Dilemma of the self publisher...

I've zapped my second edition Doodle Mayhem off to the printers - this is the only process I don't do myself, there are now printer and binder machines available but I think that is maybe a step too far, some things I prefer to leave to the professionals, so I have my books printed and bound locally to a very high standard. So now is my perfect opportunity to get some writing done - but here is the dilemma of the self publisher - to write the next book, into which I know I'll get totally immersed to the expense of all else - or to market the books I've already written and published and chip away at my book mountain... As ever I'll have to multi task and try to fit everything in. So it's marketing this morning and then the internet will get turned off and I'll try to drag some words kicking and screaming onto the keyboard.

Iver No-Idea up to his tricks again.

I've just been doing the final edits before zapping Doodle Mayhem off to the printers to print the second edition. I think Iver No-Idea must have been up to his tricks again shuffling letters around, but I've found them and done the necessary edits, and locked them into a PDF so hopefully even Iver can't mess them up now...

Online community

I've now joined Authorsden, an online community for writers and readers, I'm hoping to find some new readers for my books, and maybe find some books to read by authors that I haven't come across before...

Kindle books for kids

No fairs this weekend, but my doodle characters are out and about in Doodle Mayhem on kindle, and available through amazon

Best seller again

Yet again, But I'm Not Sleepy was my best seller on Saturday. Surprisingly no Monster books sold - people were running scared of monsters this weekend, preferring to have sheep running around out of control instead...

Chipping away at the book mountain...

It's been one of those weeks were life seemed to get in the way of writing, although sometimes I think staying away from the computer can relax the mind and allow inspiration to creep in. So now my head is buzzing with new ideas and new projects.

Tomorrow - Saturday 12th March, 10am - 4.30pm I'll be back at York's Guildhall doing a book signing and hopefully selling a bit of my book mountain - the bedroom is starting to look like a warehouse... I know digital printing means that you can have as few as one book printed, but in reality a bigger print run means lower unit costs, so I have as many books printed as I can reasonably afford at the time.

Bedtime story

I was back out there in the real world on Saturday, selling real books to real people while the computer sat home alone.

But I'm Not Sleepy is still my best seller. everyone can relate to a child who says they're not sleepy, but no one has yet admitted that they were just the same when they were kids! And what better thing to fill that gap between getting into bed and falling asleep, than a good bedtime story, to ignite the imagination and go to magical places.

Doodle Mayhem out on Kindle now!!

All the hard work has paid off, Doodle Mayhem 2nd edition is published now on kindle and available through amazon

It's exciting to see one of my books up there in a brand new format! one which nearly defeated me, but I hate to be beaten and kept chipping away at the obstacles.

The main problem was the illustrations, they behaved differently in the kindle format, and at first they ran amok through the text; for a printed book I can arrange the illustration where I like, dotting them about at will, but in kindle format I found the only way was to place them between the lines of text, so that they knew their boundaries... I also had to reduce the size of some of the pictures so that they appeared with the text, especially when they were for a chapter heading.

Now I need to get this 2nd edition into print... then I can start on a new project!!

This weekend I'll be at York's Guildhall Saturday 5th March 10am - 4.30pm doing a book signing - I only have a few 1st edition Doodle Mayhem left now...