I will be celebrating World Book Day with the students of Uffington Primary School on the 1st March. This should be a fun event and I will be talking to the children about writing, publishing and the Portal Chronicles themselves.
So don't forget - 1st March - World Book Day - go and do something to recognise it whether that be reading, writing or attending one of the many events in libraries around the UK.
Tuesday 27 February 2007
Stamford Craft Market 11th March
I will be at the forthcoming Stamford Craft Market in South Lincs on Sunday 11th March and will be sharing a stand with a fellow author/photographer John Nowell (see John's work at http://www.zodiacpublishing.org/).
If you are anywhere nearby come and say hi.
If you are anywhere nearby come and say hi.
Sunday 25 February 2007
Writing and Promoting Update
Well the sun was shining today and with bulbs peeping through all over the garden it was a day for sorting out the beds and looking online to check out Spring fairs and events.
As such I have requsted attendance at a handful of events over arch and April so fingers crossed for some good sessions and sales.
Shimmering is still coming along. I have had some feedback from the first proof readers and thee is a little more to do than I first though. It is funny how sometimes something can seem so obvious when you write/create it but when read by another things are not so clear to them. Nothin major so I'm still hoping for an April launch but it will probably be back end rather than earlier in the month.
February was a slow month from a sales view point but I have been busy with other things so not too bad considering.
Last week I grouped together a small band of independent authors and opened up an eBay shop as an expereiment. The listings have gone well but I am disappointed with the visibility when the cheaper listing option of 'shop stock' is used. We'll have to see how it works out. Go and check it out at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Lovesey-Independent-Books and why not invest in a first edition signed by author book while you are there.
As such I have requsted attendance at a handful of events over arch and April so fingers crossed for some good sessions and sales.
Shimmering is still coming along. I have had some feedback from the first proof readers and thee is a little more to do than I first though. It is funny how sometimes something can seem so obvious when you write/create it but when read by another things are not so clear to them. Nothin major so I'm still hoping for an April launch but it will probably be back end rather than earlier in the month.
February was a slow month from a sales view point but I have been busy with other things so not too bad considering.
Last week I grouped together a small band of independent authors and opened up an eBay shop as an expereiment. The listings have gone well but I am disappointed with the visibility when the cheaper listing option of 'shop stock' is used. We'll have to see how it works out. Go and check it out at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Lovesey-Independent-Books and why not invest in a first edition signed by author book while you are there.
Old Web Page Blog (Archive)
I have removed my old self managed web page Blog in favour of this new Blogger.
Just for archive's sake the old text from my diary/blog is included below.
12/2/07: sent Shimmering over to a couple of proof readers to get started. I have the last chapter to pen and a bit of a re-write ref Nexus and hopefully it will then be just about ready to go!
5/2/07: Yeuch! What a horrible 24hrs. After a couple of OK days at the Stamford Literary Festival I woke up on Sunday with a disgustingly virus that cleared my body of all liquids through any orifice it could find (enough detail I think!). Crawled out of bed but crashed out on the sofa but roused myself to watch Wales lose in the rugby to Ireland and Spurs lose 0-4 at home to Man Utd. So all in all probably one of the lowest days of my existence to date! Still struggling with the stomach bug but thankfully on the mend so hopefully I will be back in the Literary Festival tomorrow.No writing scheduled this week as I'm at the festival but proof reading of Shimmering is well under way and, too date, seems to have gone well. I still have the last few chapters to pen and will hopefully be done with these next week. In addition I need to rework to elements of the story. One minor and one somewhat larger involving Nexus and his story. I was not happy with this myself and it's no coincidence that both proof readers to date have picked this up as a section that requires work. Even so I hope that I am still on track to complete any required rework by end Feb ready to take the novel to formatting.
