Giveaways - how hard can it be...?

If there's a easy way and a hard way to do something, why do I always find the hard way...?

So, I mentioned before that I was having trouble writing down my sheep knitting pattern in a way that others will be able to follow - but now I have the dilemma of how to distribute this pattern.

My plan is to do a giveaway for the first week, and then charge a small amount for the download. I had hoped to place this giveaway in my little bookshop - right at the back (bottom of the page), to draw customers through the shop past all the books - but it seems that my website shop doesn't understand the concept of a giveaway, and demands payment... or maybe I'm just on one of those learning curves again and have missed something...

Anyway, if all else fails I will post it on one of the pages of my website, or even here in my blog - so watch this space...
Free knitting pattern coming soon!! 
Then you can knit your own sheep - you know you want to...!  :)

 

Ramblings of an author trying to crack the clicking code

Is it just me, or does everyone come up against these constant learning curves...?

So what is the latest one? Well to get people into my bookshop - it's a little bookshop with big ideas, I think I've mentioned that before but hey, you might have missed it... 

So where are all the customers? They seem to be flocking past on the world wide web, on an endless treadmill of shoppers, all heading for the main shopping outlets.

But I believe there is a growing trend of people who are tired of the endless pushing of goods we probably don't need, and if we search something on the web, then that product turns up on every facet of what we're doing. 

A prime example would be when I recently bought a safety gate at a mainstream online outlet - well the search engines, or whatever causes these things to pop up didn't know what to do with this uncharacteristic purchase, and started sending me adverts for baby products and dog products - I have neither a baby or a dog, so they had failed to second guess what I needed a safety gate for... and I'm quite happy to leave it that way, I don't like to feel spied on, and certainly don't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing the answer to that little mystery...

So... how to play the search engines at their own game...? Gathering clicks in the right place - clicks are the new footfall. OK, now I have a theory - and a bigger mystery than ever... arhh

So help me crack the code - click on my Little Bookshop with big ideas and help me buck the trend... or leave comments below.

Self publishing - making the book you want to make...

Hi there, I know I've got your attention - the stats don't lie, so why is nobody talking to me...?

Well, as nobody is going to say anything, it just leaves me to ramble on a bit more...

My next project:

I've made a start on my next project, well, when I say I've made a start, I'm making a start on  the illustrations and formatting - the text is already written, and it's an exciting story, although I do say  it myself.

It could be said that this book is taking me back to my comfort zone - it's another picture book. But on the other hand it means getting my paints out again, which is always a little out of my comfort zone - words always come easier than pictures, which is odd, given my very visual imagination...

So I'm going to be sploshing around with paints for the next few weeks - I can't think of a better way to spend a summer...

But launching into a new book is always an adventure - and the problems that jump out at me, are never where I expected to find them.

My latest book Outnumbered by Cats seemed on the face of it, as if the illustrations were going to be easy, after all  they are photos. But, first I got distracted by all those lovely photos of my cats and kittens, then my cat came to join me and was sat avidly watching videos, and listening to her kittens from when they were tiny - it was a pretty special moment.

Then I couldn't decide which photos to use, and had a terrible time editing them down to a whopping 82 colour photos... at which point my usual stubborn streak kicked in and I decided that as it was my project I would have all the photos I wanted - you can never have too many kitten photos can you...?

Next I had trouble with the picture quality, after all the work editing the image sizes down, it turned out I should have left well alone and just inserted them at original size and fiddled with them from there. Anyway where there's a will there's a way and after a lot of reworking my photos are all there in colour inserts.

So if anyone tries to tell you that a self publisher can't do a book with colour photos - don't listen, be stubborn and make the book you want to make - isn't that the point of self publishing after all...?

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...

Life is a learning curve... I will overcome my last hurdle eventually - I'll rise above it and fly high - either that or I'll beat it down with a stick...

Why do I like to make life difficult for myself?

When I'm working on a book, my mind is usually racing ahead to the next project, and on this occasion I thought my next book would be straightforward, having already found a UK printer of board books... 

However when I came to put in a quote request, the fee was so high it would be barely viable for personal use, let alone to try and sell on to customers, and even at that price it was only printed on 1mm card which I doubt would be thick enough for a board book for a baby. Oh well.back to the drawing board...

Meanwhile I'm hard at work promoting Outnumbered by Cats... well, that is I've passed it on to my sales team - oh wait, I am my sales team...  and so we come back to my learning curve that I have yet to conquer, that of selling online. But all is not lost - I have a book signing at the weekend! It's so much easier to sell books face to face.

But I will overcome my last hurdle eventually - I'll rise above it and fly high - either that or I'll beat it down with a stick...