Spelling?

It’s been quite a week one way or another. I finally managed to get on with some writing, or rather, catching up with what I had managed in the past. I’m putting together a kind of family saga, but with a difference. I’ll be running two stories in parallel; both of which are connected, but not that it’s entirely obvious from the outset. More astute readers may catch on early in the book, but I intend something of that nature to happen to all the readers as I will be dropping clues left right and centre. The story will not be a romance, per se, but will include elements of a thriller and a mystery (hopefully). I don’t know how long it will take me, but my track record says at least a year.

Readers of my blog will know that I try very hard not to read my reviews. I make a conscious effort to avoid them. But unfortunately I came across one yesterday, quite by accident in which the reviewer gave me a two star rating and a dressing down for spelling. The date of the review was June 7. It took me a little while to figure out how on earth I can be accused of poor spelling; something at which I am extremely competent. Then it occurred to me that the reviewer was almost certainly complaining about the English spellings of many of the words used in the book. Just a few lines up from here is the word ‘centre’. This is spelt correctly according to the Oxford English Dictionary, but the American word would be ‘center’. The review told me more about the reviewer than the book. I believe the majority of American readers accept the English spellings in much the same way as the majority of English readers accept the American spellings. Let’s face it: the story matters most, not whether centre should be spelt that way or the American way.

I sat in on a webinar last Saturday. It was a power point presentation given by Jim Kukral of the Author Marketing Club. It was a helpful presentation on how to sell more books on Amazon. I found it interesting and helpful. There were a couple of ideas which I will probably follow up (when I have time). But for now it’s back to my own version of promotion and marketing and how to sell more books on Amazon. Wish I knew!