26/1/07: Sorry - have been slack again updating my blog but the good news is that this is because I have been busy with Simmering. Its moving along nicely and I'm still on target for getting the first draft complete in the next week or so ready for editing and proof reading.I have just had an article on author web pages published in Self Publishing Magazine from Troubador Publishing. No payment for the article but the more I have out there the more my name will become known so I'm really pleased they ran it. And of course there is always the buzz of seeing something that you have penned in print.Apart from scribing Shimmering I have also been approaching various parties on festivals and signings. Once I've finished up Shimmering I'll start to attend more promotional events and will also take advance orders for the second book as I'm out and about. Exciting times!8/1/07: Goodness me - I've been slacking a bit on my blog! Well after a great Xmas break its back to the 'grindstone'. Work is still rolling along on Shimmering. I have identified a few possible editors/proof readers and I am still hoping for an end Jan completion of the first draft.I have also decided to try to get the unit price right down and use some of the savings to buy in larger stock and hence increase the profit margin per copy. This is vital if I am to make any money out of this venture! I have no desire to put the price of the book over the £9.99 mark so it has to be increased print quantities.Sales through December stayed strong and the last eight weeks of the year were awesome and took sales well over the 320 mark for Spider. Hopefully I can continue this with Shimmering and have successful months ahead with both!
15/12/06: Visited Robert Manning College in Bourne this afternoon and had a very enjoyable hour with some of the students. We spoke about the book, writing and publishing and it was a real spirit lifter for me as they had such a good grasp of the story and knew many chapters inside out. Very humbling! I'm going to visit them again when Shimmering is launched and a few months after that after they have had a chance to read it. Thankfully the students seemed to enjoy the talk as much as I did.
14/12/06: well that's all the pre-Xmas book signings and fairs done and sales were excellent. I have just enough books to see me through the school visit tomorrow (Manning College - Bourne) but the good people over at Bookforce have fast tracked an order of fifty for me so that I can fulfil any last minute orders before Christmas.I'm still keeping up with the 1000 word a day average on Shimmering and have started to sound check for proof readers.
11/12/06: Shimmering continues to roll along. I changed tack slightly. I kept thinking about one of the big battles towards the end of the book so, to free up my mind for other plot elements I decided to jump forward ad write this section. It is the first time that I have written a chapter 'out of sync'. Seems OK though.Was supposed to be selling this evening at Oakham Xmas Craft fair. Unfortunately a stomach bug meant I had to postpone. I will be Ok for the signing in Oakham on Wednesday though. My apologies to anyone who may have been in Oakham this evening hoping to catch me for a signed copy.
6/12/06: Now this is better! The main PC is now virus free and cleaned up. The signings and Xmas fairs continue to bring a good stream of sales, so much so that I have had to order another fifty print run AND I am now moving forward again with Shimmering! I have set myself a target of 1000 words a day and will need to discipline myself to this if I want to achieve the first draft completion for February as planned. (so if you hear that I've been shirking this responsibility you have my permission to send me flame mail!)
29/11/06: Arrgghhh! After a good day writing yesterday I was all prepped for another good session today. Unfortunately my lad clicked on an attachment in MSN and dumped a virus on the computer so today is 'clean up' time as it was a new strain and not entirely trapped by my AV software. Rebuilding operating systems - my favourite pass time NOT!!!!
27/11/06: A great selling weekend - total for November is now up to 64 copies for Spider including three of the new format ebook that is up at Mobipocket.com.
23/11/06: Spider is selling very well this month. Also received excellent service from Bookforce who turned around an order for an additional 50 in two days. Just as well as my stock had been depleted and I was getting a little twitchy with all these fairs coming up.Haven't done much with Shimmering this week but hopefully will get a few chapters penned over the next few days.
18/11/06: Attended a book signing at Buy the Book Stamford yesterday and today. Torrential rain made the town very quiet yesterday but that was more than made up for today when I sold more books in one day than I have ever done since it went to press. I have also been invited to do another book signing at the Oakham branch of Buy the Book. A highly successful weekend and very very enjoyable :-)
14/11/06: Sales in November are averaging over a book a day! AWESOME - thanks all! I've ordered another print run or I won't have enough copies of Spider for the Christmas fairs I have coming up!
2/11/06: Have had a few days off writing Shimmering but going to get back to it tomorrow.Have booked into a handful of signings between now and Christmas so hopefully this will notch up a few more sales of Spider. Have tracked down a few review sites and posted a couple of copies off to them.
