Francesca's Thoughts

Happy new year! Here is part one of this series, which I was not planning to make a series but lo, relaunching a business is harder than launching one, because you’re more aware of everything you need to do the second time around! We left off just as I was preparing for my first craft event of the relaunch…

1st December

Finally get enough daylight to take some product photos. I am still quite rusty. At least I’m not using AI.

2nd December

My first craft event since February 2020, and it’s in the atrium of my university’s main building so it’s fair to say I am bricking it because a) it’s been almost five years since I sat behind a table and tried to persuade people my work has value worth paying for, and b) I work with, study with or have emailed roughly eighty five percent of the staff student population in my time here and worlds are colliding.

2nd December (continued)

I didn’t have anything to worry about. No one bitched about the pricing. No one needed the concept of self publishing explained to them. Everyone – especially the people I’ve worked with, actually – is lovely. I don’t know why I thought they would be dicks, but maybe I’ve just met too many husbands dragged to craft fairs who want to make everyone else as miserable as they are. NO MISERABLE HUSBANDS HERE. Buoyed, I message a local shop to ask about stocking some copies. They are interested. Confidence really does build confidence, huh.

Totally coincidentally, today was the final day of sharing Rotting Trees over on Patreon, and the first day I signed copies of the paperback. There are emotions in the vicinity of my existence.

4th December

Hard launch Folksy, kind of. I do a social media post with some stickers. At the risk of sounding like an old lady on a veranda yelling at neighbourhood scallywags… I remember when social media posts actually functioned as a marketing tool. Centuries ago (2015).

5th December

Sticky notes and pencils have arrived! The sticky notes are fabulous and big enough to actually write on. Also, the shop I messaged is going to stock a few signed copies and so will a Southend shop. EXCITING. I have to order more books.

9th December

Share some photos of the book and stickers to social media and try not to think about how rusty my photography skills are.

11th December

I have a custom order to Europe! My first international order of my reopen and realistically my last… because GSPR kicks in on Friday and shipping outside Great Britain is probably going to be more faff than it’s worth given I sell fun little pieces of paper ephemera. Unrelated, but when did CN22 forms get so big? They’re larger than some envelopes.

15th December

Use my Bezzina’s Emporium stickers when I’m sending out my No. 1 Readers’ Club Christmas cards and realise that in doing so I’ve run out of stock, so if anyone orders a bundle including stickers over the holiday I can’t easily fulfil the whole order. I could de-list those bundles from Folksy, but I’d quite like some orders, so I add a note to the relevant listings that if anyone orders before more stock reaches me, I’ll send the majority of the bundle first and send the stickers on after. OOPS.

18th December

Edit my shipping times for the next few weeks and hope people read the information before they order (see also: when I sold printable wrapping paper and I got multiple order notes requesting I tell the postman to leave it in the alley).

19th December

Drop some copies of Rotting Trees at Books-on-Sea. Not strictly stationery business since I don’t just sell book merch, but I included at least one bookmark when I signed them, so fingers crossed for some cross contamination germination.

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I thought I’d have more updates in late December/early January. Instead I had deadlines, so I’ll leave this here and do a third post when there’s more to share! Hopefully: better photos.

If you’d like to be in with the chance of winning a signed paperback of Rotting Trees, sign up to my newsletter before 31st January – the contest is open internationally. Here are all the places you can find Rotting Trees for sale, and here is my Folksy with merch. Look out for some new pieces coming soon!

Look after yourselves,
Francesca

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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.