Calling indie bookstores

Hal Junior: The Secret Signal is launching this weekend. (Conflux 7, Sunday 2nd October, during the lunch break. It's Mary Victoria's book launch but she graciously offered to share.)

The book is already available through various online sellers, but I'm keen to get it into Aussie bookstores. In this country science fiction has played second fiddle to wizards and vampires for years now, and the phrase 'Australian junior science fiction' brings up as many results as a land title search on Jupiter.

My plan has been to approach Aussie independents and franchise chain stores via Facebook, Twitter and the good old postal service, telling them about my new book and pointing out the lack of competition. So far the response has been great, and it's certainly been keeping me busy.

Hal Junior will be distributed by a number of companies including Dennis Jones & Associates and James Bennett. Unfortunately none of these distributors have the book on their lists yet, and if asked they probably won't know a thing about it. (Their reps concentrate on releases by major publishers, and Hal Junior is a low-profile indie release. Plus it can take 4-6 weeks for a new title to propagate.)

So, until the ISBN is recognised by their system I'll just fill orders myself. Not something you have to bother with when you sign to a major publisher, but who didn't like playing shop as a child? ;-)

My long-term goal is not to ship more Hal Junior books, it's about writing and releasing book two. (Roll on NaNoWriMo 2011!)  All my current efforts involve trying to build enough momentum so the first book will roll along on its own. Fingers crossed!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)