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.

Author rambling about social media

So here I am, living the dream and dreaming about making a living from it...

I've done the rounds of craft fairs, where all too often there isn't much craft going on so much as buying things in and selling them on. So where have all the craft people gone? Maybe they're all too busy making things to stand about and sell them at fairs... certainly a craft fair seems to be an opportunity to have a sit down, and I have even done a bit of writing at a fair, once or twice when the event was really quiet. But the trouble with writing is that it's a solitary occupation and if I start writing at  a fair I'm quite likely to just zone out and not notice if anyone stops to talk to me or take an interest in my books.

So surely the internet is the answer - making use of social media seems to be the thing to do, but it does seem full of people after their own ends or following to get followed, until we all seem to be following each other around in endless herds asking for likes - how can you ask someone to like something anyway...? You put it in front of people and they either like it or they don't... or am i missing something?

Views anyone...?

Confessions of a scatterbrain

I seem to be taking multitasking to a new level lately, and working at the kitchen table is quite possibly a harder place to work than hiding in the loft - jobs seem to call to me from the kitchen table - and so, finally I sit down to work with the background noise of the dishwasher, and where do I start...?

Well emails is the obvious place, after all I might have a big book order waiting there... but today I don't, I have a notification from facebook, so of course it'd be rude not to pop along and check my messages there..

I have a notification that several people like my status from yesterday - about me getting distracted by woolly hat patterns instead of getting on with some work. ...oops. I remind people about a Christmas shopping evening I'm attending and wander over to my blog. so "Hi" everyone who wondered over with me (Are you getting distracted by social media too?).

I don't like lists, I find them stressful - that all started many Christmases ago when I made a Christmas list, and it was very long... not the sort of thing that needs to be viewed all at once, but tucked discreetly into corners of my mind and tackled gradually.

And so without the aid of a list I throw myself at each day hoping to get to end of the things that absolutely have to get done that day, and decide I can forgive myself for leaving the rest for tomorrow...