SELF-PUBLISHING UPDATE: EARLY DAYS ON MARKETING THE BOOK

Tags

Adventure, Author, Blogging community, Book, book marketing, Books, creative writing, Hiking, marketing, Self-publishing

Hello Everybody,

I just wanted to briefly share some early insights on marketing a self-published book.

This is by no means a definitive guide. I just wanted to share a few issues I’d found that may help others attempting to self-publish.

THE MARKETING ADVENTURE BEGINS

Next Monday sees my hiking book, Adventure Dayze, go ‘live’ on Amazon. It’s actually been out about a month, but my main aim in the first four weeks was to get word out to family and friends, and to build up a few reviews.

I’ve also used that time to create my Facebook page and to put together a list of blogs, podcasts, tourist boards etc as I start to promote and market the book more from Monday 5th July.

LESSONS LEARNED

My approach has been a little different to the advice I’d researched on how to market a self-published book. Normally, having a team of readers to review the book before the launch and doing a few other marketing bits and bobs is the regular way. However, it was important for me to focus on getting my book out there first and dealing with the other steps one at a time. My mind works better that way as I can give more thorough attention to each step.

That said, for my next book there’s things that I’ll definitely do differently before the book launch (e.g. getting it reviewed) as I can see the benefit in that.

What I appreciate is that I’ve had some great advice from my mentors, Jessica Coleman (editor) and Hollie Marsh (marketing), that is steering me in the right direction, and that the way I’m presently doing it is okay. It’s so important to have people around you that help you to believe in yourself.

Overall, this is all a learning curve and I’m enjoying the whole experience.

WHAT’S NEXT?

I’m returning to Rutland on a camping adventure holiday this weekend.

Then, it’s time for the marketing to begin properly.

I’ll put posts up about all this in the next week or so.

If you’ve self-published or are about to, what has your approach been? Or, if you’ve enjoyed this post, please feel free to leave a comment. It’d be great to hear from you 

PHOTO POST: HIKING BOOK COVER REVEAL

Tags

Adventure, Author, blogging, Blogging community, Book, creative writing, Discover Prompts, non-fiction, Self-publishing

Hi Everybody,

I hope you’re all doing okay.

I’m very excited to reveal the cover for my first book, Adventure Dayze, which charts the adventures of my friends and I. The book covers my progress to overcome a fear of heights and a dodgy sense of direction as we attempt the highest mountains in each of the countries of Britain and then Ireland.

• 

The cover shows me wandering off in a completely different direction to my friends even though I’m holding the map. That’s a very common theme on our mountain hikes! The cover is mostly green for two reasons: this is a nod to my Irish roots and because my favourite colour is… you guessed it…green!

The cover was designed by Laura Antonioli, who I found on Fiverr. Laura was so patient and kind, and very supportive of any changes I needed. She also did the internal layout of the book – and I am really pleased with that too. I look forward to working with her on future projects.

In the next post I’ll reveal more details about the book’s release!

Thank you for stopping by and reading this. If you’ve got any comments, it’d be great to hear from you. I’m looking forward to reading your posts as well.

Peace and Love for now 😊

Prose Poem: Bird Man

Tags

Alone, Birds, blogging, Blogging community, creative writing, Discovery Prompts, Lonely, Poem, Poetry, Prose poetry

As the sun rises and sets casting it’s pink and golden hue across the city,
I while away my days perched atop this building:
This building I’ve long called home, far above and far away
From the people who scuttle on, oblivious to one another as I am to them.

---

But I prefer it this way, maintaining my own space.
I’m no bother to anybody save the birds who vie for my attention.
They’re my friends, after all, and they keep me on the narrow and straight,
Seeking my wisdom in all the ways they consider me wise.

---

A few centuries ago (before the time of cars and planes or when the smoke of factories filled the air)
They gave me a gloriously feathered coat.
Up to that point mine had been an unsettled existence
As that of a Lone Traveller is fated to be, lost between all realms in Time and Space.

