EVENT AFTER ACTION REPORT

Saturday was the first event of the year and a town I’d never been before, so arriving nice and early, I found the car park with easy and with my little trolley, wheeled my massive load of books the short way to Salisbury Guildhall. The location was right in the middle of the town and a busy shopping area, so couldn’t have been more perfect. The hall itself was so grand, with amazing portraits everywhere you looked.

My tables was next to a few familiar faces and about halfway around the circuit. Within half an hour I’d set up, showing off my array of books with what I hope would be my silver bullet to the most often question I get asked. “So did you write these books?”

In my humble opinion I think the setup looked great, and armed with my little A6 copies of Harm’s Way, I was ready for the doors to open.

By 10:30 I’d made my first sale, getting into my stride and with a steady stream of punters I barely had any length of time to worry. At around midday I’d broken even on the table costs and at several points I was selling one book and then going right on to sell another.

A lady from the US bought a copy of ODW to read on her flight home and she came back with her husband and friends ten minutes later to ask for a photograph. I obliged, awkwardly smiling into the camera with my arm around a stranger as other people looked on probably thinking I was someone famous they just didn’t recognise.

OPERATION DAWN WOLF was the star of the show, including selling a box set of the three in the series. I sold at least one of every one of my books, with the zombie stuff not really biting (so to speak) but still I sold two box sets and four copies of IN THE END.

I gave away lots of copies of HARM’S WAY, both to people who showed a vague interest and as an extra free gift to those who bought anything.

In total I sold 28 of my books, 9 of which were ODW, and made just shy of a hundred pounds in gross profit, which nearly matches my two day record in Wokingham. The table cloth went down very well, I think only two people asked who wrote the books, or if I was the author, so it was very much worth it.

At the end of the day my load was much lighter heading back to the car and I had to order more books when I got home, optimistic that I would need them in the coming months!

I received two follow up emails from people who bought ODW, both telling how much they enjoyed it, but one of them was a bit more special. However, that’s news for another day.

Bring on the next event in Thame on the 2nd April!

WORK IN PROGRESS

Scarlet Rain – Book 1 – I’m 76,000 words into the revision and the MS is down to 96,000 words. The last few chapters have grown but the extra detail was needed for the storyline.

From The Deep – This Agent Carrie Harris short story is back from editing but I haven’t reviewed the changes yet. That starts today, and at some point I need to write the blurb. This story will only be available on Amazon, ko-fi and probably in a limited run of A6 prints.

Stopping Power – The newly named Agent Carrie Harris Zombie crossover short is now written and went off for edit yesterday. This is my current priority as I want to see if it will lead to my next full novel. Blurb and cover still to create. It will be a free giveaway, and available on Amazon and an A6 print.

MARKETING & PROMOTION

My pages reads for IN THE END are on the up thanks to the current mailing list promotion I’m running through Bookfunnel, but other than that there’s not much else to report.

Okay, that’s if for this week. I’ll catch you soon for another update.