PERSONAL UPDATE

It’s a bank holiday weekend in the UK, so it means 4 days off from the daily grind! I’ve got quite a bit to do around the house and we’re get out for some weather-dependant walks, but hopefully I’ll get time to do some writing work as well.

Everything is pretty rosey right now!

WORK IN PROGRESS

Capital Action Audiobook – The narration is complete and I’m running through approving the files. I’m very much enjoying the audio. Hopefully this will be completed next week and then I can submit to Findaway Voices. It will be interesting to see how this process differs to that of ACX.

Purple Rain Series – The draft of the first book is progressing well and I’m still running through the first third of the book and bringing it up to draft two standards. It looks like it will be after next week that I hit where I only outlined and need to knit the paragraphs and notes together so they’re coherent.

From The Dead – This Agent Carrie Harris novel is now printed out and I’m about 10% through the read-through. I’m surprising myself with the level of changes I’ve made again in what I’ve read so far. This will be my priority over the weekend.

After The End Audiobook – This still shows as pending audio review with ACX. It’s been just over a week since the final version was submitted.

In The End Standalone – I’ve started breaking out the outline into chapters / sections but haven’t really done much work on this yet, certainly no concentrated writing.

Beginning of the End Audiobook – As I write this, I’ve just received the audition for the book from my Carrie Harris narrator. The narration is great but it does sound too much like Carrie Harris. I have now also submitted the book to Findaway Voices to get more auditions.

EVENTS

The first event of the year is coming up in two weeks. I can’t wait to showcase my novellas and some other things I have planned for the stall. The cancelled Cranfield event has now been rebooked for November. That gives me a total of 10 events throughout the year. Fingers crossed they all go ahead.

SALES & MARKETING

Having increased my Facebook ad budget for the IN THE END series by 10% it’s difficult to compare the results, however I can confirm a 22% return over the advertising cost, which I’m very happy with. I will increase the budget by another £3 over the weekend and hope the increase is seen on the sales.

The Agent Carrie Harris campaign is still not going well. I have the book on free price-match with Amazon and I’m spending £5 a day advertising it. The number of downloads is hit and miss. I’ve now stopped this ad and I’m pushing it out to bloggers to see if I can get reviews. Perhaps that is why the book is not getting downloaded. I’ve already had about five agree to review the book, so let’s hope they like it. One of the great things with the novellas is that they’re cheap to post out and a lot of bloggers won’t accept ebooks. I’m working through the very long list of book bloggers found here. https://bookbloggerlist.com

If you’re interested in reviewing either of the novellas then I’d be happy to provide a free copy in a format of your choice. Just comment below.

Sales from my online shop are going okay. I now offer 20% off to my email subscribers which had prompted a few sales. I should be sending out another mailing this weekend once I have decided what to send.

That’s about it for me. Catch you next week.