Just One Book

I'm sorry to say that the recession has bitten so deeply into book sales generally that my wonderful publisher Salt is in financial difficulties again. For this reason they are resurrecting the JustOneBook campaign, and asking people to buy just one Salt book, since if enough people did this, Salt could be saved from disaster. There was such a marvellous response last year, and Salt was saved - it really did work. People showed that they really did care about Salt books and were committed to keeping alive this small but phenomenal literary publisher, and I'm so grateful. I had a vested interest, of course, as the fate of Too Many Magpies was in the balance, and so my gratitude is highly personal - it's down to all those of you who weighed in and bought Salt books that it was eventually published. I often think of that when I'm reading from it, or when I get a nice review for it; I think of how, if people hadn't supported Salt at that time, this just wouldn't be happening. Once again I have a book in the balance: the reissue of The Birth Machine in October/November depends of course on Salt's survival, so once again my plea is personal. But it's also more generally literary: there are so many Salt books already in print and about to be published that the world would be poorer without.

So please do buy a Salt book if you can - from anywhere, your independent bookshop, Amazon, The Book Depository or direct from Salt. Above is a selection of my own Salt Library - it's so precious I keep it by my bed - and I can recommend any one of these.

Vote for the Salt book you have found most important.

Latest in the Salt Just One Book Campaign: you can nominate and vote for the book published by Salt which has been most important to you, and Balancing on the Edge of the World has been nominated. To nominate or vote go here.

Just One Book: New Summer Sizzler Offer

You know the best way to while away a rainy or (here's hoping) hot August, don't you? Yes, with just one book (or 3, or 3) from Salt, and Salt are making it easy for you by continuing their Just One Book campaign with yet another fantastic offer: a whole third off all Salt books for the whole of August! Here's what Salt's Chris Hamilton Emery has to say:

August summer sizzler

The JustOneBook campaign continues with a further sensational August deal.

In order to keep Salt on track through the wet British summer, we're offering you another special deal throughout August. All Salt books are available from us at 33% discount yet again. That's a third off all Salt titles, and free shipping on orders with a cover price of over £30 or $30. Offer ends 31 August 2009.

Simply enter the coupon code HU693FB2 when in the store to benefit.

As before, all we ask is two things—

1. Buy one book. Or perhaps another one ... go on.
2. Pass it on. Share this offer with everyone who loves gorgeous books and likes a bargain (whilst saving independent literature).

And if you haven't yet bought Balancing for yourself, or your loved ones, or your friends....

Just One Book into Second Phase

Salt's Just One Book campaign moves into a new phase today. While the campaign has been amazingly successful, a push is still needed. As a result of the campaign total trade figures for June were up 21% on the previous June, a summer month when sales are usually down rather than up. However, trade sales for the first six months of this year are still down 4% on 2008, and Chris Hamilton-Emery says 'our challenge is to grow our trade sales over the coming months to keep the business on track'.

This is how he says you can help:

We need to keep Salt in the public eye. Here's how you can help. If you've bought a book from Salt and you enjoyed it please continue to support us by doing two important things (they're both free):

1. Firstly, tell your friends about the Salt title you enjoyed. Recommend it to them. Tell your friends on Twitter what you thought about it. Blog about it, if you like. Pass it on in anyway you can. Spread the word.

2. Secondly, please post a brief review of the book on Amazon to help the author. Amazon reviews do work.

Thank you for all your support. It really does matter.

Very best from me and Jen
Chris

Of course, if you wanted to write an Amazon review of Balancing on the Edge of the World, that would not just help Salt but make me very happy indeed...

Just Four Days...

Just a reminder that the Salt offer of a whacking 33% off books ordered via their site lasts only another four days. Use coupon code G3SRT453 in the checkout.

Ten days left to take advantage of Salt offer

Salt's Just One Book campaign made the paper Guardian today. And here's a reminder that there are just ten days left to take advantage of the huge 33% discount on all Salt books. Offer ends 30th June. Use the code G3SRT453 at the checkout on the Salt website.

Go on, you know you want at least one (or one more)...

Latest in Just One book campaign

Here's the latest on Facebook from Salt director Chris Hamilton-Emery:

A month in to the Just One Book campaign we’ve had 1,400 orders and taken over £30K (two months’ cash): it’s been extraordinary, exhausting and exhilarating.

The ICA is now supporting the campaign, there's to be a new ad in the London Review of Books (which reminds me I must take out a subscription again), and Birminghan New Street Waterstone's is doing a Salt table display. Wonderful!

And apparently Jay Merill, author of the haunting story collection Astral Bodies, is helping out in the Salt office for a week, despatching US orders.

