Grabbing Monday and moulding it into something more interesting...

Grab Monday and mould into what you want it to be...

Why is it that we all celebrate a new year, but not a new week...? Monday should be full of possibilities and new beginnings, and if it isn't - then why isn't it...?

 So what am I doing with my Monday? Well...

•  I've added a new installment of A face Full of Snow to my website.
• I've checked in on my Etsy shop - and my new knitting pattern to knit your own sheep is getting some attention...
• I'm here, updating my blog...
• I'm going to do some painting for my next book...

What are you doing with your Monday?

Monday ramblings

Monday ramblings are on time this week, and not delayed to Tuesday like last week...

So what am I rambling about today? Well I've got my marketing hat on again, and trying my best not to get sidetracked into designing a suitable hat for the job... not that I'm a milliner or anything, and the last thing I need is to start off on a new and unrelated project...

So, trying to stick on subject - I've been getting more views on my various internet sites, but people seem more interested in my random ramblings than in my books, so maybe I'm attracting the wrong audience.

Where, I wonder can I find the audience who are going to buy cat books - wouldn't some of you lovely readers like to read about my life with a house full of kittens...? You can share such crazy moments as me wondering around the house in the middle of the night with my cat, looking for her kittens... You can see what drove a normally sane person to hiss at her cat in the middle of another night, or how we shared the job of weaning the kittens - me messing up the kittens with kitten slop, and her washing them... t

©anne m stephenson from Outnumbered by Cats

Monday ramblings on Tuesday...

Yes I know it's Tuesday, but Monday was pretty much taken up by 'stuff to do' which included a failed shoe shopping trip resulting in my usual shoe shop problem - me surrounded by shoes that don't fit, shop assistants trying to help, against all the odds, and me reaching for my trusty cowboy boots where my feet can hide away again in comfort. Yes I know it's June - but it was a thunder storm outside - which just goes to show that boots are the ideal foot wear at any time of year, so why fight it...?

So this week's dilemma is whether to carry on with my online campaign, book another craft fair,or work on the next book in the hope that my books will sell themselves... At the same time as all this, I seem to have developed tennis elbow even though I don't even watch tennis, let alone play it, and now everything I do seems to aggravate the condition, yes even typing. Of course I could put myself on sick-leave and read a book until the pain goes away, but I probably should achieve something tangible with my day.

Just putting the kettle on...

...ok now mustn't get carried away or the tea will go cold - yes it happens all too often. So I think my website should maybe be more fun, buzz words like retail theatre spring to mind - but how do I translate that into a website - oops must take the tea bag out - I don't like strong tea... caught in the nick of time.

So retail theatre seems like a dead end - for now, so what can I take from my experiences at book signings? Well people like to talk to a real live author - well they can always message me ...  OK what I actually take from that is that I still need to do book signings, and can't just hide behind a computer.

Apparently people like to rummage - so how can I translate that to an online bookshop, mess up the shop a little maybe...?  hmm any ideas anybody?

Everything you ever wanted to know about self publishing and a few things you didn't - ramblings of a self publisher...

So you found my blog - so I must be doing something right - self publishing is a buzz, there's no doubt about that, and as a creative person I love being able to keep control of every step myself, although when I'm on one of my learning curves it may not feel like it.

My learning curves mostly consist of when technology is trying to beat me, and I'm being stubborn and battling with it, every inch of the way... I seemed to get along with technology better once I stopped thinking that it was logical - I now believe that technology is far from logical, and we get along a lot better.I stopped believing for instance, that just because something worked one day, it doesn't mean its going to work in the same way the next... Technology has a warped sense of humour that I'm still trying to get my head around.

But self publishing meant that I had to get to grips with the technical side of formatting, especially as I like to make life hard for myself and include pictures - so they have to be forced to stick to the bit of the page where I want them, and not pile up at the bottom of the page like a discarded pack of cards. Of course it didn't help that the computer that I first started formatting on, was on its last legs, and that was sometimes the reason for nothing going as planned - not that I'm blaming my tools or anything - just saying.

Selling the books was my next learning curve, when I had to venture out from behind the computer - where I was starting to get quite comfortable. But I soon got used to sparking up conversations with random people about books - and for the most part they are very friendly and interested to meet a real live author, and many then want a book, signed by said real life author, which is all very good for the ego.

Selling online has to be my final learning curve - (until I come against another one that is). And so I find myself back behind my computer stubbornly carrying on against all odds, because books are the ideal product to sell online - customers can easily read the blurb or even an excerpt online and order a copy. They're easy to post and don't need food or water during transit. They won't break when they're launched through  a letterbox... so baring fire, flood, or someone's dog chewing them as they enter the house, they will arrive in good condition...

Thoughts, comments and questions always welcome... or I start to think I'm talking into an abyss...

Monday ramblings and book marketing

Monday ramblings:

Well that was a busy, if a little maddening morning, sorting out the mess I made of my blog header on Friday night, when I would have been better employed leaving the computer well alone and reading a book instead...

My marketing team are busy taking a siesta in various sunny and shady places about the house depending on their current preference - the darker their coats, the sooner they seek shade.

So that leaves me tackling the hardest part of writing a book - namely: shouting about it and getting it out to a greater audience.

    So why should you buy my new book?

• Colour photos - if a picture is worth a thousand words, then the word count in this book is immense - with 82 colour photos of cats and kittens, from all the time when they were getting into mischief and I reached for the camera instead of lifting them down...
• Small first print run - this is a print run of just 100 books, and all the books will be hand numbered and signed
• True story - it's all there, maybe a little too much at times...
• Launch price of £7.99 till the end of May.

The Blurb:

I'd like to get a female kitten and let her have one litter," I said to my stunned family when they raised the kitten topic. Not surprisingly a suitable kitten was quickly found...  and Mitzi arrived in time for Christmas, bringing her own brand of fun and chaos, and demanding friendship from our 5 year old cat Cleo.

By summer Mitzi was quite confused, she came into season and started calling shamelessly. But when a hapless tomcat answered her call, she was far from impressed; causing more than one cat flap drama, and a hole in the door where a flap used to be. 

Eventually nature took it its course and Mitzi had kittens. The first few weeks were blissfully peaceful, watching as Mitzi took care of their every need. We had a week of heartache when one of the kittens was poorly, and then not developing properly, and was destined to challenge and inspire us in ways we could not yet imagine. 

Then they grew big enough to escape their box, and the bedlam began... 

The story that emerged from the kitten diaries, written as kittens climbed on me and chewed the edges of my note books...