Thai curry, book people, gardens and plots.

August 9^th

Began the week with a Thai curry at a local Thai restaurant in Chichester. It was with the CHINDI authors. There were seven of us there, and it was great to talk about books, writing, self-publishing, ‘do’s and don’ts’ etc. A lot information flowed around the table and it meant I picked up a few tips. I thought I might have found myself a reasonably priced designer to help me with my book jacket. One of the writers there uses her for all his jackets. I checked her website out and was well impressed. Unfortunately she was unable to take me on because of her current workload. In a way it helped me knuckle down and get on with Photoshop. I have managed to make good progress and believe I am a lot closer to having a finished design very soon. That doesn’t necessarily mean I will have created a brilliant jacket, but at least it will be a measure of the progress I’ve made. Once that’s done and the book is complete, I can get on with my WIP.

Apart from spending hours in front of my computer gazing at free images on Pixabay and coming up with nothing, I have managed to make inroads into other jobs that need my attention, not least sorting stuff out in the garden for Pat and also doing a little survey, a technical one, into how easy it will be to install a cooker circuit into our Park Home. At the moment we have a gas cooker, but Pat wants an electric one. I agree with her, but the house doesn’t have a cooker circuit installed. This might sound odd, but when I contacted the manufacturer and spoke to the chief engineer, he told me it wasn’t unusual because the spec for the house when built would have been for a gas installation only.

Last Tuesday we took Pat’s small, roll-top desk over to a second hand furniture shop and left it there to be sold. We bought a bookcase which now resides in my room in place of the desk. Naturally it is now filled with books, most of them mine, but I do have a shelf with signed books. They are all, almost, unknown writers who I have supported when their books have been published, but a couple of famous names reside there: Spike Milligan and Dick Francis. The value of a book is increased by the author’s signature, so I’m told, which means that all mine or worth more than their retail price. I wonder by how much though?

My book sales on KDP are managing to keep above the flat line at the bottom. At the moment I am averaging about two sales a day. I get quite a lift when I see three or four sales in one day. It helps when the figures flat line for a day or two. My subscriber list continues to grow and has now reached 338. I think this is the reason for my sales figures. I will continue promoting my books of course; it wouldn’t do to rely on a hope that people will buy simply because they have subscribed. I have a promotion coming up for Hell’s Gate: 25/26^th. August. Next month I will try a Facebook campaign. It could be good. Wish me luck!