Basil takes on knitted form... new from Lost in a Book

After getting distracted by pretty bags that I'd like to buy for my Christmas fair - I got down to some picture editing, so for those of you who've been wonder what a Basil is...

Basil met Bumble, but Bumble was less than impressed...

Basil from Basil and the Flappy Thing takes on knitted form

Book merchandising, sheep and knitting patterns...how's that for diversification!

Diversification seems to be the buzz word for keeping business moving along - so when I was looking for a fun addition to my table at book signings, sheep sprang to mind... in fact they seem to have been springing up everywhere ever since...

The sheep were a great hit, but they did seem to take up every evening during the Christmas fair season, just to keep up with demand. So now you can buy your own knitting pattern from my online bookshop - then you can knit as many sheep as you want, and count them along with the story...  zzzz

...how's that for diversification!

It all started with the book - then the sheep came along...

Self publishing and colour printing

I'm proud to be a self publisher. I love the fact that I have control over my books, and if I want to have lots of colour pictures in there, then that's what I'm going to have...

Why is it that the so called self publishing companies put authors off colour pictures in books? Some will even charge all the pages of a book at the higher rate for colour printing... It doesn't have to be that way, and if you truly self publish with your own ISBN you can shop around and get a reputable printer to produce the book you really want.

Of course that does mean that you're responsible for your own merchandising, but then you usually are anyway...

Book signings are a great way of getting self publish books into the public eye, and a great way of getting feedback on what people think of your books. And yes they do judge a book by it's cover - that's the first thing everyone sees, but if you have a cover to be proud of then that isn't a problem.

Of course social media and a website are great platforms to promote books, and if you're reading this, then I'm doing something right, so how about checking out my Bookshop, see the covers and read the blurbs, and if you like what you see - don't be shy, fill your virtual shopping cart and go shopping :) 

And then of course there's the off the wall sort of merchandising like knitted sheep, which customers at book signings love - and have been getting quite a bit of attention online.