I got back from Lundy around 10 days ago, and despite the strange weather (I have never seen the island so wet), a wonderful time was had. The paths were littered with puddles everywhere I walked, but my new boots proved to be waterproof despite their non-leather status (a true vegetarian would never wear dead animal skins on their feet). I missed 2 days because of high winds and torrential rain, but also had some lovely warm and sunny days, and came home suitably sun tanned and relaxed.
Since then it has been work, work and more work. I have decided that I can no longer sit around and wait for people to find my book, but have to be more proactive in telling them that it is out there. This week I have emailed every single library authority in the country asking them to order my book, and today I have also contacted each and every branch of Waterstones. At least 2 libraries have replied to say that they ordered copies - Surrey (where I live) and Westminster (in London), and several others are bringing it to their next acquisitions meeting. I also rang some local branches of Borders, and the Wimbledon branch have ordered some copies to be getting on with. Both Staines and Brighton look as if they might also be interested.
So, although this is a short entry and I have been away and not keeping this blog up to date, I have been extremely busy. The reviews have helped somewhat, but it is difficult to gauge the response when you don't know how people heard of you and where the book sales were made, but only get to see how many copies have been sold each month. There has been a definate upturn in visits to my website by Australians and New Zealanders since the Nexus review came out, so one can only hope that the same thing will happen once the North American edition hits the streets later this month. Oh well, back to those mailing lists ...
Since then it has been work, work and more work. I have decided that I can no longer sit around and wait for people to find my book, but have to be more proactive in telling them that it is out there. This week I have emailed every single library authority in the country asking them to order my book, and today I have also contacted each and every branch of Waterstones. At least 2 libraries have replied to say that they ordered copies - Surrey (where I live) and Westminster (in London), and several others are bringing it to their next acquisitions meeting. I also rang some local branches of Borders, and the Wimbledon branch have ordered some copies to be getting on with. Both Staines and Brighton look as if they might also be interested.
So, although this is a short entry and I have been away and not keeping this blog up to date, I have been extremely busy. The reviews have helped somewhat, but it is difficult to gauge the response when you don't know how people heard of you and where the book sales were made, but only get to see how many copies have been sold each month. There has been a definate upturn in visits to my website by Australians and New Zealanders since the Nexus review came out, so one can only hope that the same thing will happen once the North American edition hits the streets later this month. Oh well, back to those mailing lists ...
