Commision payment is due!

Got back from Ireland trip yesterday and straight into work today, Booo! Clocks went back over the weekend so now it’s dark when I drive home, that is not good. At least our kitchen is finished, well apart from the decoration but I can get away with not doing that for a while! My book sales are on the up, Amazon sales have increased slightly and hopefully will continue to improve as my adverts came out last weekend in Military History Monthly and Current Archaeology magazines. I have also made some direct sales from leaflets that I send out. Sales in the US have still to begin, no recorded sales on Amazon.com unfortunately. I really think the content of my book would go down well in America. Hopefully when it starts it will take off in a big way. Have written 40,000 words of the sequel, that’s about a third of the second novel and I have ideas for the third book in the trilogy. I know how the story ends ultimately and it’s quite exciting. Can’t say anymore! I have just typed up an invoice for my publisher. It’s that time of the year when they pay up for sales, so my commission payment is due. It’s not much but then its early days.

Advert alert

My adverts have finally appeared in Current Archaeology magazine and Military History monthly. These are two very interesting magazines that are filled with interesting historical articles. Having discovered them I will be sure to purchase them monthly. I have seen an upward turn in Amazon sales in the UK, not sure if this is as a result of my adverts coming out this weekend or not. I’m hoping that many more sales will follow as a result of my investment. I still haven’t sold any books on Amazon.com, I would love to see my book going out in America, I’m sure the story would interest many readers there. Some of the principle characters are after all American. Our kitchen is almost complete, the walls are being tiles as I write this blog. We actually used the kitchen at the weekend, filled the cupboards with supplies from boxes stored in the spare bedroom and some normality has been restored. Still have to clean up the dust that has settled all over the house from the work carried out by the builders though. Tomorrow we are off to Ireland for a wedding. I have to take a supply of books with me so maybe will have a book signing event there. Today I received a box of books that I ordered from the printers, this should be enough to stem the Christmas rush, it would be nice to have to order some more though!

New kitchen up and running (almost)

Hoorah, used new kitchen for the first time today, was able to use the sink to wash up instead of doing the dishes in the bath. We have a hot tap on the side of the sink which dispenses water at 98 degrees C, this effectively does away with a kettle, so no need to boil water anymore. The walls are being tiled today, the floor gets laid tomorrow, but the electrical problem needs further investigation although this doesn’t affect the kitchen. Maybe this evening we will try out the oven, but first we have a stack of manuals to read. Having never had a dishwasher before I have no idea which buttons to press! Maybe some kind of domestic maid would be in order! 

New kitchen

Two weeks ago our kitchen was ripped out ready for a new one. The designer filled us with positive thoughts regarding the smooth transition from an old kitchen to a brand new one, a modern kitchen that will give us much more working space. The fact that there could be problems once the work started didn’t come into our conversation. Firstly the ceiling was warped so an extra cost was quoted for a new one. The mess that ripping out a fifty year old ceiling makes is incredible, there was dust throughout the house, black dust that stinks of old plaster. Anyway, the ceiling looks good now but will need painting. The next thing to go wrong was the plumbing; a man turned up to connect our new oven and discovered a leak. The old cast iron pipes buried under the house has a slight leak so the gas pressure is a bit low. Modern health and safety nonsense says that will not do, so the gas was cut off until the pipe work in the kitchen had been renewed, that meant an emergency phone call to a plumbing company. This resulted in the gas fire in our living room being cut off, so we now have no gas fire. (More expense for the future). After that the electricians came in to carry on with the electrics. At great expense they put in a box of tricks which separates the kitchen from the rest of the house, further modern legislation. They discovered, apparently, a fault in the house wiring, so going around each room they tested the plug sockets in the walls. Some years ago we had extra sockets put in; this was in the days before crazy health and safety legislation anyway, one of the sockets is apparently wrong. The electrician was supposed to contact us last evening to discuss the problem, but he didn’t, so this morning the chap running the job was going to have a stiff word! Having a new kitchen was supposed to be a wonderful thing, we have camped out in our living room for the last two weeks, kettle being boiled on a tray on the floor, washing up done in the bath, the fridge freezer whirring away next to my armchair, and the dining room table piled up with essential stuff. The rest of the kitchen lives in boxes in the spare room. Hopefully this weekend will see an end to the madness and we can use our new kitchen. The only thing that I wasn’t aware of was the decoration, or lack of it. The kitchen fitters have not allowed for decorating in their quote, so I will have to make good all plasterwork and paintwork, oh yes, and I have to paint the ceiling. There have been times during the last two weeks when I haven’t wanted to go home for fear of what I might find. Moving house is supposed to be stressful but this has not been a good time. Hopefully when its all done life will once again be jolly!

Leaflets on holiday

A couple of weeks ago I gave my Mother a box of books that she could sell to her friends at her retirement club.  She was more than happy to do this as her ‘street cred’ improved considerably when she told them that her son was a published author. J

I also gave her a stack of leaflets to give out to those who didn’t want to buy a book immediately but wanted some information. 

She took it upon herself to give these leaflets out to shops whenever she went shopping and much to my Father’s embarrassment, each shop she went into turned into a chat with the assistant and/or manager.  My leaflets are now displayed in retail outlets all over East Kent.

This week they are away in Wales, I guess my leaflets have also gone on holiday!

Purchasing my book from Waterstones

Someone I know went into Waterstones last weekend and ordered a copy of my novel The Belgae Torc.  The shop assistant couldn’t find it on the system; I guess they spelt the title wrong, they found it however, by putting my name into the computer.  At least I know the system works.

The book usually takes about five days when ordering from a bookshop but as more people use this service the shop will hopefully stock it.  This theory should also work with the British Library system, the book has been registered with the libraries but it will take a few enquires before they will stock it.

Local newspaper and a wedding in Ireland

Since my review in the local newspaper I have e-mailed every editor responsible for local papers in my area.  That was a couple of days ago and as it has been the weekend no responses have arrived, so I’m expecting some kind of reaction today or during this week at least!

Amazon sales need a boost as they are a little slow at the moment, but with the advertising I have coming up I’m quite hopeful that sales will improve.  Not much is happening in America on Amazon.com, still waiting for my first sale.  I have an advert promoting my novel in Ingram International, but that is aimed at independent book shops across America.

I sold twelve books last month, with the help of my mother, but that’s another story. Off to a wedding in Ireland in a couple of weeks time and I’ve been asked to take some books with me.  Hopefully will make some sales, have to recover the cost of staying in the very expensive hotel! J