1/11/06: Have identified an issue with UK distribution. Someone changed UK dist records with Nielsens to Bookforce and they have provided a handful of books to fulfil orders. I am working to get this changed back to myself and Bookforce will 'pay' the royalties due by reducing my next print order costs.Sales continue to be steady and I am very pleased with the fact that Amazon are selling copies without any involvement on my own part, going to people who I do not know. Unfortunately the discussions with T.H.E. did not come to anything at this point as to sell in Morrisons would have made the basic cost of the paperback well below the level at which I could get it produced as a small press author. C'est la vie.
28/10/06: The S-Gate is coming along nicely. I have taken further advice from a number of sources and I will definitely avoid a Christmas release. This has added advantages of having almost a full year if I choose to enter the work for competitions and awards. With The Spider Gem, the original print date was December 2005 even though it was not available until 2006. This excluded me from any 2006 writing competitions and entries. I'm not making that mistake again.
29/9/06: Making good progress with Shimmering Gate. Have recently been advised that I may want to delay publication until post Christmas. Currently the first draft will be ready for end Autumn as planned, but I don't think that it will be print ready until December. The advice I was given was that Christmas is a bad time for self published authors to launch as this is a big time for the more mainstream publishers. As a result I'm contemplating delaying publication but, for those who want to get into the second book sooner, providing them with a PDF copy in advance of the book itself. Having fully decided if this is the best idea yet but will ponder for a while.With the continued good flow of book sales during September The Spider Gem has now been the top fiction novel in the independentauthors.co.uk book chart for two months running. This is really flattering and my thanks to everyone who has supported me :-)
7/9/06: Kick started again! :-) Slowly picking my way through the chapters that I have written to date and to get back into the swing of writing. Having reviewed the first few chapters of The Shimmering Gate I am actually quite pleased and although I'm no Tolkien I think my writing has improved. This is mainly due to feedback that I have received from readers, family and friends so thank you all. Even so I have done a fair bit of re-writing and also added a few sections to expand on some ideas that I had touched on so things are now moving forward again nicely. YAHOO!
5/9/06: Talking with T.H.E. with regards providing local Morrisons' with copies. Also a steady trickle of orders is still coming through which is satisfying and each one helps to cover costs so thank you!
30/8/06: OK - I admit it - I've been slacking! For the first time I am slightly behind. This has been due to a much busier summer than I expected and due to helping out some colleagues with some IT stuff as well as marketing The Spider Gem. Still on track for Autumn completion of the first draft but a little later in the season than I had hoped.
24/08/06: Although the Amazon BXGY marketing deal is very disappointing August has been good for sales so far with 18 copies sold in US and UK.
23/08/06: The first batch of the revised 2nd edition copies arrived from Bookforce UK. I am delighted with the quality which is as good as the copy from Booksurge.
16/8/06: Back from our summer vacation so time to get back to the keyboard.The one month banner ad with Booksurge was very disappointing as it did not bring in a single sale :-( Fingers crossed for the Amazon Buy X Get Y tie in during August.
19/7/06: It's full speed ahead again now. I'm writing daily again and should be back on target to complete first draft this summer.
10/7/06: The press release went out on the 29th June and I have had a couple of enquiries or review copies. Hoping a few more to come in yet. Also, The Spider Gem is now featured in a banner ad on Booksurge for one month.
27/6/06: Yahoo! - restarted writing. Have also set myself up a 'home office' desktop PC in the solitude of the spare bedroom. It's nice and quiet up there so will allow me to work when the kids are home during the summer. I expect to do a fair bit of writing for The Shimmering Gate over the next month or so. Have done two more interviews on radio - one for BBC Cambs and another for Lincs FM. I will get copies of the sessions and add them to the web page soon. Both went well. Lincs FM was a short piece but I had a pleasant and long (40minute) chat with Sue Dougan on BBC Cambs.Booksurge began the press release activity yesterday so my hope is that this will increase sales. It would be great to break the 250 mark this year but maybe for a PoD title that may be a little ambitious?
14/6/06: Buy The Book in Stamford will add the book to their shelves. Also, Radio Cambridgeshire have agreed to run an interview during June. More details to follow.
