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Happy Camping
It's often said that 5,000 copies sold in Canada constitutes a bestseller. Jayne Seagrave's Camping BC: A Complete Guide to Provincial and National Park Campgrounds is approaching 50,000 copies sold since 1996, entering its seventh edition. Seagrave won't win the Giller, but it's solid "backlist"; titles like hers that make the B.C. publishing industry stable. We asked her to recount the story behind her success, largely because it contradicts the standard impression that authors are frequently at odds with their publishers.
I am not a classic outdoors type. In comparison to many, I actually know very little about camping. And as much as I would love to admit to lonely years of struggle and dedication, and a lifelong ambition to write, agonising hours spent over each carefully constructed sentence, prior to writing Camping BC I never dreamed about success or even felt the need to convey information to the camping fraternity.
Having seven editions of my book is largely the result of two individuals recognising a gap in the market, recognizsing a sales opportunity.
In 1995 I published the first Canadian textbook on policing. It was a very boring book, the result of my criminology Ph.D thesis with the imaginative title of: Introduction to Policing in Canada. The publisher, Prentice Hall, put a picture of a manhole cover on the front of the work. No one ever strolled into a bookshop, looked at the manhole and exclaimed, "Wow, that looks so interesting, I must get a copy for my mum/brother/boyfriend.";
A lot of work went into the 400-page text, for which royalties are still received, but no one really wanted it. The Ph.D taught me how to write and edit, but more importantly it forced me to learn about book proposals, how to approach publishing houses and the idiosyncrasies of publishers, all valuable lessons, but it was not personally gratifying and gave me little satisfaction as a writer.
At the same time this book was being completed I was taking camping vacations as there was no money to spend on other more luxurious alternatives. Upon discovering numerous provincial park campgrounds among BC's breathtaking scenery, I became hungry for more information. I recognised a gap in the market.
Without having written a word on the subject, a three-page book proposal was formulated and dispatched to four potential publishers. Within a couple of weeks Rodger Touchie, the new owner of Heritage House Publishing, called and we arranged to meet in a coffee bar below the new Vancouver Public Library.
I do not think Rodger really knew what he was doing and I certainly did not. We met in September, 1995 and, despite not having written a word, I told him I could get a manuscript to him by Christmas. We may have had a contract-I cannot recall-but we did get on, and, although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, I think there was a rapport. For the next ten weeks Camping BC was researched, written and finally delivered. One by one the three other publishers who had received the proposal rejected it, the final one conveying his dismissal almost six months following receipt.
Early in May 1996, I drove to a remote location south of the Fraser and, after thirty minutes touring the back roads, located the unheated Heritage House warehouse behind McDonald's. There I was unceremoniously handed ten complimentary copies. I was as excited as a six-year-old at Halloween.
The first edition of Camping BC hit the bookstores in May, 1996. All 5,000 copies were sold in the following four months. If there was a quick "down and dirty"; way to write and release a guide book, this was it.
Now I see there are two components to becoming a "bestselling"; author: firstly, the text should be relevant and appealing to a wide audience; secondly it must be successfully marketed and sold.
Significant sales of the book were in Costco, whose customers I thought were more interested in cheap, large packs of meat than camping, but this was obviously not the case. Rodger recognised anyone shopping at Costco would be spending large amounts and may well be likely to impulse buy a book. His hunch delivered.
I was asked to undertake book signings in Chapters whereupon no one attended (except ten of my friends and the Chapters staff on their breaks), but which, Rodger explained, enabled the book to appear in the shop window for weeks along with the announcement of a forthcoming author signing and consequently promoted the text above others.
CBC radio interviews were solicited and suddenly I was The Camping Queen, a crown I continue to hold, now earned. Heritage House employed one roaming salesman for the province who seemed to stop at every BC community, no matter how small, to tout their inventory. On camping trips to small BC towns I continue to find the book in the most unlikely places, on small racks in angling stores, in family restaurants and gas stations.
