It’s been a funny old week since my last blog which was on the eve of my first event since February. I’m really pleased to let you know that the Christmas market in Wokingham was a great success. Over the two days I sold 36 books, of which mine were the majority. Fellow author, friend and beta-reader extraordinaire Laura Laakso joined me to natter as we met some really lovely people.

Despite the excellent COVID protocols in place, we managed some real human interaction, which I think most of us are craving. I sold books to die hard zombie fans, those who were curious and even to a fan of mine who wanted to say hello and buy my other books.

The date was such a success, not only paying for itself and the stock, but resulted in a small profit the size of which I would normally make in a week or so in online book sales. I’ve been thinking ahead to next year and have now booked up four more events as below:

• Henley Craft and Gift Market – 27th March 2021
• Wokingham Easter Market – 28th March 2021
• Guildford Craft Market – 8th May 2021
• Wokingham Christmas Market – Dates TBC
• Ashford Christmas Market – Dates TBC
• Guildford Craft Market – 3rd December 2021

I’m also looking to book more when they become available.

To build on the success I have loads of ideas rolling around in my head, but I’ll let you in on those as the ideas progress. One of the key areas I’m hoping to improve is the range of genres on sale. I’d like to stock some romance, more crime and maybe a little SciFi. If you know of any willing indie authors in those genres then let me know.

Sales & Marketing

Elsewhere sales are very strong considering that I’m not spending any money on Facebook ads this month. The only advertising I’m doing is ad hoc newsletter and mailing list services. My current thinking is that I will wait for the sales to slow down, probably in January, before I start the Facebook campaign again and test scaling the ads up significantly.

Work in Progress

This week I have been working on the second draft of CAPITAL ACTION, the novella for the Carrie Harris Spy/Crime thrillers. I’m hoping to have both this novella and the IN THE END novella released before my first event in March. I have the day off the day job today, so I hope to concentrate my efforts and be in a position to complete this draft before the end of the year.

The audio production of LESSON LEARNED is in its latter stages, with the recording complete and currently being checked by the producer’s proof reader. This means I’ll shortly get my chance to listen and approve! It’s looking like the audiobook should be ready for release around the middle of February.

Over Christmas I’ll be sending out a quick email to my mailing list to wish everyone well for the season and I’ll be putting together a blog post reviewing the past year, and what a year it has been!

Review of the Week

Before I go I wanted to share a review for LESSON LEARNED. The review enjoy the book and would have given it four stars if it weren’t for the fact that the first book in the series, OPERATION DAWN WOLF, was in her own words ‘a class apart,’ and in her opinion the second book was a let down. She ended up giving it three stars because the first one was so much better. Go figure!

I think that’s enough of a distraction from my writing for now. Keep an eye out for the year in review. Questions and comments always welcome.