9/6/06: I'm a little behind where I wanted to be with The Shimmering Gate. This is mainly due to marketing activities, radio interviews and a few non-writing related issues. Still on track for release during late Autumn/early Winter though. Need to make sure I meet this or a few of my readers will be miffed with me!The 2nd edition with typo corrections is complete. The press release, my official launch, is scheduled for 26th June. Booksurge will carry a banner advertisement in July and the marketing push with Amazon is scheduled for August. I have chosen three titles to be 'paired' with on Amazon but awaiting confirmation that those titles are available. The Spider Gem will then be paired with these best selling titles for a month and readers will be presented with a Buy X get Y deal, offering 5% discount for purchasing the pair of books. I'm hoping that this will spread the word and help me grow my readership base.
25/5/06: Increasing requests coming in for the second book! Nice to receive these and shows that the first book was well received by those who have read it. Have a couple of 'plot' decisions to make. I'm not stuck but have a number of threads with multiple paths and trying to decide which way will work best for the flow.Looks like the reprint should be ready for mid June with the official launch with press release scheduled for w/c 26th June.
19/5/06: Looks like the Nielsen, British Books in Print update is complete. The Spider Gem should now be available through all UK bookshops. Also noted that WH Smith now carry it on their web page and it can be ordered in store.
16/5/06: Walkers Books, the famous book store in Stamford, now carry copies of The Spider Gem.
15/5/06: Although I have typed up very little in recent weeks I have the basis of the next few chapters on a digital voice recorder. With the corrections for The Spider Gem now entered I can return to working on the manuscript for book two. A little behind where I wanted to be for May but still on track for release this year.I have compiled the various pieces of feedback on typos from readers and entered them into the Booksurge correction system. As a result The Spider Gem will be offline for a few weeks for corrections but will be returned to online stores in its shiny 2nd edition during early June.In addition, a press release will take place at this point and a marketing push will happen with Amazon and Booksurge. Fingers crossed for increased sales as a result.I have also been invited to do an interview with Rutland Radio on June 5th (for airing June 6th) and BBC Radio Lincolnshire on May 30th (airing date TBA).
4/5/06: Have been busy with a number of things over the past couple of weeks so very little writing done. Getting back to Gate again now and still on schedule. Have scribbled down a few ideas that came to me so just need to type them up.
18/4/06: Interviewed by Stamford Mercury (see Review section).
14/4/06: Sales of Spider have now topped 125 copies not bad for word of mouth selling :-)
31/3/06: Made it into the Stamford Mercury pictured during the presentation at the college mentioned below.
15/3/06: Was invited to Casterton College in Stamford to present my book to the library and chat with students. Great fun and the book has been well received.
9/3/06: The general plot of Shimmering Gate is coming together and the book is about 30% towards first draft and on schedule for an Autumn 2006 release.Have gathered a few more orders from postcards that I posted in doors around the village. Continuing to get some good feedback from readers too.
28/2/06: Found some artwork for book two at my usual resource www.istockphoto.com .
12/2/06: Work is continuing on the second in the series. Early chapters have been completed and I am currently on track to have the first draft ready for the first proof reading in 2006. Sales of the Spider Gem are moving along steadily. I have not done any marketing yet but have been selling the book to friends and relatives and other acquaintances. Early feedback from readers has been very good which is refreshing and has encouraged me with progressing book two.
Just for archive's sake the old text from my diary/blog is included below.
12/2/07: sent Shimmering over to a couple of proof readers to get started. I have the last chapter to pen and a bit of a re-write ref Nexus and hopefully it will then be just about ready to go!
5/2/07: Yeuch! What a horrible 24hrs. After a couple of OK days at the Stamford Literary Festival I woke up on Sunday with a disgustingly virus that cleared my body of all liquids through any orifice it could find (enough detail I think!). Crawled out of bed but crashed out on the sofa but roused myself to watch Wales lose in the rugby to Ireland and Spurs lose 0-4 at home to Man Utd. So all in all probably one of the lowest days of my existence to date! Still struggling with the stomach bug but thankfully on the mend so hopefully I will be back in the Literary Festival tomorrow.No writing scheduled this week as I'm at the festival but proof reading of Shimmering is well under way and, too date, seems to have gone well. I still have the last few chapters to pen and will hopefully be done with these next week. In addition I need to rework to elements of the story. One minor and one somewhat larger involving Nexus and his story. I was not happy with this myself and it's no coincidence that both proof readers to date have picked this up as a section that requires work. Even so I hope that I am still on track to complete any required rework by end Feb ready to take the novel to formatting.