---

I always enjoyed the dream of a solitary existence, just not to be lonely.
My avian friends answered the cries of my heart, respecting my independence when people did not.
And my cape of feathers brought me unbridled freedom, then:
A cloak of invisibility to pass by undetected.

---

As Time and Memory bounded on I settled my weary bones in this World.
And in this city with its noises and lights and colours
My heart beats strongest as I march through the hordes and the throngs without trace
To carry out the business of the birds – for they have needs like you and me.

---

How grateful I am when my work is done to return and share my rooftop with the sparrows and the magpies and the robins to name a few.

*********

About

I wrote this inspired by the character Old Bailey in Neil Gaiman’s book ‘Neverwhere’. He’s an old man who lives on top of a building in London with birds to keep him company.

Having also watched a YouTube video about people who preferred being alone, I was able to expand on the themes of the poem. I also wanted to highlight the therapeutic qualities of the pets and animals in our lives.

I hope you liked reading it. Please feel free to leave a comment below – it’d be great to know what you think of this work.

Self-Publishing Update: I went to the Faroe Islands!

Tags

Adventure, Book, Coronavirus, creative writing, Discovery Prompts, Faroe Islands, Hiking, Lockdown, Novel, Self-publishing, Virtual hiking, writing

Hi Everybody,

I hope you are all safe and well and coping with the mental strain that the current pandemic can cause.

I hit a block this week. As I was editing my hiking book I realised that certain info needed revising due to the lockdown. One of my themes in the book is to encourage people to get out into the countryside by any means necessary. However, in the UK we’re currently being told to avoid public transport.

So, if I published my book any time soon I’d get roasted for the advice I offered.

It made me stop in my tracks for a few days. Initially, I thought that the pandemic had put paid to my work of the last two years. I admit I walked away from it for a few days as I was uncertain about what to do. I reached out to my editor and she suggested to add another chapter about how I’ve coped in lockdown, to add any resources I’ve found useful and to modify the parts of the book that need it. She added that painting a message of truth and hope is important.

Whilst it’s true I’ve been out a lot less, I have adapted my hiking. As I can’t drive I’m sticking to streets close to home and I’m hiking in my garden. I’ve been aware of my thoughts and anxieties. Plus, I’ve done other things to motivate me to keep the passion for hiking burning, e.g. living a weekend off army ration packs as if I was in the wilderness.

I realised, then, that I had some material for the makings of an extra chapter. Before I knew it I had plotted a deeper outline for it and I felt more calm about everything.

The main problem is now when to release the book as we just don’t know how long the lockdown will last and what the aftermath will be. But that’ll be a chat with my editor another time.

THE FAROE ISLANDS

As I fleshed out the ideas it made me realise just how much hiking is in my blood. In recent weeks I’ve read travel books and watched hiking videos on YouTube. As good as this has been to keep me going, something more was needed. I don’t know how or why, but I used the term ‘Virtual Hike’ in Youtube – and this was a game changer.

Suddenly, I was transported into a world where the videomakers stayed behind the camera as they strolled up mountain paths and through valleys gifting me free views of what lay in front of them as if it was me taking the hike. It’s the best I can do for now, but it’s good to know I can go to a lot of new places in the world.

Maybe in time Virtual Reality will allow us to use senses like smell and touch in a virtual walking world.

Being in the real world is obviously better – and the days of seriously hiking in it shall return – but to be able to walk anywhere in the world from my front room is quite liberating.

DID I MENTION THE FAROE ISLANDS?

My favourite gem I found was this weekly virtual walking tour of the Faroe Islands:

http://www.remote-tourism.com

It starts at 6pm (Greenwich Mean Time) on Wednesdays. A guide does a walking tour of an area of the islands whilst pouring out facts to the listener. The unique feature of these trips is that viewers can control where the guide goes via use of the on-screen joypad.

WHAT NEXT?

