The waiting game

No internet today because
we are waiting for a carpet fitter. This meant emptying the lounge and dining
room, hence no router plugged in. It’s amazing how, in today’s world, being
without Wi-Fi tends to render one helpless for a while. So, waiting for the
carpet fitter to arrive meant I could finish my current reading: Lamentations
by C.J.Sansom. This is an historical novel, a best seller, but one that a
Goodreads search could not find. I tried twice because I wanted to leave a
review for a quite outstanding novel. Perhaps Goodreads were ‘wireless’ too!

I’ve begun distributing
my bookmarkers to the family who all seem quite happy to pass them around their
social circles and leave them in bars and restaurants. I’ve distributed a few,
but not as many as I would want. I think it’s because it isn’t something I am
used to doing, or maybe I don’t get out much! 
But I’ll persevere.

And on the subject of
perseverance: I am still struggling to get my book jacket uploaded to
CreateSpace. Not being a dab hand at this kind of thing, I have to use the
subjective approach. I’m getting closer and hoped to have had it uploaded today
if it wasn’t for the carpet fitter. Maybe this evening. Needless to say I did
not work on my current novel last week. I do have excuses, mainly down to
other, unavoidable commitments. I suspect it will be after Christmas before I
can crack on with it.

I had a nice surprise
last week: my title, The Devil’s Trinity,
shot up the rankings after a small promotion. It reached 469 in the thriller
category and managed to sell about 40 copies in one day. For me that is a major
step up, particularly as it was wallowing at the bottom of the swamp. The sales
have tailed off now, but the promotion with Choosy Books cost me $9.99 was a
worthwhile investment. It was a one-off deal the company offered. I’ll go with
them again. Lot cheaper than BookBub, but not with the same results.

I read last week that
Amazon are now third in the top 100 book sellers. Smashwords are second. I
forget who came top though. I also read of the problem Amazon’s new Kindle
scheme is creating for the top writers. If I lend a book from Amazon’s library,
the writer gets a set royalty, and it is the same value for an unknown writer.
Whereas a purchased copy of the top writer’s novel would yield a higher royalty
compared to the cheaper, unknown writer. It doesn’t affect me because none of
my titles are in the Amazon library programme. Not that it made any difference
to me when my books were enrolled: I never made more than a couple of dollars
in a year anyway.

So I press on and look
forward to calmer times when I can get down to serious writing and promotion.
The carpet fitter is due in a hour, and the store just phoned to say that the
furniture will be delivered on Saturday. We’ll have a totally new front room
and dining area then.

Once again, wishing all
my readers a merry Christmas and a Happy New year. See you all in 2015.