April 4, 2015

Having survived the April fool gags and not fallen for any of them, I am now looking forward to making real progress in my own ‘fool’s paradise’ of promotion, publishing and marketing. I managed to upload a book jacket and interior file to Ingram Spark — this was for The Devil’s Trinity — and thought I’d done this successfully, only to be knocked back when my cover jacket was rejected because of a size problem. But fortunately (I hope), we had a family gathering here yesterday, and our number two son, Terry, who designed all my book jackets, was on hand to help me fit the jacket into the Ingram Spark template. Why are easy things so complicated? I won’t know yet how successful that’s been, but I’ve already spent money without seeing a final result.

The family gathering was lovely: three of our sons, two of their wives and our eldest grand-daughter. Fitting eight people round our small dining table was a little problem, but we overcame that and spent a few hours chatting, eating, drinking and generally enjoying each other’s company. Our youngest son couldn’t be there because he lives in Australia, but we did think of him. One thing I always enjoy when our boys got together is the banter between them. When they start reminiscing about their youth, they reveal secrets that youngsters don’t share with their parents. Me and Pat have big smiles on our faces while it all goes on. We join in of course, but sometimes it’s difficult to get a word in edgeways. After living in Spain for seventeen years and being limited when it came to family gatherings, it was an absolute joy to have them all here.

But now they have all departed and it’s back to some sort of normality, and for me that means more writing and learning. I’m pleased with the gradual increase in my e-mail subscription list. I’m picking up at least one a day and have reached 31 so far. I know it doesn’t seem a big deal, but two weeks ago I didn’t have a subscription list. I’m hoping the growth will be exponential, and I can enjoy having a big list. One day maybe.

Another glimmer of light in the long tunnel is I am picking up followers every day on Twitter, and two or three a week on Pinterest. I am also seeing a slight shift upward in my sales figures: nothing spectacular; but encouraging signs for me. The free downloads of The Eagle’s Covenant continue, and have reached about 5000 now. I think this may be where I am getting the interest developing in my other titles, and also picking up the subscribers because of the offer I make at the front and back of the book. Anyone reading this blog who may want to see what the offer is can actually see it using the “Look inside” facility on Amazon. In fact, you could click the link without downloading the book. But to save you the trouble, here’s the link: http://eepurl.com/bgYKMj. If you click on that, you’ll be straight on to my offer.

So what next? I am in the process of reviving my Scrivener project for my next novel. I’m using an instructional video by Jason Hough on You Tube. It’s called Scrivener Boot Camp, and well worth a look for wannabe writers. Perhaps I will get my novel finished before the end of summer. Wish me luck!