Another milestone week passes by the window and as always I have lots to tell you about.

Before The End

I received the manuscript evaluation back from the editor last weekend and I’m proud to announce I haven’t been wasting my time! The novel was well received and the editor came back with great feedback. I was particularly pleased with that it is technically better than the first edit he evaluated of IN THE END, identifying that it was much more engaging and character led and easier to follow.

He also came back with feedback on the plot which I hadn’t seen, shown me different perspectives on the plot and lots of great constructive points which I need to find solutions to. So this week I have been trying to be disciplined and spend at least an hour a day working on it. I’ve worked on most of the minor edits but I’ll shortly be rewriting one of the main characters who appears in half the book as I’m changing their sex!

The great news is that I should be able to release the novel around the summer if I can keep up the pace and the copy editor plays ball!

Survivor & Promotion

Survivor is working really well as a reader magnet to get people signed up to my mailing list and those of you following me on social media would have seen my posts which are meant to be fun and in the theme of Survivor. They’re getting a great reaction and in turn leading to more sign-ups. At last count In the last 28 days I’ve added 97 new Facebook followers and 121 mailing list subscribers, a high percentage of which were not through paid advertising.

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I hope to be sending out another newsletter this week which will be packed full of exciting news and information.

I’ve decided to put together the next volume of Survivor, starting once I have sent BEFORE THE END to the copy editor. In the meantime I’m collecting information and researching a possible theme and asking subscribers what they want to see!

As a further lead into Survivor, I released a stand alone kit list for the Bug Out Bag. You can check it out here.

I’ve signed up for another promotion with fellow Zompoc authors specifically to grow my mailing list. I pay a fee which gets put towards a prize. You enter the draw by signing up to the author participant’s mailing lists. It’s happening from next week and running till the end of the month. I’ll let you know the success or otherwise as it goes along.

Slough Signing After Action Report

So I had my signing in my home town last Saturday. As I arrived the store manager told me that they hardly ever sell books in Slough! A great start to the event, however it is my home town so no matter what the result was at the end of the day I had to make an appearance here.

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At this event I had a copy of Survivor (proof only as my first author copies are not due to arrive today) and I was set up to collect mailing list subscribers, allowing them to subscribe via a fully GDPR compliant process on the day.

The manager had been right and the shop was very quiet most of the time and when it did pick up around lunchtime, people weren’t buy many books. I was very pleased to come away with a handful of subscribers and four books sold. A good result I think.

Events Update

My next event is the Gerrards Cross Book Fair on 13th April and it will be my first time selling books for full price with no one taking a major cut. I do have to sell five books to break even on the cost of the table, so we’ll have to see whether it is worth it.

I have also bought a table at a literary festival in Hastings on the 31st August, an event I found out about after putting a shout out on Facebook for author friends. I’ve also confirmed a pop-up market stall for 25th May in the town centre. That’s the same place I had my most successful event so far. I’ll be doing this with an author friend, so it should be an interesting day.

Below are the latest confirmed upcoming events.

13th April 2019 – Gerrards Cross Book Fair – 9am – 4pm

27th April 2019 – Bracknell WHSmith (NEW) – 11am to 3pm

4th May 2019 – Kingston WHSmith – 10am to 4pm

18th May 2019 – Windsor WHSmith – 10am to 3pm

25th May 2019 – Staines upon Thames Pop up Stall (NEW) – 9am to 4pm

8th June 2019 – Wokingham WHSmith – 10am to 3pm

I’m having some proper posters made over the next couple of days which look much better than the ones I’ve simply printed myself. I’ll share the details when they arrive.

Newsletter

This week’s newsletter is set to go out either today or tomorrow and along with possible ideas for the second volume of Survivor, I’ll be releasing details of a special deal coming up in a few weeks. If you haven’t joined the list then there’s always time. Sign up here.

That’s it for today. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!