So, from things grinding to a halt, I’m now back on track – even if there’s more work to be done. Having discovered the world of virtual hiking I’ve found something that will be a new hobby in lockdown and a source that’ll help me get the new chapter written.

I hope you’re all okay and that you get to travel to where you want soon. For now, I highly recommend you take a virtual tour of the Faroe Islands.

Peace and love, Everybody 😊

The Return Of The Angry Onion

Tags

Adventure, blogging, Blogging community, creative writing, Gardening, Liquid soap, Onion, Prehistoric, Story, Woolly mammoth

The other day I grated bar soap in an attempt to make liquid soap.

I added it to some boiling water and stirred it until it dissolved.

I stirred in two tablespoons of glycerin. Then I let it sit overnight. Tick tock, tick tock…

The next morning, before I checked the experiment had worked I went to make a coffee.

But who should be waiting for me?

It was the Angry Onion, of course.

‘I drank all your soap,’ he smirked in his weaselly voice. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

So, I called out to the only one who I knew would help.

‘Darren, where are you? I need you now!’

‘Here I am…oh, it’s that grumpy onion,’ said my woolly mammoth friend. ‘He’s drank the liquid soap I was going to have for my shower.’

Darren exhaled a hurricane strength blast from his trunk and that onion went straight through the wall.

How unfortunate this all was.

Still, we consoled ourselves with a nice slice of jam sponge as we waited for a builder to repair the wall.

Moral of the story: Make sure there are no root vegetables and extinct prehistoric animals in your home before you make your own cleansing products.

Be Inspired and Inspire

Tags

blogging, Blogging community, Boredom, Coronavirus, creative writing, Creativity, Family, Friends, Inspiration, Lockdown, Poem, Poetry, Prose poetry

Do whatever makes you happy.

Write, draw, paint, dance,

Watch a movie, cook a meal,

Work out, make music, knit,

Play games, do gardening.

Sit still if you want to and imagine –

Just don’t let everything that’s going on

Get you down, down, down.

Maintain standards and create,

Bring ideas to life

Or just let them play out in your mind.

Keep in touch with loved ones,

Surprise those most in need.

Share and inspire. Inspire. INSPIRE!

And if today you find yourself bored

Remember that on this day being bored means keeping well and healthy.

(I wrote this poem as a counterattack to the boredom I’d felt in lockdown. Some recent posts I’d read here on WordPress about positive thinking inspired me too. There’s so much power in being creative: it nourishes soul, body and mind. When creativity is shared with family, friends or strangers it can ripple out and have a potently positive effect. But sometimes being bored is okay if we can reframe it and put it in perspective. Stay safe and well, Everybody 😊).

Learning More And More About Myself As A Self-publishing Writer

Tags

Adventure, blogging, Blogging community, Book, creative writing, Discovery Prompts, Hiking, Mountain, Novel, Self-publishing, writing

Hi Everybody,

Hope you are all keeping safe and well.

I so wanted to put this post up earlier this week and to do some of the daily prompts. However, I’ve been so engrossed in working on my Ben Nevis story that I’ve sacrificed other writing projects.

I’ve had to rewrite a few sections of the book at the suggestion of my editor, e.g. adding potted histories of the places I’ve hiked to and focusing more on the mental health benefits of walking. I really enjoy doing research as I know it adds layers to my book. It’s meant developing discipline and being thorough. Gaining knowledge is a wonderful and if it gives more soul to what I write, then that’s a good thing.

Sometimes I feel that I should be slogging out the work every day and burning the midnight oil more. However, I’ve noticed that my better work comes when I step back occasionally – a day here or there – when I do no writing and just think through what I need to do. Others I know need to keep writing and writing each day in order to keep their work focussed. Stepping back helps me to maintain my efforts and look at things afresh.