From the brink towards a possible future

Just One Book has changed from a campaign to save Salt from immediate demise to a campaign to build a sustainable business. Here's Salt's latest announcement:

We’ve been busy campaigning over the last two weeks to save Salt. The business has faced some serious financial difficulties as the recession hit us hard. I’m pleased to say we’ve stabilised the business, but we still need to build our cash reserves to secure our future. We’d like to thank all our customers for supporting us; but more than that, we thought we’d offer everyone a summer treat:—

A THIRD OFF ALL SALT TITLES THROUGHOUT JUNE

We’re now giving you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June. Use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit. Don't forget if you spend £30 or $30 you get free shipping too.
Please continue to spread the word, and spread news of this offer. Please don't let up. It's been extraordinary, but we're not out of danger yet. Every penny goes into developing Salt's books and services. We want to start a new children's list, and offer more resources to teachers and schools. We want to extend our publishing in new areas including our translations programme, we want to offer you more free magazines online. We want to help develop more support for debuts with the enhancement of our Crashaw and Scott prizes. We're planning audio books, ebooks and new videos for you. We only want to move forward, to develop and expand what we do and deliver great books in new ways to you and yours.

We need your support throughout June. We'll try and organise more readings and promotions with our authors. Virtual book tours. More launches. We'll work with bookstores to bring you short story and poety evenings. Stick with us throughout June and we can do something astonishing. That's the power of Just One Book — we want you to be a part of it. Follow us on Twitter look for #SaltBooks and #JustOneBook. Join our Facebook Group.

And have a giggle at the vid, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdcTqXaOD2s

Oh, and one last special offer — Catherine Eisner’s magnificent crime novel, Sister Morphine for £7.50 plus P&P, simply enter coupon code EISNER in the UK checkout http://bit.ly/8rHDa

Watch out for more special offers throughout June.

Crossposted with Fictionbitch.

Success: but the Just One Book Campaign needs to keep going

Wonderful news! Thanks to all the poetry and story lovers who have bought Salt Books in response to the Just One Book Campaign, Salt has been saved for the present and can go ahead with the business. This is an amazing result - such a turnaround in just a fortnight, and it's just so heartening to think that people care this much about these two forms of literature and about keeping such a great (little) publisher afloat (and, once they are aware of them, want those great Salt books!). Wow, I have a warm feeling in my chest today! There are too many days when, as a short-story writer, one is fighting off that old sense of defeat and invisibility - fighting it off, of course: one has to, right? But that feeling is hovering nowhere near today. People do love poetry and short stories, it seems.

Of course the battle isn't over: inevitably, it will all be very precarious. Salt now depends entirely on sales, and the test will be whether this new market stays with Salt and keeps buying its books. And indeed the campaign needs to keep going. So if you haven't yet bought your one book (or your six, or dozens, as Griff Rhys Jones suggests!) please do so. Or build up a collection - your life will be vastly enhanced, I promise!

And for the rest of June there's Salt's fantastic offer: 33% off Balancing on the Edge of the World and all other Salt books. Use the coupon code G3SRT453 in the checkout.

Thank you to all of you who have supported this campaign so far.

Griff Rhys Jones supports Just One Book

Griff Rhys Jones has weighed in to support the Salt campaign. He says:

"Don’t let Salt fall. If the recession is going to take things down, let it be motor manufacturers, let it be bad banks, let it be chains of fast food restaurants. We can lose a few of them, but we don't have enough small independent and daring publishers like Salt. I think I can be a little more forthright than Chris and say ‘Just six books’. Buy dozens why don’t you? It’s a great list. And apparently you will help the economy in many subtle ways too complicated for studious folk like us.”

Just One Book: latest bulletin

Here's Salt director Chris Hamilton-Emery's latest Facebook note about the Just One Book campaign: the low-down on the amazing success so far, and the reason the campaign needs to keep going:

Sunday, May 31 2009

It's been impossible to think. Just over a week ago we were facing oblivion, the backlist would have sold on, but the business as a going concern was all over. I was job hunting. Stress had left me deaf. We were about to lose our home and it seemed everything had fallen off some precipice and was hurtling down into the frozen dark. We began cancelling the list and preparing for the worst. Nearly a decade of effort was being lost.

Then our viral campaign led to an extraordinary sequence of events. Facebook, Twitter and hundreds of blogs all covered the story of Salt's Just One Book offer. The media picked up on the story and suddenly over a 1,000 orders poured in, supporters arrived in virtual droves and the goodwill and great ideas became emotionally overwhelming; we had support from Foyles and Waterstone's in the UK, from independent bookstores around the globe, The Bookseller and The Guardian covered the story, the BBC wanted to cover us. The office changed from its usual focus on editorial, marketing and publicity to become a non-stop postal service, sending thousands of books off around the globe.



