Brian Duncan's Blog

The Settler has won the historical fiction category in the IndieReader 2013 Discovery Awards announced at Book Expo America in New York. Alas, I could not attend, but it's great that the novel has been recognised.

I'm trying to gather background material for my next novel. Trouble is, I keep going off on tangents! My period is the 1914-18 war, but I'm now reading about slavery and David Livingstone's accounts of his exploration of the Zambesi Valley and Lake Nyasa. I'm currently reading about his journey from the coast, up the Rovuma River to Lake Nyasa. What an amazing man he was; such endurance. He wasn't very good at managing his expedition, but he kept moving on. Evidence of slavery was everywhere - Africans selling their own people. Village headmen selling their own villagers. Those who couldn't keep up were killed. The slaves were bought by Arabs. Not a European to be seen - at least in the Rovuma area. Probable ten thousand slaves were sold every year, but the casualty rate was huge.

I decided to change the cover of The Settler. It was simple enough, working with the Createspace girls in SC. They put it on Amazon.com, but now the cover image that you first see is the old one. Funny thing is that when you click on it you get the enlarged version of the new cover.

Oh well! I ask Createspace to sort it out.

Then there's another problem - in Amazon.co.uk the Kindle version says 'No pricing information available'. This is crazy! Createpace can't sort it out because KDP is a separate company, so I email KDP to see what they can do.

My 'Giveaway' of The Settler ended officially on December 31, 2012. I offered 10 copies of the novel and there were over 500 requests for it. Goodreads selected the ten winners and I've ordered their copies already.

In case there are any disappointed 'requesters' following this blog, I will happily send you an electronic version, until I run out of budgeted funds. Just send me your address.

Best wishes,
Brian Duncan

In my previous post at the end of November I wrote that trends indicated sales of 'The Settler' reaching 2,000 by the end of the year. Sure enough, by December 29, 2012, sales were 2,006!

Needless to say, I'm so grateful to those who purchased the book. It's a rather niche genre, so I'm genuinely surprised at the extent of interest. It has given me encouragement to continue with the sequel, set in Nyasaland at the time of the Great War.

'The Settler' passed the 1,000 sales mark in mid-November. Most of these sales were Kindle downloads. At the accelerating rate the 2,000 mark should be reached by the end of 2012. I wonder what will happen in 2013.

I'm awed, and grateful to all those readers who purchased the book. I only hope they enjoyed it!

The film producer Steven Spielberg will come to Gettysburg (the town where I live) on November 19, to speak at the Remembrance Ceremony. This takes place every year on the anniversary of the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery on November 19, 1863, when President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

I wish I could give Spielberg a copy of The Settler. I know it would make a great movie, and he would be the ideal director!

The Settler is now selling 16 copies a day, and has reached total sales of about 700. I feel thankful to all those readers who took the chance and bought copies, either paperback or Kindle. I trust they were not disappointed with the book.

I'm hoping to achieve sales of a thousand copies by the end of the year. It still seems amazing to me that so many people want to read a historical novel, set in Africa in 1890-1902 - a niche market? And this is without the professional expertise of a publishing firm.

This week I had the pleasure of again meeting two fellow authors, Colonel Dick Camp and his wife Suzanne Pool. Dick is a military historian who has written several books about the Marines, with whom he served in Vietnam. He has also written a novel (Echo Among Warriors) set in the Vietnam War. Suzi wrote a book with her brother James Pool entitled 'Who Financed Hitler'.

It was good to chat to Dick and Suzi, both of whome are currently writing books. I wish them all the best.

The Settler is climbing! Now selling a modest 100 copies a week. It now has 11 reviews on Amazon.com and seven on Amazon.co.uk. It's a pity they don't combine the reviews. It has only one review on Goodreads so far. I would appreciate any advice on marketing.