More reflections and ruminations

I recently ran a promotion for the first volume of the The Chronicles of Prudence series and whilst I was pleased with the result of the promotion it did highlight a few things that I hadn't really noticed about the sales of my books so far.

For those of you who don't know anything about the books it is a children's fantasy story spread over three volumes and is aimed at an age group from about eleven to fourteen.  I would like to also think that like many other childrens books it also appeals to an older audience too.  The story centres around Prudence and tells of her life and struggles from unknown orphan to princess and rightful heir to a throne taken from her father shortly after she was born.  Prudence is a fairy. She lives in a magical world that we in our world would perhaps know best as Avalon; a world that an ancient english king and his noble knights once fought hard to protect from human jealousies and misunderstandings.
It is then, very much a tale based on old english folklore with Arthur and his knights forming a very important backdrop to the story.

So getting back to the promotion, a few things became obvious when I reviewed the sales during this promotional period. First and foremost Prudence seems to be a lot more popular abroad than she is in the UK.  This surprised me at first but the more I thought about it the more I realised that what so many visitors to this country seem to find so appealing about us is our history and heritage, and that this is perhaps what drew them to the book.  However, during the whole three day promotion only one copy was sold in the UK!  Hmmm..............

So, if my theory is correct and the attraction of the book was the quintessential englishness of the subject then is it that we here in Blighty are just a little bit  blase about our heritage?   Is it something we're a little too used to and it's a bit 'old hat'.

Perhaps I'm just over-analyzing and  it was simply that the promotion for the offer on twitter and Goodreads (Both bigger in the US) had a greater reach than other stuff that I did to advertise.  It's very difficult because knowing what attracts someone to your book helps with knowing how to promote it; the more you know the easier it is.  And, when you're a novice like me you need all the help you can get! (Still not liking this whole 'having to promote your work' thing!)

Also it is clear that everyone loves a bargain - me included - so I would just like to say that if you have been living on another planet over the last week and missed all my incessant plugging about the promotion, you may like to know that both the first two volumes of the chronicles of Prudence are available to borrow on kindle for free.  So if you would like to take a look, or if you're thinking of buying the paperback for a little person you know you can check it out before you buy!  How good is that!

Kim

A little Celebration!

As I have just started, within the last few days the final volume in the 'Chronicles of Prudence' trilogy, I thought I would mark the occasion with a little celebratory offer!   From Monday 20th July to Wednesday 22nd July the first volume in the series, 'The Gatekeeper' is available for free download on Kindle.  So if you like a good fantasy story - no excuses!  Give it a go and don't forget to tell me what you think! Love to hear your thoughts!

Kim

Advice: to take or not to take?

I have read a lot of blog posts since publishing my first book about everything from writing to publishing and marketing and one thing I have noticed more than anything; they can be very contradictory! I have been advised to write about what I know and then told to try something new in order to broaden my writing skills.Some say you should sit down every day and write something (oops I haven't written a word for the last two weeks!), others advise that inspiration does not come easy and that breaks in your writing can help to stimulate the creative process (Phew!).  I have been told to include as much dialogue as possible in order to help the reader better understand your characters - then I read somewhere else that lengthy conversations can be distracting for the reader?!
I'm so confused!

A long time ago (in a galaxy not so far away) when I was just starting out in the big, wide world of  9-5 and paying your taxes, I was offered a piece of advice by one of my work colleagues.  She was much older than me (well she was about the same age as I am now, but to the seventeen year old me she was ancient!), and she told me the best piece of advice she could give me was not to listen to any advice!  At the time I just smiled and nodded and thought, "silly old bat", but now I think I'm beginning to understand what she meant. There are all kinds of advice and by that I don't mean that some is good and some is bad I just mean that some is relevant to you as an individual and some of it is not.  You've just got to work out what is right for you and go with that.

Recently I have discovered the delights of Pinterest which has brought me a whole new avenue for the discovery of new blogs and quotes and today I have found my favourite so far;

"Better to write for yourself and have no public,
than to write for the public and have no self."

- Cyril Connolly

I love this!  It is so true!  I love to write, but I need to write what comes from the heart and not what is currently on trend.  Another little gem I found on Pinterest was this;

"If you don't see the book you want on the shelf, write it"

-Beverley Cleary

And, with that in mind I need to get back Ealdhun and the last volume of the Prudence chronicles!

I would love to hear what pieces of advice you have found helpful.