26/1/07: Sorry - have been slack again updating my blog but the good news is that this is because I have been busy with Simmering. Its moving along nicely and I'm still on target for getting the first draft complete in the next week or so ready for editing and proof reading.I have just had an article on author web pages published in Self Publishing Magazine from Troubador Publishing. No payment for the article but the more I have out there the more my name will become known so I'm really pleased they ran it. And of course there is always the buzz of seeing something that you have penned in print.Apart from scribing Shimmering I have also been approaching various parties on festivals and signings. Once I've finished up Shimmering I'll start to attend more promotional events and will also take advance orders for the second book as I'm out and about. Exciting times!8/1/07: Goodness me - I've been slacking a bit on my blog! Well after a great Xmas break its back to the 'grindstone'. Work is still rolling along on Shimmering. I have identified a few possible editors/proof readers and I am still hoping for an end Jan completion of the first draft.I have also decided to try to get the unit price right down and use some of the savings to buy in larger stock and hence increase the profit margin per copy. This is vital if I am to make any money out of this venture! I have no desire to put the price of the book over the £9.99 mark so it has to be increased print quantities.Sales through December stayed strong and the last eight weeks of the year were awesome and took sales well over the 320 mark for Spider. Hopefully I can continue this with Shimmering and have successful months ahead with both!
15/12/06: Visited Robert Manning College in Bourne this afternoon and had a very enjoyable hour with some of the students. We spoke about the book, writing and publishing and it was a real spirit lifter for me as they had such a good grasp of the story and knew many chapters inside out. Very humbling! I'm going to visit them again when Shimmering is launched and a few months after that after they have had a chance to read it. Thankfully the students seemed to enjoy the talk as much as I did.
14/12/06: well that's all the pre-Xmas book signings and fairs done and sales were excellent. I have just enough books to see me through the school visit tomorrow (Manning College - Bourne) but the good people over at Bookforce have fast tracked an order of fifty for me so that I can fulfil any last minute orders before Christmas.I'm still keeping up with the 1000 word a day average on Shimmering and have started to sound check for proof readers.
11/12/06: Shimmering continues to roll along. I changed tack slightly. I kept thinking about one of the big battles towards the end of the book so, to free up my mind for other plot elements I decided to jump forward ad write this section. It is the first time that I have written a chapter 'out of sync'. Seems OK though.Was supposed to be selling this evening at Oakham Xmas Craft fair. Unfortunately a stomach bug meant I had to postpone. I will be Ok for the signing in Oakham on Wednesday though. My apologies to anyone who may have been in Oakham this evening hoping to catch me for a signed copy.
6/12/06: Now this is better! The main PC is now virus free and cleaned up. The signings and Xmas fairs continue to bring a good stream of sales, so much so that I have had to order another fifty print run AND I am now moving forward again with Shimmering! I have set myself a target of 1000 words a day and will need to discipline myself to this if I want to achieve the first draft completion for February as planned. (so if you hear that I've been shirking this responsibility you have my permission to send me flame mail!)
29/11/06: Arrgghhh! After a good day writing yesterday I was all prepped for another good session today. Unfortunately my lad clicked on an attachment in MSN and dumped a virus on the computer so today is 'clean up' time as it was a new strain and not entirely trapped by my AV software. Rebuilding operating systems - my favourite pass time NOT!!!!
27/11/06: A great selling weekend - total for November is now up to 64 copies for Spider including three of the new format ebook that is up at Mobipocket.com.
23/11/06: Spider is selling very well this month. Also received excellent service from Bookforce who turned around an order for an additional 50 in two days. Just as well as my stock had been depleted and I was getting a little twitchy with all these fairs coming up.Haven't done much with Shimmering this week but hopefully will get a few chapters penned over the next few days.
18/11/06: Attended a book signing at Buy the Book Stamford yesterday and today. Torrential rain made the town very quiet yesterday but that was more than made up for today when I sold more books in one day than I have ever done since it went to press. I have also been invited to do another book signing at the Oakham branch of Buy the Book. A highly successful weekend and very very enjoyable :-)
14/11/06: Sales in November are averaging over a book a day! AWESOME - thanks all! I've ordered another print run or I won't have enough copies of Spider for the Christmas fairs I have coming up!
