WORK IN PROGRESS

I’m halfway through the self-edit with ProWritingAid and within a week I’ll be on the final read through, then after basic formatting, it’s off for edit.

EVENTS

Last week saw me at a craft fair in Abingdon with my hopes pinned on the event that ranked highest for profit out all locations, and it didn’t disappoint! It started off well, but the morning was slow and steady, then the day took off. The people were willingly coming up to see me and many took very little time to make a purchase.

The only hiccup was when a woman who’d bought from me before mentioned as I offered her a bookmark that she’d read one of my books before. She didn’t seem overly excited, but nonetheless I couldn’t help but ask the dreaded question.

“So what did you think of it?”

She barely turned around as she walked slowly past, but glanced over her shoulder as she spoke.

“I enjoyed the story, but I didn’t like the English.”

I let this bother me for about five minutes, then I reminded myself that even though I may not be the best crafter of the language, there are plenty of people that love the way I write. I then moved on as the sales continued to come.

For the first time in a long while IN THE END almost outsold FATE’S AMBITION. My sales were across the range and once again there was decent interest in LOST AMONGST THE STARS.

Tomorrow is Henley, whose history of profits sit right at the average point for all events and, having attended six times already, it remains my most frequented location. It’s also pretty close to home, so it’s only the ten minute walk from the car park that brings the experience down!

With table space at a premium on my stall, in preparation for my next release I’ve come up with a modification to the space that involves a bit of woodwork that will hopefully give me the room I need. Over the next couple of months I will start the build!

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

As I mentioned last week, after running a tried and tested Facebook ad for two weeks, sales had slowed before dipping below break even. Last Friday I turned off the campaign, copied it and republished, as advised by Facebook, to reset the campaign and then sat back.

I had no sales and only a few hundred page reads on Saturday. Then on Sunday it was the same. With growing frustration I was ready to shake my fists at Facebook ads once again and cry into my pillow, but instead I thought I’d check up to see what the stats were saying. Quickly realising I’d done everything right apart of turning the campaign on, I clicked the button and drew a sheepish deep breath. Within twelve hours I was earning four times the ad spend and that repeated for three days. Doh!

It is still frustrating that I can’t get a handle on why the same ad two weeks ago was consistently breaking even and is now achieving so well. Let’s see how long that continues for!

That’s it for this week. Next week I have a break from events, so I’ll be spending more time in the garden to complete the big landscaping project. I like to be living proof that there’s no rest for the wicked.