Thursday, April 28, 2011

New Books!

Today I collected my new books from the printer! Doodle Mayhem now in 2nd edition has come home to Lost in a Book. Now all my books are published under my own imprint Lost in a Book, and printed locally - home grown books!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Onward and upward

If there's one thing I've learnt at recent fairs and events, it's that there's no point in going backwards. I started mainly at school fairs as they are generally cheaper, so not as much financial risk if I didn't sell as many books. But experience has shown that each time I step up to a new level, ie a bigger and consequently more expensive fair, I do better. There are some well established craft fairs in and around York with a diverse crowd of people passing through from all over the world, and with a large footfall my sales have increased.

The secret to making a profit from self-publishing is simple - keep the overheads down, and sell each book at a profit. What isn't so simple is getting those books out in large enough numbers to make a living...

Thursday, April 14, 2011

New books ordered

Proof reading is complete for Doodle Mayhem 2nd edition and the books are now ordered. This is where I get to hand the project over to the printers for them to work their magic and produce beautiful books that I can be proud to go out and sell at book signings.

I still have a few 1st editions left which I'll be taking out to a book signing in Knaresborough on Saturday.

Friday, April 08, 2011

Doodle Mayhem 2nd edition

Doodle Mayhem, the first of the doodle series will soon be back in print in it's 2nd edition. I'll be viewing the proof copy over the weekend, but until then it's available on Kindle from amazon and I still have a few 1st editions left from my website shop or at book signings.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

New venue in Knaresborough

I'm looking forward to attending a new venue in Knaresborough on 16th April D&D Home and Garden Fair promises to be a lively new craft fair of products hand made and produced in Yorkshire. I'll be there signing my books, which I write illustrate and publish myself, and have printed locally to a very high standard.

Friday, April 01, 2011

Ideas are shy

Why are ideas so shy? When I'm deep in editing or marketing I long to get back to some 'propper writing', the sort where ideas flow and magic happens, but then when the opportunity comes the ideas try to flee to the far recesses of the mind. They need to be coaxed out and herded into order and filtered through the keyboard into the computer.
Downboy the sheepdog from: But I'm Not Sleepy

When I was researching and writing But I'm Not Sleepy I found all sorts of warning notes about sheepdogs - thinking this was strange I read on. Apparently sheep dogs can be troublesome if they don't have sheep to round up, as they have a tendency to round up other peoples' dogs whilst out on a walk.Maybe I need to employ Downboy the sheep dog to round up my stubborn characters, although as some of them are cats it might cause a whole host of new problems...