2/11/06: Have had a few days off writing Shimmering but going to get back to it tomorrow.Have booked into a handful of signings between now and Christmas so hopefully this will notch up a few more sales of Spider. Have tracked down a few review sites and posted a couple of copies off to them.
1/11/06: Have identified an issue with UK distribution. Someone changed UK dist records with Nielsens to Bookforce and they have provided a handful of books to fulfil orders. I am working to get this changed back to myself and Bookforce will 'pay' the royalties due by reducing my next print order costs.Sales continue to be steady and I am very pleased with the fact that Amazon are selling copies without any involvement on my own part, going to people who I do not know. Unfortunately the discussions with T.H.E. did not come to anything at this point as to sell in Morrisons would have made the basic cost of the paperback well below the level at which I could get it produced as a small press author. C'est la vie.
28/10/06: The S-Gate is coming along nicely. I have taken further advice from a number of sources and I will definitely avoid a Christmas release. This has added advantages of having almost a full year if I choose to enter the work for competitions and awards. With The Spider Gem, the original print date was December 2005 even though it was not available until 2006. This excluded me from any 2006 writing competitions and entries. I'm not making that mistake again.
29/9/06: Making good progress with Shimmering Gate. Have recently been advised that I may want to delay publication until post Christmas. Currently the first draft will be ready for end Autumn as planned, but I don't think that it will be print ready until December. The advice I was given was that Christmas is a bad time for self published authors to launch as this is a big time for the more mainstream publishers. As a result I'm contemplating delaying publication but, for those who want to get into the second book sooner, providing them with a PDF copy in advance of the book itself. Having fully decided if this is the best idea yet but will ponder for a while.With the continued good flow of book sales during September The Spider Gem has now been the top fiction novel in the independentauthors.co.uk book chart for two months running. This is really flattering and my thanks to everyone who has supported me :-)
7/9/06: Kick started again! :-) Slowly picking my way through the chapters that I have written to date and to get back into the swing of writing. Having reviewed the first few chapters of The Shimmering Gate I am actually quite pleased and although I'm no Tolkien I think my writing has improved. This is mainly due to feedback that I have received from readers, family and friends so thank you all. Even so I have done a fair bit of re-writing and also added a few sections to expand on some ideas that I had touched on so things are now moving forward again nicely. YAHOO!
5/9/06: Talking with T.H.E. with regards providing local Morrisons' with copies. Also a steady trickle of orders is still coming through which is satisfying and each one helps to cover costs so thank you!
30/8/06: OK - I admit it - I've been slacking! For the first time I am slightly behind. This has been due to a much busier summer than I expected and due to helping out some colleagues with some IT stuff as well as marketing The Spider Gem. Still on track for Autumn completion of the first draft but a little later in the season than I had hoped.
24/08/06: Although the Amazon BXGY marketing deal is very disappointing August has been good for sales so far with 18 copies sold in US and UK.
23/08/06: The first batch of the revised 2nd edition copies arrived from Bookforce UK. I am delighted with the quality which is as good as the copy from Booksurge.
16/8/06: Back from our summer vacation so time to get back to the keyboard.The one month banner ad with Booksurge was very disappointing as it did not bring in a single sale :-( Fingers crossed for the Amazon Buy X Get Y tie in during August.
19/7/06: It's full speed ahead again now. I'm writing daily again and should be back on target to complete first draft this summer.
10/7/06: The press release went out on the 29th June and I have had a couple of enquiries or review copies. Hoping a few more to come in yet. Also, The Spider Gem is now featured in a banner ad on Booksurge for one month.
27/6/06: Yahoo! - restarted writing. Have also set myself up a 'home office' desktop PC in the solitude of the spare bedroom. It's nice and quiet up there so will allow me to work when the kids are home during the summer. I expect to do a fair bit of writing for The Shimmering Gate over the next month or so. Have done two more interviews on radio - one for BBC Cambs and another for Lincs FM. I will get copies of the sessions and add them to the web page soon. Both went well. Lincs FM was a short piece but I had a pleasant and long (40minute) chat with Sue Dougan on BBC Cambs.Booksurge began the press release activity yesterday so my hope is that this will increase sales. It would be great to break the 250 mark this year but maybe for a PoD title that may be a little ambitious?
