Lovely news and lovelier news!

First, and most wonderfully, huge congratulations to friend, fellow writer and blogger Women Rule Writer (aka Nuala) and her partner on the arrival of their daughter, Juno, a brother to the boys, born on Thursday. And, just as a little icing on the cake, Nuala has also been shortlisted by the Irish judges for the European Prize for Literature. Not bad, eh?? Surprising and delightful, I would say.

Salt are also having a better week than they were, thanks to all of you wonderful writers, readers and book-buyers! If you haven't heard about Salt's Buy One Book campaign, read my earlier blog post. Here, as Chris talks about today in his post entitled "Get by with a little help...the Just One Book campaign spreads" on the Salt blog, is what happened after he launched the Just One Book campaign on Wednesday:

In the next eight hours, I receive hundreds of notes of support. We receive 122 orders and sales begin to grow, around £2,600 before we switch off our lights and close the bedroom laptops. Something extraordinary is beginning.

Thursday, 21 May, Jen can’t wait to see Tom’s face in the office. It’s the largest number of orders we’ve had in a day......

....Hundreds more orders have come in. Everyone is picking books from the shelves, packing and franking post. There’s a system emerging. Tom handles the UK, Jen is drop shipping orders in the US, Charlotte is handling unusual and awkward orders where stocks are in multiple locations. I’m given the task to spread the word. By the end of the day we’ve taken a further 260 orders and the news of Salt’s plight is going global. ...Hits to the Web site explode.

Friday 22 May, the team have managed to catch up with the previous afternoon’s orders. The Bookseller pick up on the story. The phone doesn’t stop ringing. During the course of the day, a further 157 orders come in. Twitter is full of the news, our authors are picking up on the story. It seems as if everyone we’ve known is pulling together to save Salt. We’re overwhelmed. All I can think of is the closing scenes of Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life and Jen and I are James Stewart and Donna Reed. I wonder if it will continue, if it does, in 18 days we’ll be saved, in 30 we’ll be able to take the business forward.

Saturday 23 May. A further 51 orders have come in this morning. We’ve vowed to stop drinking in the evenings. We need all our wits. ...I soft launch the new author portal. I cycle back to feed the kids and swap over with Jen. She heads off to package up more orders. We’re overwhelmed, astonished, humbled. Humbled. How often do we use that word in business?

This is fantastic news... a number of us have hit Amazon UK's Bestselling Short Stories list, orders are flooding in. But it's not over. Don't stop. As Chris says: " in 18 days we’ll be saved, in 30 we’ll be able to take the business forward."

Let's take this all the way, let's enable a small independent publisher who promotes short stories and poetry like no-one else to stand on its feet, to operate as a business that doesn't have to plead for salvation. They produce beautiful books, they champion great writing. They want to grow. Yes, books are not cheap, but a world without Salt and other wonderful small presses who do what no-one else will do would be a sorry one indeed.

Salt changed my life. Salt made my dream come true. So, buy one book. Just one. Poetry. Short Stories. Not just directly from Salt - from Amazon, the Book depository, Waterstones... your local bookshop! And pass the message on.

Save Salt - buy a book, or three

Sadly, my wonderful publishers, Salt, run by the astonishing and energetic Jen and Chris Hamilton-Emery, are struggling to keep afloat in these difficult times. Chris sent a message out on Facebook yesterday and so I am passing it on, trying to do my part:

As many of you will know, Jen and I have been struggling to keep Salt moving since June last year when the economic downturn began to affect our press. Our three year funding ends this year: we've £4,000 due from Arts Council England in a final payment, but cannot apply through Grants for the Arts for further funding for Salt's operations. Spring sales were down nearly 80% on the previous year, and despite April's much improved trading, the past twelve months has left us with a budget deficit of over £55,000. It's proving to be a very big hole and we're having to take some drastic measures to save our business.

Here's how you can help us to save Salt and all our work with hundreds of authors around the world.

JUST ONE BOOK

1. Please buy just one book, right now. We don't mind from where, you can buy it from us or from Amazon, your local shop or megastore, online or offline. If you buy just one book now, you'll help to save Salt. Timing is absolutely everything here. We need cash now to stay afloat. If you love literature, help keep it alive. All it takes is just one book sale. Go to our online store and help us keep going.

2. Share this. Tell your friends. If we can spread the word about our cash crisis, we can hopefully find more sales and save our literary publishing. Remember it's just one book, that's all it takes to save us. Please do it now.

With my best wishes to everyone
Chris
Director
Salt Publishing

If you are in the book-buying mood, now's the time! Here are just a few of the wonderful Salt titles that are available. Click on each cover for more information:



And these are just some of the short story collections, there is a wealth of wonderful poetry too. Now is the time - buy a book! You don't have to do it through Salt or Amazon. The Book Depository has free shipping worldwide. Current and future Salt authors thank you!

AND - don't forget you still have 6 days to enter to win a free signed copy of The White Road and Other Stories! See my guest post on How Publishing Really Works.