There's a book in there somewhere

May 10^th. 2015

I’m still on that learning curve, but slowing down a little. I know I will not make my own, self-imposed deadline of June to finish my WIP, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I have so much to do alongside the creative process, and not just promotion etc., but also work around the house; trips out, essential business. All part of life’s rich pattern really. Well, my life.

I’ve scheduled a book promotion for Monday 11^th. This is for A Covert War, which is picking up some good reviews incidentally. It’s always a chore trying to choose a title to promote because I feel they should all be promoted. I have tried to set myself a monthly budget for advertising, but sometimes the price is too high. I have studied Facebook advertising, and intend to use that sometime. The results can be good with FB, but I need to make sure I know what I’m doing. I did think about advertising my latest book, Past Imperfect, but the price on eBooksToday was a little high. The point about this book and promotion is that my publisher has the rights still. If I promote, I’m not treading on anyone’s toes, but there’s always the chance that my publisher is planning something. No, I don’t think so, but you never know.

With my other hat on, I am putting something together for the author group, CHINDI. This is to do with getting our books into a bookshop during the Chichester Arts Festival in June. I have secured one shop, but getting into others is like looking for hen’s teeth. I contacted four shops. Two have failed to reply. One replied and said that self-published authors don’t sell unless they have a promotion to back them up. One shop replied and showed some interest. I will be calling in on the owner next week.

I did make a little progress with my WIP, but not a lot. I had a problem with Scrivener that left me dangling a bit, but a word with their support team and I received a reply from the designer himself. It’s more or less sorted now, but these delays can be very frustrating, particularly when you’ve found a window of time in which you can sit down and write.

On the family side, we spent a day with our second son, Terry. He and his wife are buying a new-build up at Horsham; close to Gatwick airport where he works (he’s a commercial airline pilot). Horsham is a lovely old town, and it was nice to wander around with Terry and have lunch with him.

The following day, yesterday, we were over at our third son’s place to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Me and John played snooker. Pat and Bryony shopped. We arrived home in time to watch the VE celebrations on TV. Great day all round.

This morning we chatted with son number four (Stephen) in Australia. Skype is a wonderful thing for families who are separated by thousands of miles. Oh, and Pat spoke to our eldest boy, Vincent on the phone too. So there you have it: all the boys in less than seventy two hours.

I don’t expect to be writing up a blog for a couple of weeks now because of family commitments that will take us away for a couple of weeks. Hopefully when I return and put pen to paper, I will have more to say about how successful I have been with my promotion. Wish me luck!