Another mad, hectic week has flown by and I’ve got plenty to talk about in today’s update, including latest sales and advertising, the audiobook of In The End, events and progress on book two.

Sales & Advertising

As part of the test I described last week, I’ve paused the Amazon advertising, plus the price promotions have finished. The results of the UK price promotion show zero effect on overall profit but more books were definitely shifted, so I consider it a good result.

Sales have now flattened out again as I expected, but are still steadily approaching 100 copies sold, with another 76 books worth of pages read through Kindle Unlimited and all in just the six weeks since In The End was released. These figures are way more than I could even have dreamed of when I wrote the book.

Progress has been made on opening an advertising account on Amazon in the UK. What a faff, but I now have a way forward after a month of being none the wiser!

It’s still a couple of weeks until I get the updated blurb and professional wording for the adverts, so for now I’ll be leaving the ads paused.

Audiobook Progress

Initial production as been completed. I’ve reviewed each chapter and given feedback on some very minor changes. It will take a week or two to be completed, then it’s over to Audible. I’m not sure how long they take before it’s ready for sale.

I had to choose a retail sample and Audible’s advice is to choose the 1^st chapter, so that’s what I’ve done. My designer updated the book cover to be square for the audio book, as you can see below.

Book Signing Events

As I’ve said before, as an unknown author they really should be called ‘One Man, One Book, Book Fairs,’ as it will mainly be me chatting to the shop’s customers and perhaps a few will buy the book. I have two events confirmed in my local area, Uxbridge Town Centre on 16th February 2019 and Reading City Centre for a date to be confirmed for March.

Preparation goes well. I have new business cards for me as an author, dual sided for when I go to the London Book Fair in March. I hope to promote myself as an industry blogger so I can catch some more interviews.

I have photo frames in which I will put selected copy from some of my reviews for the table.

I want to update the blurb on the book before I order my copies, so hopefully that will all be ready in time. Although I’m only taking twenty copies to the signing, I need to order forty or the postage eats into the tiny percentage I will be making for each of the signing sales.

The retailer has already started promotion, but it’s a shame they didn’t get the date right! Hopefully they’ll issue a correction soon.

A Surprise

In December I wrote to my old secondary school with a copy of the book and to let them know what I went on to do after I left the school. I also thanked them for their part in making me who I am. I got a lovely reply and the principle invited me to the school to talk to sixth formers. He was one of my teachers when throughout my attendance. Arrangements are being made for me to talk to their engineering, english literature and book club students. It’s happening in March and is another massive step out of my comfort zone.

Before The End Progress

I still have at least a couple weeks left on the first editing pass, then I’ve got at least three more self edits planned, including plot, grammar and character. If I keep up my current pace I should be finished by the end of March….maybe. Once that’s done it’ll be off for evaluation, then rewrite and then a copy edit. I’m still on for a release early Autumn.

I’m also working on adding more plot to make sure it’s not just another adventure crammed romp. As In The End unfolded everything was new to the reader, but in Before The End I can’t just rely on the action and sheer horror of what’s going on to carry the reader along. I’m actually contemplating preparing an outline before I jump feet first into the next book! Wonders will never cease.

That’s it for the update, I must get back to something more productive, like writing up some fantastic interviews for next week and details of why I’ve signed up as a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), oh and writing!