Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Still selling well


This is almost as exciting as seeing seeds come up. Sales charts! Working in publishing, in the end you live or die (or at least get paid or don't) according to whether your stuff sells or not. And last Sunday I opened the newspaper and in the book reviews section they had a sales chart for Australia's Top 10 gardening books, and our book is number one! That's such a thrill.


In fact, to be more accurate, we're still number one. A similar gardening books sales chart came out last November, just a few months after our book, 'Organic', was released, and while we were absolutely delighted to be the top seller then, we knew it was a great book and our high hopes for it were confirmed by that first result. Now, a few more months down the track and we're still number one. That's an even bigger thrill somehow.

Now, working in publishing for many years, this isn't the first book I've worked on, but this is the most important one for me, personally. For one thing there's a chapter on our little inner-city garden in it, and for another thing I worked very hard on every single page – I must have read it at least a dozen times now, and there are a few of my photos in it too, plus a few words here and there, and my name's in it, too, so is Pam's (she did the planting plan illustrations, and they're lovely).
Mind you, it's Don's book from cover to cover, and especially it was his vision for how it would look, how it would be based on real people's vegie gardens, with an emphasis on kids and parents growing healthy food together. But everyone who works on a book or magazine feels like they own a part of it, and I'm sure everyone on the team who helped to put this book together feels that way, and that's a good, natural outcome of so much work.

So, please forgive me for blabbing on about a simple sales chart and a book. But in publishing a sales chart can be cause for either celebration or drowned sorrows (either way we hit the bottle, but that's just a journalist thing).



10 comments:

Onesimus said...

It's an excellent book Jamie and deserves its chart topping position.

PJ said...

Thoroughly deserving of its position! Perhaps time to invest in a copy of my own (Mum has one, but that's a whole state away) Publishing information crops up occasionally in my thesis and the small amount of information you can find on book sales is always so interesting (even to those outside the publishing field) Great work

Liss said...

Jamie not only is it a great book but it's really affordable too - those two things are a winning combination. Plus Pammy's illustrations are gorgeous.

Jamie said...

Onesimus, Prue and Liss – thanks for the kind comments!

Unknown said...

Hi Jamie
Well done to the team! I can totally understand the thrill - once upon a time I was in book publishing. Even seeing the books I worked on in the bookshops were thrilling times...

Now I've to lookout for the book, Ev

Shailaja said...

I'd love to read the book, too. Hope I will find it on Amazon.com.

Ami said...

Well done Jamie. Always satisfying seeing your hard work become real! I look forward to getting my own copy!

Unknown said...

Jamie
I saw the book in the bookshop today - very well done! I must admit I only had a quick look, but I did see the section on yr garden, Pam's illustration of your garden and a few familiar photos. :)
Congrats!!
Happy Weekend, Ev

The L-Plate Gardener said...

Hi Jamie,
I am new to this gardening caper, so I decided to do a bit of research and got 'Organic' as well as 'My Kitchen Garden' for christmas. It has been a battle of the garden beds with one 'no-dig' bed versus the plain old soil and organic matter one. So far the soil wins 17 radishes and one marigold to some non-fruiting zucchini! But I am thoroughly enjoying the process. Well done on a great book!

Chookie said...

I must have a sticky-beak next time I go shopping!