Neil Hanson's Blog - Posts Tagged "pigs-might-fly"

Gearing up for the launch of my new book Pigs Might Fly on Monday, the first self-published one I've been involved in, after more than fifty titles put out by the big trade publishers. It's been a steepish learning curve and has involved a lot of man-hours that may or may not pay off - only time and what's left of the book trade will tell... As any small- or self-publisher will tell you, distribution is always a major issue. Some feel they can distribute their books themselves and that does work if you don't mind doing some serious legwork and your book is specific to a particular region - "Inns of the Yorkshire Dales" or whatever. But if you're hoping for a national sale, you really do need a national distributor and you'll have to give up 60% or more of your cover price plus another 3% or so for wastage - lost or damaged copies in their warehouse. You'll also have to pay to deliver the books to that warehouse and pay for collection or destruction of any returns or overstocks, and they'll only pay you at least 30 days after they actually ship and invoice the books to retailers, so you might be waiting two or three months - or more - before you see any cold hard cash. However if you're a tiny publisher and you want to sell to Waterstones https://www.waterstones.com/, say, you'll have to do it through a distributor because, though shop managers have some discretion to buy local books, Waterstones nationally will only deal with major publishers and distributors and if you're tiny, that aint you. The choice is yours: there's Gardners www.gardners.com/, Bertrams https://www.bertrams.com/, and a score of others who will handle anything from straight distribution, through to sale and fulfilment including invoicing... but all of it comes at a price. Which you choose and how much of your potential workload you want to hive off to them is up to you, but - obviously - the more they do for you, the less of each book's sale price will find its way to your pocket. I've given my book to Gardners to distribute through the book trade, with a separate wholesaler supplying the gift trade, other than the network of small, non-book trade outlets around the Dales that I've built up myself over the past two years since The Inn at the Top was published. These tourist attractions, gift shops, Post Offices, cafes, pubs, B&Bs, camp-sites, etc, etc, stock signed copies of The Inn at the Top and Now Pigs Might Fly and sell pleasingly large numbers of them... only commercial confidentiality prevents me from telling you how many! Best of all, I get to spend a couple of days every month wandering round the Dales doing my delivery runs, and catching up with old friends from the days when I was running the famous (or should that be infamous?) inn there - what's not to like?

A really nice piece on "Pigs Might Fly" and the real life "Inn at the Top" (aka Tan Hill), filmed by Philip Chapman , was broadcast on BBC TV's Look North (the North-East and Cumbria version) last night. If you're quick you can catch it here till 7pm today (Thursday13th August)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/...
It contains a few clips from a documentary made back in the 1980s when I owned the inn, and the frighteningly young-looking protagonist brought back memories of the daily struggle to start the generator and dropping down through a hole in a snow drift considerably taller than my six foot four inches, in search of the water pump. Happy days?! 

If you're out and about in Yorkshire over the next few weeks and want to know more about Pigs Might Fly or The Inn At The Top, you'll find me at the following venues, on the following dates.

PIGS MIGHT FLY EVENTS:
Monday 17 August, 7.30pm. Talk, Q&A and book signing. Knaresborough feva, Knaresborough Library, Market Place, Knaresborough, HG5 8AG, Tickets £5 from Knaresborough Tourist Information Centre or www.feva.info
 
Saturday 5 September, 11am-1pm. Book signing. White Rose Book Cafe, 79-81 Market Place, Thirsk, YO7 1ET. Tel: 01845 524353
 
Wednesday 9 September, 12.30pm-2pm. Book signing. Waterstones, 102 High Street, Northallerton, DL7 8PP. Tel: 01609 761987
 
Thursday 10 September, 2.30pm-4.30pm. Book signing., J R Nicholls Bookseller & Publisher, 347b Wakefield Road, Denby Dale, HD8 8RT. Tel: 01484 866413
 
Saturday 12 September, 11am-2pm. Book signing. The Guisborough Bookshop Ltd, 4 Chaloner Street, Guisborough, TS14 6QD. Tel:01287 610179 books@guisboroughbookshop.com
 
