Just Keep Writing and Other Thoughts...

Yesterday's post provided a wealth of helpful suggestions in the comments so I thought it would be a good idea to share them here, but first check out BubbleCow's post on how many copies do novels sell (sobering) and this article in The Bookseller (which makes for even more sobering reading) ...



S C Ransom advised to grab any PR your publisher provides (loved the book trailer on her web site - it gave me a few more ideas)
Martha Williams raised blog tours
Saffina Desforges mentioned the Kindleboards
Sue Guiney recommended book clubs, women's groups, readings & signing (and making sure that you work on the next book!)

So yesterday, (thanks you Saffi) I took the plunge into Amazon a bit and began work on my author page (huge gulp), but I haven't yet had the courage to dive into the Kindleboards or places like Goodreads. I will though because all of these things are necessary.

Blog tours...I do believe in them but I also think the jury is out on how affective they are...I also worry about bombarding my twitter and Facebook with ME ME ME posts because that definitely isn't me...so I'm planing on a more drip feed approach, which may be entirely wrong as far as the all important initial sales go, but I don't want to abuse the friends I have made along this journey.

Sue hit on something about expat life...book club and women's groups. I think this has potential mileage for me as a writer. They are both part of my life so they ring true. However when the other night at a meeting of university of alums I was confronted with the suggestion that THE CORNISH HOUSE should be there book choice for their club and I should attend - I went pale... The thought of all these wonderful woman reading my book and discussing it with me there... is the scenario of nightmares and plays to all my insecurities. Don't get me wrong. I love my book or I should say I love my characters and their story. It was important enough for me to write it not once, but however many times it took to tell the story well...but to physically be there when wonderful women are discussing it and possibly not feeling the same...gulp.

However I will do it...I need to set the story free. It will never be just mine once it's out the wide world. It will belong to each person who reads it and that of course is what I've wanted. I now need to dust off the methryl vest or whatever it was that Frodo wore in THE LORD OF THE RINGS....

Enough of that... I have detoured from the marketing stuff... I have begun spread sheets (not easy for me - totally incompetent with excel) to keep track of what I've done and what needs doing still. Right now May seems a long way off but there's Christmas in the middle which eats an awful lot of time and of course as Sue said...there is the next book....

Can you add any more marketing/PR suggestions? I have one more but I'll save it for tomorrow.

THE CORNISH HOUSE comes out in May 2012 (gulp and squee at the same time). And you can pre-order it here on Amazon (a fact which still blows my mind)....but it does make it seem more 'real' somehow.

I am unbelievably excited. In fact so excited that I almost dance when I tell people about it. This embarrasses the children no end because according to them I tell everyone - no one is spared... from the check out person to the stranger next to me on a plane. And how can I not tell them??? This is the dream that I have wanted all my life and through hard work and persistence I have made it happen.

But now comes the hard part, or a more difficult part...I need to help these books sell. People meeting me now have a hard time believing that I am a shy person. I am. However I have learned to shove that to the back for certain situations in my life. I am also now of an age where I care a whole lot less about what people actually think of me. This helps...a lot.

I digress....I have a book to sell and I know in the current market a lot of that work will fall on my shoulders. This is début from an unknown. I am not connected to anyone famous.  I have not been on a reality tv show. I am a wife, a mother, an expat, a friend....all wonderful things - the best, unless, of course, you need to market yourself.

So while I have been writing book after book I have been watching others to learn what they have done. What seems to work and what doesn't. I am so grateful to all the writers who have shared their wisdom. So I thought I would share what I have learned so far...

1. Be excited - it's contagious...and it makes approaching people like booksellers easier (it's still like having your teeth pulled). Because I am still pinching myself, I shove aside the 'I can't say anything and draw attention to myself'...I have to or this book won't sell or won't sell as well. In the face of my enthusiasm...people smile. They are probably thinking she is mad let's humour her, but they just may remember the mad woman who danced in front of them when they see the title on a list...

2. Ask...this a hard part. Asking for help...but if you don't then there is no possibly of that review or article or window display

3. Be professional....I hear this again and again from uber successful authors and it's true. I may be dancing with excitement, but at the same time I remember that this is my job. So if the proverbial door gets slammed in my face that's just part of the job. Walk away and move onto the next... (remember all the practice of getting rejection after rejection...)