14/6/06: Buy The Book in Stamford will add the book to their shelves. Also, Radio Cambridgeshire have agreed to run an interview during June. More details to follow.
9/6/06: I'm a little behind where I wanted to be with The Shimmering Gate. This is mainly due to marketing activities, radio interviews and a few non-writing related issues. Still on track for release during late Autumn/early Winter though. Need to make sure I meet this or a few of my readers will be miffed with me!The 2nd edition with typo corrections is complete. The press release, my official launch, is scheduled for 26th June. Booksurge will carry a banner advertisement in July and the marketing push with Amazon is scheduled for August. I have chosen three titles to be 'paired' with on Amazon but awaiting confirmation that those titles are available. The Spider Gem will then be paired with these best selling titles for a month and readers will be presented with a Buy X get Y deal, offering 5% discount for purchasing the pair of books. I'm hoping that this will spread the word and help me grow my readership base.
25/5/06: Increasing requests coming in for the second book! Nice to receive these and shows that the first book was well received by those who have read it. Have a couple of 'plot' decisions to make. I'm not stuck but have a number of threads with multiple paths and trying to decide which way will work best for the flow.Looks like the reprint should be ready for mid June with the official launch with press release scheduled for w/c 26th June.
19/5/06: Looks like the Nielsen, British Books in Print update is complete. The Spider Gem should now be available through all UK bookshops. Also noted that WH Smith now carry it on their web page and it can be ordered in store.
16/5/06: Walkers Books, the famous book store in Stamford, now carry copies of The Spider Gem.
15/5/06: Although I have typed up very little in recent weeks I have the basis of the next few chapters on a digital voice recorder. With the corrections for The Spider Gem now entered I can return to working on the manuscript for book two. A little behind where I wanted to be for May but still on track for release this year.I have compiled the various pieces of feedback on typos from readers and entered them into the Booksurge correction system. As a result The Spider Gem will be offline for a few weeks for corrections but will be returned to online stores in its shiny 2nd edition during early June.In addition, a press release will take place at this point and a marketing push will happen with Amazon and Booksurge. Fingers crossed for increased sales as a result.I have also been invited to do an interview with Rutland Radio on June 5th (for airing June 6th) and BBC Radio Lincolnshire on May 30th (airing date TBA).
4/5/06: Have been busy with a number of things over the past couple of weeks so very little writing done. Getting back to Gate again now and still on schedule. Have scribbled down a few ideas that came to me so just need to type them up.
18/4/06: Interviewed by Stamford Mercury (see Review section).
14/4/06: Sales of Spider have now topped 125 copies not bad for word of mouth selling :-)
31/3/06: Made it into the Stamford Mercury pictured during the presentation at the college mentioned below.
15/3/06: Was invited to Casterton College in Stamford to present my book to the library and chat with students. Great fun and the book has been well received.
9/3/06: The general plot of Shimmering Gate is coming together and the book is about 30% towards first draft and on schedule for an Autumn 2006 release.Have gathered a few more orders from postcards that I posted in doors around the village. Continuing to get some good feedback from readers too.
28/2/06: Found some artwork for book two at my usual resource www.istockphoto.com .
12/2/06: Work is continuing on the second in the series. Early chapters have been completed and I am currently on track to have the first draft ready for the first proof reading in 2006. Sales of the Spider Gem are moving along steadily. I have not done any marketing yet but have been selling the book to friends and relatives and other acquaintances. Early feedback from readers has been very good which is refreshing and has encouraged me with progressing book two.
Thursday 8 February 2007
Shimmering Gate pulsing brightly
I have just completed a first pass across the Shimmering Gate. As is stands today I have a couple more chapters to pen and a slight change to one element. These should be complete by end of next week. It will then be out for editing and proof reading for a few weeks and finally back for edits.
As it stands now I think I am still on track for an April launch which will be superb.
As it stands now I think I am still on track for an April launch which will be superb.
Stamford Literary Festival
From 2nd - 9th February I attended the Stamford Literary Festival.
It was great fun meeting new readers and making new contacts and while very quiet at times, I did make new sales and enjoyed a successful week.
It was great fun meeting new readers and making new contacts and while very quiet at times, I did make new sales and enjoyed a successful week.
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