In one of our early meetings Rodger confided to me that one of the most difficult things about dealing with first-time writers is they always wanted to have input into the cover and interfere with the layout of their book. Now Rodger and I meet about once a year. He owns a very successful publishing company, issues contracts over eleven pages long, has numerous staff, hundreds of authors and a number of locations. And I have taken his advice. I only supply the text.
I am not a classic outdoors type. In comparison to many, I actually know very little about camping. And as much as I would love to admit to lonely years of struggle and dedication, and a lifelong ambition to write, agonising hours spent over each carefully constructed sentence, prior to writing Camping BC I never dreamed about success or even felt the need to convey information to the camping fraternity.
Having seven editions of my book is largely the result of two individuals recognising a gap in the market, recognizsing a sales opportunity.
In 1995 I published the first Canadian textbook on policing. It was a very boring book, the result of my criminology Ph.D thesis with the imaginative title of: Introduction to Policing in Canada. The publisher, Prentice Hall, put a picture of a manhole cover on the front of the work. No one ever strolled into a bookshop, looked at the manhole and exclaimed, "Wow, that looks so interesting, I must get a copy for my mum/brother/boyfriend.";
A lot of work went into the 400-page text, for which royalties are still received, but no one really wanted it. The Ph.D taught me how to write and edit, but more importantly it forced me to learn about book proposals, how to approach publishing houses and the idiosyncrasies of publishers, all valuable lessons, but it was not personally gratifying and gave me little satisfaction as a writer.
At the same time this book was being completed I was taking camping vacations as there was no money to spend on other more luxurious alternatives. Upon discovering numerous provincial park campgrounds among BC's breathtaking scenery, I became hungry for more information. I recognised a gap in the market.
Without having written a word on the subject, a three-page book proposal was formulated and dispatched to four potential publishers. Within a couple of weeks Rodger Touchie, the new owner of Heritage House Publishing, called and we arranged to meet in a coffee bar below the new Vancouver Public Library.
I do not think Rodger really knew what he was doing and I certainly did not. We met in September, 1995 and, despite not having written a word, I told him I could get a manuscript to him by Christmas. We may have had a contract-I cannot recall-but we did get on, and, although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, I think there was a rapport. For the next ten weeks Camping BC was researched, written and finally delivered. One by one the three other publishers who had received the proposal rejected it, the final one conveying his dismissal almost six months following receipt.
Early in May 1996, I drove to a remote location south of the Fraser and, after thirty minutes touring the back roads, located the unheated Heritage House warehouse behind McDonald's. There I was unceremoniously handed ten complimentary copies. I was as excited as a six-year-old at Halloween.
The first edition of Camping BC hit the bookstores in May, 1996. All 5,000 copies were sold in the following four months. If there was a quick "down and dirty"; way to write and release a guide book, this was it.
Now I see there are two components to becoming a "bestselling"; author: firstly, the text should be relevant and appealing to a wide audience; secondly it must be successfully marketed and sold.
Significant sales of the book were in Costco, whose customers I thought were more interested in cheap, large packs of meat than camping, but this was obviously not the case. Rodger recognised anyone shopping at Costco would be spending large amounts and may well be likely to impulse buy a book. His hunch delivered.
I was asked to undertake book signings in Chapters whereupon no one attended (except ten of my friends and the Chapters staff on their breaks), but which, Rodger explained, enabled the book to appear in the shop window for weeks along with the announcement of a forthcoming author signing and consequently promoted the text above others.
CBC radio interviews were solicited and suddenly I was The Camping Queen, a crown I continue to hold, now earned. Heritage House employed one roaming salesman for the province who seemed to stop at every BC community, no matter how small, to tout their inventory. On camping trips to small BC towns I continue to find the book in the most unlikely places, on small racks in angling stores, in family restaurants and gas stations.
In one of our early meetings Rodger confided to me that one of the most difficult things about dealing with first-time writers is they always wanted to have input into the cover and interfere with the layout of their book. Now Rodger and I meet about once a year. He owns a very successful publishing company, issues contracts over eleven pages long, has numerous staff, hundreds of authors and a number of locations. And I have taken his advice. I only supply the text.
Submitted on March 6, 2014 in By David.
