This week I’ve been mostly writing and trying out new ideas for getting people to read and review my work.

Marketing & Promotion

It feels like a bit of a lull after the amazing success of last month, what with an upturn in sales from marketing within Facebook groups to the awesome results of the promotion last week. Now I’m seeing blank space with very few books going out through Amazon’s door. However I keep reminding myself I’ve only got one book out (well two if you count SURVIVOR) and all my effort should be on getting the next books through the author sausage machine.

I think a lack of reviews for IN THE END are holding me back (and every other author) and it’s one of my priorities now. I should have concentrated on this at the start of the process, maybe even before releases, however I think I lacked confidence in the work. Now I’m on catch up and have been searching around for horror review websites. After just half an hour of searching and submitting I’ve got one definite, one maybe and one no sorry. I’ll let you know as they come back, good or bad and I’ll keep submitting!

A highlight to my week

Following on from the lovely post from a member of one of the Facebook groups, I’ve already got one amazing review from someone who promised to read! The following is from the audible.com site as she read part on her Kindle and listened to the last part so she could put the reviews in two places.

A must for any ZomPoc fan

Damn! I was totally taken with the beginning of a, hopefully, long series. Set in England it details, quite well of a man, slightly adventurous but anything but the action hero that immediately steps in to take charge. Logan is an ordinary man out with his circle of friends intending to celebrate the New Year in a rent cottage in Cornwall. 

He and ten friends were celebrating when the lights went out.
Logan is inadvertently thrust into role of leadership even though he is just as lost as everyone else. After their first encounter with the infected leaves them divided, most refuse to believe until it is almost too late as they loose one of their own. Still Logan does not feel he is the one to take the lead but as they fight for survival he does what he believes is best, making mistake after mistake yet somehow coming through each ordeal.

He is at once resentful that they look to him for answers while at the same time showing disdain and questioning his choices. But he continues because he has no choice. 

(possible spoilers)
After loosing their means of transport and another harrowing escape they come across a small boy, who may or may not hold the key to a cure for the virus that has ravaged the country. 
Logan grows as a leader as he fights of the Reanimated as well as looters fighting them off along with Cassie whom he is attracted to as she is to him. 

Logan grows in small increments as he finds strength to do what he must as he leads his small group to what he hopes will be help.
And we must not forget the Military who have suddenly appeared, far too quickly to evacuate those not infected and quickly dispatching them properly?

This is a must read for any ZomPoc fan as G. J. Stevens shows his talent switching from each major player in this novel and their harrowing escape from the reanimated.

Really looking forward to the next instalment

I also received another wonderful review yesterday proving that review’s don’t have to be long to matter!

Calibre for ebooks

I found a nifty piece of software called Calibre which is a very simple way of producing ebooks in many formats from MS Word, including adding the front cover and dealing with table of contents. You can check it out here https://calibre-ebook.com/

This is going to help me no end as I set my sights on going wide at the end of May.

Before The End

Book Two is with my beta reader and she’s taunting me over the 110 comments she’s already made in the first 20 pages, but I’m also glad to hear she doesn’t hate the book. It’s a worthwhile price to pay as I value her opinion and no I didn’t just say this because I know she’ll read this!

SURVIVOR VOLUME TWO

I’m using my evenings to produce content for the second volume of SURVIVOR. I’m teaching myself so much as I research, just as I did with the first volume.

Confirmed and written content so far:

• How to catch and prepare coarse fish for cooking
• Transport in the apocalypse
• The many different uses for paracord in survival
• Preparing a zombie apocalypse survival plan (or just a plain survival plan)

I’m still thinking about how I will release this second volume. I will probably combine it with volume one for sale on Amazon and offer a volume 2 standalone for those who already have volume one. Volume one will continue to be offered as a reader magnet.

Book Three

I’m also steaming ahead with Book Three, firstly making make some changes brought about to the edits made to BEFORE THE END. I’m putting together a much more dramatic start as on reflection the first one I came up with was pretty dull. I’m loving getting to craft scenes from scratch again!

Events

This weekend sees the start of a long run of events, with only one Saturday set aside. On Saturday I’ll be back in WHSmith, this time at the Bracknell store hoping to talk to interesting people and maybe sign a few books.

Yesterday I took delivery of my new gazebo / stall in preparation for an event in Staines (or Zombie Town as I call it now due to their appetite for my book last time). I need to find some other places to use it so I can get my money’s worth. If you know of any towns in the South East of England that let you set up, then I’d be grateful if you can share the contacts.

I think that’s it for this week’s update. There’s loads more going on in the background, but you’ll either see it in my upcoming blog posts or I’ll add them to my updates in the next few weeks.

As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts and comments!