Tuesday 15 September, 7.00pm. Talk, Q&A and book signing. Waterstone’s, 15 Coney Street, York YO1 9QL. Tel: 01904 620784. Tickets £2 available in store
 
Friday 18 September, 7.30pm. Talk, Q&A and book signing. Ripon Spa Hotel, Park Street, Ripon, HG4 2BU. Ripon International Festival event in association with the Little Ripon Bookshop. Tickets £8 (students £5) www.riponinternationalfestival.com Tel: 01765 603994
 
Saturday 19 September, 12 noon-2pm. Book signing. Castlegate Books, 13 Market Place, Knaresborough, HG5 8AL. info@castlegatebooks.com  Tel: 01423 862222
 
Friday 25 September, 7.30pm. Talk, Q&A and book signing. Richmond School Sixth Form Centre, Darlington Road, Richmond, N Yorks, DL10 7BQ. Richmond Walking and Book Festival event. Bar and Bookstall. Tickets £8 from Castle Hill Bookshop. Tel: 01748 824243 or www.booksandboots.org/book.html 
 
Saturday 26 September, 11am-1pm. Book signing. Philip Howard Books Ltd, 47 Street Lane, Leeds, LS8 1AP. Tel: 0113 2259797
 
Sunday 11 October, 7.00pm. “The Yorkshire Shepherdess and Flying Pigs” (joint event with Amanda Owen). Ryedale Book Festival, Milton Rooms, Market Place, Malton, YO17 7LX. Tickets £10 from http://ryedalebookfestival.com/whats-...

Wednesday 14 October, 7.30pm. Talk, Q&A, signing, Betty’s Café Tea Rooms, 32 The Grove, Ilkley, LS29 9EE (Ilkley Literature Festival Event).Tickets £35, including a two- course set meal and tea/coffee, from Bettys Café Tea Rooms. Tel: Ilkley 01943 608029

Friday 13th November, 7pm. Talk, Q&A and book signing. Wheatley Arms, Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, LS29 8PP. Tel: 01943 816496. In association with the Grove Bookshop.
 
Friday May 20th 2016, 7.30pm. Talk, Q&A and book signing. Dales Countryside Museum Station Yard Hawes DL8 3NT. Tickets/details: 01969 666210 hawes@yorkshiredales.org.uk dcm@yorkshiredales.org.uk

I've been on an intermittent book tour since the start of August but, barring a couple of "outliers" next year, I reach the end of it on Thursday and Friday (12 and 13 November) with the last two dates. The first is where it all began - the story if not the book tour - with a date at Britain's highest inn, www.tanhillinn.com, where I'm looking forward to renewing some old acquaintances and making some new ones back in the inn I managed in the 1970s and owned in the 1980s. I'll be talking about the new book, natch, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pigs-Might-Fl... and also showing the iconic Everest double glazing commercial filmed at the inn 30 years ago and - for the first time in 30 years - the BBC documentary about our first few months when we took over the inn. Set in thousands of acres of wild moorland, it has built a reputation as a bit of a quirky, left-field music venue these days. There are no neighbours to complain about the noise since, apart from sheep and grouse, there aren't any neighbours at all until you get four miles away! Bands who've already appeared there include British Sea Power and The Arctic Monkeys - there's something particularly appealing about a band who can fill the biggest stadiums playing at a venue that only holds 100-200 people - and the day after my gig there on Thursday, Scouting For Girls are playing there: from the ridiculous to the sublime in 24 hours! Then I'm back on home turf the following day for The Last Night of the Poms (G'day Australia) at The Wheatley Arms in Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, www.wheatleyarms.co.uk (n.b. this isn't a plug, because it's already sold out). I sometimes question whether book tours make any sense for anyone, apart from the superstar authors that everyone wants to see, butI've really enjoyed this one and feel it's been very worthwhile. I've sold some books, of course, but the real joy has been in escaping the tyranny of the word processor every few days and connecting with readers and a few other authors. So thanks to everyone who turned up and to those who didn't: next time for sure!