An interesting couple of days!

Paula reflects on a series of (almost) unrelated events.

 

Last month, I was invited by an indie publisher in Ireland to take part (as one of the hosts) in a St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza on Facebook, as she knew I had recently had an Irish romance novel published. That was amazingly generous of her, as I’m not one of her authors, so many thanks to Kemberlee for inviting me!

Also, my own publisher (at my request) put ‘Irish Inheritance’ on sale at 99 cents (or 77 pence in the UK) on Amazon for the St Patrick’s Day weekend.

I spent most of Monday at the computer i.e. over 12 hours barring a couple of short breaks (I did have to eat at some point!)

I hasten to add that I wasn’t advertising my book non-stop, although I did post one cliff-hanger excerpt and, from time-to-time, posted the Amazon link about the special St. Patrick’s Day offer for my book.

The rest of the time I spent uploading photos, sometimes to illustrate the beautiful Irish scenery, especially in Connemara, sometimes with quiz questions attached (e.g. which American’s ancestral home was this?), and sometimes with a bit of information attached (e.g. about the Christopher Columbus memorial in Galway). All that actually took far more time than promoting my own book. 

I also responded to many of the other participants and visitors (over 200 in total) to the event, including spending an inordinate amount of time trying to guess where someone’s photo had been taken in Ireland!

Okay, I had a blast – and I thoroughly enjoyed the day.

The results? Well, quite a few downloads. Not enough to take me into the higher echelons of Amazon rankings, but hey, that’s just a dream, isn’t it? Certainly more than I’ve sold before in one weekend (although that’s not really saying much!)

More importantly, I’ve already heard from a couple of people who downloaded the book saying how much they are enjoying it, and how they find it intriguing. One person ‘complained’ she couldn’t put it down even though she had jobs to do!

Today I posted a thank you (on FB) to those who had bought it, and was delighted when about a dozen people shared this on their own FB pages (thank you, Jen!)

One of the messages I received was from a FB acquaintance who lives in the Lake District. Never one to miss a chance(!), I told her about ‘Fragrance of Violets’ (which is set in the Lake District), and I think she may buy it too.

Another contact I made as a result of the event was a friend of a friend, who lives in Dublin, and who has said she will ask around in Dublin and also in Galway (where she has some family/friends) about possible book signing opportunities. Actually the best book signing would be in the bookstore in Dalkey (near Dublin) as my hero and heroine go into that shop in the story! Whether any Irish book signing opportunity will arise is in the lap of the gods, of course (or maybe in the lap of the ‘little people’!) but I can hope.

So, all in all, Monday was a good day! Obviously, I couldn't spend each day doing this kind of networking/promotion of myself or one of my books, otherwise I wouldn’t have time to do any of my own writing, but once in a while it is real fun to do.

Today, as a footnote to all that, I had a phone call from a friend who has bought all the paperbacks of my novel, saying that her daughter wanted to buy all the paperbacks too. The daughter has read all my books on her Kindle, so I was quite surprised. But when I emailed the daughter to thank her, she said she wanted the signed copies on her book shelf –so she can show off to her friends that she has books signed by the author!

Oh, and another friend who has recently bought ‘Her Only Option’ sent me a message saying, “One night I am happily cruising the Nile and then BANG all hell breaks loose, and I don't know who the baddy(ies) is/ are. My poor old brain is suspecting nearly everyone!”

I think my main feeling today is, ‘At least some people are reading my books!’ It's a good feeling. J

10 Sentences

I'm taking the easy way out this week because I am sitting in the middle of my half-decorated study which has no curtains or carpet. It was hard work clearing everything out of here, and it's going to be even harder work putting everything back and returning to 'normal' again.

You may remember that my 'inspiration' for 'Her Only Option' was wondering whether the hero could vault over the rails from one Nile cruise ship sundeck to another. In the end, however, Ross didn't actually do this - but I couldn't omit my original thought completely.  So here's a 10-sentence excerpt, which takes place a week after they first met on the neighbouring sundecks.

They're at a party at the Rahman villa, and we're in Neve's POV. The first speaker is Ross.

"You and Joanne exchange ships next week; she’s on the Nadia and you’re on the Amirah. It’s a good thing I found out, otherwise I’d have had to practise vaulting over the rails between the sundecks."

"Easier to go down to the lobby where they have the gangplanks between the ships."

"Yeah, but not half as much fun. I even considered doing it last week when I first met you." He spooned rice on to her plate until she put out her hand to stop him.

A vision of him vaulting the four-foot gap between the rails of the sundecks came into her mind and she gave a quick chuckle. "Last Monday I’d probably have been willing you to drop down into the gap."

"Ouch - that bad, was it?"

"The first impression was not good, no."