I have to confess I made a bit of a mistake when putting my book up on Amazon. The plan had been to make both the eBook and the paperback available for pre-order with a timescale of about a month to give me time to gear up for the launch. I got that bit wrong. The paperback was available to purchase straight away while the eBook was on pre-order with a release date some four weeks away. Oops.
Much of each day at the moment consists of learning. Learning the techie stuff that is baffling me (what is a clean URL?), and learning from my mistakes. I keep re-assuring myself that it will be better next time round.
I know I need to properly introduce my book to the world so I have a virtual book launch set for Saturday 20th March, the spring equinox. I’ve created the event, sent invites, have a sort of a plan. Trying to work out what people will be happy to listen to is difficult. I can talk forever about my baby, and I would love to share that but I know that too much will be boring. On the other hand, I want people to get something out of this, so it’s not just me pushing people to buy the book.
I think I will at least tell people how the story came to be. There really is a face in my bathroom floor; the patterns on the tiles are like clouds in the sky. They prompt images that swirl around in your brain and for me prompted the whole story.
I am now starting to get feedback on my book. Yay! People are phoning me to tell me that they couldn’t put it down, staying up till three in the morning to read it, reading it at work in the quiet bits, refusing to do the housework till they’ve finished it. A couple of people have told me it’s not their usual sort of thing but they have still read it and loved it. People are asking when the sequel will be available. Hmm, need to get working on that.
Getting this feedback is awesome. It’s giving me the incentive to press on with this marketing malarkey. Copies sold so far - 30 paperbacks and 18 eBooks on pre-order.
You are welcome to come to the launch party. Just click on this link for details.
www.portlandjones.com Go to my website to follow my blog as I work my way through the mind-blowing maze from the first idea to bringing it to life and setting it free.