Kim

The value of reviews - good or bad

Writers can often be plagued by self-doubt; this one certainly is!  During the creative process idea's that pop into your head can get you really excited about your work and create something of a mini adrenaline rush; you can't wait to get this latest little gem down on paper! (or laptop!)  Then, of course you sit back and admire this literary masterpiece and after a while the shine seems to where off - maybe it wasn't that brilliant after all?  Perhaps it was pretty poor?  No, actually it was downright rubbish!  How could we even think about putting this in the story?  No, it's got to go!
So, it's hard sometimes not to follow that by hitting the delete button, instead of remembering that you have just re-read it for the umpteenth time and therefore it's obviously not going to have the same effect on you.  It's like re-reading your favourite book; I can't remember how many times I've read Pride and Prejudice and although I still love to read it, it will never have quite the same magic as the first time - there's still magic  it's just a different kind of magic - like settling down for an evening with an old, familiar friend!
However when someone else reads your work their comments are invaluable; you're getting that 'first impressions' effect again and when they get that same feeling you had when you wrote it you finally know that you were right to stay away from the delete button!  I love it when readers understand the characters the way you were kind of hoping they would, or when they comment on a particular setting or scene; you know exactly what you're trying to convey and so it's great to know that someone else is 'seeing' it too.  Of course constructive criticism is just as good - knowing what the reader doesn't like is just as important as knowing what they did.
I suppose what I'm trying to say here is the next time you read a book, especially if it's not the latest blockbusting best seller, spare a thought for the one who put their heart and soul into creating it and let them know what you think!

Happy reading!

Kim

Arthur's Sword : Published!

So, finally The Chronicles of Prudence the Foundling Fairy Vol. 2 is now published and available to purchase from Amazon on kindle or in paperback.  It has taken a little longer than the 'week or so' that I promised in my last post, but as my daughter (and i.t. adviser!) is currently pregnant with Grandbaby no. 2 I have done all the formatting and editing myself as I think she has enough on her plate right now!
As I said before I am really pleased with the story and the way it is progressing.  I did intend to take a break and concentrate on my other project (a ghost mystery) once vol. 2 was finished, but I can already feel Prudence pulling me back into her world - especially as I did leave her and her friends in something of a precarious situation at the end of this book! Nevertheless I'm exhausted - this year has been pretty eventful - and I do feel I need time to re-charge the creative batteries a little so a short respite may be in order.
Of course I do also need to concentrate on that necessary evil when self-publishing; marketing.  Promoting the new title, as well as volume 1  is something that I have been neglecting of late so I suppose that must take priority now.  As you've probably gathered this is the part of the whole process that I really don't enjoy, so I'm just going to say; it's out there -
 enjoy!


Kim

Yay! It's Finished!

Hello everyone - it's nice to be back!  I know it's been a long time since I published a post but I was absolutely determined that my next post was going to be 'Yay, it's finished!'  So here we are at last; The Chronicles of Prudence volume two, Arthur's Sword is finally finished!  It's only taken me a year - a tiny bit longer than I had hoped, but when you're holding down a full time job sticking to any kind of schedule for writing is proving to be difficult.  I am pleased with the way the story has gone and the development of the characters, particularly Prudence and Rupert - I've had a lot of fun with those two!  It's also been great to be able to weave in a little more of the Arthurian legend into the story and as well as dragons, magical swords and a dark wizard, the Lady of the Lake also makes an appearance in this volume.

I am now in the process of editing which some writers seem to find tedious, but I quite enjoy.  It's nice to be able to go back and just 'fine tune' a few things and make sure you're completely happy with everything.  The hard part with editing is knowing when to stop; it's so easy to just keep 'tweaking' and thinking that there's always some little way you can improve things when most of the time the improvements are just not necessary.

Publishing should follow in a week or so and then I am going to take a little break (well the decorating still needs finishing!) before tackling volume three, and getting my other project 'The Legacy of Vengeance' finished.

Thanks for reading - and staying with me

Kim

A & E, Mickey Mouse and a new kitchen!

Despite my resolutions for the new year I have been a little slack again with the old blog posts - however I really do have genuine, proper excuses this time!  First of all I haven't been too well (going for the sympathy vote here). I've been having a few problems with low blood pressure which resulted in a dramatic - and embarrassing - dash to A & E from work.  Happy to say that after a quick m.o.t the issue has been resolved and everything seems to be back to normal again now although it did leave me a little lacking in energy for a while.

We have also been planning a little family trip to EuroDisney with my Granddaughter.  We were originally planning to go at Easter, but trying to get everybody together has proved to be a bit more difficult than we had first thought and so we are now going next weekend as this was the only time we could all get the time off work together!  Now, as my passport had expired I had to sacrifice a precious day off to go to Peterborough to get that sorted.  Would just like to say on that note that this process was a lot simpler than I thought it would be!

Finally, the new kitchen; this has been taking up a bit of time as I'm sure you can imagine although it has infected me with the 'let's decorate' bug!  And, in fairness the whole house is in need of a little TLC.

On the plus side, despite all that has been going on I am making good progress with the two projects I have on the go at the moment.  I only have a couple more chapters to do of the second volume of the Prudence series so that should be ready for editing very shortly.

I would also just like to share with you this picture, drawn by the amazingly talented Lucy Daine.  This is a picture she has done of Prince Rupert, one of the characters from the Prudence series of books.  She is also helping me with the design for the cover of the new book.

If you would like to see more of Lucy's artwork check out her facebook page Serendipity Art here

Kim