The series no one asked for but everyone needs in this era of mass commercialisation. Happy shopping season!
August 2024
Think about how much I miss running my shops, and about how the flexibility offered from setting your own work hours is quite helpful for managing chronic fatigue syndrome.
September and October 2024
Talk about how much I miss running my shops. Think about how I would run things differently if I were to reopen. Aside from a handful of weeks here and there, I’ve been closed since September 2021. In that time, postage costs have risen astronomically, printing and manufacture costs have gone through the roof and the planet’s inched closer to heat death. Oh and Liz Truss crashed the economy while the world stage became even more isolationist. So shipping internationally might not be a thing anymore?
I buy some stickers. For research, I whisper, as I bedazzle my laptop.
I also annoy some friends and colleagues into telling me what they’d pay for stickers and bookmarks (why did I never used to sell bookmarks?). Think about what I could make to coincide with publication of Rotting Trees. Ask around for supplier recommendations because I’ve got no idea who’s still in business.
November 2024
1st-20th November
Take the plunge. I’ve got a budget for buying samples, I’ve got designs ready to go and I’ve run the numbers. I can also, for the first time, order copies of my books and put together cute book bundles with themed merch, which is something I’ve always adored buying myself. And because I don’t have a traditional publisher, I can design everything myself, set the pricing and generally make sure what I’m offering is great. Let’s do this!
Discover that sample prices have also risen significantly. My budget is exceeded by about thirty percent just through postage costs.
20th-24th November
List a small number of items on Folksy, my preferred platform, and tell my Patreon community and newsletter gang. They are kinder than the rest of the internet, so I’ll start there for a soft launch. Realise that the rules for shipping not just to the EU but to Northern Ireland are now even more complex than they were. Decide to ship to Great Britain only for the time being as I readjust to running a shop, and while I familiarise myself with the new rules. Brexit would remove red tape my arse.
23rd November
Order some stickers, from a tried and trusted supplier I’ve used for years. The order doesn’t go through because I’m only partially paying attention to the never ending security prompts. Readjust my quantities to make the order a bit more financially sound and start again.
24th November
The initial order did go through. ROOKIE ERROR.
25th November
I have my first order for some stickers! Yay! One small hitch: that initial order did not go through, and I actually needed it to, because it contained business cards I omitted from the second order and a higher number of the specific sticker design my customer’s ordered. I place a fresh new order for business cards and top up my sticker quantities so I can make sure that I’ve got enough to keep my Folksy listing looking well stocked.
27th November
My author copies of Rotting Trees have arrived and in the four years since I last launched a product, I’ve completely forgotten how to stage photos. Also everything outside is completely grey and it’s seeping into the inside. After I’ve tidied away my props and materials (some plants, some stationery, a Baby Groot t-shirt because it’s the only white item of clothing I own and could double as a backdrop, although if I’m being totally honest it’s more of a grey from its washes with the rest of my wardrobe), my foil bookmarks arrive. I wasn’t sure how much foil would be too much foil and if I’m being honest… there’s scope for more foil. EACH BOOKMARK IS SO SHINY.
29th November
Stickers!!! Have!!! Arrived!!! Packaging them up for my customer seems more frantic than I remembered… except it would be, because I have my desk set up like a desk and not like a packing station. Oh, Novembers of yore when every available surface became temporary home to a tower of envelopes, stock awaiting shipping and cute little thank you cards as pre-Christmas shopping peaked. This time next year, maybe! I’d also forgotten how many options you have when buying envelopes. I’ll use up what I’ve got – and maybe upcycle some of those shiny bubble envelopes that you never know what to do with once you’ve opened them because they’re too nice to throw away but functionally they don’t do much except be an envelope – and then invest in some specific packaging that works with the bundles I offer.
I’ve also been accepted onto a Christmas fair in two days. I was not expecting this. I have not missed inventory or pricing. I have also not missed trying persuade people to buy from small businesses on Black Friday instead of huge supermarkets, so instead of making a beseeching social media video for ‘indie Friday’ I get an early night. I have no regrets about this, not least because my hair needs a wash and there’s a pimple on my face that’s hung around so long I should probably name it (please buy from small businesses and indie creators this holiday season; I promise they need it more than Amazon).
Stay tuned for part two, with better photographs! Sorry, Baby Groot t-shirt. Anyway, there are signed books in our collective future… if you’d rather read an ebook or buy from a retailer, here’s where you can buy Rotting Trees.
Look after yourselves,
Francesca
Thanks for reading. If you’d like to read my short stories and see behind-the-scenes work, you can sample? the No. 1 Reader’s Club on Patreon for a month with this link. No pressure to stick around! Think of it as trying a miniature dessert with no requirement to eat the whole menu. You can also find me on Ko-fi. Thank you for your support – you’re helping to fund this space and pay for other costs of running a creative business, like paying editors.
Here are the books I’ve published so far and where you can find them. If you enjoy my book recommendations, browse my Bookshop.org page here.
I’m on social media (reluctantly), via Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. I prefer my montly-ish newsletter! You can find all my books and my unhinged reviews of books I love on GoodReads and StoryGraph.
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