Would Reb
Williams have got her book published the old-fashioned way? It was not looking promising,
and when one literary agent told her that though it was well-written, 'the time
for this kind of book has gone', she could have cut her losses.
Instead she
proved the agent wrong by harnessing the power of the internet and orchestrating
the modest beginnings of what David Meerman Scott calls a 'World Wide Rave'.
Reb’s book — Grow Your Own Cows — is the story of a 1970s
childhood spent with her Good Life parents, who left London for rural
Oxfordshire in pursuit of their self-sufficiency dream. It is indeed
well-written — it’s a lovely, funny, affectionate memoir and well worth a read.
The book’s
beginnings can be traced back to a piece Reb wrote for The Guardian’s
Experience section three years ago. People liked it and told her they wanted to
read more. So she wrote more, mostly on the train while commuting between Oxford and London.
She never
intended to self-publish, but the agent’s verdict seemed at odds with what real
people were actually telling her. So she decided to ask them — officially. First she enlisted
support from cartoonist Maria Smedstad,
and then posted a few sample chapters on a simple website — www.growyourowncows.com.
Next she used her friends and social media like Facebook and Twitter to funnel
people to the website, asked them to read what she’d written and tell her whether
she should publish.
Reb got 2,500
responses over the space of a couple of weeks to the simple question: 'Should I
publish?' with three possible answers — 'yes, I might buy it', 'no', or 'it’s
not for me but publish'. Only 2% said 'no' — the overwhelming majority (86%)
said they might buy it and the rest said it wasn’t their cup of tea but she should still
go ahead.
And so she
did, choosing a local Oxford printer, and keeping in touch via her blog and by email with all those who’d taken part in her poll while
the book was in the publishing pipeline, alerting them as soon as it was
printed. It was published in October and Amazon had to re-stock the same day.
Reb organised
modest launch parties — in Oxford and London — she’s approached local
bookshops, and she’s been interviewed by BBC Radio Oxford (at their invitation),
but these have so far been her only real concessions to the traditional
publishing process. No advertising, no
PR campaign, no big spend, not even a glitzy website — she is selling her book
by sharing, through word of mouth and via what David Meerman Scott calls 'word
of mouse'.
I’d never
heard of Reb Williams until I read a Tweet about her 'shall I? Shan’t I?' poll
and went to her website. I’m glad I did — and I’m also delighted to have helped
spread her word.
Grow Your Own
Cows, The Mund Publishing, £9.99 (£8.99 from Amazon).
