance/influence on the other side of the room.

#2 Drunkeness and other immaturity Call me a control freak who likes to be in control of her faculties, but just because the wine is free doesn’t mean you have to get blind drunk. I was at an awards ceremony once where an industry colleague lurched towards me in a very drunken state and (accidentally I believe) tipped his glass of red wine all down my blouse. And then tried to dab at the stain with a napkin! Cool, huh?

#3 Insensitivity to the body language of groups. It’s usually obvious when pairs or groups of people are deep in conversation and don’t want to be interrupted. All the non-verbal clues are there: the speakers will be facing each other and forming a exclusively tight or ‘closed’ group, unlike an ‘open’ group where the speakers are standing side-by-side, facing slightly outwards. The open group is more amenable to being approached; the closed group will be severely irritated if anyone gatecrashes their private conversation, believe me. [For more reading on how to identify different groups then check out Andy Bounds’ brilliant business communication book, The Jelly Effect.]

#4 General crassness/trying too hard. What’s really toe-curling is when complete strangers are clearly in sales mode. You’ve barely said hello when they’ve launched into the 10-second pitch of their book. Actually I’ve just come to enjoy myself, so show me you’re a human being not a robot. Tempt me first with some general conversation, crack a joke, even flirt a little. (Maybe scrub that last point but just, you know, chill out a bit.) And chances are I’ll be very interested to hear about your book.

Having read all that, aren’t you glad it’s only shyness you have to worry about?

What about you? Do you love networking events? Or are they your idea of hell? What have been your best, worst or funniest experiences? I’m dying to know.

Fiona Joseph

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