When I first started to write more seriously I thought taking the odd day off here and there wasn’t good as it didn’t seem the done thing amongst other writers I know. Similarly, I felt pressure if I didn’t write a thousand words every day. To get around issues like this I realised that as long as I was dedicating myself to writing in some way each day, that’s okay. If it means stopping and thinking (most likely on a hike!) about what I’m writing and that makes me a better writer, then that’s what I’ll do.

I think when you work things like this out and your more comfortable with how you go about things, then that shows your maturing as a writer.

Slow and steady is definitely my modus operandi. I’m really only able to focus on one thing at a time. So, I feel that I need to get my changes done and sent to my editor for a final check for publishing before I can look at any other matters related to self-publishing -completing the blurb, sorting the cover design etc – when maybe I should be concurrently undertaking those activities along with my writing. Time and experience will tell if this approach is suitable.

But this is a journey and I’m willing to adapt and learn – and that inspires me.

Perhaps it’s just knowing that I’m learning more about myself and evolving more as a writer that encourages me to keep developing my craft.

And long may that continue.

I’ll look forward to catching up on everybody’s posts over the weekend.

Have a good weekend, everybody 😊.

Discovery Prompts Day 16 Slow – ‘A Short Story About Clive Dinsdale’

Tags

blogging, Blogging community, Budgies, creative writing, Daily Prompts, Flash fiction, Life, Pickled onions, writing

My Dad hasn’t seen Clive in recent times. You know who I mean Clive Dinsdale. He reared budgerigars back in the sixties with Dustin Hoffman and Geoff Capes. Good old Clive. Clive The Dive they called him cos he was a great goalkeeper. He swooped like a budgie to catch the ball.

He wore bright clothes all the time. You could say that he dressed like a budgie. That time he worked as a helicopter pilot in 1987 was where his sense of fashion came in to it’s own; there he was clothed and flying around like his favourite birdy in a chopper.

He had this thing for putting pickled onions in his trainers next to the blade of grass in a canoe on the moon. The squelchy crunching sound as he quick-stepped down the main street told him much about how you could fill up a dry river bed with empty down down. Such is the life of a man who gives his life to budgies.

He considered selling his soupy bubble troupers to the local pet shop under duress from Jimmy. Virtual Quack Quack. Budgies do go quack after all!

So good.

So long.

Farewell.

Discovery Prompts Day 10 : Orchestra. Poem – The Orcish Queen

Tags

blogging, Blogging community, creative writing, Discovery Prompts, Dungeons and Dragons, Goblins, Music, Orcs, Poem, Poetry, Role playing, writing

An Orcish orchestra played for their queen

As she sat on her throne eating the spleen

Of the goblin assassin who tried to take her life.

‘Oh, this melodic din shall free me from the strife

‘Of the little brute who tried to get at me

I’m going to enjoy eating him for my tea.’

The cacophonic encore reached its heady heights

As the queen demanded, ‘You’ll play through the night.’

Those orc musicians groaned and despaired

As a riotous symphony filled the air.

The Orcish Queen picked gristle from her teeth with a dagger,

Then rose to her feet and danced with a swagger.

Discover Prompts Day 4: Street

Tags

Childhood, creative writing, Discover Prompts, Poetry, Prose poetry, Street, writing, Writing prompts

This prose poem is called ‘Halfway Down Our Street’. The start of each sentence starts with a letter from the title to spell out the name of the poem.

Home was in the middle of our street,

An equal distance to the shops or park.

Life for eight year old me began on

Friday night after school when I couldn’t wait to

Wake up with a fistful of pocket money

And run til I reached the comic store.

Yeah!!!!

Darkness seemed far away as

Once afternoon came I’d play in the park

With my friends at soccer or tennis or a

New crazy creation that passed for fun back then.

Out and about, exploring by the stream

Until we heard our parents call us to

Return home for our dinner.

Saturday night was alright: chips and the A-Team.

Then I’d ask politely to go outside and play again

Right up until the moon popped up

Ending another day of uninterrupted fun.

Eight o’clock was bedtime as I shuffled up the stairs

To read comic books and dream of tomorrow.