On going back to work, housework and marketing...
Those of you who read my blog post and who follow me on Instagram, will know I have recently had surgery. Thank you for all the get well messages and words of encouragement, much appreciated guys. I ended up having three weeks off work as I didn't heal as fast as I confidently expected to, and it was decided to go back too soon could do more damage than good. During those three weeks, I realised just how much I want to be able to be a stay at home author, writing, reading and reviewing all day, marketing my books and connecting with readers and other authors. It's totally the dream, unfortunately, a little thing called money keeps getting in the way - it's a case of I owe, I owe, so it's off to work I go. Sigh, maybe one day.
I won't lie, going back to work was hard, back to the 6am starts every single morning, trying to cram life around the edges of paid employment, and, particularly, trying to find the time and mental energy to write. However, one unexpected benefit of my inability to do very much for three weeks, has been that my 13 year old daughter had to step up to the mark and look after me. At first enthusiastic and fired up with Florence Nightingale zeal, I was offered more tea than I could handle and was fussed over until I'd snap and beg her to leave me alone. But, after a few days of this and mum was still ill, boredom with the situation crept in. She went through a sulky and truculent stage - "what do you mean the dishwasher has to be unloaded AGAIN - and started being a right little Cinderella about it. So much so, that I kept expecting a team of singing mice to appear and run her up a ballgown. After a while though, she got used to the fact that meals have to be cooked, dishwashers loaded and unloaded and laundry done, if life was to at least continue with some semblance of normality. But, by week three, a totally bizarre event happened - she actually grew to appreciate just how much I do around the house, how many things mum quietly, and without fuss, gets on and does. She began to make comments like, "I now understand why sometimes you get sick of cooking every night" and "don't you get annoyed with always having to be picking up and clearing away stuff?" Erm, duh!
Anyway, the upshot of this epiphany, is that she has decided Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, she will be in sole charge of dinner. These are the days I work, I'm usually home by 4.15pm we tend to eat by 6pm, so a little routine has been established, whereby the minute I step through the door it's laptop on, and I have almost two whole uninterrupted hours to write, edit, review, promote and network,. It's early days yet, I've only been back to work just over a week, I've had to remind her a couple of times, but, on the whole, I think it's going to work and will give me nearly six extra hours (almost a whole day) in which to write.
So, my novella Lifesong was released as a kindle download on 21 March. Despite me promoting and marketing as hard as I can, sales are sluggish, and I must confess to being a tad disappointed at the lack of support from family and friends. Okay, it's completely different from Eve, okay it's only available as a download. But, it is still a really good read, it is only £1.99 and, come on guys, you are supposed to be my nearest and dearest, a little support please.
Marketing, the bugbear of every indie author I know. We're writers, not experts in marketing, most of us haven't got a clue how to promote ourselves, how to persuade all those billions of readers out there, that our book is worth the effort. The only way it seems to happen is through reviews, lots of them, good reviews are preferable and reviews that don't say things like - "I read this because the author is a friend" - that rather negates the review I'm afraid. So, if anyone is reading this blog who has (a) read either Lifesong or Eve (b) liked them (c) has a few minutes to spare out of their day, this author would be extremely grateful for a review on either Goodreads or Amazon (although both would be amazing). They make such a difference. Get enough reviews under your belt and Amazon start to take notice of you, they start to promote your book and suggest it to buyers in the also bought feature. So, why not review that book you really enjoyed, not just mine, but any author's, no matter how famous they are, they still need them. You never know, your review could be the one that nudges a book to the attention of the powers that be!
That's all for this time, as ever, comments are always welcome and I will reply to each and every one.
Take care
Julia Blake
I won't lie, going back to work was hard, back to the 6am starts every single morning, trying to cram life around the edges of paid employment, and, particularly, trying to find the time and mental energy to write. However, one unexpected benefit of my inability to do very much for three weeks, has been that my 13 year old daughter had to step up to the mark and look after me. At first enthusiastic and fired up with Florence Nightingale zeal, I was offered more tea than I could handle and was fussed over until I'd snap and beg her to leave me alone. But, after a few days of this and mum was still ill, boredom with the situation crept in. She went through a sulky and truculent stage - "what do you mean the dishwasher has to be unloaded AGAIN - and started being a right little Cinderella about it. So much so, that I kept expecting a team of singing mice to appear and run her up a ballgown. After a while though, she got used to the fact that meals have to be cooked, dishwashers loaded and unloaded and laundry done, if life was to at least continue with some semblance of normality. But, by week three, a totally bizarre event happened - she actually grew to appreciate just how much I do around the house, how many things mum quietly, and without fuss, gets on and does. She began to make comments like, "I now understand why sometimes you get sick of cooking every night" and "don't you get annoyed with always having to be picking up and clearing away stuff?" Erm, duh!
Anyway, the upshot of this epiphany, is that she has decided Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, she will be in sole charge of dinner. These are the days I work, I'm usually home by 4.15pm we tend to eat by 6pm, so a little routine has been established, whereby the minute I step through the door it's laptop on, and I have almost two whole uninterrupted hours to write, edit, review, promote and network,. It's early days yet, I've only been back to work just over a week, I've had to remind her a couple of times, but, on the whole, I think it's going to work and will give me nearly six extra hours (almost a whole day) in which to write.
So, my novella Lifesong was released as a kindle download on 21 March. Despite me promoting and marketing as hard as I can, sales are sluggish, and I must confess to being a tad disappointed at the lack of support from family and friends. Okay, it's completely different from Eve, okay it's only available as a download. But, it is still a really good read, it is only £1.99 and, come on guys, you are supposed to be my nearest and dearest, a little support please.
Marketing, the bugbear of every indie author I know. We're writers, not experts in marketing, most of us haven't got a clue how to promote ourselves, how to persuade all those billions of readers out there, that our book is worth the effort. The only way it seems to happen is through reviews, lots of them, good reviews are preferable and reviews that don't say things like - "I read this because the author is a friend" - that rather negates the review I'm afraid. So, if anyone is reading this blog who has (a) read either Lifesong or Eve (b) liked them (c) has a few minutes to spare out of their day, this author would be extremely grateful for a review on either Goodreads or Amazon (although both would be amazing). They make such a difference. Get enough reviews under your belt and Amazon start to take notice of you, they start to promote your book and suggest it to buyers in the also bought feature. So, why not review that book you really enjoyed, not just mine, but any author's, no matter how famous they are, they still need them. You never know, your review could be the one that nudges a book to the attention of the powers that be!
That's all for this time, as ever, comments are always welcome and I will reply to each and every one.
Take care
Julia Blake
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