Keeping Up

It’s been quite a week since last Monday. We had four enquiries about the house. Two of those resulted in viewings: one lady from Hong Kong, and an English couple from Switzerland. The other two enquiries were by phone. The first viewing came fifteen minutes after the agent turned up at the gate asking if we would agree to his client having a look there and then. The second viewing was planned for Thursday, but while we were out shopping on the Wednesday, the agent rang to say he was at our gate with the client. The agent had managed to get the date wrong. So it was a quick dash back to the house. Nothing came of these two viewings or the two telephone enquiries, but that’s part and parcel of having your house on the market. Had a builder round to give me a price for a job that I wanted doing but didn’t really want to pay out for, but in the end it will add another plus to the house. This month will probably see the swimming pool emptied and given a facelift. I have the quote I want and once the pool is empty, the pool men can come in and get on with it. There are always jobs that need doing around the house and garden of course, but why do they all come at once when you want to sell your house? There have been other disruptions too during the week. Nothing dramatic, but it all interferes with my writing and my attempts to promote myself. During the week I put SHADOW OF THE WOLF on the market (Amazon) and was delighted to find that I’d sold two copies within a couple of days. Why delighted? Because I hadn’t got round to promoting it other than to forewarn any potential readers that it would soon be available. So hopefully some of you have been keeping an eye open for my books as they come on to the market. I have asked my four sons to buy a copy (Kindle). It will add to their inheritance I tell them. Only one response so far, but I’m sure the others will fall into line.

Another element of being a published author that we don’t shout about too much is when our books get ‘remaindered’. That means the publisher has no further use for the stock of unsold titles and more or less dumps them at a rock bottom price. One of my titles, A COVERT WAR (hardback) has been remaindered, and the copies I ordered for myself have just turned up at the gate by courier. Fortunately the book is still available as a paperback and Kindle, so it’s not all bad news.

But now it’s a case of looking ahead and pushing my name and my books, trusting my readers will help to promote my name out there because they enjoy my work. Wish me luck!