4. Think out of the box....the likelihood of getting a review in the women's magazine or papers is slim (I am hoping that it's not impossible, but I'm not holding my breath). So I have put on my thinking hat...who is my reader? Since I don't know that yet I went back to - who did I write the book for??? Well, me. I wrote the book for women like me who are living there lives struggling with all that entails. Hang with me here...so I looked at my life. What do I do, what do i read....what do i listen to and so on. Yes, I do read the book reviews in magazine and newspapers, but I also read other things like property magazines, blogs, school newsletters.... So when trying to plan where to find places to promote - look at your life, your friends, your children, your work place and so on....could you do an article for the school newsletter? The church one? For me I might try and go back to the corporate magazine I wrote articles for in the past (expat life and travelling with children could become finding a career after being a trailing spouse...). I think you get the idea....even if the distribution of the church newsletter is 50 it's a start and its good practice for the next book...

At the moment I'm collecting blogs...blogs on Cornwall and blogs on old houses and living in them. I am also girding my loins to ask people if I can do an article or be interviewed...I keep reminding myself that if you don't ask you don't get....

On that note...have you liked my Facebook Page yet? I'm not convinced about their usefulness, but until I hear otherwise I'll keep going with it....

P.S. I'll let you know if any of this works...

Sorry for the silence recently...busy times family-wise....over at the The Heroine Addicts I have written about turning points which touches on a little bit about the things that have kept me from blogging recently.

This week I was able to attend an RNA meeting and the wonderful award winning JoJo Moyes spoke...later this week I'll type up my notes and share her words of wisdom with you - promise.

I've posted at the Heroine Addicts Blog here about music and books and setting....

Unfortunately I only had my blackberry with me and the camera isn't too good in low light but the sunset the other night was stunning....

I am so excited I can't sit or stand still...my wonderful editor has just sent through the cover design for THE CORNISH HOUSE. It makes it all feel so real in way that doing edits or even signing contracts doesn't. There in front of me was this picture of a lovely house and garden with the title and my name on it!

I feel a bit like a tease thought because I can't show it to you...it will probably change but it's real!

Since I can't share the cover I'll post a picture of the house in my current work -ENEMY

Save a stranger from the sea....and he'll turn your enemy

This past week we have had visitors which has pushed us out of 'normal' routine and off to do some other things as the weather hasn't been great. One day we booked lunch over at the fabulous Porthminster Cafe in St Ives. After a wonderful lunch, we walked into town and at one point stopped to look at the view. Here is the picture of what i saw...

I must begin this post with a confession...there are more beautiful walks in Cornwall but DH proposed to me while we were taking this walk so it will always be my favourite.

Yesterday we began the walk from the beginnings of the walk where you find a little cottage tucked away....



The tide was out but even in the short time we were walking the speed of it's return was astounding and always catches me off guard.


The setting for the book I am writing at the moment is a cottage at the mouth of the creek and as I walked I could almost physically feel the story spinning and weaving in my head. I wanted to pull it out and look at it but it might disappear. I know from the past that little things with begin to emerge as I pound the keys...





I don't write notes on walks like yesterday's - maybe I should, but some times it's just good to feel. However I do think my pictures act as notes...I find myself snapping pictures of the strangest details....close up of ferns growing on trees, the thick rope like vines twisting up the oaks that sweep to the water, the sculptural feel of the fallen trees... It all feeds the creative well.

In the extended family I am known as the 'picnic queen'...because the others look on our little feasts with envy. Over the years of providing beach food for fine and foul weather I have perfected a few basic menus that work well and system to keep the fallout afterwards (clean up to a minimum).

Yesterday was a perfect day for one of favourite beaches...Dollar Cove. Saturdays are change over days which means that most beaches especially if the day isn't perfect are if not deserted then less populated. Dollar Cove is the perfect beach at low tide. Most day it provides enough surf to keep the teens happy and enough rock pools, rocks and sand for the smaller ones. The scenery is breath taking....

(TIP: So yesterday morning I made brownies...but rather than bake them in classic brownie tin I make them in cupcake tin with paper. There is no mess and no fighting over who gets the biggest one and I have always been hopeless at cutting mine as I deliberately under cook them.)

I won't bore you with the full menu but here a picture of my plate...

Rocket salad with tomatoes, toasted pinenuts and avocados - sausages - crab salad - parma ham

Chef with her wibena