Alex Pryce had arrived to do a week's work experience as a Salt intern (part of our widening programme to support those wanting careers in literary publishing), what began as a project surrounding audio developments was swamped as she was drawn in to picking, packing and despatching order after order. Beside Alex, the Salt team grafted away. Charlotte and Tom, Jen and I, still haven't caught up with it all. But we're working hard, all day, all night, and still the orders are coming in.

Last week was half term, and most of my days were spent at home with the kids, sometimes reassuring them that there was going to be a future and that we would get paid at some point. I was spending as much time as I could helping make those sales. Just over a week later and we've now raised £24,000 or our £55,000 target. There's still some climb ahead, a big climb, but the enormous support of our friends and customers has bought us all time; it's all about time. What we hope most of all, is that we can keep our new customers, and that we've shown them that there's something wonderful and fulfilling about our list and our site, something exceptional about our authors.

I need to keep it all going, I need your support for one more month. So here's an offer for everyone and we hope more customers will come and join the campaign to buy just one book:

A THIRD OFF ALL SALT TITLES THROUGHOUT JUNE

We're now giving you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June. Use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit. Don't forget if you spend £30 or $30 you get free shipping too.

Please continue to spread the word, and spread news of this offer. Please don't let up. It's been extraordinary, but we're not out of danger yet. Every penny goes into developing Salt's books and services. We want to start a new children's list, and offer more resources to teachers and schools. We want to extend our publishing in new areas including our translations programme, we want to offer you more free magazines online. We want to help develop more support for debuts with the enhancement of our Crashaw and Scott prizes. We're planning audio books, ebooks and new videos for you. We only want to move forward, to develop and expand what we do and deliver great books in new ways to you and yours.

We need your support throughout June. We'll try and organise more readings and promotions with our authors. Virtual book tours. More launches. We'll work with bookstores to bring you short story and poety evenings. Stick with us throughout June and we can do something astonishing. That's the power of Just One Book — we want you to be a part of it. Follow us on Twitter look for #SaltBooks and #JustOneBook. Join our Facebook Group.

And have a giggle at the vid, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdcTqXaOD2s

Oh, and one last special offer — Catherine Eisner’s magnificent crime novel, Sister Morphine for £7.50 plus P&P, simply enter coupon code EISNER in the UK checkout http://bit.ly/8rHDa

Watch out for more special offers throughout June.

Thank you.
Chris

Latest in the Just One Book campaign

Just two little fluffy clouds this morning, the mountain seeming a different world from usual - something like Greece - and four out of six bands on my internet connection!!

The latest in the Salt Just One Book Campaign is that they have now raised £24,000 of the £55,00 target - soon be half-way there. A wonderful response from poetry and short story lovers. Please help to keep up the momentum by passing on the message, and do take advantage of the wonderful offer of 33% off all Salt books until the end of June.

Here's Jen Hamilton-Emery's latest Facebook message:

JUST ONE BOOK

As a thank you for your support of us this first week of our Just One Book campaign we're offering you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June.

Simply use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit.

The offer applies to our UK & International and USA shops.

We have now raised £24,000 or our £55,000 target. Do please continue to spread the word about the campaign and this offer. Thank you for everything you're doing to help us save our business and continue publishing.

Best from everyone at Salt
Jen x

Hooray and thank you

My book, Balancing on the Edge of the World, and Tania Hershman's The White Road and Other Stories still on the Amazon UK Bestselling short story list, as a result of the Salt Just One Book campaign! Thank you to all those people who are buying Salt books!

Not just one book!!

Latest in the Salt Just One Book campaign: the website hits have gone through the roof and 643 new orders are in process.

My own order arrived yesterday, and it's hard to describe the relish when those beautifully produced books emerge from the jiffy bag. I'd ordered Chrissie Gittins' newly-launched book of poems, I'll Dress One Night as You and Matthew Licht's stories, The Moose Show. I loved Chrissie's story collection, Family Connections, which was one of the first story collections Salt published - wry, vivid stories about 'ordinary' lives which make them anything but ordinary, so I know I'm going to love her poems. I bought Matthew's stories for John: we heard him read at a Salt event 18 months or so ago, and they seemed to me amazingly tough, dry yet moving stories, set mainly in New York, I think, and we both thought then: we've got to get those stories. But you know what, we didn't buy them that night. We thought: Oh, we'll get them another time. And guess what, we didn't get them, we just kept on thinking, Oh we'll get them sometime. This is what happens. And in the meantime the recession hit just as Salt's grant ran out and all their books looked in serious danger... This is what happens when people don't actually get round to buying the books.

So please, if you haven't yet bought Just One Book from Salt, do so: you won't just be helping Salt, or just helping to keep short stories and poetry alive, you'll be doing yourself a great big personal, life-enhancing favour, I promise. All their wonderful books here.