Writing - the art of...

Writing - the art of capturing a piece of one's imagination and committing it to print...

Advertising and selling books - the art of capturing enough of someone else's imagination enough to get them to buy a book... 

Focusing - the art of getting down to what needs doing, and trying not to wander off into a daydream, even if that daydream might be the spark for a new project... oh no, I've just given myself an excuse not to focus... 

Trying to Focus on a wet Thursday in Feb...

OK time to focus - no not go and drive a Focus - focus on books! But what to do first...?

Create a book - I'm busy painting characters for my next book, and they're coming along very nicely. They're still just hanging around deciding what to do though...

Sell a book well hopefully you can help me with that - go on, buy a book... you know you want to! I'll even sign it for you - it'll be just like meeting at a book signing... except that we won't meet, and we won't have to go out in the cold - well, I will, obviously, I'll need to post the book. But I don't mind, honestly!

Get Lost in a Book - I could very easily go and light the fire early and curl up with a book that someone else has written - all the work is already done, all I'd have to do is to start reading, and allow myself to slip into the imaginary world that's already been created... hmmm sounds good... but no, I shall go and create something new!

Author rambling about books...

It's Monday and the sun is shinning, what a great day to have a clear out and start afresh...

And where better to start than with my website homepage.

So here we go with a new look - the books have come down and gone back to their bookshelves in the online bookshop, where you can read the blurb and add to cart - what an exciting prospect that is, buying a cart load of books... but you can just buy one at once of course.

So have a rummage, read the blurbs and find a new friend. 

Most of my books up to now have sold at craft fairs and book signings, and that has taken time to build, learning how to venture out from behind the computer and take my books out into the world; how attract the attention of passing strangers and spark up a conversation. The books help of course, people are naturally drawn in by the colourful covers, and once they've picked one up they've started a process that will hopefully lead to a sale...  

...and what, you might wonder are those sheep doing on my table of books...?

Well, they are just a few of the characters from one of my books, and a very popular addition they have proved to be - they're running around my online bookshop too... 

The secret to marketing a book...

The secret to marketing books seems to be finding a way to sell more books than I buy... this would probably be helped by not looking in book shops or online book retailers for inspiration, as it's only going to result in me finding more books I simply can't do without...

So how am I going to sell my books?

I have my online shop where customers can browse and buy....

I go to fairs and do book signings... my next one is at Long Marston near York on 4th May 10am- 4pm

I have my little flock of sheep which were new for Christmas 2013 and were the cause of much entertainment and quite a few sales of But I'm Not Sleepy - the book the characters are from.